Agents should become experts on the Caribbean as there is a “big opportunity” for bookings, according Giles Hawke, Celebrity Cruises’ vice-president and managing director EMEA.
Speaking on a Travel Weekly webcast, Hawke described the Caribbean as having “as big an opportunity as anywhere for agents”, following an increase in airlift and cruise itineraries.
He encouraged the trade to spend time studying the destination, which offers year-round sailings, so they can grow sales in partnership with Celebrity Cruises.
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“Caribbean departures are growing for us,” he said. “There’s a huge amount of airlift into Florida and we now sail out of four different ports [in the state].
“We have three, four, seven and 10-night cruises in the Caribbean year-round, so if agents want to work with us, we can jointly grow our Caribbean sales.”
From next year, Celebrity Cruises will operate sailings to parent company Royal Caribbean’s private island destination Perfect Day at CocoCay in the Bahamas for the first time.
Hawke said the destination, which will see the addition of adult-only area The Hideaway in January 2024, will have a different feel for Celebrity Cruises guests to offer something “unique and different”.
“We won’t have Celebrity Cruises ships and Royal Caribbean ships docked on the same day as we want to change how it works for the different lines,” he said.
“The Perfect Day at CocoCay that we will have for Celebrity will be a different experience to when Royal Caribbean is there.”