A new sales operations team has been created by Princess Cruises in the UK responsible for activities including online training, online and offline campaign collateral, events and communications.
The team will be headed by former sales communication and events executive Victoria Snelgar.
She will be supported by Matt Lebbern, who moves from his role as a Princess Cruises’ reservations team leader.
Regional business manager, Andrea Jones, has been promoted to senior regional business manager. She will now support sales manager Sarah-Jane Walker in leading a five-strong Princess Academy frontline agent team.
Princess claims it will become the first cruise line in the UK to launch a live ‘web chat’ facility.
Currently on trial with launch in a few weeks, it will offer instant, real time online communication between agents and a member of the line’s contact centre.
The facility is already used in the Princess Cruises Australia office and accounts for one in three enquiries.
The Princess sales information portal, onesourcecruises.com, has also been expanded. A destinations section is now available, which includes individual guides on the 360 locations Princess ships call at, details of the vessels and a list of shore excursions.
Information and an entry form for Princess’ #MakeMeMajestic competition are now live on onesourcecruises.com.
The competition will give 200 agents a four-night Mediterranean cruise on the line’s new ship, Majestic Princess, which enters service next year.
To win, agents must book for a 2017 fly-Europe cruise with Princess by January 28.
Tony Roberts, vice president of Princess Cruises UK, said: “We are witnessing unprecedented agent demand at present so it’s vital we invest both in our team and toolkit.
“This year we enjoyed our best ever Wave period and the momentum has continued apace – our 2016 guest target has already been broken while we have comfortably surpassed projected sales for our key UK homeport ship, Emerald Princess.
“This is great news for Princess but it’s essential we don’t rest on our laurels. Our new sales operations team and expanded One Source will help us ensure we remain easy to do business with.
“We’ve already established a successful blueprint for ensuring our teams are focussed on being agent-centric, for example our UK-based contact centre has shared objectives with our sales team to deliver first-rate agent support, so we know our operations team will be able to offer the same level of service and delivery.
“I want to thank agents for the amazing support they continue to give us and am confident our added support will prove beneficial to them.”