Agent calls out cruise lines’ tactics Ella Sagar


Sovereign Cruise Club owner Stefan Shillito has issued a plea for cruise lines to become “easier to do business with”, urging them to stop “back door” direct selling and modernise outdated booking systems. In a webcast with


Travel Weekly editor-in- chief Lucy Huxley, the luxury cruise specialist – who leads a 21-strong team in Berkshire – criticised the “counterproductive” practice of suppliers publicly supporting the trade while simultaneously


deploying aggressive direct sales teams to poach agency clients. “I know a couple of suppliers


who say to the trade, ‘We support agents’, which is great, but [they] have aggressive direct sales teams taking bookings from agents,” he said. Shillito noted that some


“mass-market lines” even use onboard credit to try to tempt customers to book direct, warning that while they might save on commission by doing this, they also “lose the vital support of the agent”. He urged suppliers to trust luxury experts to secure bookings


Stefan Shillito


Transit flights via UAE ‘are affected by FCDO advice’


Ian Taylor


Gulf carriers have almost wholly resumed flying since late March but Foreign Office advice against all but essential travel to the UAE remains in place and includes transit via the region. Leading travel lawyer Farina


Azam, a partner at Fox Williams, dismissed a suggestion that transit flights might be excluded from the advice despite describing the FCDO wording as “unhelpful” as it “doesn’t talk about transit flights”. Speaking at the Barclays Travel Forum in London last week, Azam


4 30 APRIL 2026


acknowledged “we’ve not really seen this transit issue before” but said: “Transit flights are affected by FCDO advice.” She argued: “If you look at other


FCDO advisories, where customers transit airside is mentioned, it is carved out [of the advice].” Azam added: “FCDO advice [on


the UAE] also mentions airports are at risk, so you can’t argue transit flights are covered by insurance.” The Foreign Office continued to


advise against all but essential travel to the UAE this week despite noting commercial flights have resumed and that: “Iranian strikes against civilian


Farina Azam


rather than acting out of desperation to capture sales direct. Beyond sales tactics, Shillito


highlighted significant operational barriers that he likened to the “20th century”, explaining: “Today, there are some luxury cruise lines where you still can’t book the product on their website as an agent.” He also called for better


transparency regarding product enhancements and ship refurbishments, noting that agents occasionally find out about multi-million-dollar upgrades from their customers rather than from the operators themselves. “Cruise lines spend millions of


dollars refitting a ship, but you don’t always get the details of what’s been done and what has changed,” he said.


“I encourage cruise lines to


tell us more about the product and the changes they are making, because sometimes we find out from a client, which is not great.” Shillito said another frustration


was how some luxury operators close their reservation centres at 5pm on weekdays, or over the weekend, when businesses such as his tend to have “busy periods”, adding: “If we are open, you should be open.” On the Middle East, Shillito


acknowledged the opportunity for late deals in Europe and the Mediterranean in the wake of capacity freed up by a drop in American visitor numbers to Europe, but he cautioned that heavy discounting could “annoy” customers who booked early at higher rates.


infrastructure across the region [including hotels and airports] have decreased.” However, it also advised: “The risk


of renewed strikes remains and further attacks could occur at short notice.” Abta advice to consumers notes


“ongoing conflict in parts of the Middle East continues to affect travel across the region” and states: “FCDO advice against ‘all but essential travel’ to a number of countries . . . also applies to journeys involving transit. Even where flights are operating . . . this does not necessarily mean holidays will go ahead, given the ‘all but essential’ travel restrictions.”


The association notes customers’


rights differ depending on their booking – whether a package, a flight with a UK or EU airline, or a flight with a non-UK/EU airline, with Middle East carriers not subject to UK and EU air passenger rights regulations other than on UK and EU outbound flights. Azam noted responsibility for


looking after passengers stranded in the Gulf at the start of the war “all fell on package organisers” and suggested: “What this has done is make people realise Dubai is really near to Iran, [when] Dubai had done a good job of


making people not think about that.” i Barclays Travel Forum, page 47


travelweekly.co.uk


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