Cruise specialist agency Cruise.co.uk has launched a luxury division called Aboveandbeyondluxury.cruises, which it claims will provide “the ultimate concierge service”.
It is headed by Elaine Ross, formerly of Iglu.com, Gill’s Cruise Centre and Royal Caribbean International. Most recently, she worked for P&P Associates before moving to Cruise.co.uk last September in a consultancy role.
Deputy managing director Tony Andrews admitted the agency had tried to get into the luxury cruise sector before but not succeeded.
“We would send luxury emails that drove people to the Cruise. co. uk website [but] that’s where [the journey] fell down,” he said. “We realised we needed a separate entity – a separate website and a separate team.”
Andrews also revealed Cruise. co. uk had tried to acquire a luxury cruise agency, but a deal had never quite come to fruition.
The agency soft-launched the Aboveandbeyondluxury.cruises website last month and said it would scale it up from this month onwards.
“It will be different to what other people are calling concierge,” claimed Andrews. “We will offer ultimate connectivity to experienced consultants however they want to contact us – whether that’s a call, email, text, WhatsApp or home visit.
“We will arrange pet care and we’ll do welcome-home shops for clients returning from their cruise. We’re taking it to a new level. We don’t see anyone else offering that.”
Andrews said Aboveandbeyond- luxury.cruises would also apply its tour operating skills to the luxury cruise brands, offering escorted tours and bucket-list adventures as part of its exclusive packages.
Two former Cruise. co. uk consultants “with a high degree of luxury cruise experience” have already moved across to join Ross’s team and she hopes to have up to seven dedicated luxury consultants by the end of the year.
Ross said new recruits did not necessarily need cruise experience but did need to understand the luxury customer.
“Taking the Cruise. co. uk tour operating experience and putting that into luxury – that’s where there’s a gap,” she said. “And with the best service added on top, we think it’s a huge opportunity.”
Andrews declined to reveal which cruise lines would be promoted by Aboveandbeyondluxury.cruises.