The cruise industry sector of Robe’s business has expanded exponentially during Tony’s tenure, a combination of his experience and first-hand knowledge of the sector, hard work and being able to offer a raft of flexible Robe and Anolis lighting products to meet exacting standards.

The agility and comprehensive nature of Robe’s worldwide distribution network has also been a vital factor in this success, resulting in several high profile maritime projects including with MSC’s World class vessels, CCL’s Sun Princess class ships and other Carnival Cruise Line brands, RCCL’s Icon of the Seas class, various Disney cruise brands, and the NCL Prima class, among others.

Tony’s focus will now be to further develop Robe’s global strategy in this key area and to “inspire cruise clients worldwide with the brand’s innovative lighting solutions portfolio,” actively driving new business whilst maintaining and growing the all-important existing relationships.

Cruise ships are an increasingly competitive marketplace, and Robe stands out in the sector for several reasons, a major one being that it fully designs and manufactures its own technology in Europe, rather that outsourcing core processes to other regions.

Tony is based in Florida – a key hub for many leading cruise industry operators – and travels extensively throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia.

His personal history with Robe dates to 2004 – 2008 when he enjoyed a stint as Eastern Regional Sales Manager for the Robe North American team.

Before that, he had thrived in the nightlife industry, helping build and kit out nightclubs and organize electronic music festivals. After leaving Robe in 2008 on excellent terms to expand his horizons in the cruise ship industry, he worked directly for several cruise lines and quickly learned how their world operates, “finding my sea legs!”

Everyone at Robe loved Tony’s positive and can-do attitude to business, his great communications skills and his irrepressible passion for the industry and his work. The late Craig Burross (Robe North America’s chief sales officer until his untimely passing in May this year) with whom Tony was also close personal friends, started trying to tempt him back in 2017, finally succeeding in 2020 when he returned initially as business development manager focusing on the maritime market in North America.

Even Tony with all his zest for being back at Robe didn’t anticipate advancing quite so rapidly in just 4 years ... and despite numerous challenges thrown up by the global pandemic, an achievement for which he acknowledges very strong support from Craig and Robe North America CEO, Lorienn Cochenour.

“Craig and Lori always encouraged me to explore new approaches and drive business across the wider Robe sales network, and this promotion is another major milestone,” he enthuses.

Understanding how entertainment lighting must work onboard cruise ships is galvanising and needs a special approach. The vessel’s construction will typically take two years and includes a very dynamic range of entertainment spaces – theatres, lounges, nightclubs, casinos, spas, gyms, pool decks with water slides, kids' lounges, retail shops … plus passenger and crew sleeping / living accommodation. A ship is also constantly on the move.

“With factors like generated power, the saltwater environment, and UV lighting from the sun, specifying and installing robust, reliable and long-lasting intelligent lighting systems is an art,” stated Tony.

Robe collaborates with the cruise industry's top lighting designers and integrators as well as a series of “brilliant cruise lines with extensive experience in this demanding field.”

Robe will now further expand its future Maritime business across its various subsidiaries and distributors to support and grow the global cruise market.

“With subsidiaries in North America, Germany, France, the UK, the Middle East and the Asia Pacific region, Robe is highly flexible and ideally positioned to assist cruise clients worldwide,” noted Tony, “We can offer exceptional sales, training and support, underscored by many other advantages like transparency and administrative, logistics and information sharing.”

Another benefit and a major aspect of the job that Tony enjoys in Maritime is the opportunity to embrace multiple cultures and business practices and learn from all these every day in refining and perfecting the brand’s support and understanding of the global cruise market, committed to being a long-term player, innovator and technical trailblazer.