Major cruise lines are expanding their UK trade sales teams as they look to increase support for new agents and boost bookings.
Royal Caribbean International, MSC Cruises, P&O Cruises and Cunard have either recently recruited new staff or are actively looking to fill trade-facing roles.
MSC and Royal are continuing to recruit sales staff despite exceeding their pre‑pandemic head counts.
Royal’s UK sales director, Stuart Byron, confirmed the line’s 20-strong sales team was “bigger than ever” but he was still aiming to hire key account managers across the UK and a training manager.
He said: “The trade remains a key focus and we’ll continue to invest further in the support we offer. The new vacancies are just the start of this.”
MSC is looking for a regional sales manager to help agents in the northeast, and a training support executive. Once recruited, the trade sales team will comprise 19 staff, up from 16 pre-pandemic.
Steve Williams, UK and Ireland sales director, said agents remained “a huge priority” for the line. “This is why we’re fully equipping them with everything they need so they can confidently sell our cruises,” he said.
“Throughout 2022, our trade partners did a fantastic job and we are predicting that sales will continue to grow via the trade throughout 2023.”
P&O Cruises wants to recruit a trade training manager and three partnership development managers. Rob Scott, vice-president of sales, marketing and brand, said the line would continue to expand its team if agent bookings continued to grow.
“We’re now above 30,” he said. “We’re certainly getting back up to pre-pandemic levels.”
He went on to explain how partnership development managers secured new accounts and worked with agencies that normally “would not get face-to-face time but are quite strong sellers for us”.
Cunard added a fourth business manager to its sales team last week. James Scott joined the line from Oceania Cruises where he had worked since 2019.
Tom Mahoney, who has made several internal appointments since becoming Cunard’s UK sales director last year, said: “We’re set up incredibly well for the year.
“We’re looking to work with a range of travel agents who may already book Cunard but with whom we’ve not yet had the scope to work closely.”