Princess Cruises has reported its “strongest May on record” which was also its “biggest trading month of the year”.
In an interview with Travel Weekly, the line’s vice-president of the UK and Europe, Eithne Williamson, praised agents’ performance for the first six months of the year, which delivered a “fantastic” wave season, and even better month since.
“This May was our strongest May on record and our biggest trading month of the year which is absolutely incredible,” said Williamson (pictured).
More: Princess Cruises expands 2024 Canada & New England programme
“We outstripped our wave performance which is so powerful. June was also a really strong month and was up at wave levels so it has been a fantastic start to the year.
“If we look at the first six months of 2023 for the UK and Ireland, it has delivered a record first half of the year and is 30% higher than 2022.”
Williamson cited a campaign the line launched earlier in the year as the reason for the increased bookings, along with trade team’s performance.
“We looked at our insight data which suggested April and May would be really popular months for people booking 2024 holidays so we introduced a campaign around our Princess Plus package which led to 80% of our guests booking with that option and certainly helped boost sales,” Williamson said.
“We’ve also had amazing feedback from our travel agent partners who have said how great our sales team is and how much they enjoy doing business with us so I think that also helped contribute to the record month.
“It’s brilliant to have those strong partnerships in place and we are very thankful for what we can achieve with the trade when we all work together.”