Anna Perrott has left Windstar Cruises to become head of supplier relations at luxury agency Panache Cruises.
The former business development manager for UK and Europe worked at the US-headquartered cruise line for nearly three years following stints at Travelbag, JTA Travel Management and Cruise.co.uk.
Sales and operations director Clare Cruise will focus more on customer service once Perrott starts her role on January 30, Panache Cruises founder James Cole said.
“The head of supplier relations role is one we’ve been looking to fill for some time,” he said. “It’s about expanding the existing senior team.
“We’ve worked with Anna for a number of years because she’s been heading up Windstar in the UK. We had conversations as the role became available and decided that was the path that we wanted to take. Anna was a very obvious choice.”
Cole highlighted Perrott’s “unbelievable skills” and knowledge of the cruise sector. “She has a huge amount of passion,” he added.
The agency’s senior leadership team now consists of Cole, Cruise, marketing director Neil Thomson, head of finance Kim Glynn and Perrott.
Cole went on explain how the Chorley-based business was always looking for people as passionate as Perrott to join the agency.
“We’ll be recruiting again in 2023,” Cole added. “We’re looking for people to fill sales roles.”
He noted how Panache offers sales staff a starting salary of up to £30,000 plus on-target earnings.
“Wave season is going well,” Cole added. “I’ve read about people being eager to travel. The exciting about the luxury and ultra-luxury sector is the number of new ships that are coming in onto the scene.
“There’s a lot of interest from consumers out there.”