The president of Celebrity Cruises has hailed the support of UK travel agents for the line’s ex-UK sailings on Celebrity Apex and its wider European offering.
The ship became Celebrity Cruises’ first Edge Class vessel to homeport in Southampton when it started a summer season of departures from Southampton in May.
Laura Hodges Bethge said: “It’s doing exceptionally well; we’re really thrilled with the support that we’re getting.
“And our overall European itineraries and deployment are getting a ton of support from travel agents here.
“Our Edge Class ships in general, are newer…so your newer ships garner the most attention.
“They’re driving the most demand in terms of how many people want to sail on them. So it is important to book early to get the staterooms that you want.”
She made her comments during a Travel Weekly webcast as she was in the UK to meet travel agents as part of networking events and sales blitzes, including Ireland and Scotland.
Asked about the possibility of a second ship sailing from the UK, she added: “It is actually something that we consider every single time, and part of the reason why I need a bigger fleet, and so we’re dreaming about the ships that come next, so that we can grow Celebrity Cruises.”
She said the UK is “a really important market for Celebrity Cruises” so she has been in the country to talk with agents about working together, developing new products and training agency staff.
“There are a lot more homeworkers…and a lot of new apprentices coming in,” she added, commenting that ship visits make “a massive difference” as they boost sales “immediately”.
“There are so many new people coming into this industry, which is fantastic, but we want to get out there,” she said.
“We want to train them and support our travel agent partners in the way that they want to be supported,” she said, pointing to initiatives such as Celebrity Cruises for Beginners.
“At our last earnings call, we said we have a very positive outlook for cruise right now; it is a wonderful time to be in cruise and great for agents who want to be involved in this sector as well.”
She also noted how the cruise line is tackling the problem of airlift for UK passengers, saying: “There’s an allocation opening [on July 25]…two months earlier than we’ve opened in the past. There will be more coming.
“I spent time yesterday talking with a couple of agencies about that, and upcoming charters…being a bit more differentiated in how we get people over to the US and doing different things. I’m excited about some of the things that we’ve got working.”