It is an exciting and lucrative time for agents who specialise in selling cruises.
The cruising industry is booming – both in terms of the number of passengers coming through agents’ doors and the amount of new ships being launched by cruiselines.
In spite of the negative impact of the Kosovo crisis, the UK cruising market is estimated to have grown by 11% to 706,000 passengers last year, according to the Passenger Shipping Association.
It reported passenger increases of more than 20% each year for the previous five years.
In the meantime, cruiselines have been eagerly adding innovative new attractions to their ships in a bid to set them apart from the competition.
Last year, Norwegian Cruise Line opened the first Internet cafe at sea on its new ship Norwegian Sky, while Royal Caribbean unveiled the first ice-skating rink and first rock climbing wall at sea on its gigantic new vessel Voyager of the Seas.
Disney Cruise Line has been carving out a brand new niche for itself by building ships aimed at families who may love its theme parks but have probably never considered taking a cruise before.
These changes have given agents the practical – although hardly unwelcome – problem of dealing with lots of extra customers with varying cruising needs.
Jeremy Scott, manager of Atlantis Travel in Chigwell, Essex, said he had tripled his staff to nine over the past two years to cope with mounting demand.
But he claims the main challenge is making sure the right clients are booked on the right ships, when there are so many ships out there for them to choose from.
“The thing you have to be most aware of is that, once people are on a ship, they can’t get off,” said Scott. “If they don’t like their ship they are going to hate their holiday, so you have more responsibility for customers enjoying themselves.
“You have to match a person’s needs to a ship and that is increasingly hard because of all the new ships coming on stream and the cross-section of quality and attractions they can and do offer.”
He tries to achieve this by asking a lot of questions about a customer’s lifestyle and their favourite hotels and restaurants.
He also doesn’t assume they will like an ultra-luxury six-star ship just because they have a lot of money.
Scott believes cruising holidays have become more affordable following the entry of tour operators such as Airtours and Thomson into the marketand he thinks that, as ship capacity expands, prices will fall further.
However, managing director of London-based Mundy Cruising Edwina Lonsdale is convinced prices will stay at around the same level because they are already very good value.
She said cruising customers appreciate this as they are generally very knowledgeable about all aspects of the cruising product.
Her customers tell her that, when they visit a mainstream travel agency, they often discover they know more about cruising than the agent they deal with.
Cruising specialists are optimistic that the UK cruising market is buoyant and will carry on growing. They do not believe that customers are being put off by reports of shipboard fires or even the collision of an NCL ship and a cargo vessel in the English Channel last year.
Frank Dullop, managing director at Cruise Club International in Bromley, Kent, said: “It’s the same as when there is an air crash – it doesn’t stop people flying. Also, no-one has been hurt in any of these incidents on a ship.”
Name: Jane Donnely.
Title: joint owner.
Agency: Just Cruises.
Founded: 1988.
Location: Chichester, West Sussex.
Number of staff: three.
Proportion of business devoted to cruising: 100%.
Customer profile: older, high-spending clients who tend to book cruises on five and six-star ships. Also developing families as another area of business.
How many of your customers are new to cruising? 50%.
What are the most popular ships among your customers? Arcardia for ex-UK cruises; Legend of the Seas for Mediterranean cruises; Crystal Symphony and Silver Cloud among the most upmarket clients.
What are the most popular cruising destinations among your customers? South America is up and coming. People who have already cruised in the Caribbean, Mediterranean and Alaska are looking for somewhere different to go.
What are the advantages of selling cruising? selling in only one market means our knowledge is good and we have a close relationship with cruiselines. Cruising is good value for money and we don’t get many complaints.
What are the drawbacks?: none. We love cruising and selling cruises.