5 HOT STORIES NEWS YOU NEED TO KNOW THIS WEEK
This week’s top stories: 1. Getaway launches 2. January sales soar 3. Hays reopens two shops 4. Abta fights PTD plans 5. Spear Travels expands
1 Preparing to tackle the ropes course on Norwegian
Getaway are, from left: crew member; Kevin Sheehan; Nick Wilkinson; Andy Stuart; crew member; and Francis Riley, all Norwegian Cruise Line
Norwegian hosts 3,000 agents and clients at Getaway launch
Hollie-Rae Merrick in Southampton
More than 1,000 cruise agents are hoping for a bookings boost after taking their clients on board Norwegian Getaway for its launch in Southampton. In what the line described as an industry first, the agents and 2,000 of their customers welcomed Norwegian Cruise Line’s ship to the UK this week. The 4,000-passenger ship ran a mini
overnight cruise ahead of sailing to its home port of Miami. Customers were charged a small fee to attend, which will be refunded if they making a booking within four weeks for Getaway. Ian Warren of GoCruise, who won a
Travel Weekly competition to host 10 customers on the ship, said: “It’s a great opportunity for me. I’ve got some very happy customers because I invited them to this event and hopefully that will result in some bookings.” Cruise Nation sold 100 cabins for the inaugural event. Managing director Phil Evans said: “To get people on board who either haven’t cruised before
4 •
travelweekly.co.uk — 16 January 2014
or are new to Norwegian is a great opportunity. It’s not often you get to mingle with your customers.” Nick Wilkinson, Norwegian business
development director for the UK, Ireland and Scandinavia, said the opportunity for agents to bring customers on board was an “industry first”. During the event, the cruise line was
expected to announce the revamp of its trade partner website and online training facilities. The two are currently separate websites, but Wilkinson said they would be merging into one. “We have been looking at how agents could do business with us more easily and how to communicate better, and it made sense to have one website,” he said. Norwegian Getaway will become the
largest cruise vessel ever based year- round in Europe and will enter service with seven-night eastern Caribbean cruises from Miami from February 8. The cruise line has also revealed that
Norwegian Epic is to sail from Barcelona year-round from April 2015. Itineraries are due to be announced in mid-March. ❯ GoCruise conference, page 11
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