What actually happens at our company when the bike and boat season ends? In the second part of our behind-the-scenes look, we focus on other departments. Product consulting and booking, excursion planning, and trade fair organization continue to work during the winter months to prepare trips, develop offers, and plan external appearances. Another look behind the scenes shows how the coming season is taking shape step by step.
Even after our first look behind the scenes, winter is far from over for us. While some departments are already working on the finer details, others are just beginning the next phase of preparation.
Consultations are increasing, excursions are being planned, and trade fair appearances are being organized. Many things are intertwined and are being developed step by step in the background. These preparations are invisible to guests, but they are crucial to ensuring that everything is ready in the spring.
Even in winter, there is no let-up in the Product Advice and Booking department. Many trips are booked during this period, often with an eye on the early bird discount, which is valid until February 28, 2026.
This means that communication with our guests is particularly intense: advising, comparing, clarifying questions, and working together to find the right trip. At the same time, our colleagues are in close contact with our partners, who book guests onto our ships worldwide. Quotas are continuously adjusted, extended, or reduced.
At the same time, preparations for the travel documents for the coming season begin. Travel information, on-board ABCs, and other documents are updated and compiled so that our guests can board well informed.
This means that product advice and booking remain a central focus in winter, close to our guests and at the heart of the action.
Even outside the bike and boat season, planning excursions is anything but quiet. Kerstin is our excursion expert and ensures that suitable and well-organized excursions are offered on all our river cruises.
In winter, the focus is on planning and costing. Prices are requested from local service providers, excursions are recalculated and then coordinated with product management. It always gets particularly exciting when new ships or new routes are added. For the coming season, this applies, for example, to the MS CASANOVA, which will be in service for the first time and will be sailing new routes for us. This means that excursions have to be redesigned, planned, purchased, and calculated.
At the same time, the 2025 season is being reviewed. Audio guides that come back from the ships are checked and sorted. Existing material is reviewed, supplemented, or replaced, and new material is requested in good time.
In this way, the work of excursion planning in winter combines both review and outlook. Existing offers are reviewed and further developed, while new ideas are developed in parallel. Together with product management, Kerstin ensures that our guests will continue to enjoy varied and well-prepared excursions in the future.
While winter is a quieter time for many, trade fair organization is in full swing. Dominique is our sustainability and fair coordinator and pulls many strings behind the scenes to ensure that SE-Tours' fair appearances are well prepared.
As soon as one fair is over, planning for the next year often begins. Stand equipment is booked, internal coordination takes place to determine who will be on site, and accommodation is organized if necessary. At the same time, Dominique is in close contact with the logistics department to compile the necessary materials and with the product management department, which prepares special fair offers. These are coordinated, forwarded, and integrated into the planning.
The external appearance also needs to be prepared. Texts for the exhibitor directory are written, booth sketches are checked, and the setup of the fair booth is planned. To ensure that everything runs smoothly on site, Dominique also prepares all the important information for her colleagues, from booth numbers to setup and dismantling times.
The result is a well-organized trade fair appearance in winter that facilitates personal exchanges with guests and partners.
The second part of our insight focused on other departments that are also heavily involved in preparing for the coming season. Product consulting and booking, excursion planning, and fair organization show how diverse our tasks are, even outside of the bike and boat season.
Step by step, the coming season continues to grow. With preparation, coordination, and an eye for detail, we lay the foundations in winter for what can be experienced on the water and on land again in spring.
And that concludes our insight into the work during the winter months.
Don't miss your chance to receive an early booking discount of €50 per person! Only valid until February 28, 2026 for all bookings for the 2026 season.
