NEWS ROUND-UP IN THE PICTURE: Cheque it out
Water aid charity Just a Drop received a £3,000 boost thanks to donations made by Affordable Car Hire clients. A cheque for £3,244 was presented to the charity at
Affordable’s stand at World Travel Market last week. Over the past year, Affordable customers have been
invited to pledge an extra £1 donation to Just a Drop, which works to install clean water systems in developing countries. Affordable’s chief executive, Angela Day, presented the cheque to Fiona Jeffery, Just a Drop’s founder and chairman, and Brendan Hanlon, the charity’s head of fundraising and communications. From left: Amanda Stone, James Moore and Angela Day, all Affordable Car Hire; Fiona Jeffery; Brendan
Hanlon; and Fran Howard, Affordable Car Hire. ›WTM news, pages 26-33
Royal creates dedicated call teams in Guatemala
Hollie-Rae Merrick
hollie@travelweekly.co.uk
Royal Caribbean Cruises has pledged to improve service levels for the trade by restructuring its call centre in Guatemala.
The line is creating dedicated
teams for its Royal Caribbean International and Azamara Club Cruises brands at its sales facility in the Central American country. Since the operator set up the
centre in 2013, staff in Guatemala have handled calls for both brands. But from December 1, Royal Caribbean International will be looked after by a 129-person team and Azamara by a 12-strong team. In the past two years, agents
have criticised the call centre for poor customer service, with some staff said to have been unable to handle more than basic enquiries. Richard Twynam, Azamara’s UK managing director, said: “The call centre was something we were getting feedback on. “It was one of the three main points raised at our agent panel
ON CALL: Royal Caribbean Cruises is restructuring its 140-strong team To ensure the transition goes
“The UK team has handpicked the people; the call centre will get a lot better”
and we wanted to address that. “Before, it was a mixed team
for both lines, but moving forward we will have a dedicated group. The UK team was able to handpick the people. I believe the call centre is going to get a lot better.”
12
travelweekly.co.uk 12 November 2015
to plan, a member of the Azamara team in the UK will visit Guatemala this month. Sales for Celebrity Cruises,
Royal’s third main brand, are handled by an office in the UK. Twynam said agents had also
asked for more opportunities to experience the brand’s “destination immersion” tours and next year the line will host its first
UK agent-only Azamazing Evening.
cruisingpower.co.uk
NEWS IN BRIEF
Luton to gain Wizz Air link to Baltic resort in Lithuania
The Lithuanian coastal resort of Palanga is to be served by Wizz Air from Luton airport next year. Twice-weekly flights to the Baltic Sea destination will start on March 23, with one-way fares starting at £24.49.
MSC signs deal for new
show with Cirque du Soleil MSC Cruises is to partner with Cirque du Soleil to create a show on its new Meraviglia-class ships. The show will be performed in the ships’ purpose-built 450-seat Aft Lounges, each of which includes a 200-seat restaurant. The Cirque du Soleil productions will take place six nights a week during sailings, with two performances each night.
Travel Weekly’s Joanna Booth wins feature award
Travel Weekly features editor Joanna Booth won the travel trade feature of the year category at the Travel Media Awards. Booth won for her article about tracking gorillas in Rwanda, published in sister title Aspire.
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