Imagine Cruising hires Tony Roberts as company prepares to woo agents 

Former Princess Cruises boss Tony Roberts has joined Imagine Cruising as the company prepares to start selling its packages through travel agents for the first time.

Roberts’ appointment as acting chief commercial officer marks his return to the cruise sector, where he spent 23 years working for lines including Princess Cruises and Seabourn UK.

It is also his first industry job since leaving his position as chief commercial officer of Warner Hotels in June 2024.

“It is really exciting to be back in cruise and with an amazing product,” said Roberts.

His appointment at Imagine Cruising, which is primarily a tour operator but also has an agency business, comes at a time of “growth opportunities”.

More: Imagine Cruising targeting UK trade partnerships in 2025

This includes a plan to sell all the operator’s packages – the majority of which are “curated” packages – through agents in the “coming months”.

He said: “We are building a B2B strategy, where we’ll take Imagine’s curated products and make those available to trade partners to sell to their audiences and deliver that Imagine experience to a much broader audience than we’re able to reach ourselves.”

The bespoke packages will be sold in the same way as traditional, commissionable cruise packages and will allow Imagine to reach clients loyal to travel agents.

He added: “A lot of agents will already do things such as cruise-and-stay and an element of packaging themselves.

“Our bigger opportunity is to sell the fully curated tours – the cruise and experience – where everything is included and the relationships we have with our partners are such that we’re able to create real value that is difficult for others to create on a bespoke or a one-off basis.

“It’s about those bucket-list experiences. Imagine going to an amazing destination, which is what your holiday is all about, but also having an intimate, once-in-a-lifetime experience.

“That’s really the ultimate bragging right: you didn’t just go and see Katherine Jenkins, but you saw her in a clifftop location, and you also enjoyed a fantastic cruise experience and maybe a hotel stay and a fully curated holiday.”

Further product will be developed exclusively for the trade, Roberts added, while the company continues with plans to enter new source markets.