The new brand will offer customers long-haul cruise experiences, with tailored pre- and post-cruise itineraries, across six continents. First Class Holidays has invested around £100,000 into First Class Cruise.
Its launch follows the restructure of First Class Travel Group, which will now operate as four individual brands, each catering to different segments of the long-haul tailor-made market.
These brands include First Class Holidays, the recently acquired African Pride and Knighton Reeve brands as well as First Class Cruise.
First Class Travel Group chief executive Daniel Gathercole said the rebranded First Class Travel Group had been planning its new tailor-made cruise brand for the last six to 12 months.
He told TTG: “We’ve seen a gap in the market. There are obviously lots of companies that sell cruise, but there are not many who do the tailor-made ground element too.
“This is one of the biggest opportunities that I have seen in recent years. Cruise is only going to get bigger because of the demand and people are living longer. First Class Cruise is just a perfect fit.
“Say the customer is doing an Alaska cruise or a Kimberley cruise and they want to do a week or two before or after, we can arrange that for them. We really see an opportunity there.”
Gathercole said the group restructure and new brand announcement were delayed while the group completed the acquisition of African Pride and Knighton Reeve in November and waited for peaks to wind down.
“We wouldn’t have been able to launch First Class Cruise in peaks with all the peaks demand,” he explained.
In May, up to 60 cruise agents will join Gathercole and his team at the official First Class Cruise launch event in Dover, organised in partnership with Holland America Line. However, customers and third-party agents will be able to book with the dedicated First Class Cruise sales team next month.
A printed brochure and First Class Cruise website will be available in April, Gathercole said.
He has recruited a First Class Cruise team from other “trade-friendly cruise specialists” including cruise specialists Simram Singh and Nina Hodgson.
Gathercole hopes to recruit more cruise specialists once First Class Cruise is up and running.
Customers can book rail, cars, motorhomes and ferries through the new brand as well as cruise-only holidays, Gathercole explained.
“We’re selling 24 lines across the river, expedition and ocean sectors, including Oceania Cruises, HAL, Ponant and Silversea,” he continued. “We sell destinations in every continent apart from Europe.”
Gathercole added: “We’ve had a pretty good response so far, but the cruise lines to be fair are not sure how it’s going to go. We see a big opportunity here.”
