Norwegian Cruise Line’s John Chernesky Is All About the 'Power of Polite Persistence'

by Sarah Kuta
Last updated: 4:15 PM ET, Thu June 12, 2025

Over the course of his 30-year career, John Chernesky has earned a reputation for championing travel advisors and celebrating the vital role they play in the industry.

In 2023, he joined Norwegian Cruise Line as senior vice president of sales for North America. In his new role, he remains as committed as ever to elevating travel advisors and ensuring they have all the support and tools they need to succeed.

As he celebrates his anniversary with Norwegian, TravelPulse chatted with Chernesky to learn more about what he’s been up to for the last two years—and what’s on the horizon.

TP: You recently celebrated two years with Norwegian Cruise Line—congratulations. What's that been like and what have you been working on?

JC: Well, it's hard to believe it's been just over two years. It feels like way more than that, but in a good way. There's been a lot going on. This is an industry where there’s never a dull moment—there’s always something—and it's been great. I feel very much embraced by the team, and I'm very fortunate to have such a great team to work with both in sales and across the organization.

Our focus over the last couple of years has been trying to continue to be the easiest cruise brand that our travel advisors work with. And we know that's a tall order, first because there's so many suppliers that are in the space, but [also because] we have some issues to sort out.

I think we did a nice job over the last couple of years. We're about to do our annual survey to measure that success. We measure frontline advisors as well as agency owners or managers. We send them two unique surveys, and we're about to hit send on that. So, we'll see our report card later this summer, once we get the results back. But the anecdotal feedback has been very positive and we're trying very hard to be better, whether it's a policy issue or resolution or getting a response back to somebody, or the booking engine enhancements which are underway, our air program, which has gotten a lot better and will continue to get a lot better. So, all those things are helping. And I would say we're doing pretty good, but we always want to do better.

TP: What have been some of the standout moments or highlights from the last two years?

JC: One was recent, which was on the Norwegian Aqua for the christening cruise and the ceremony that took place to name the vessel. And the fact that I was invited on stage by my boss, David Herrera, to be a part of the festivities … which, I don't think has ever happened, for the leader of a trade sales organization to be introducing the godparent of the ship. So that was really unique and special for me and my team.

And then my second highlight would be my vacation cruise last summer that I did with my family on the Norwegian Prima sailing from England up to Norway and Iceland. And to be reminded that I work for such a great organization with such a great product that takes people to such special places in the world … was a great affirmation that I'm in the right place.

Norwegian Aqua Puts the ‘Plus’ in NCL’s Prima Class

TP: What’s your advice for travel advisors right now amid all the uncertainty?

JC: It's a challenging time for sure, for many reasons. But the reality is, cruising represents such a great value proposition for anybody. And, particularly at Norwegian, especially combined with our More At Sea program, which is really trying to raise the value proposition for any cruise. (And side note, the great thing for us is that those guests who sail with More At Sea have a significantly better cruise experience than those who don't, so shameless plug.) But cruising, in general, represents such a great value proposition. I would say that at the end of the day, if you pull back from it, life is short and [it’s important to] take advantage of those travel opportunities that you have.

My personal story is my sons, my twin boys, are 18 and they head off to college this fall. But we have maximized, as much as we can, our travel opportunities together, because you’re not going to get those chances back. And so it's a big, beautiful world, go out and see it. We truly are better people the more we travel. And I would just ask every advisor to talk with their clients, make sure they realize that, while there is uncertainty, it's a great world out there and [you should] go see it while you can.

We've got some really good special promotions and offers out there and we hope that they'll be able to take advantage of those. You think back to a few years ago, when there was a change from calling them travel agents to calling them travel advisors, it was about advising people and being there for them for the long haul, not just a transactional process. And I think that's just a great conversation that they should be having with their clients, much as I do with my network of friends and family, and to say, “It's easy to get caught up in the fear. But I would unplug a little bit from the Matrix and just go out there and experience everything you can.”

Just get out there and talk to people, face to face, and you'll see … whether you're talking to your waiter or Uber driver or the person on the flight next to you, there's goodness out there. Don't be so afraid that the sky is falling. It is not.

TP: What travel trends are you keeping an eye on right now?

JC: There's many trends going on. One is that the most popular cruise destinations continue to be the most popular … you think Caribbean, you think Europe, you think Alaska. And I’m thankful that Norwegian is well-positioned in each of those places—Caribbean and Bahamas especially, we've shifted some vessels back into these markets.

Another trend is that people love to drive to go on their cruise to avoid air travel where they can, because it's obviously not cheap and it can be a hassle. So even though our More At Sea program has a BOGO free air component, which is really helpful when you go to places like Europe or Alaska depending on where you live in the country, people are are really enjoying the fact that they can drive to Galveston or Tampa or soon-to-be Philadelphia for us next year or Jacksonville or San Diego or obviously Miami, Boston, New York. And when I say people are willing to drive, I don't mean 30 minutes. I mean, they'll happily get in a car for five, six hours. We also have so many opportunities from a drive perspective that you don't have to get on a flight. We have 19 departure ports across North America, and that continues to be an important focus for us.

At the same time, the importance of Europe and the unique itineraries that we have there … We have an advantage in terms of the time we spend in port. You don't want to fly all that way and then spend all your days at sea. We just ran the calculation and the number of cruises that we have that have zero sea days is significant. And the average time we spend in port, I think we're around 10 hours a day. And then when you compare that to our friendly competitors, I think we're about 32 percent more time in port on Europe cruises than our competitors. I see that as a trend that, when people go to a place, they want to spend as much time as possible in the place. And that will definitely continue.

While at the same time, the trend in the Caribbean is private islands across all the major brands. And Norwegian has had Great Stirrup Key since 1977, it’s the largest private island in the industry. We have only recently started to really focus on upgrading the island to make it as good as it can be. It's a fantastic experience today, but there's no pier, so you might miss the call, depending on the weather. So, while we have Silver Cove as an amazing luxury experience on the private island—it truly is incredible, two-bedroom suites with air conditioning and amazing service and access to the beach steps away—to be able to say, later this year, that we have a pier, that we have upgraded facilities … is incredible. And more to come. We have some announcements coming, I believe in late July, just a couple months away, on the further enhancements that we'll be making there. We get that the private island experience is important, and that is often the highest-rated destination when people go to the Caribbean or Bahamas. Let’s not forget Harvest Caye for those cruises going to Mexico. So, that's a continued trend as well.

Rendering of the new multi-ship pier at Norwegian Cruise Line's Great Stirrup Cay, Bahamas.

TP: What's one thing you think travel advisors could or should be doing right now to grow their business?

JC: Well, at the end of the day, the cruise industry is growing. It's a good, steady growth. It's not like we're doubling in size overnight. So, as the industry continues to grow, as Norwegian continues to grow, it's more important that we are tapping into the audience of people that have yet to cruise. The “new-to-cruise” market is super important for us. And the travel advisors who have a network of friends or family is still very important because, the most impactful form of marketing—that's proven year in and year out, every time—is referrals. It's my buddy, my neighbor who comes back from a trip and now suddenly he's asking me for advice on his next trip.

I would just say … never underestimate the power of your own network and the power of your clients and their referrals to their friends and family. And if you don't have some sort of a program to make it easy for your clients to share their stories from the trips they're coming back on, and maybe incentivize them a little bit to get new clients into calling you up or emailing you to get you to book their next trip, I think you're missing out. Take advantage of that. And don't be shy about it. One of the tenets I have with my team internally is just to focus on the power of polite persistence. And just because you do ask for something and you hear “no” one day, that doesn't mean you can't ask the next day in a very polite manner. And you might hear a different answer. So, be politely persistent with your clients and really ask for the business, for them to spread the word about the services that you offer.

TP: What else would you like more people to know?

JC: We’re building new ships. We’ve got the Norwegian Aqua that just came online, we have Norwegian Luna coming out next year and a series of ships all the way through 2036. But we are also investing heavily in our current fleet… we’re spending millions of dollars each year to make sure our current fleet is as good as it can be. I think we've got six ships over the past year that have had significant upgrades. Also, our focus on service. It's very important because, as a travel advisor, when you send your client on a ship, you want them to obviously have a great experience. It's the hardware of the ship, but it's also the service, and our team has done an amazing job and continues to. They're the real heroes for us.

I would also say that, having been raised in a household with a naval officer as a dad, we have the best military appreciation program out there. And we actually have an increased discount that's available to members of the military who are registered in our system. They can get up to 35 percent off Alaska and Europe sailings between now and the end of September. We've increased the discount quite a bit for them to show our thanks and to try and get more of them to experience the Norwegian product.

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