Although 41-year-old Riviera Travel (formerly Riviera River Cruises) holds the title of No. 1 river cruise line in the United Kingdom, Stuart Milan, its new president of North America, admits that Riviera is still largely under the radar for Americans.
But now, in his new role, Milan is looking to change the perception of the upper-premium line, thanks to a hefty investment in the North American market, and a push to work with U.S.-based travel advisors.
Here’s what Milan wants travel advisors to know about Riviera Travel.
Tell us what your new role entails.
I’ve been at Riviera since December 2019. I’ve led our expansion through the U.K., and I also looked after Ireland and Australia for a bit. But now [the question is]: How do I put 100% of my focus — and my time — into the North American market? We know there is a huge amount of potential there.
We’ve been in the U.S. for a little bit, but now it’s about how we make sure we’re driving forward. And how do you set Riviera apart, when it’s already a pretty saturated market? But there is always going to be room for growth, and that means there’s room for a new operator.
Stuart Milan, president of North America at Riviera Travel
Credit: 2025 Riviera TravelWhat do you think sets Riviera apart from the crowd?
There are aspects that we focus on that other cruise lines don’t. For example, we have more than 50 dedicated solo sailings. And when I say solo, I don’t mean “single.” I mean people who want to travel in the space of their own cabins, [but with others]. It might be a group of women; it might be a group of men. So, we home in on that solo market.
What a lot of U.S. consumers aren’t yet aware of is that Riviera’s business in the U.K. is actually 50% land touring. We’re going to start combining some of those European land tours with our river cruises.
What else is coming next, in terms of new products?
We’ll launch Riviera Rose on the Douro River this year, Riviera Radiance on the Danube [also in 2025] and another ship in 2026 called Riviera Resplendence.
Also, in regard to putting tour and cruise elements together, we have several types of European tours that we sell in the U.K. called “Signature Touring.” We put [clients] in higher-spec hotels and give them an experience in local areas. We’ll be combining those Signature Tours with certain river cruises.
Something else we’ve started doing recently, after talking to travelers, [is serving as] a one-stop shop: We now offer flights, hotels and transfers with our river cruise products.
How do you plan to build relationships with U.S. travel advisors?
Obviously, we’ve got a huge amount of brand education to do in the U.S.; we’ve got to get that frontline travel agent aware of our river products. I think many [advisors] are happy with the progress that we’ve made over the last six months. I’ve been over in the U.S. trying to get some feedback. That’s where the [addition of the] flights, hotels and transfers came from. Advisors talked about groups, so we now offer what I believe to be the best groups proposition in the North American market, which is if you sell seven passengers, we’ll give you the eighth free.
We also now pay travel advisors their commissions two weeks before departure, so we brought that forward by four weeks. We’re also going to launch a digital e-learning tool and website in the summer.
We’ve just signed an office in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, so we’re embedding a team there, and we’re going to grow out the regional sales director team. We’ll have a proper hub in the U.S. with American people serving the American [client base].
