NEWS
Cruise.co.uk bosses with cruise line executives at the OTA’s annual ski conference in Obertauern, Austria
Cruise.co.uk to roll out cruise and stay range to whole trade in Q3
Lucy Huxley
Cruise.co.uk conference, Austria
Online cruise agency
Cruise.co.uk is to launch its cruise-and-stay packages to the entire trade this year and is building a team of dedicated staff to support the rollout to agents. The specialist OTA,
agents in the third quarter of 2026. Managing director Tony Andrews
which was acquired by Hays Travel last July, announced an initial partnership with Hays Travel Independence Group member Not Just Travel last month. The partnership initially focused
on ‘thrill and chill’ sailings from Florida, combined with theme park stays, with other North America cruise-and-stay packages due to be added shortly. The complete
Cruise.co.uk
package portfolio will be available to Not Just Travel agents by the end of March, with access opened to other
travelweekly.co.uk STORY TOP
said the company would offer full support to agents, with the appointment of a head of trade sales, business development managers for the north and south, and trade sales executives, in addition to a trade marketing lead and trade sales support team. The OTA’s former North
America package manager Lee Johnson will be head of
trade sales for the
Cruise.co Trade operation, having worked his way up from sales consultant to sales manager and through inventory planning into his current position. The other roles will be a mixture of internal and external appointments. Andrews also confirmed price
parity would be offered between the
Cruise.co.uk website and agents. “We are really investing to make sure we fully support any agent
who wants to work with us,” he said, adding the company planned to implement a trade rewards programme, incentives and joint marketing funding over time. “We are taking our industry-
leading service that we provide through
Cruise.co.uk and providing it to other agents and their customers.” Andrews also identified the Irish
market as a strong opportunity to grow cruise-and-stay package sales, with plans to include agents in Ireland in trade efforts later in the year. The news of the planned trade
rollout came as the OTA released findings of its latest annual customer survey, which garnered 5,582 responses from customers and another 2,372 from customers of sister site SeaScanner. The research found a slight shift
towards people planning to take fewer cruises overall versus last year. However, there remains a strong
appetite and loyalty to the sector, with more than 50% of respondents taking more than half their holidays on board a cruise. Overall, 35% of customers
planned to make cruising a higher proportion of their total holiday mix in the future, an increase on the 2025 survey, with 51% of first-time cruisers planning to do so. Respondents also indicated they
would be more likely to tap into agents’ expertise for future cruise bookings, with 58% of
Cruise.co.uk customers using a combination of web and agent liaison via phone or email last year, but 70% saying they would do so for their next booking. Andrews said: “There has always
been a focus on our people, but we are doubling down on that. We have industry-leading sales consultants that sell amazing products. We want to keep investing in them and their abilities to serve our customers.”
5 FEBRUARY 2026 5
PICTURE: Lucy Huxley
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