Princess Cruises will welcome more than 2,000 UK agents on ship visits, fam trips and “graduate cruises” this year, as it looks to build confidence in its trade partners.
The line plans to host 750 agents on UK ship visits in 2023 as well as run a minimum of four overseas fam trips catering for at least 260 agents.
Additionally, agents who complete the line’s training modules will receive a free inside cabin on a sailing of their choice as part of the line’s graduate cruises rewards programme, with more than 1,000 spots available.
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Sales director for UK and Europe Nick Hughes said it is key for agents to have confidence in the brand and the best way for them to understand what they are selling is to get them on board.
“When you have been somewhere, you have so much more confidence talking about it and that’s what I want agents to have,” he told Travel Weekly.
“Running all these ship visits and graduate cruises is all about giving them that confidence.
“We want to invite agents who know and love the brand, agents who have sold a little bit of cruise but want to grow their confidence, and those agents who have never sold a cruise but are keen to learn what it’s all about.”
Eithne Williamson (pictured), vice-president of UK and Europe, said: “Last year we ran four fam trips and 100% of the agents we took said that they would recommend Princess Cruises to their customers, which is the whole point of them.
“Agents are of a critical importance to us as a brand and it is imperative we do everything we can to support them, so we want to welcome them on board and show them what we have to offer.
“We currently have 15 ships in the market plus two being built so we have huge opportunity for our agents and the better our partnership with them is, the more we can grow our budget and invest in our sales team to help support them, and we can all grow together.”
Williamson went on to praise agents’ work during wave season, and said there has been a “reawakening” of understanding Princess Cruises does not solely offer ex-UK sailings after the pandemic.
“This year’s wave season was better than 2022 and 2019 so we are really happy with it,” she said.
“There seems to have been a reawakening of agents who are remembering we do not just offer ex-UK sailings, we visit 330 destinations globally, so it is great to see our fly-cruises selling well.”