ttglive.com
‘Cruise lines sending out mixed messages to trade’
Chris Gray. CUNARD AND P&O bosses have defended decisions to launch their 2012 programmes with discount messages – despite cutting commission to stop agents discounting. Cunard launched its 2012 programme this week (see page 24), offering an extra 10% discount on top of existing early booking incentives for all voyages booked before May 31. And P&O is including a 10% discount on all 163 cruises in its programme for next year, which marks its 175th anniversary. It came just weeks after Complete Cruise Solution – the selling arm for Cunard, Princess and P&O – revealed it was cutting base commis- sion to 5% with the aim of stopping widespread discounting by agents. The move angered some agents, including cruise specialist Peter Cansick of Johnson Stevens Travel, who said the move was at odds with Cunard’s image as a premium brand. “For a company such as Cunard, supposedly a world leader in the top drawer cruise market, to discount its product direct surely sends a mes- sage that it is perhaps not so top drawer after all,” Cansick wrote on
ttglive.com “As agents, we are always being told to ‘add
value’ to our clients when our commission levels are being squeezed. Perhaps Cunard should be doing the same thing to preserve its exclusivity?” Cunard managing director Peter Shanks said the discount would help agents show customers
Global: switch-sell away from CSS
DELEGATES AT this week’s Global Travel Group conference were urged to switch-sell away from companies that cut commission. Complete Cruise Solution’s decision to cut base commission to 5% was condemned by agents and operators, who urged Global members to sell other cruise brands. Agent Stuart Wilson, managing director of
Blue Bay Travel in Stoke-on-Trent, said: “You can’t operate a business on that type of margin. I think 5% is just too low and it’s not feasible to offer a good level of service to customers on that margin.” Fellow agent Andy Schofield, managing direc- tor of Lancashire-based agency Dreamcatcher
Travel, claimed agents had to discount to get cruise bookings. “It takes away the wriggle room for you as an agent,” he said. “You could probably massage the booking to make 8-9% but that has been taken away now by CCS.” Gordon McCreadie, Travel 2’s sales and mar-
keting director, said agents should not support companies which dramatically cut commission. “Sell somebody else, like Royal Caribbean or
Celebrity,” he told delegates. “Tui tried to do this but it didn’t work because agents sold away from them and they had to come back. You can’t live off 5% so don’t sell them.”
the value for money the cruises represented. One standard discount from the cruise line would send a clearer message to customers than a variety of different discounts from different agents, Shanks said. “It is important we show value for money and by taking control of pricing we can deliver value for money for customers and agents,” he said. “We can remove the confusing plethora of agent discounts. It is one competitive offer.” P&O managing director Carol Marlow said the
10% saving, which forms part of the anniversary celebrations, meant early booking prices this year were cheaper than they had been for a long time. Commenting on CCS’ new commission structure, she added: “We are trying to help customers see that the price they see with one agent is the same price they will see elsewhere. “Personally, I can see a lot of smaller agents coming into the marketplace as a result,” she said.
Adding Value to Cruise Sales will be one of the debates during the live TTG Virtual: Cruise online event on March 29. Register free at
ttgvirtual.com/cruise
LIKELY LADD: Marco Pierre White will have a restaurant on P&O’s Oriana when it is transformed into a ship exclusively for adults. Ocean Grill, which is also being added to new ship Adonia and Arcadia this year, will serve dishes such as Marco’s classic crayfish cocktail, and his signature dessert ‘Sherry Trifle Wally Ladd’.
Warship to lead ‘Grand Event’
A NAVAL warship is set to lead P&O Cruises’ entire fleet of cruise ships into the English Channel as the line launches a “Grand Event” to celebrate its 175th anniversary next summer. The celebrations will mark 175 years since the Peninsular Steam Navigation Company – which later became P&O – was awarded the Admiralty contract to carry mail to the Iberian Peninsula. All seven P&O ships will come together for the
first time in Southampton on July 3, 2012 – with each then forming part of a procession as it departs on its own Grand Event cruise, featuring a 175th anniversary gala dinner, heritage art display and guest speakers. In an additional twist, each cruise will see a world cruise prize draw, with seven passengers and their guests travelling the world in 2013. P&O managing director Carol Marlow said it would create a real opportunity for agents, with the event supported by a website and flyers. The Grand Event cruises, which can be booked
from April 5, feature in P&O’s just-launched 2012 brochure.
It also includes 13 new destinations, such as
Durres in Albania and Kalmar in Sweden, as well as 148 roundtrip cruises from Southampton.
■For more details about P&O’s series of Grand Event cruises, visit
ttglive.com/cruise
11.03.2011 05
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