Ben Bouldin, though, believes the trade – after weathering the greatest storm in its history – has almost fully recovered from Covid some three-and-a-half years on. “It’s been great to see the trade coming back, like really back,” Royal Caribbean International EMEA vice-president Bouldin tells TTG.
He’s confident that the recruitment challenges that have plagued the trade’s rebound from the pandemic are easing too. “I think [agents] are getting closer to their optimum fighting weight,” he says, pointedly.
Project Icon
With the world’s largest cruise ship, Icon of the Seas, launching in January, Utopia of the Seas entering service next summer, and Independence of the Seas returning to Southampton in 2025, Bouldin knows he needs agents to pull no punches during the upcoming wave season.
“We’re seeing agents coming back offering the same skillset that they did before,” he explains. “There’s still a need for the expertise and knowledge agents provide, especially when you’re selling cruises that require flights and packaging solutions.”
Interestingly, Bouldin believes “many” agencies have upgraded their websites to allow customers to book their cruises online without actually speaking to an agent. “I think agents have regained their foothold in the market, but I think many of them have done that by having more effective websites to engage with customers directly,” he contends.
Royal will host approximately 8,000 agents from around the world across two shakedown cruises on Icon before it launches on 27 January 2024. Bouldin, though, laments the timing of the sailings, which fall just as UK agents gain momentum during wave on 20 and 23 January.
“We’ll still take some agents across, but it’ll be a smaller number than normal,” he admits. “There were times when we invited 3,000 or 4,000 UK agents to the launch of a new ship. Clearly, in January, that just isn’t palatable to the trade, so we’ll look at opportunities throughout the year to give people the chance to engage with Icon.”
Bouldin promises next year’s educational programme will be “robust”. “We will operate ship visits on turnaround days,” he confirms. “And we’re looking at a couple of other events which are slightly more exciting than just seeing the ship in a port of call. Whether you call it a fam trip or a seminar at sea, we’re evaluating the options that we’ve got.”
Indy’s UK return
With Independence – or “Indy”, as it’s affectionately called at Royal – scheduled to return to the UK in 2025, Bouldin is keen to remind agents “what an incredible ship Indy is”.
“While it’s very familiar to many of our guests and the travel trade, there are many new agents who probably weren’t working in the industry six years ago,” he explains. “Indy was part of the Southampton scenery, if you like, during the summer, and then it disappeared [in 2019].
“I’m really pleased – it will be six years, believe it or not, since she was here. I think to give the UK market a chance to sail on Indy again is something quite special.”
Bouldin noted how Indy is offering new ex-UK itineraries in 2025. “We’ve got more shorts,” he explains. “We’re offering guests a choice of everything from two- to 12-night itineraries.”
He reveals several Royal ships were being considered to replace Anthem of the Seas in the UK, but stresses: “I was very quick to say, ‘OK, well, if you want to remove Anthem then I want to have Independence back’.”
He heaps praise on Anthem, saying: “I think Anthem is a great ship that has delivered exceptionally well for us in Southampton.”
When asked whether we could one day see two Royal ships in Southampton, Bouldin replies: “The conversation is ongoing. We always evaluate it. At the moment, because of the demand for cruising in the US, it’s very difficult to justify more ships in Southampton.”
Trade team growth
So, how does Bouldin assess his trade sales team with the high-profile ship launches and Indy’s return around the corner? Bookings for the Freedom-class ship are now open too. “It’s been a bit of a slog getting the team fully resourced, but I’m pleased to say that, as of two weeks ago, we’re now there,” he says.
Sales development managers Ellie Lamb, Molly Ewens and Laura Bailey, and senior account manager for new business Danny Girling, have joined the team, plus EMEA training manager Kristi Reeser, who Bouldin admits he “pinched” from Royal’s consumer call training team in April.
“Kristi whizzes around the country because there’s a lot of education and re-education to do,” he explains. “I thought she was exactly the sort of person we needed to elevate excitement levels about the Royal Caribbean brand.
"We’ve really enjoyed engaging with new agents as we’ve gone up and down the country, be it with our training teams or the new-to-cruise seminar at sea we did this year on Symphony of the Seas when we travelled from Barcelona to Rome and took 400 agents that had never sailed with us before.”
