Princess Cruises is looking to create new memories for customers through its wave campaign.
The cruise line has launched its Make New Memories campaign which includes a series of offers for customers booking during the coming months.
Alex White, head of sales, said the line had gone in a different direction from past wave campaigns and is looking to build on the success of its recent Cruise Extra campaign which ran for three months and encouraged early bookings.
This year’s campaign includes a ‘3 for free’ offer – with a free balcony upgrade, $100 shore excursion credit and a free framed formal photograph. Princess is also offering a lower deposit of £99 per person and third/fourth passenger fares from £99per person.
“We had great success with our Get Extra campaign and that helped pave the way for the wave campaign,” White said. “Since the dedicated sale team came in place it has meant a lot of change but it also means we are very focused on the brand.
“Our team has been working with agents to help them learn more about Princess and who we should promote it. For the wave campaign it’s a similar theme because we want agents to be telling customers about the memories they can make with Princess and as part of that we have offers to help them make more memories.
“It’s about focusing on why Princess is different from other cruise lines. It’s a really exciting campaign and we’re really looking to support agents as much as possible.”
The cruise is to host 20 ship visits next year for 400 agents, giving them the chance to explore four ships including Royal Princess which is returning to the UK briefly.
Speaking about the Get Extra campaign which began in September and included three separate initiatives – Princess Makes You Smile, Frontline First and Princess One to One – White said he was pleased by the number of new agents working with the line.
“We definitely cemented some older relationships but we also broadened our distribution by starting to work with agents who we haven’t worked with before,” he said. “Some of those new agents were cruise experts and others were from independents.
“The Princess One to One worked really well because it gave agents the chance to ask us for any help they might need and if they hadn’t worked with us before it was a chance to find out more about the company. A lot of agents really tailored that to get what they wanted from it and it is something we will continue to run.”
As part of the campaign Princess also launched its Frontline First scheme project which will see frontline agents take part in forums.
White said they had received “lots of expressions of interest” from agents wanting to get involved. The first forum session is expected to take place in January, with two taking place regionally each quarter.
Agents will be able to take part in webinars to learn all about the new campaign on Thursday at either 9.30am or 4pm and on Friday at 9.30am. The webinars are being hosted by White and Shane Riley, field sales and training manager.
As part of campaign Princess is giving agents the chance to win one of 35 Red Letter Day experience if they make a booking during the wave period between December 26 and February 28. Prizes will be given away each week and agents can enter as many times as they want.
Next year will be Princess Cruises’ first full year as an individual brand with its own dedicated sales team.