Incentives from Clia, Swan Hellenic, Oceania and more
Image: Oceania Cruises
Clia UK & Ireland has confirmed agents can register for its ‘Destination Showcase’. The event will be held in Porto, Portugal, from October 6-8, and includes sessions with both ocean and river cruise destination experts, as well as a trade fair, hosted evening receptions, and the opportunity to join local tours and excursions in the city. The showcase will highlight the importance of worldwide destination knowledge and how this can be used to support trade sales. Delegates will be hosted on Norwegian Prima, with additional ship visit options to include Seabourn Ovation and several river cruise ships. Registration is £129pp, while preferential rates for hotel accommodation, and flights will be announced shortly. For more information, click here.
Swan Hellenic has launched a competition for travel advisors to live the full Antarctic cultural expedition cruise experience themselves. Each travel agency needs to book a minimum of three staterooms on Swan Hellenic’s 2023-24 Antarctic Cruises for the travel advisor/s who made the bookings to be entered. Each advisor receives one entry in the prize draw for every stateroom booking they make. There are no limits to the travel advisors’ chances – if they book three staterooms, they treble their odds with three entries and so on. With Swan Hellenic’s 2023-24 Antarctic Sale offering up to 30 per cent off voyages, the bookings will practically sell themselves. The draw will be for 10 double-occupancy Oceanview staterooms on a 9-day Antarctic cruise in Swan Hellenic’s 2024-25 Season, so that’s 10 lucky winners and their partners. The only restriction is that there can be just one prize-winner per travel agency. With the competition running till December 31, 2023, there’s ample opportunity to stack up entries. The results will come through in the first week of January 2024.
Oceania Cruises will offer guests simply MORE™ than ever before, with free roundtrip airfare, free airport transfers, free shore excursions and a free beverage package for all guests, for all new reservations for sailings departing October 1, 2023 or later. The new simply MORE value promise means travellers receive the greatest value in luxury cruising, with virtually everything included in their voyage fare: a hassle-free arrival and departure with free roundtrip airfare and free airport transfers; more unforgettable travel experiences with a generous shore excursion credit of up to $1,600 per stateroom to be spent on tours of their choice; and more occasions to celebrate with a comprehensive beverage package available during lunch and dinner featuring dozens of vintage Champagnes, premium wines and international beers. The new level of inclusions sits alongside the line’s always included amenities: gourmet dining featuring The Finest Cuisine at Sea® with no reservation fee or cover charge at speciality restaurants; fine teas and coffees, soft drinks and still and sparkling Vero Water®; 24-hour room service; unlimited wifi; and fitness classes. For terms and conditions regarding free airfare and free airport transfers, see here.
Explora Journeys Pioneers recognises and rewards travel advisors who have embraced the brand from the start and have booked at least one journey for their clients during the brand’s inaugural year of operation. The Pioneers status offers an invitation for a travel advisor and a guest to join a complimentary Educational Insider First Look journey between July 17 2023 and May 31 2024, as well as access to Explora Journeys’ Travel Advisor Fares for personal travel. The brand also provides special referral benefits for engaging with other travel advisors and referring them to Explora Journeys, including a bonus commission on all new bookings made by the referred travel advisor in 2023. Any travel advisor who has booked at least one journey with Explora Journeys during its inaugural year of operation has automatically unlocked Pioneer status. In recognition of their partnership, Pioneers can now take advantage of a range of tools to make them even more valuable to their clients. Policies are designed with the success of travel advisors in mind: commissions of up to 18%, no NCFs, rolling commission payments, and up to 10% commission paid on add-ons are just a few of the benefits. Travel advisors will be notified of their Pioneer status and should reach out to their business relationship lead and head of sales for more information.
Windstar Cruises is offering agents £175 bonus commission when booking any of its 2023 Japan sailings by August 30, 2023. There are 16 sailings to choose from, including a James Beard Foundation culinary cruise from Yokohama to Osaka on September 21. The cruise features Chef Tracy Chang who specialises in Spanish and Japanese style tapas, and will include two on-board cooking demonstrations as well as a hosted dinner featuring four of her dishes with wine pairings. Chang will also lead a market tour for dishes served on board. All of Windstar’s Japan cruises take place onboard the 312-guest all-suite yacht, Star Breeze, which offers a choice of restaurants and comfortable lounges, plenty of deck space and a friendly and welcoming crew. Call 0808 178 2233 or visit windstarcruises.com
Riviera Travel has added a free ‘Superior’ drinks package to its 2024 European river cruises – the first ever time the line has made a complimentary drinks offer available across an entire season. Applied to all new and existing bookings, the package allows guests to enjoy unlimited drinks including house wines, draught beer and soft beverages over lunch. Each evening (6pm until midnight), guests have access to all this plus a cocktail of the day, house spirits and mixers, selected aperitifs and digestifs and a regional wine with dinner. The ‘Superior’, worth £400pp per week, proved the most popular with customers following a comprehensive research campaign. The package applies to over 300 departures, across 13 different itineraries, ranging from four to 14 nights (seven are dedicated to solo travellers). All 2024 departures include the Superior drinks package; return flights with regional airport options available at no additional cost; Eurostar travel on select itineraries; full board; and scheduled visits and tours. Riviera river cruises departing in August 2023 have an ‘enhanced’ drinks package available free-of-charge. It is available 10am-12pm daily in the bar and restaurant, and comprises unlimited soft drinks, house wines and draft beer, plus a regional wine option with dinner. For information, visit rivieratravel.co.uk or call 01283 523431.
The newly formed Expedition Cruise Network will hold the most extensive expedition cruising webinar series ever produced for the travel trade during the second half of 2023. Keynote speakers will be drawn from both the network’s expedition cruise members, as well as guest speakers in areas such as marine sustainable tourism. Choose from:
August 17: Selling luxury expedition cruising
October 18: Polar Matters: selling Antarctica, Arctic and beyond
November 22: Galapagos and South America: small yacht and expedition cruising
December 12: A festive webinar edition: a year of expeditions, ECN top picks.
Agents and cruise specialists can sign up here: https://www.expeditioncruisenetwork.com/webinars
The Expedition Cruise Network (ECN) has also launched a dedicated page on its website, to give travel trade members access to a large selection of travel trade offers with their expedition cruise members. There are savings available of up to 75% off the published rates to a variety of destinations including Antarctica, the Arctic, Galapagos, Madagascar, Mediterranean, and more. The page will be regularly updated to provide travel trade partners with an up-to-date overview of all available trade discounts with its expedition cruise members. Travel trade professionals must be a member of the Expedition Cruise Network to access the page. Membership is free of charge for travel trade professionals. To access the page, visit https://www.expeditioncruisenetwork.com/members/trade-discounts
Clia has introduced a range of trade-friendly features and resources on its website to help further support agents. A raft of training opportunities, sales tools and information resources are now available online. They include an online ‘booking guidelines’ page, which contains details of how agents can work with cruise lines to become an authorised seller, and make a booking or access both availability and price; a compilation of the latest fam trip, ship visit and network opportunities; an outline of the online training opportunities that are directly on offer via CLIA’s ocean, river, luxury and expedition member cruise lines, and new ‘Itinerary Experience’ factsheets to boost destination knowledge of three key cruise itineraries: the western Mediterranean, eastern Caribbean and northern Europe. CLIA has also added details of its 2023 CLIA Cruise Master Award, which for the first time is open for self-nominations. The award is on offer to agents who have achieved the prestigious master level certification. For more information visit cruising.org
APT & Travelmarvel will welcome more than 70 travel agents aboard its fleet in 2023. 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 now 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
Silversea also has a Suite Upgrades promotion, which provides benefits on select voyages departing before May 31, 2024. Available on door-to-door fares only and includes up to a two-category suite upgrade on selected voyages for selected suite categories, and USD 1000 shipboard credit per suite. Door-to-door all inclusive fares feature a refundable, reduced 15% deposit and price guarantee, private transfers, international flights and business class upgrades, in-country air and hotels when required by the itinerary, and airport transfers and luggage handling.
P&O Cruises has announced more than 1,000 places for travel agents to experience ship visits in 2023. The ship visits programme, which will take place between now 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
Ambassador Cruise Line is offering free cabin upgrades for new bookings on both Ambience and Ambition, meaning that those booking a standard cabin on selected sailings from now to December 2023 will be treated to an upgrade to a superior cabin at no extra cost.
Additional 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, and 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.
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.
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: Windstar, Celestyal Cruises and Riviera
Janet Bava
Janet Bava has been appointed Windstar Cruises’ new chief commercial officer, while Betsy O’Rourke, CCO for Windstar since 2020 and CCO of Windstar’s parent company Xanterra Travel Collection since 2012, will move to a consultancy role with Xanterra and its ownership, The Anschutz Corporation, as well as engaging in outside board opportunities.
Prior to this role, Bava was the CMO at AmaWaterways in California. She served as one of their strategic leaders of global luxury river cruise operations and increased customer engagement across all digital channels by developing new distribution channels and relevant content that led to an increase in brand awareness among travel advisors and guests.
Bava also leveraged the emerging social media landscape and developed new marketing tools to enhance and strengthen trade partner relationships across national account and consortia groups. She was also vice president, marketing (Americas) from 2016 to 2018 with Silversea Cruises Ltd. in Miami.
Within her new role, Bava will be responsible for driving strategic growth initiatives, leading marketing, sales, reservations and deployment teams to further elevate the company’s position in the global market.
Anna Gregori
Gregori brings a wealth of experience to her new role having previously headed up global commercial transformation and marketing teams at Virgin Atlantic. More recently she worked as a partner at several consultancies and communications agencies where she successfully implemented strategies that transformed them into high-margin strategic marketing firms.
Gregori’s focus will be on building the global brand, one which resonates deeply with consumers and aligns with Celestyal’s ambitious strategic vision. Drawing upon her expertise in marketing, brand, customer experience and commercial transformation, she will lead the teams to build an optimal brand and product portfolio and collaborate closely with the business and its partners to drive execution at all levels.
Gregori comments: “I’m thrilled to be returning to the travel industry and joining Celestyal at such an exciting and pivotal time. I am looking forward to helping the company deliver on its transformational agenda and consolidate its position as the leading provider of the award-winning, multi-destination holiday experiences in Greece and the Eastern Mediterranean.”
Sarah Fowler