Holland America Line (HAL) has reported a “really positive start” to wave season as the line named the first agent winners in its new month-long competition.
Speaking during a Travel Weekly webcast on Monday, UK sales and marketing director Karen Farndell revealed the prizes that travel counsellor Sarah Bolton; Bon Voyage agent Amanda Davies; Michelle Binney, of Bolsover Cruise Club; Iglu’s Janet Beesley-Iddon; and Canadian Affair’s Julie Heath had won.
The prizes include money to host a team meal out; BBC Earth tickets; limited edition gin and a spa day.
The line is offering agents the chance to win prizes in exchange for bookings this month as part of its 150th anniversary celebrations.
To qualify, agents must make a HAL booking this month and submit the booking reference via a SurveyMonkey link on Travel Weekly’s website.
A further 14 agents have also won prizes and will soon be contacted by the line.
Farndell confirmed that 150 prizes would be given away and called for “everyone” to enter the competition.
Reflecting on booking levels this year, she added: “We’ve been pleased with how things have been going so far. It’s early days but on ‘Sunshine Saturday’ at the weekend we had so much rain.
“Rain is great for business. We’ve seen a really positive start to January, we’re really pleased. The marketing that we’re putting out seems to be resonating.
“The customers are just really taking advantage of some of the great consumer benefits that we’ve got at the moment.”
Farndell reported “a real spike” in European bookings since the start of the year as well as the line’s “big destinations” such as Alaska.
The other winners included Cruise Nation’s Charlotte Emanuel; Chris Darby, of Iglu; Phil Davies, of Cruise118; Claudiu Zugravu, Jetline Cruise; Adele McCabe, Transat; and Steven Toward, Iglu.