Oceania Cruises eyes UK growth with more agent partners
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Oceania Cruises aims to increase its sales in the UK by working with a wider range of travel agents and offering more training and marketing opportunities.
Currently, the UK market represents about 6% of the cruise line’s total business but there are opportunities to grow, said Nikki Upshaw, senior vice-president of global sales.
She told a Travel Weekly webcast that North America is the most important market for the line – which is part of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings – with the UK being “neck and neck” with Australia and New Zealand in second position.
“One of our strategic drivers for 2024-25 was to increase the number of advisors in the UK,” she said.
“It’s all about diversification and adding more.”
She said new training modules will be released later this month and marketing plans are in the pipeline for later in 2024 and into 2025 to bring clients into agencies.
The UK team has also expanded over the past year as Oceania has invested in the British market.
“We have a great sales team, a bespoke marketing programme, training and incentivising – just being there for whatever the agent needs,” she added.
Agents will also be able to see the new Allura ship in the Mediterranean, which starts sailing in July 2025.
Allura is the company’s eighth vessel and the second in the Allura Class, after Vista.
After a Med season, Allura will offer sailings in North America before a winter season in the Caribbean with Miami as the homeport.
“She will also debut with Aquamar Kitchen, which was our big new news with Vista,” said Upshaw.
“We are expanding Baristas [coffee bar] as we noticed how much everyone liked that area, to be able to chat and meet, so that’s going to be larger, with a creperie as well.”
She was speaking to Travel Weekly during a Cruise Connoisseur Club event for agent partners at Chewton Glen, a luxury country house hotel in Hampshire.
Launched 15 years ago, the Cruise Connoisseur Club is a recognition loyalty programme for agents, which offers special events, advance notice of promotions, a dedicated phone line and access to the senior leadership team.
Highlighting the importance of the trade, Upshaw said that agency sales are higher yielding and have a higher repeat factor than direct bookings.
“[Clients] value insight and they value someone that either has travelled to the destination or has done research to home in on what matches their lifestyle and their travel personality. It is never one-size-fits-all,” she said.
“The only person that can really help do that for you is a travel advisor.”
Furthermore, the line is hosting more events for consumers to visit Oceania ships along with their agents.
“There’s nothing like touching it. We’ve seen great success with our special ‘Bring your clients’ offer,” she said, noting that the agent will get the commission if a client books while on board.
She said Oceania has also improved its booking technology for agents, adding: “We have a little bit of a way to go, so watch this space.”
Another boon for the UK market was introduction of free gratuities at the beginning of the year – alongside sales and marketing promotions to boost brand awareness.
Upshaw said there had been a slowdown in sales during April and May but business had picked up again in June, followed by a “good start” for July.
Looking further ahead, two more ships will join the fleet, one in 2027 and another in 2029.
“They will probably be a little bit larger than Allura – we’re adding more penthouses and more suites, and at least one or two more restaurants, as everyone wants variety,” she said.
Commenting on trends, she said: “What we’re seeing – whether it is just a byproduct of the pandemic where we couldn’t travel – is no one wants to compromise anymore.
“No one wants to put off something that they’ve always been dreaming of.
“We’ve created huge benefits to go from veranda to concierge level, concierge level to penthouse, so it’s easy to upsell your clients.
“A higher price point is more commission and the client is happier – it is rare that someone comes back and saying ‘I shouldn’t have spent that money on that penthouse’ as they’re just loving the space.”