Lisa Jacobs

It’s a cruel fact of the market but the bigger the cruise line the more it will hoard the attention of the travel press. Whether it’s Royal Caribbean revealing its latest mega-ship or Carnival opening offices in Singapore –market share dictates column inches. However, what about those clients who want the simpler, more traditional cruise experience? What about those who aren’t afraid of asking for a proudly British product? It’s those companies, which could easily be described as the unsung heroes of the British market, that are holding on to the traditional values of the British cruiser. One such company is Cruise & Maritime Voyages (CMV). The firm has a tight grip on its particular sector of the market and is a great example of a company fulfilling the requirements of its client. For CMV it’s knowing that profile that has led to its fleet expansions and increased regional departures. We met Lisa Jacobs the newly appointed Head of Retail Sales to find out more.

How have you found the new position?

It is very exciting and a great opportunity to be part of an expanding company. When I joined Cruise & Maritime Voyages (CMV) three years ago from Norwegian Cruise Line, we were getting ready to launch a second ship and now the fleet has expanded to three: Marco Polo, Discovery and, new to the fleet, the very stylish Astor. We have come a long way in a relatively short period of time and I am extremely proud to have been part of the journey thus far. Retail agents are key to CMV’s success and to have a dedicated role as head of retail sales affords me the time to focus on our retail partners and help grow our mutual business. Sales through retail agents are up 15% compared to last year.

How is your relationship with the UK trade?

Our dedicated business development managers and I enjoy meeting agents and discussing ideas on how to grow their cruise business. The recent PSA figures show that the ex-UK market is the growth area along with Norway as a destination, these are a major part of CMV’s business. Due to the fact we cruise from nine regional ports means we have attracted new agents from those areas. In Bristol, Hull, Edinburgh and Newcastle we have been well received and welcomed. We offer enhanced commission levels which is appreciated by our agent partners. I like to get out and about with the role and in the last 12 months I have travelled in excess of 28,000 miles meeting agents and working on promotions.

Why should a travel agent book with CMV?

Apart from having an excellent product with high customer satisfaction levels, we offer strong commission terms of 10% rising to 12.5% once £5,000 has been achieved. Additional earning opportunities exist based on good volume. Our ships are much smaller and more intimate than some other cruise lines therefore agents are encouraged to book their customers earlier and get the cabin they want. We understand that early bookings are important to agents in order to budget their business and therefore we regularly launch exciting campaigns to help drive the sales in early. In our ‘Buy One Get One Half Price’ campaign last summer, which was supported by the trade, we took just under 30% of our overall sales in two months! We offer an extensive programme of ship visits around the country where we welcome agents on board for lunch, overnight –when we can, and of course to cruise with us at a good daily rate. In addition, we have a dedicated sales team to assist our retail partners with promotions and training etc.

Who is the typical CMV passenger?

They are around 65 years of age. Younger in the summer and on our shorter cruises. A large percentage travel within 1.5 hours of the port to. We have very few children because Marco Polo is an adult only ship. Discovery and Astor welcome accompanied children but have no dedicated facilities. We have many first timer cruisers, which is good, and in the last year we have had many people who have previously cruised on more expensive products but enjoyed our varied programme and exciting itineraries.

How was your January been in terms of sales?

January was slightly down year-on-year but we are 80% sold for 2013 so we cannot complain. We took more bookings than ever before last year for this year. Relying on late sales is not smart so increasing the lead time before departure is better for us. Building up expectations for bumper sales in January caught many people out.

What challenges are you currently facing?

With the cruise market flat lining in 2012 coupled with increased capacity, competition remains intense leading to a lot of last minute distress stock. It is a crazy situation to have those lines with four and five star products being sold at a fraction of their value. Fortunately for CMV it is only on a small number of occasions that we have to follow this pattern to clear a few remaining unsold cabins.

Can you tell me what 2013 holds?

I believe that by taking initiatives such as our current ‘Buy one get one half price’ offer on our winter/spring programme, we will see a continued rise in earlier bookings. We are hoping that by promoting the value of our cruises through social media and other promotional avenues we get bookings on value not price alone. A wide range of exciting destinations, from nine regional ports, entertainment, guest speakers and a good variety of shore excursions will continue to be a key reason to book with us. It is unlikely in the current financial climate that the overall cruise market will grow by very much. However our expectations are that ex-UK will remain strong and so will the shorter cruise durations. CMV is ideally placed to meet such challenges.

Magnus Wrahme

Norwegian operator Hurtugruten has hired Magnus Wrahme as its new senior vice president global sales.

Wrahme, who has previously held positions with Royal Caribbean, has also ran his own consultancy where he assisted both cruise companies and commercial enterprises with business development and tactical market entry.

“We’re extremely pleased to have Wrahme on our team,” commented Hurtigruten CEO Daniel Skjeldam. “His extensive experience from over 13 years in the international cruise industry and many years in other areas of tourism will be of great benefit to us in the future. International competition is tough and his global experience in this market, coupled with his broad network of contacts, will help put Hurtigruten even more firmly on the map.”

“The world´s most beautiful voyage along majestic coastlines and a wealth of explorer style adventure products in polar waters gives Hurtigruten unique international sales potential,” added Wrahme. “This will be a very inspiring task and I am pleased to join a brand with a truly global customer appeal”

Alex White

If you’ve been keeping up with the news you cannot have failed to notice that things have been moving quickly at Princess Cruises. The company’s newest ship, the Royal Princess, recently revealed Kate Middleton as its godmother, attracting a huge amount of publicity for not just the line but also the industry in general. Away from the spotlight the company has split its sales team from Complete Cruise solutions and raised commissions to 10%. Both brave moves all things considering. The new sales team will be headed by Alex White – who undoubtedly has one of the most interesting jobs in the industry today. We caught up with him to find out more.

Can you explain the decision behind having Princess’ sales team split from CCS?

Over the last two years the policies we’ve had in place at Princess Cruises have changed quite dramatically compared to that of P&O Cruises and Cunard. Historically, when we had one sales team in place, there were a lot of synergies between how the three brands were operating so it made sense having one account manager. The change in policy has been the key driver for having two sales teams.

What are you hoping to do within the role in terms of trade relations? 

Another opportunity that the split brings is for us to broaden our distribution for Princess. So as part of having one sales we can look at the partners we’re working with and look for new partners. So a key driver for us will be to find those new partners – there’s obviously a lot of excitement in the market this year – and allow us to work closely with them. One key point to make on the trade side is that while we’re a new team, we’ll still be working very closely with the sales teams of both Cunard and P&O. That will ensure a consistency of approach.

What will you be doing over the next few months?

The main thing we’ll be doing is getting out there and meeting our partners. Our field sales team, which will headed by Shane Riley who is originally from CCS, will be out and meeting front-line staff. It’s a fact finding mission and we’re trying to find out how agents would like us to work with them. Our strategy will develop as we listen to that feedback. There are some very exciting events and 13 ship visits so some great opportunities to meet the team. Then for Royal Princess we’ll be hosting 2,000 travel agents for the inaugural, which will be a fantastic event.

What challenges do you face by starting this new team? 

We’ve had fantastic support from the trade for many years and it’s continued. The challenge we’ve had in moving to a new team really is the transition itself. CCS has worked with those partners for many years now and the account management, planning and strategy as we moved over has gone very smoothly. I look forward to building on the fantastic support that CCS has given them.

Do you think it’s fair to say that the decision to raise commission levels to 10% has distanced you from Cunard and P&O in the eyes of agents? Why was this decision made? 

The most important point to make is that we already had differentiated commercial offerings for P&O and Cunard, versus that of Princess. We obviously had a 5% base of commission but we extras like the Air Kicker that could increase that commission. However we are always listening to our travel partners and we’ve reviewed our commercial terms to ensure they’re as simple for them to understand as possible. By moving to 10% and removing the Air Kicker is a much simpler commercial offering. We’re removing back of house commission payments, allowing them to see the true earning potential. I don’t think it distances ourselves because we were different before and it’s different after.

So the change came as a direct result of feedback? 

Yes, we listened our partners and adjusted our terms taking onboard that feedback. We obviously have our own strategy but the feedback we had was that the complex structure we had needed to be simplified. So because it will be paid as a base commission, it will be paid earlier. It’s been very well received and we look forward to continuing our relationship with them now?

What do you hope to achieve by raising commissions?

I think it will make it simpler to work with us and continue to develop our relationships going forward.

Are you hoping Kate Middleton’s appointment as godmother will raise the profile of Princess outside the industry?

We were very honoured that the Duchess of Cambridge agreed to be the godmother for the Royal Princess. It’s going to be an extremely exciting time for Princess and we’ve had some great coverage in the press when we made the announcement. It will also be great news for the UK cruise industry too. It’s got a lot of coverage in titles that wouldn’t previously have featured the cruise industry

What does the next 12 months hold for Princess Cruises within the UK?

Now that we’ve gone through the transition, this is where the truly exciting time starts. We’ve got a full team in place as of Monday so we’re at 12 as of a couple of days ago. That’s a big team and we went through a thorough training programme with them but they’re now all out on the road. That is key for our next couple of months: our guys going out and listening to travel agents and we’ll build out strategy around that. It’s a very exciting time.

EagleRider is introducing an affiliate scheme for its partners

This includes the online integration available for partners. EagleRider now offers integration via its OTA XML API or the White-Label Motorcycle booking engine.

Using the XML integration, EagleRider partners are given a real-time inventory to place into their online booking system.

Alternatively, the White-Label engine can be placed on any web page so the customer will start and end the rental process from the partner’s site.

Hal Oreif, chief technology and product officer at EagleRider, said: “Whether you’re looking to make money by selling EagleRider travel products on your website or get access to our inventory through our OTA XML solutions, we have a product for you.

“A partner can make substantial revenue by including EagleRider’s white label on their site while offering your customer valuable service.”

The Norwegian Breakaway

Breakaway is an impressive sight from the quayside; unmistakably an NCL ship, with her hull artwork by Peter Max, but with sleeker lines than Epic.

With 14 passenger decks there is plenty for the 4,000 passengers to do. Some of the highlights include The Waterfront, which is a quarter mile long ocean front promenade port side on deck 8, and 678 Ocean Place, which covers 3 decks full of daytime and night-time entertainment. The Aqua Park and sports complex, with five large water slides, is bound to be a hit with kids of all ages.

It is good to note that the designers have resisted the temptation to copy the balcony cabins on Epic, with the separate toilet and showers, with the see through doors. There is a comprehensive range of accommodation to suit all budgets, from an inside stateroom for two, up to the 42 suites in The Haven, which include Family Villas with two bedrooms. Breakaway also has a number of Studios for solo travellers, which were successfully introduced on Epic. A great new addition on Breakaway is the O1 grade Family Oceanview staterooms which will sleep up to five people, and will surely be appreciated by many families.

For this particular launch event, NCL came up with a great idea to really grab the attention of agents while they were onboard. The ‘Engage & Reward’ programme involved each agent being given a bar code when they boarded Breakaway, which was scanned when visiting certain areas of the ship to gain points. For instance they could earn 0.5% for viewing the show cabins, and 1.0% for attending a presentation given by NCL senior management. These points earned the agent’s company the right to receive bonus commission of up to 4% on all NCL bookings made from 15 May until 14 June, for cruises departing up until 31 December. It wouldn’t be surprising if other cruise lines run similar systems at future ship launches.

As an agent selling cruises, NCL has a number of USP’s which set it apart from many other cruise lines. Some potential cruisers say they don’t like set meal times, and others don’t like having to dress up at night, but that isn’t an issue with NCL which coined the phrase ‘Freestyle Cruising’. On Breakaway for instance, there are a number of complimentary dining options available, including The Manhattan Room, the Garden Café and the Breezeway Bar & Grill. Speciality restaurants include Le Bistro, Cagney’s Steakhouse, Teppanyaki and Ocean Blue by Geoffrey Zakarian, with cover charges from US$15 to US$30 per person. Therefore each passenger can choose where and when they want to eat, and the dress code is ‘whatever they want it to be’.

NCL is also known for offering passengers a great choice of entertainment ‘firsts’ on their ships, including the Blue Man Group on Epic, and now Rock of Ages and Cirque Dreams & Dinner Jungle Fantasy on Breakaway.

One potential barrier to sales, is the fact that they haven’t taken advantage of the increasing tendency for Brits to cruise from a UK port (up 10% in 2012 according to figures from the PSA), as none of their ships currently turnaround in the UK.

Overall though Norwegian Breakaway is a great new addition to the NCL fleet, and is bound to prove very popular with passengers.

Andy Harmer

In one week’s time, on 1 May, the PSA is going to disband after 50 years. The change will mean that any current ferry members of the PSA will move over to the Chamber of Shipping and all current cruise members will become part of a new organisation, CLIA UK and Ireland. However, what will these changes mean on a day-to-day basis? CLIA (Cruise Lines International Association) has been the body which has traditionally presided over the US cruise industry and will now be setting up divisions in countries around the world. To all intents and purposes the UK is joining a global body. In the second of two special On The Decks we bring you an interview with Cruise News columnist Andy Harmer who will now become the director of CLIA UK and Ireland.

Can you explain the decision to form CLIA UK and Ireland?

What’s clear is that we’re now working as part of a global cruise industry. So it’s very difficult to talk about that industry in the context of one country anymore – or even a continent. It’s very much a global industry. Not least because our ships transport our guests globally but also because there’s a lot of UK cruise lines and a lot of US or German owned companies which sail out of the UK. It seemed exactly the right opportunity to work as a global organisation. While the PSA has been around for 50 years and ACE (under both guises) for around 25 years, we can learn a lot from our colleagues who work out of North America or Australasia. It allows us to become far more effective in the UK.

What changes will there be for British cruise lines? 

Their membership will be with CLIA UK and Ireland and they will also be offered membership of CLIA Europe and CLIA Global. So actually their efforts to reach individual travel agents in individual countries can be done much more effectively. We’ve created organisations that are going to help cruise lines with their marketing efforts.

How can you reassure the smaller British cruise lines that they won’t lose their voice to the bigger corporations?

You have to remember that from London we are running an organisation to benefit all our members. That includes the US cruise lines that sail out of the UK as well as the British cruise lines. We will continue to work with them through meetings and our committee structure and everything else we do to make sure we grow the UK cruise market. All of the cruise lines benefit from that growth. Now, because we can focus on the cruise industry (with the movement of the ferry companies to the Chamber of Shipping) and put more on marketing, talking to the consumer and engaging with the travel agent – cruise lines should see far more benefit from the change.

Have you received much support from the cruise lines in the transition from the PSA to CLIA UK and Ireland? 

Yes we have, in fact recently we signed All Leisure Group as our most recent member. So it’s been very positive. We’ve also had an increased interest from travel agents who know that our focus will be on travel agent training. So it’s being viewed as a positive by both travel agents and cruise lines. With ACE we were a very forward thinking agency, with events like the Selling Cruise Conference, Columbus Day and River Expo – that organisation now has access to a new level of resources, which will benefit all our members.

And what’s happening with ACE going forward? 

ACE as a brand will disappear on 30 April and we will become CLIA UK and Ireland. We’ve started talking about the new brand this year and we will continue to talk about CLIA UK and Ireland as the new name for ACE. Our URL will continue to be cruiseexperts.org and agents will still find our award winning training and resources there.

So essentially travel agents won’t see wholesale changes? 

We will have our new fantastic logo, which agents will hopefully be using in their shop windows and on their websites. So it will be under a new name but agents will continue to be able to work towards accreditation and additionally as we learn more and share resources so will our agents. An example of what we’re doing in the UK which is being considered as best practice throughout the industry is our River Cruise Conference in Cologne. We’re already talking to CLIA Australasia about whether they will send travel agents to the event as well. It’s those events, which have happened nationally, that will now benefit the entire global industry.

So as a closing statement why do you think this is a positive move for the British industry? 

The benefits to our members – both travel agents and cruise lines – is that we’ve become a new association made up of 55 cruise lines operating globally. We’ll be able to work on enhancing our training, shared marketing, promotional activities and networking opportunities. Now because we’re focusing on those two key areas of our work – which is travel agent training & engagement and consumer marketing & PR campaigns – the benefit will be as we continue to grow the cruise industry out of this country everybody will benefit from that growth.

Bill Gibbons

In two weeks, on 1 May, the Passenger Shipping Association is going to disband and officially become CLIA UK and Ireland. The ferry segment will join the Chamber of Shipping leaving cruise to form part of what is now truly a global body. In the first of two interviews, Cruise News discusses the industry with its key decision makers – both past and future. Part one is with Bill Gibbons, who has been at the helm of the PSA for 19 years. In his role as director he has witnessed many of the changes which have shaped the British cruise industry today. In his final month on the job we caught up with him to find out about the last 19 years and how he thinks the industry fares going forward.

How did the PSA come to form?

In 1958 the bosses of the big ocean liners realised they had serious competition from the jet aeroplane. In that year more people were travelling by sea than flying. Before the jet engine everyone travelled by sea. It was because of that threat that ‘Ocean Travel Development’ (OTD) was formed. By the end of the 1960s all the ocean liners had gone and it was out of that that the cruise industry emerged. Some of those vessels were converted into cruise ships, the most prominent of which was the SS France, which became the biggest cruise ship in the world, the SS Norway. Then in about 1976 the ferries joined and it was renamed the Passenger Shipping Association.

Why was that decision made?

The cruise industry went through a bad patch in the early 70s with the fuel crisis. So they were looking to strengthen the association. They ferries were very much led by the foreign flagged vessels so they couldn’t belong to the Chamber of Shipping, but the PSA was something they could join. From then we held separate cruise and ferry meetings and it’s stayed with that model ever since but with a board that’s made up of cruise and ferry members. In 2004 we started our associate member scheme, which has worked very well. We’ve now got 84 associate members.

And ACE was created in 2006?

ACE was created in 2006 but it had a predecessor called PSARA which was the Passenger Shipping Association Retail Agents Scheme, which was set up in 1987 and modelled on what CLIA was doing in the US. It was felt at the time that travel agents knew very little about the cruise product and it’s been a very successful model. If you take the global industry, there are only two other regions that are doing agent programmes in the same depth that we do and those are North America and Australia.

It sounds like over the last decade there has been a huge amount done to modernise the PSA? 

Yes, and we’ve grown river cruise, which has been highly successful. We’ve had two river cruise expos and there will be another in Cologne this year. It’s pioneering stuff: 200-travel agents and six river ships all in one location. You can’t bring the river cruise ships to the UK so we go to Amsterdam or Cologne, which are the real hubs. River cruising has been one of our major success stories. We now have 13 river members and they’ve all joined within the last three years.

What trends have you seen in recent times? 

An interesting development I’ve noticed – or a problem I foresee – is within ex-UK cruises and the stringent sulphur regulations in 2015. The cost of fuel will go up hugely and cruising in the English Channel, Baltic and North Sea will all become more expensive. Interestingly the Environmental Control Area (ECA) does not cover the Mediterranean so there will be a huge increase in capacity within that region. While I’m sure it will become an ECA area, it may take business away from the Baltics to begin with.

What has been your greatest challenge while at the PSA? 

I couldn’t name the single greatest challenge as there have been a series of them! But, when I started in the business we were actually fighting to save Duty Free. We spent five years campaigning to keep it up until 1999. A lot of the challenges have been global issues like 9/11, which had a huge impact; and Costa Concordia too. Challenges like the press treatment the cruise industry received because of the Norovirus were testing too, but ultimately we have shown that it’s not a condition unique to our business and, together with the International Maritime Organisation, we’ve put the correct safety procedures in place.

The Azamara Journey leaving the shipyard

Azamara Club Cruises has announced that Tim Fleming has been appointed as account manager for the North of England and Scotland. 

The newly created role will see Tim report directly to Sonia Limbrick, business development manager for Azamara Club Cruises UK and Ireland.

Limbrick commented: “Tim is a very important addition to the Azamara Club Cruises team and promises to be a valuable asset, as an experienced sales manager with extensive knowledge of the cruise industry and a proven track record in achieving results in his previous roles. These are exciting times for our baby brand and, as the UK market becomes a key driver of sales for Azamara Club Cruises globally, this new appointment will be extremely important in enabling us to grow our sales and brand awareness in the UK and Ireland”.

Fleming was previously business development manager for All Leisure Holidays. He has worked within the cruise industry for five years and the travel sector for over 20 years, most of which was spent at Page and Moy.

Michael Steffl

German shipping operator Hapag-Lloyd has announced that Michael Steffl has been promoted to manager of international sales for its cruise business.

Steffl, who was previously the sales manager for central Germany and the UK, will now be responsible for developing Hapag’s business further afield in regions including the US, Benelux and Australia. The position is a new one that has been created as part of the brand’s international strategy.

“I welcome my new responsibilities, working towards increasing our sales activities in these exciting English-speaking markets which we have identified,” Steffl explained. “I also believe that with the addition of Europa 2 to the fleet, we have a product befitting these markets.”

Julie Franklin

While the news that All Leisure Group would be joining the Association of Cruise Experts wasn’t perhaps the most surprising we’ve ever heard, it was none the less a solid sign that the brand is putting its money behind a push to further trade relations. It is of course not the only piece of news that the firm has released this week. All Leisure, which owns the Hebridean Princess, Swan Hellenic and Voyages of Discovery brands, saw two senior executives resign in the last few days, while the company undergoes a ‘reorganisation process’. The other major change is the appointment of Julie Franklin as national accounts manager. she, along with three trade specialists, will look to further All Leisure’s relationship with the trade in the coming months. However, with such a varied – and niche – product as that owned by the company, where do you begin with the mammoth task of improving such important relations? We spoke to Julie to find out more.

Can you describe to me your role and what that entails?

My title is group national accounts manager and I look after the trade sales team at All Leisure. We’ve got three execs on the road and I look after the major key accounts. That’s my focus, which allows the execs to get out and meet our trade partners, help with sales support and be able to channel their experience into the trade. Agents are a massive part of our business so by me focusing on the big accounts, it means they can be out there on the road. 

Why was the decision made by All Leisure to create this new team?

I joined Page & Moy about three years ago and that generated a massive impact on the trade because of the interaction we had but it was predominantly only me going out. When we became All Leisure this time last year, the agency sales team was reformed and restructured. I was a travel agent for twenty years before I joined this role and know how important the trade is. It’s a crucial channel and an area we can grow. We work with the cruise specialists a lot already but it’s the high street travel agent that doesn’t know too much about us that we need to work on. The only way we can do that is to get out and shout about it.

How important is the trade for All Leisure?

It’s incredibly important. By putting a team on the road that is very experienced in travel, cruise and sales it means they can go and bring that side of it to life. They can start consumer events with the trade and really push it forward. We’re a very trade friendly brand – across all of our brands. If you’re not out there then you’re out of sight and out of mind so we will be running training courses in shops getting seen as much as possible. 

That sounds like a big task you’ve got ahead. How are you planning on educating the high street agent?

We’ve got a lot of contacts between us and we’ve launched heavily with the 2014 sales. We’re a brand new team and are going to incentivise the trade and have lots of other launches going forward. Any bookings that are made on the Voyages and Swan products on the 2014 itineraries can be entered to win GBP250 worth of cash for instance. There will be fam trips in Portsmouth and we’ve already taken agents up to Scotland to see the Hebridean Princess. So lots going on over the next few months!

Why do you think agents have struggled to get to grips with All Leisure before?

I think a lot of it comes down to understanding and the way around that is education. We’re a very different model to the other cruise brands out there. We’re a small company with small ships that are aimed at passengers that want their culture and historic interest. It’s not about lying in the sun all day on a huge ship. Our trade sales is about 30% so it’s very strong but there is room for growth.

What are the current commission structures?

They will get a minimum of 10% and we have absolutely no plans to cut it in any way, shape or form. We’ll always offer different tacticals whether it’s joint ventures, marketing or events. I believe in a two-way relationship and if an agent wants to work with us we’ll work with them. 

Why has All Leisure joined ACE?

We’ve got a new group trade marketing manager, Sarah Weetman, and she is very passionate about ACE. It will help strengthen our relationship with the trade especially given that our brands are relatively nice. It will also give us avenues into other agencies that we probably weren’t as aware of before. 

Where would you like to take All Leisure from a trade perspective?

We haven’t any specific growth targets in mind, there isn’t any actual figure but we genuinely believe that we will grow through the trade. We have a lot of brands out there and have some good ideas of how to push those brands out. We now need to give the agents the education they need. Everything we do is to enhance the customer experience and that’s what we’ve got to get across to the agents. We’re excited to get out there now.