Princess Cruises has urged agents to book sailings as early as possible to avoid high flight prices as it confirmed it has secured 800 British Airways seats to help passengers keep costs down.
The line has reserved the seats on flights to the Mediterranean to coincide with seven sailings on new ship Sun Princess, which is scheduled to enter service on February 8, 2024.
Princess Cruises currently partners with Aer Lingus to secure seats on flights from Dublin and said it was in “ongoing discussions” with several airlines to boost capacity for passengers.
“We want to negate some of that flight cost and take the risk ourselves instead of passing it on to our agents and customers,” said Nick Hughes, sales director for the UK and Europe.
“Research is telling us air capacity will be back at 2019 levels by the end of next year, so we’re hoping prices will come down, but agents should get flights booked as early as possible to secure those lower fares.”
While agents can book package holidays through Princess Cruises, Hughes said the line was seeing an increase in agents self-packaging itineraries for their clients.
He encouraged agents to “get under the skin” of the cruise lines they are selling to ensure they match the right cruise to the customer.
“Over the last year or so, we’ve seen an increase in agents packaging holidays under their own Atols and net agreements, where they buy cruise-only and source their own flights, hotel and car hire, instead of booking it all through us,” he said.
“And although we’re not quite back at 2019 levels, the numbers of agents self-packaging is getting close to that, and the trend implies it will return to pre-pandemic levels soon.
“We are happy for agents to package themselves and to take the responsibility on, or they are more than welcome to buy it all through us; it’s all about securing the right holiday for the right customer.”
He added: “Knowing the ins and outs of the cruise you’re selling is also key in being able to show where the value lies and to overcome any cost‑of-living concerns.”