CRUISE NEWS YOU CAN USE
NEWS IN BRIEF
Royal: It’s all to play for in Harmony’s virtual queue
Hop on board Fred Olsen ships for training days
Fred Olsen Cruise Lines will host six training days for the trade on board its fleet. The sessions will be on Braemar on April 25 in Dover and July 6 in Southampton; Balmoral on May 26 in Newcastle; and Boudicca on June 6 in Liverpool, July 15 in Greenock and August 1 in Belfast.
tinyurl.com/FredOlsenTraining
Pay no single supplement on Hurtigruten bear cruise
Hurtigruten is introducing a no-single-supplement offer on its nine-day Circumnavigating the Realm of the Polar Bear itinerary, departing in July and August. Prices are from £4,291. Book by the end of February.
hurtigruten.co.uk
Regent cuts 25% off rates to mark 25th anniversary
Regent Seven Seas Cruises is offering 25% off 25 sailings to celebrate its 25th anniversary. Details of the cruises can be found at
rssc.com/celebrate
Hollie-Rae Merrick
hollie@travelweekly.co.uk
Royal Caribbean International is encouraging agents to keep tweeting and making bookings as the end of its Harmony of the Seas incentive approaches.
A total of 3,095 agents are in the virtual queue, vying to secure one of 500 places for the launch of Harmony of the Seas in May. Royal claims places are “still
all to play for” after changing the points system earlier this month to make it easier for agents outside of the top 500 to claim one of the coveted spots. Points are earned through bookings and social media activity. Each booking is now worth 1,000 points, instead of 100. Royal’s head of trade support and planning, Nicki Lewis, said the change in points resulted in a shake-up in the top 500 agents. “The top 100 have pretty much
secured their places,” she said. “The top agent has 12 million points and is extremely active on social media.
“Since changing the points Advert EMERALD WA TER WA YS
RIVER TRIVIA: Emerald Waterways has two new ships on two new rivers for 2017: the 138-guest Emerald Liberté will sail Southern France’s Rhône River on an 8-day Sensations of Southern France itinerary, while the 112-guest Emerald Radiance will sail Portugal’s Douro River on a Secrets of the Douro river cruise, both from just £1,595pp. Book before 30 April and receive €300 on-board credit per cabin.
www.emeraldwaterways.co.uk
Traveltek adds four river cruise lines to iSell booking system
Four river cruise lines have been added to Traveltek’s iSell booking platform for agents. The addition of Uniworld, Scenic, G Adventures and APT allows agents and operators to dynamically package and pre-package river cruises with flights, hotels and ancillary
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travelweekly.co.uk 18 February 2016
services as well as sell the lines’ flight‑inclusive offers. It is the first time river cruise lines have featured on Traveltek’s platform. Global sales director Peter
Whittle said: “River cruise is one of the fastest-growing cruise sectors. “Our clients are now able to book these suppliers live. “In addition [they] are able to
offer dynamic and pre-packaged product to capitalise on these high-margin growth opportunities. “Using our technology, agents
and operators are able to present river cruise line packages more effectively online and deliver streamlined operating efficiency within shops and call centres with the Traveltek iSell point-of-sale platform.” Traveltek offers more than
350 directly integrated suppliers, ranging from flight, hotel and ancillary inventory, together with ocean cruises and now
river cruise.
traveltek.net
system at the beginning of February, we have seen some changes in the top 101 to 500.
HARMONY OF THE SEAS: Agents can now earn 1,000 points per booking
“There are a lot of opportunities for those who aren’t in the top 500 to get into it”
“There are a lot of opportunities
for agents who aren’t in the top 500 to get into it within the last couple of weeks. “We’re expecting it all to really
ramp up in the next few days; our tweeting agents went crazy with activity online when we put up a countdown clock on our website, so it’s definitely got our trade partners excited.” Lewis hinted that the agents
who secure a top-500 place by the time the queue closes on March 1 will get the chance to win further prizes in a second round. Royal Caribbean is also giving
agents the chance to earn £14 in Club Royal loyalty points for
bookings made by February 26.
myclubroyal.co.uk
HARMONY QUEUE BY NUMBERS
3,095 agents in the queue 36,167 Facebook posts
250,000 likes on Facebook posts
573,000 individual tweets 3.3 million retweets
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