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Agents assess pros and cons of Royal Caribbean restructure

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Agents assess pros and cons of Royal Caribbean restructure

Agents assess pros and cons of Royal Caribbean restructureAgents are concerned that plans to move the Royal Caribbean International and Azamara Club Cruises trade and client call centre to Guatemala could impact service levels.

The move is part of a proposed restructure of RCL Cruises to create individual businesses for Celebrity Cruises, Royal Caribbean and Azamara.

But agents welcomed the dedicated focus on each of the three brands and the proposed creation of a 50-strong Celebrity Cruises guest and trade services team to be set up in the UK.

Moving the Royal Caribbean and Azamara call centre to Guatemala could result in the loss of 100 jobs. A consultation period has begun.

The new structure is planned to take effect from January 1, 2014. Jo Rzymowska, associate vice-president and general manager, will become managing director for Celebrity Cruises. Separate managing directors will be appointed 
for Royal Caribbean and Azamara.

John Sullivan, head of commercial at Advantage, said: “I am concerned about the call centre being moved. When this has happened with other companies the service has suffered.

“But on the flip-side, splitting the three brands is good. Having separate teams should result in our members having enhanced service and support.”

Peter Ruck, of GoCruise with Peter Ruck, said: “This would appear to benefit those agents booking mainly Celebrity Cruises.

“I don’t know of any consumers who want to deal with foreign call centres.”

Speaking to Travel Weekly, Michael Bayley, Celebrity Cruise’s president and chief executive, said: “As the individual brands develop and grow, they have different strategies. At Celebrity Cruises our focus markets are the UK and Ireland, North America and Australia.

“Royal Caribbean has significant focus in the UK and Ireland, but it has significant global sourcing and therefore a greater need for a multilingual global contact centre operation.”

UK’s Top Cruise Company SPLIT UP!

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Carnival UK announces new sales structure to create “unrivalled” agent partnerships and deliver a “new generation” of cruisers
Carnival UK has announced changes to the structure of the agent facing sales teams for its three major brands.

From early March 2013 there will be two separate sales teams, one supporting P&O Cruises and Cunard Line and the other supporting Princess Cruises.
This change recognises the importance of each brand’s market position and product differentiation. As each brand evolves, their subsequent distribution and marketing solutions vary and this structure will enable more dedicated resource to work with our agent partners to fulfil those needs.

The Complete Cruise Solution sales team has driven significant increases in cruise business through many agents in this country over a number of years. Now is the time to underpin that solid foundation, encourage a new generation of cruisers and build on that growth to further commercial success.

The introduction of two sales teams will increase the internal resource available to maintain the current high standards of travel agent support and encourage unrivalled business partnerships. It will drive business growth and extend the marketing to the benefit of each of our three cruise lines and their agent partners.

The award winning agent extranet, www.completecruisesolution.com, will continue to provide top-quality booking and training services for all three brands, and will continue to receive significant investment.

The new Princess Cruises sales team will report into the newly created head of sales position, which will in turn report to Princess Cruises UK director, Paul Ludlow.

The sales team for P&O Cruises and Cunard will report into the newly appointed head of sales, Chris Truscott, who will join the organisation from early in the new year. Truscott will report to Carnival UK sales and customer services director, Giles Hawke.

All three brands are committed to continued commercial collaboration to provide a consistency of approach and to creating new sales organisations capable of delivering exceptional account management for mutual benefit.