Princess Cruises has been forced to push back the Sphere-class vessel’s maiden sailing twice to allow for additional work to be completed in Fincantieri’s shipyard in Italy.
The delays mean the 4,300-passenger vessel is now scheduled to operate its debut cruise from Civitavecchia on 28 February – 20 days later than originally planned.
Princess Cruises’ UK and Europe sales director Hayley Moore told TTG: “Sun Princess is looking absolutely fantastic. What is exciting is we’ve now got frontline agents on the inaugural sailing.
“We really value our agents and for them to be among the first people to see the ship is where we want them to be.”
Moore said “a real mix” of agents had been invited, adding: “Some of them are familiar with the brand, while others have not sailed with us before.”
Sun Princess will be in Southampton for an overnight stay on 22 September, plus there will be other chances for agents to see the ship in the Mediterranean in the summer, Moore noted.
Among the 210 agents, there will be seven Sun Princess ‘ambassadors’ who have been selected by the line with the help of agent partners.
On the new ambassador programme, Moore said: “For us it’s about creating an advocacy programme.
“We’ve worked with senior leadership teams at agencies to select the best people for the job.
“We were looking for people that are committed and passionate about the Princess product. It will help us talk about the ship.”
Moore said the ambassadors will be invited to join exclusive tours of Sun Princess so they can share their experiences with the wider trade community.
Moore hinted that agents would be given a tour of “transformational”, multi-functional space – Princess Arena – on Sun Princess.
She also confirmed plans to get 3,000 agents on Princess’s ships this year through a mix of ship visits and fam trips.
“We’ve obviously got the fam trip on Sun Princess [on 28 February], and then the ship is coming to Southampton in September, that counts as an in-port ship visit, and then we have cruises for agents that have completed our training modules,” explained Moore.
“There are a lot of different ways to get agents on the ship.”
