Princess Cruises is launching three new schemes designed to show its commitment to the trade and gain agent feedback.
Falling under the banner of the Get Extra campaign, the cruise line has launched Princess Cruises Makes You Smile, Frontline First and Princess One to One.
Under the Frontlist First project, the line plans to host quarterly forums with frontline agents, giving them the chance to suggest things that would make their jobs easier. Agents are being approached to attend the forums, the first of which will be held before the end of the year.
Speaking to Travel Weekly, Alex White, head of sales, said there was potential to hold several forums up and down the country depending on the demand and response from agents. It is hoped there will be 10-15 agents attending at each location.
A representative from all departments which have contact with agents – from marketing and finance to customer service and reservations – will attend the forum sessions four times a year. They will then continue to meet internally once a month to ensure they are responding to agents’ comments.
“We have been working on this internally for a couple of months now and it’s really exciting for us,” he said. “I think what makes this different is that it is a forum solely for front line agents. We want to learn about the small and bigger things that can make our agent partners’ jobs easier.”
As well as getting feedback at follow-up forums, all agents will receive a newsletter highlighting what was discussed.
The Princess Makes You Smile initiative is about showing agents the things Princess Cruises does to make their jobs easier, White explained.
As part of the Smile scheme, agents are being sent chocolates and have the chance to win an overnight hotel stay in London or Manchester with dinner and a trip to The Comedy Store for four people.
White said: “Princess Makes You Smile is about highlighting to agents the positives about working with Princess – the improved and enhanced commission levels, the benefits of our cruise groups programme and the regional support teams we have in place.
“We’re doing a lot of webinars and a lot with social media to show agents what we have to offer.”
He added: “Get Extra is about showing what we have done, Princess One-to-One is about showing what we are doing now and Frontline First is about what we will be doing in the future to ensure our agents are happy.
“Princess One to One is about going out and speaking to agents and giving them support and advice. We don’t believe in a one size fits all approach to our agents – agents all have different wants and needs and that’s important to us.
“Our regional sales team go into their agencies and spend time with them.”
The cruise line will be sending out weekly bulletins with all Princess-related deals and news.