Norwegian Prima wows agents at naming ceremony


Natalie Marsh Reykjavik, Iceland


Norwegian Cruise Line’s newest ship Norwegian Prima has raised the bar for the line’s fleet, according to senior sales director Gary Anslow. The ship was officially christened


by popstar Katy Perry in a ceremony in Reykjavik on Saturday, before cruising to Amsterdam via Cork, Ireland; Portland, England; and Le Havre, France. Speaking on the sailing with


around 2,500 guests, including just


under 200 agents, Anslow said: “It’s a truly special ship. It’s very different; it’s elevated the NCL quality. “The space is amazing; the


venues are amazing. The amount of thought and design that’s gone into every space is unlike any other cruise ship I’ve been on.” He added: “When we put Prima


on sale, it was our best-ever sales day in the history of the company.” Also speaking on board, Dame


Irene Hays, chair of Hays Travel, said: “The ship is outstanding, it has such a distinctive personality.”


Simone Clark, senior


vice-president of global supply at Iglu.com, said the ship was “modern” and “very stylish”. “I love the fact there are so many


small, intimate areas,” she added. “It’s a beautiful design.” Norwegian Prima is the first of


six ships in the new Prima class. The next ship, Norwegian Viva, is due to be delivered in August 2023.


Inaugural voyages by the


3,100-capacity vessel will start on Saturday, visiting northern Europe from England, Denmark and the Netherlands, before Prima relocates to the US in October. The ship will then sail to the


Caribbean from New York, Galveston and Miami, before moving to its homeports, Port Canaveral and Galveston, for 2023 and 2024.


Norwegian Prima


Ex-Cook staff lose consultation claim Ian Taylor


Hundreds of former Thomas Cook shop staff have been denied compensation for the company’s failure to consult them on redundancy before they lost their jobs. An employment tribunal in


Manchester ruled against ordering a ‘protective award’ of up to £4,200 to almost 130 former retail staff despite granting the award to 23 ex-regional managers. The claim by the TSSA union


and several individual ex-staff was for an award under the 1992 Trade Union and Labour Relations Act, which requires employers to consult unions, staff representatives or employees if dismissing 20 or


8 1 SEPTEMBER 2022


more staff at ‘an establishment’. Thomas Cook employed


21,000 people when it went into liquidation on September 23, 2019, with several thousand working across its 553 shops. The tribunal judge accepted


Cook failed to consult its shopworkers and that ex-Cook airport workers and head office employees had received protective awards, as had former staff at Cook stores in Leeds, Sheffield and Gateshead which employed more than 20 staff apiece. The TSSA also gave evidence


that Cook had consulted staff on redundancies by region during reorganisations, and that the claimants worked in stores assigned to a region. However, the tribunal found


I was woken at 3am in the morning to learn [Cook] had gone. It was a horrible few weeks. We were all gutted


the claimants worked at individual stores assigned to a region, with each shop constituting an ‘establishment’ with fewer than 20 employees. It concluded “there was no duty to consult” the shop staff but “there was a duty” to consult the regional managers, meaning the latter were entitled to protective awards. One claimant, who wished to remain anonymous, told Travel


Weekly: “We were told the business would be saved. Then I was woken at 3am in the morning to learn it had gone. It was a horrible few weeks. We were at the forefront of dealing with customers. A lot of people went through a lot of trauma. We were all gutted. “We were due 12 weeks’ money


[for the lost consultation]. It was a lot of money to a lot of people.” However, the claimant said “a


lot of people gave up” before the tribunal heard the claim. A tribunal hearing in March


last year resulted in up to 1,500 ex-Cook employees in London, Manchester and Peterborough being awarded up to £4,200 each for Cook’s failure to consult before making redundancies.


travelweekly.co.uk


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