Incentives from Ambassador, Holland America, P&O and more
Rotterdam at sea
Just Go! Holidays is offering agents the chance to earn a £50 Love2Shop voucher when they make a river cruise A-Rosa booking. The first 20 agents to book between April 1 and April 30, 2023 will automatically receive a voucher to spend as they please. Just Go! Holidays is offering three different nine-day river cruise holidays on the Rhine this September, in partnership with A-Rosa. Each includes return coach travel from a wide range of pickup points around England, ideal for promoting to those customers who prefer not to fly.
APT & Travelmarvel has launched a seasonal Spring Sale, with savings of up to 50% off its 2023 European river cruises departing April-November, when booked before April 30, 2023. Brad Bennetts, head of sales & business development said: “We are launching a special Spring Sale to ensure that our valued agent partners can continue to capitalise on excitement for the 2023 European river cruise season. With a week on our Travelmarvel Contemporary Ships costing from just £1,497 per person, there is no better deal in the market right now.”For more information, visit aptouring.co.uk. Supportive assets can be accessed at APTAgentClub.co.uk.
APT & Travelmarvel also plans to welcome more than 70 travel agents aboard its fleet in 2023, its largest ever programme of familiarisation trips and ship visits. Getting travel agents aboard is a pivotal part of APT & Travelmarvel’s sales strategy for the year. With its 2023 fam and ship visit proposal, APT & Travelmarvel plans to double the number of agents that it hosted in 2019, pre-pandemic, and triple the number that it hosted in 2022. The ships will include Travelmarvel’s three Contemporary River Ships, Polaris, Vega and Capella. The brand will be inviting trade partners to participate in ship visits, but agents wishing to express their interest should email agentclub@aptouring.co.
Holland America Line is giving travel agent partners the chance to step on board its fleet and experience the brand throughout 2023. Showcasing three different ships including the newest vessel, Rotterdam, there is the opportunity for up to 350 agents to enjoy a full ship tour, experience a taste adventure in one of the dining venues and find out first-hand what the cruise line has to offer guests. Holland America Line is encouraging agents to join them, with many of the ship day visits being made easily accessible for agents around the UK and Ireland, and dates ranging from April to October. Agents are invited onboard the Rotterdam, Zuiderdam and Nieuw Statendam, for a full day experience in the following ports: Dover, South Queensferry (Edinburgh), Cobh, Belfast, and Liverpool. For a full list of locations, dates and to register interest, agents are encouraged to visit this link.
Running till December 31, 2023, Silversea’s Advocates programme will recognise eight advocates monthly for reasons spanning from sales performance to completing a successful marketing promotion, or running a Silversea event. Silverseas’ regional sales managers will submit their nomination monthly, with the advocates receiving 100 Agent Rewards points, which agents can redeem from the online voucher code section featuring Virgin Wines, Amazon and Love2Shop to use for thousands of products. Each advocate will also receive a plaque and an invitation to a prestigious event in February 2024, with one lucky advocate awarded a suite for two on board a Silversea cruise. Additional initiatives include Marketing Central, an online suite of marketing resources and sales tools for agents, accessed via My.Silversea.com and webinars by Silversea, a short informative video series hosted by team members globally to keep travel agent partners abreast of activities, new products and promotions – found on webinars.silversea.com
P&O Cruises recently announced more than 1,000 places for travel agents to experience ship visits in 2023. The ship visits programme, which will take place between April and October 2023 in Southampton, will include time on board P&O Cruises newest ships, Arvia and Iona, as well as Britannia, Ventura, Aurora and Arcadia. The ship visits will enable agents to experience everything the ship has to offer, including a tour of the cabins, entertainment venues, dining, as well as a three-course meal in one of the restaurants on board. Find out more at Shine Rewards Club
P&O Cruises is also offering travel agents a bonus 5% commission on every applicable Select Price and Early Saver Arvia booking made and spun on Shine Rewards Club between March 13, 2023 and April 16, 2023. Agents will also be entered into the chance to win 2,500 Shine points or a £500 e-Voucher on every eligible booking in a weekly giveaway.
Explora Journeys ‘Journey Together Gatherings’ programme is designed for travel advisors to book small groups, extended and multi-generational families – the new offering starts with five suites and a minimum of 10 guests. Travel advisors can benefit from a complimentary host berth, rewarding commission payments and each suite reserved comes with a complimentary Journey Experience credit to use onboard. This programme will build on the original Journey Together and Journey Together+ programmes, making planning and payment more seamless for travellers and offering additional benefits to agents. Travel advisors can contact Explora Journeys’ Journey Together Ambassadors via journeytogether@
Ambassador Cruise Line is offering free cabin upgrades for new bookings on both Ambience and Ambition, which enters service in May 2023, meaning that those booking a standard cabin on selected sailings from June to December 2023 will be treated to an upgrade to a superior cabin at no extra cost.
Additional campaign offers include:
- Up to 50% off a range of itineraries in the 2023 season
- Solo offers with discounts of up to 50% on single supplements
- Upgrade offers on Drinks Packages on Grand Round the World Voyage
Guests can upgrade to the Ambassador Fare from £28pp per day, for bookings made on the Grand Round the World Voyage. Prices from £7,999 for an inside guaranteed cabin.
Ambassador offers two multi-generational cruises suitable for the whole family in August 2023 – Summertime Fjordland and British Isles and Ireland. All kids booked go for just £99 each.
Guests will be offered complimentary match day tickets to Essex Cricket Club when booking departures from April 2023, including multi-generational and themed cruises.
With River Rewards & More, travel agents can earn luxury gifts for every Scenic and Emerald Cruises booking they make. The more river cruises, escorted tours or ocean cruises they book, the higher the rewards, with the chance of earning bonus points. Find out more at riverrewards.cruises.
Enter your Cunard fare bookings to play the line’s online deck game and earn Shine points. Combine Cunard and P&O Cruises Shine points to choose from a selection of rewards, including beauty products, the latest technology and electronics, or even a cruise. Redeem your Shine points to pay for 25 per cent, 50 per cent or 100 per cent of a Cunard voyage. Find out more at shinerewardsclub.com.
Encourage a travel agent friend to sign up to Cruise Adviser and we’ll enter you in a prize draw to win a £50 Amazon voucher. Make sure they enter your details when asked for a reference name. If you’re not subscribed, do so here.
New hires: Unforgettable Travel, CroisiEurope & SeaDream
Chelsea Marquart
Luxury tour operator the Unforgettable Travel Group has expanded its team with five new sales and marketing appointments.
The London-based company owns and operates the Unforgettable Travel Company, Cruise Croatia, Unforgettable Croatia and Unforgettable Greece. All roles are newly-created and primarily focused on growing the brand’s European product division, as well as allowing for additional support to travel agent partners.
Effective immediately, the appointments include Michela Molinari – European Travel Specialist, covering Greece, Italy and Turkey; Faye Compton – European Travel Specialist, covering Greece, Italy, Spain and Portugal; Chelsea Marquart – European Travel Specialist to help build and sell Ireland, UK, France and Switzerland; Lucy Kerrigan – Senior Digital Marketing Executive, responsible for managing the content and SEO across the group’s websites; Toni Matijaca – Content Marketing Executive focusing on digital content creation.
Graham Carter, co-founder and commercial director, said: “We’re excited to welcome these team members into the Unforgettable family, who bring with them a wealth of experience to their newly-created roles. Our aim is to be the leading luxury European tour operator, which involves us investing in our team, our product and our travel agent partners.”
Janine Sykes
River and ocean cruise operator, CroisiEurope, has expanded its UK sales team with the appointment of Janine Sykes in the brand new position of business development manager for the North of England and Scotland.
Sykes has spent the last 25 years working as a business development manager in the travel industry, most recently with 3For Limited where she represented Norwegian Cruise Lines. She has also worked for Virgin Trains East Coast (now trading as LNER), online marketing company Living Social (Escapes) and Unique Vacations UK Ltd, the worldwide representative of Sandals Resorts.
Sykes will report into CroisiEurope’s UK sales director, John Fair, and has been tasked with building and managing relationships with new and existing trade and industry partners, supporting the business in delivering strategy and core initiatives, identifying new opportunities and supporting the business at all levels with new lead generation.
SeaDream Yacht Club has announced that industry-veteran Angela Belluco has rejoined the luxury yachting line. With more than 30 years of experience, Angela is named SeaDream’s sales director, Brazil, and will support and advance the line’s valued travel travel partners in delivering SeaDream’s luxury yachting experience to their clients. Angela will serve travel advisors throughout Brazil.