Carnival UK reveals major restructure

Posted on 11 August, 2015 by Spacejunkie2

Princess Cruises’ UK boss Paul Ludlow is to switch brands and take the helm at P&O Cruises.

The announcement comes as part of a major restructure of the commercial teams for P&O Cruises and Cunard less than a week after the shock announcement that Carnival UK’s chief commercial officer Gerard Tempest was to exit the business after two years.

Ludlow’s new role as senior vice-president of sales and marketing for P&O Cruises will also see him take responsibility for sales support, guest insight and the digital teams of both P&O Cruises and Cunard.

Cunard is now recruiting for the role of senior vice-president of sales and marketing.

As part of the restructure, sales and distribution director Chris Truscott will be leaving the business.

Head of partner sales, Jeremy McKenna, will lead the agency sales team for both brands, reporting directly to Ludlow in the interim period until the new Cunard role is appointed.

P&O Cruises marketing director, Christopher Edgington, will report into Paul Ludlow and Cunard’s Angus Struthers will report into the equivalent for Cunard when appointed.

Carnival UK chief executive, David Noyes, said that bringing sales and marketing together in one role would help Cunard and P&O Cruises create more momentum for the brands.

“I am delighted to appoint Paul to this critical role. Paul’s 15 years of experience within our company makes him an ideal fit to lead the sales and marketing teams for P&O Cruises to ensure sustained growth of the brand.

“Chris Truscott leaves this business in a significantly better position than the one he joined. He should be proud of what he has achieved and the relationships he has built.”

Ludlow said: “Following the launch of Britannia in March, which positioned P&O Cruises at the forefront of the nation’s mind, there has never been a more exciting time for the company.

“The potential for the industry as a whole is vast and I am determined, through giving a seamless, exemplary guest experience, working closely with our travel agent partners, to develop this growth to the maximum for P&O Cruises.”

During his time at Princess Cruises, Ludlow oversaw the creation of an individual sales team and commercial operation for the brand. He led the team which launched Royal Princess, named by the Duchess of Cambridge, and also oversaw the launch of new travel agent tools such as the recently-launched booking portal OneSource.

Princess Cruises is now recruiting for Ludlow’s replacement.

Princess Cruises to deploy another ship to China

Posted on 26 July, 2015 by Spacejunkie2

Golden Princess.

The Golden Princess will sail seasonal cruises from Tianjin in 2016, joining the Sapphire Princess in China.

The Sapphire Princess has been sailing seasonally from Shanghai since 2014 and will start sailing year-round from the port in 2016. Both ships carry about 2,600 passengers.

In addition, Princess Cruises will deploy a new 3,600-passenger ship to China in 2017, the cruise line said in May.

Another Carnival Corp. brand, Costa Cruises, will base four ships in China in 2016: the Fortuna, Serena, Atlantica and Victoria. Carnival Corp. announced in April that the Fortuna would be added to its China fleet.

“Our Costa and Princess brands are performing extremely well in China, and these new ship deployments will strengthen our growth position and enable us to carry nearly 1 million passengers in 2016,” said Alan Buckelew, Carnival Corp.’s chief operations officer.

Opportunities in the industry’s Asia expansion

Posted on 2 June, 2015 by Spacejunkie2

The development of China as a cruise market means new ships are going there instead of to North America, which is a mild source of anxiety for travel agents in the U.S. and Canada.

But it also serves to put the spotlight on Asia and encourage travelers to explore that part of the world.

At Expedia CruiseShipCenters, trips to Asia were up 10% in 2013, up 37% last year and up 95% so far in 2015, said Matthew Eichhorst, president of the Vancouver-based franchise.

“That’s sending people on itineraries to Asian ports,” Eichhorst said. “It’s not all China; there might be a little bit of Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, Japan.”

Two types of customers are likely prospects. The first is experienced cruisers who have seen other places — the Caribbean, Europe — and want to expand their horizons. North Americans of Asian heritage who are curious about their ancestral homes, or have relatives in Asia, are another active segment, Eichhorst said, adding that Vancouver in particular has a large population of Asian ancestry to draw on.

River cruises in Asia have been around for a while but are benefitting from the overall rise in river cruise interest, Eichhorst said.

Because of the long flight times involved in travel to Asia, cruise customers are often looking for pre- or post-cruise activities and lodging there, adding to the attractiveness of the sale for agents.

Asian cruise sales are up, in part, because at every age travelers are more adventurous than they were 20 years ago, Eichhorst said. But travelers want to feel secure about their provider.

“They are looking for a trusted brand when they go there,” he said. “There’s definitely a few operators that are in the Asia market that aren’t what you’d call North American brands.”

Eichhorst encourages his agents to think big and initiate the conversation with clients.

“Speak to all the places they can go, and people will put it on their bucket list and maybe they’ll do Caribbean four more times before they go there, but really tell the stories about amazing places you can go,” he said. “You sort of plant that seed as to the opportunity, because it’s probably an 18-months-out buy.”