Crystal sales chief outlines ambition to 'be best ultra-luxury line for trade'

Crystal will introduce more “agent-first” initiatives to be “the absolute best ultra-luxury line for the trade”, according to its new sales chief.

Luke Smith joined the luxury line last month as vice-president of sales for the UK and EMEA after 18 years at Carnival UK and has outlined ambitions for sales growth and greater trade engagement.

Smith told Travel Weekly: “By this time next year, I would like a record-breaking 12 months and to have the new ship [coming in 2028] on sale with a better launch than anticipated and, most importantly, to have more agents consistently selling Crystal and understanding the product.

“I would also love to double the number of agents that have touched the product and to have twice as many agents onboarded.”

He added the Crystal team had worked “tirelessly” since re-entering the market 18 months ago, and his role was to put in a structure to enable the team to “take things to the next level” and ensure “a trade-first strategy”.

Smith said: “I have very large growth plans for the UK market, and I find it extremely exciting that we’re coming into a period of growth [with new ships].

“I love a juicy target and want to really push ourselves to be the absolute best ultra-luxury cruise line for the trade.”

As part of this, Smith has committed to growing and “enhancing” the line’s ship visit programme with bigger groups, more dates, more agents and potentially consumers getting the chance to get on the ships with more experiences of the entertainment and culinary side.

Smith added he wanted to welcome top partners for “a meeting of the minds” in their London office to understand their needs, similar to the Fun Ambassador programme that was in place during his time at Carnival Cruise Line UK.

Other initiatives include a new monthly webinar series for agents, an expanding online training platform with new modules and an AI training tool, new social media platforms for the trade, WhatsApp communities for agents to be kept up to date with programme launches, offers and partnerships, more personalisable templates and assets, and getting “more involved” in events, awards and conferences.

He said: “In the last five years, the influx of homeworkers even with traditional businesses has risen so we need to make sure we are available and easy for everyone to do business with, because the trade is vital to the business, and they are going to be even more vital as we have new ships coming and new products releasing earlier all the time.”

Both ships in the Crystal fleet will go into dry dock within the next year, and a new ship will arrive in 2028 with name and itineraries to be revealed in the next quarter.

Smith revealed he was also working on “an exciting development” with sister brand Abercrombie & Kent (A&K) to offer more combined cruise and land packages, such as South Africa voyages and safaris.

“The sync up between our two brands is only going to increase going forward,” he said.

“That’s something I am working on quite a lot to make it a lot easier for the trade to pair a Crystal Cruise with an A&K land stay which will be a real money-can’t-buy holiday experience that you will only be able to get within this group of brands.”

Smith stressed he and the team “will do absolutely everything for the trade”.

He said: “That is a guarantee now I am in role to get the trade selling more and all we ask of the trade is to promote Crystal and talk about us.

“It is a partnership. We are not going anywhere. We are only going to get bigger. We want partners that will continue to grow with us.”