Furthermore, the group’s premium cruise brand is set to invite 200 UK and Irish agents on Celebrity Apex in May as part of its latest Celebrity Moments campaign which is set to end on 2 March.
Agents who earn their place will join Apex’s repositioning cruise from Lisbon to Southampton before its ex-UK season kicks off.
Speaking to TTG ahead of Celebrity Cruises’ 11th Agent Appreciation Awards in London on Thursday (15 January), Nicola McNeish, the line’s UK and Ireland sales director, outlined plans to unveil an expanded Cruising Power platform designed to be a “one-stop shop” for agents.
Although Cruising Power has been around for several years, Celebrity said it is not currently the primary booking platform for agents.
However, McNeish said: “We’ve spent a lot of money revamping Cruising Power to elevate it to the next level. We’ve taken on the feedback from our trade partners so we’re bringing all the content in together. It will be a one-stop shop.”
She added: “It will give agents access to our booking platform AirWaves, it will be linked straight through to an agent's Celebrity Rewards account, our marketing kit, everything is in there.”
Claire Stirrup, Celebrity’s EMEA vice-president and managing director, said the revamped Cruising Power platform would be a “super tool” for agents.
McNeish confirmed that Royal Caribbean and Celebrity would benefit from the investment in the Cruising Power investment initially, with Silversea’s various trade platforms to be housed on Cruising Power in due course.
“Because it’s early days, we don’t have much information to share with our partners at the moment. Cruising Power is not our primary booking platform yet,” she added.
On the line’s new Celebrity Moments campaign, which will see agents flown out to Lisbon with plus-ones to join Apex for a three-night sailing, McNeish said: “We invited 2,500 agents on ship visits last year. We’re always looking at how we can get more people on our ships.
“We look at new, innovative ways to do that. We want to showcase the amazing product first hand. The big one we’ve got coming down the tracks is we’ve got 200 of our agent partners on Celebrity Apex in May. The reaction from agents has been phenomenal.”
Celebrity confirmed 100 places would be awarded to “top-selling agents” while another 100 would be given to agents who have succesfully engaged with the brand in some way.
“We’re looking at different creative ways to get people onboard. They might not be selling Celebrity but they're marketing us,” she added.
