Name: Minerva.
Cruiseline: Swan Hellenic.
Tonnage: 12,500 tons
Passenger capacity: 392.
Facilities: main dining room; cafe; cinema; two bars; cardroom; library; gym and swimming pool.
Special features: offers inclusive excursions and operates an extensive on-board lecture programme, which focuses on the history and culture of the destinations on the itinerary.
Comments: Minerva is a well turned out, comfortable and classy small ship. It has a large, well stocked library and a attractive pool deck (see left). Special mention should go to the standard of cuisine, which is excellent.
UPMARKET cruiseline Swan Hellenic claims it is benefiting from a surge in demand for long-haul holidays prompted by financial confidence among the grey market.
It claims sales are up by around 30% this year as a result of this trend, although it declined to reveal exact figures.
In comparison, the overall short-haul market is currently flat.
Sales manager Deborah Cowie said: “We are doing well and if you talk to people who are selling long-haul holidays they are doing well.
“But if you look at the bucket-and-spade cruise market, that is not doing quite as well. It is the upmarket customers spending the money at the moment.”
She said customers aged 50 plus with savings were benefiting from recent increases in interest rates.
The likelihood is that rates will continue to rise, which is giving people confidence about their personal financial situations, she explained.
Cowie said the growth in sales of cruising through the trade was also helping Swan Hellenic, which also has the advantage of being owned by a high profile cruiseline, P&O Cruises.
At present, half of Swan Hellenic’s sales are generated by travel agents but Cowie expects the trade’s share to increase this year.
“Agents are selling more cruises than ever before. They feel confident about selling cruising,” she claimed.
Swan Hellenic has a loyalty programme for agents, Swan Select, which has a membership of 26 companies that own a total of 160 outlets between them.
A further four companies are members of Swan Elite, which receive enhanced benefits.
“Swan Select has worked. Agents get special offers, improved commission and I see them more frequently,” said Cowie.
STAFF IN Swan Hellenic’s reservations, planning, marketing, finance and sales departments are regularly sent out to Minerva to work on its excursions desk. The policy is intended to thoroughly familiarise them with the way the ship is run and help them to give passengers and travel trade partners more informed advice in the future. Reservations consultant Lucy Hancock recently spent two weeks working on Minerva during a cruise between Singapore and Sri Lanka. She had already cruised in the Middle East and the Med since joining Swan Hellenic two years ago.
Name: Lucy Hancock.
Age: 23.
Job at London office: reservations consultant with responsibility for handling bookings, pre and post-cruise enquiries andadministration.
Job on Minerva: cruise assistant. A post which involves working on the excursions desk, escorting the excursions and dealing with passenger enquiries. Although Hancock works every day, she stays in a passenger cabin, takes all her meals with passengers and can take advantage of all the ship’s facilities. She is not allowed into the crew’s quarters.
Comments: “It’s good to learn about what everybody on board does. I am in reservations, and it’s so much easier to tell passengers about things once you have seen them. You pick up all sorts of different things. You get to know what the passengers like, and they are interested in what we do too. There are passengers on this cruise who were on my first one, and the likelihood is I am going to meet a lot of people again. I am also very lucky to go to all these destinations.”