P&O Cruises has added extra departures from Cardiff and Glasgow airports for customers booking sailings with Arvia.
The extra regional flights are available for three 14-night Caribbean cruises in 2024-25 and were announced along with consumer offers and a trade incentive for the wave period.
Rob Scott, P&O Cruises vice-president for brand, marketing and sales, said the departures were partly thanks to requests from travel agents.
“We definitely listen to agents’ feedback, from agents like Hays Travel and Barrhead Travel, around the regional opportunity,” he said.
“We bring people down [to Southampton] by coaches as part of the Select Fares but regional flights allow us to capitalise on fly-cruises and support agents locally.
“It’s great; I am really encouraged by these flights and hopefully we’ll set a bit of a precedent for other regional areas as we look into 2024.”
Flights from Gatwick are available on most of the cruise line’s fly-cruise holidays, while departures from regional airports are on selected cruises. Other airports include Heathrow, Stansted, Manchester, Newcastle, Glasgow, Birmingham, East Midlands, Bristol, Bournemouth, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast.
The extra return service flight from Cardiff departs on January 17, 2025, for a sailing which costs from £1,529 for an inside cabin.
The cruise leaves Bridgetown, Barbados, and visits Martinique, Saint Kitts, British Virgin Islands, Saint Maarten, Antigua, Grenada and Saint Lucia.
The extra Glasgow services are on November 22, 2024, and February 14, 2025.
The cruise departing in November costs from £1,349, while the February sailing is from £1,549. They also sail from Bridgetown, Barbados, and visit the same ports.
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