What could be better than a cruise? A cruise-and-stay. These options can be the perfect way to encourage a newcomer to take a cruise, or to extend a client’s holiday with a relaxing week on a beach, and increase your commission.
Thomas Cook Cruises was trying to persuade cruise clients to extend trips on land as part of its 2011 start-the-year campaign, while The Co-operative Travel launched a debut cruise-and-stay brochure in the hope of increasing sales by 30% year on year.
Cruise lines and tour operators are also getting in on the act. Coach operator Shearings, which has chartered three river cruise vessels, has new stay options, ranging from two nights in a city hotel to one week in Egypt or Croatia, in this year’s river cruise brochure.
Thomson Cruises has always sold cruise-and-stay holidays but general manager Phil Gardner believes there is scope to increase sales.
He said: “Roughly 25% of our passengers take a cruise-and-stay holiday in summer, falling to 20% in winter. It used to be higher, nearer a third, but we’ve not given it enough attention in the past couple of years. Now we are looking at ways to increase that side of the business.
“It makes sense for Thomson and also for agents, who earn more commission if they can trade clients up from a one-week holiday to a two-week cruise-and-stay.”
Gardner said cruise-and-stay holidays are popular with couples who can’t agree what to do. “It’s a happy medium if one wants to cruise and the other is less keen.”
Thomson clients can add stays in Majorca, Corfu, Turkey, Sharm el-Sheikh, the Dominican Republic and Tenerife – basically wherever Thomson bases a ship – and also in Gran Canaria and Madeira as clients can embark on Canary Island cruises from these islands as well as Tenerife.
Jenny Ellis, head of cruise at Thomas Cook, said as cruising continued to grow in 2011, with more clients looking for value-for-money holidays, the number of people taking a cruise-and-stay holiday would also increase.
She said: “Cruise-and-stay will appeal in particular to long-haul travellers, customers looking for increased flexibility and new cruisers wanting to dip their toe into the cruise waters, while still enjoying a traditional beach holiday.”
Thomas Cook and Going Places agents can tailor-make itineraries through the in-house website, which allows agents to select a cruise and add flights and hotels from the options available.
Other agents can use their own databases to find hotels and flights for clients who want to add a land stay, but most cruise lines also have a suggested list of hotels in their brochures that can be added pre or post-cruise – or even both, for an itinerary such as Venice to Barcelona.
Cruises ready to package
Louis Cruises and Norwegian coastal operator Hurtigruten both offer cruise-only fares in the UK, which give agents the perfect opportunity to package them up with flights, hotels or additional sightseeing tours.
Louis Cruises UK general manager Peter Adamou said: “Our new partnership with Amadeus Cruise, which we joined last November, allows agents to easily combine
a Louis cruise with any flights, rail travel and hotels featured on the system.”
Suggested cruise-and-stay options include an Athens city break, or a week on a Greek beach, before a seven-night Greek islands cruise on Louis Cristal, or a Eurostar/TGV train journey from the UK to Marseille and a couple of nights in the city before a Mediterranean cruise on Louis Majesty.
Summer 2011 cruise-only prices start at £179 for a three-night Greek islands cruise, or from £339 for a six-night cruise on Louis Majesty from Marseille.
Cruise and tour add-ons
A few cruise lines feature pre and post-cruise land tours in their brochures, allowing agents to add a sightseeing programme to the main holiday easily.
Princess Cruises tours range from five to nine nights in the US, Canada, China, Australia and South America in its Exotics brochure, plus three to seven-night tours in Alaska, where it offers its own trains and wilderness lodges.
The Exotics selection includes a seven-night Outback Adventure from Sydney that visits Uluru, Alice Springs and Cairns, and costs from £1,799. It can be added to 15 or 16-night Australia and New Zealand cruises on Diamond Princess.
Alaska options include three-night tours visiting Fairbanks and Denali, with ‘flightseeing’ and a river boat cruise among the activities available; and a seven-night Kenai Explorer, with stays in Princess lodges in Fairbanks, Denali, Mount McKinley and Kenai.
Silversea’s pre and post-cruise land adventures selection includes a two-night Ngorongoro Crater Expedition from Kenya, priced from £2,229, and a three-night wine tour of Catalonia from Barcelona, which costs from £1,329.
New for 2011, Voyages to Antiquity has assembled pre and post-cruise stays in Rome, Athens, Istanbul and Cairo into most of its itineraries, to give clients time to relax and explore these iconic cities.
Sample product
Shearings offers a seven-night full-board Classic Nile cruise on Viking Princess combined with a week half-board at the four-star Sultan Bey Hotel in El Gouna from £1,048 on July 4 and 11, including flights and transfers
Book it:shearingsagent.com, 01942 823449
Thomson Cruises offers a 14-night cruise-and-stay in Corfu on October 21, combining a seven-night full-board Pearls of the Aegean cruise on Thomson Spirit with a week’s half-board at the 4T-rated Corfu Chandris, from £1,039 including flights and transfers.
Book it:thomson.co.uk, 0871 231 3234
