Nicola Harper, Ambassador Cruise Line's head of trade distribution, declared agents "the backbone" of the cruise line's success and unveiled a new four-week incentive campaign as the countdown to Renaissance's inaugural programme continues
The Caribbean fly-cruise game-changer
As the Ambassador team gears up to celebrate a half-decade on the seas next year, momentum shows no signs of slowing. As well as the arrival of Renaissance to the fleet later this year, the cruise line recently unveiled Renaissance's inaugural programme: Ambassador's first-ever fly-cruise Caribbean programme, sailing out of Barbados from October 30th, 2025.
Nicola described the programme as "super exciting," reporting strong demand from agents and an awareness that "it is going to be bringing a different guest to Ambassador.
"There are people who love the Ambassador experience but weren't time-rich enough to go away for 40 nights on one of our ships to experience the Caribbean, so that existing demand is there.
"Listening to our agent partners, though, we discovered that agents are confident in selling the benefits of small-ship cruising to their customers, but that there were frustrations around the lack of a real quality option for that in the Caribbean—that customer is perfectly catered for on the programme."
Ambassador hopes to begin that small-ship experience (with Renaissance only carrying 1,100 guests at maximum) even before embarkation. Nicola elaborated, "One of the fundamental decisions for us in the programme was chartering the Virgin aircraft, so agents know at point of sale exactly what experience their guests will get. Flights from Manchester and Heathrow mean our agents in the North and South both have great coverage, and that helps them confidently sell the product."
Agents: as important as ever
Ambassador's agent-centric approach when curating its fly-cruise Caribbean programme extends to its overall sales push, with this year's updated "well received" by agents and the countdown to Renaissance "a really exciting time for the trade team." Nicola is full of praise for her travel agent partners.
"We have made no secret that our trade partners are the backbone of our success, and we will continue to invest in them. Our trade team, of 16, is the perfect embodiment of our trade strategy and proves that we really value what our trade partners do.
"We are not a business that operates a one-size-fits-all approach to our agent partners. We know every travel agent is unique—our team is agile and adapts to each relationship. Even as recently as this month, we have worked with 3for (a travel marketing representation firm) who have conducted over 800 visits to agents around Manchester and Heathrow."
"We are not a business that operates a one-size-fits-all approach to our agent partners."
Nicola also highlighted the ongoing training initiatives, including Bob McGowan (chief experience officer)'s video series, Ask Bob, on its agent Facebook page; and the ongoing Sip & Sea sessions for homeworkers, taking place in Newcastle on August 1st and Manchester on August 29th.
Grab a Grand
With plenty to talk about and growing trade relationships to celebrate, Nicola also unveiled a four-week Grab a Grand incentive campaign. "We know that agents want to grow their cruise business, and we think this current chapter in Ambassador's story, with our new ship launching, a brand-new product and a bumper incentive, is such a great time to do so."
Any agents making a booking aboard Renaissance will be entered into a prize draw that week, with one entrant each week winning £1,000. At the end of the four weeks, a grand winner will be awarded a Caribbean cruise for two of their own.
Regular bookings earn a single entry, premium economy bookings earn two entries, and an upper-class bookings earn three entries. Booking references, agent name and ABTA numbers must be emailed to competitions@ambassadorcruiseline.com to qualify for entry.
Nicola Harper is head of distribution at Ambassador Cruise Line.
