P&O Cruises’ chief commercial officer insists there is still peak season availability for most of the line’s cruises and categories despite several leading agencies raising concerns over affordable options for this summer.
In his first interview since moving from Princess Cruises to take up the newly created role last autumn, Stuart Allison told a Travel Weekly webcast: “I would love to be sitting here saying summer is full but sadly I can’t.
“I can see a lot of family availability through the peak school holidays. It might be that availability for certain age groups and particular departure dates is more limited, but generally we are not a million miles off the availability situation last year.”
Allison was speaking after agents told Travel Weekly that wave sales for cruises departing this summer had been hindered in some cases by pricing and availability, particularly for families and ex-UK sailings.
While acknowledging prices had risen significantly from the competitive deals that immediately followed the pandemic, Allison said cruises still offered better value than land-based equivalents and prices were “nowhere near” where they would be if they had tracked inflation over the past five years.
He also insisted prices needed to increase further to maximise both lines’ and agents’ earning potential and said positive returns from the UK market would strengthen the case for the P&O Cruises fleet to be expanded in future.
Allison said the line had reported a record January for sales volumes, new-to-cruise sales and premium bookings, but an extended booking curve and well-sold inventory offered greater opportunities to promote early‑booking messages.
“The best deals for summer holiday cruises are now for 2026, [so] if you’re going to wait till early next year [to book], you’re not going to get as good a deal,” he said.
“We can hand on heart say ‘book early to get the best deal’ and don’t wait for the last 90 days for a clearance of stock as it isn’t going to happen.”
Asked if agents’ reports of a lack of available inventory for this year could be a result of more direct sales driven by P&O Cruises’ marketing and partnership activity, Allison said he was “channel-agnostic” and the line had no desire to push direct business over trade sales.