Lynsey Jones was so admired and respected by agents at Balkan Holidays that she was affectionally known as “Lynsey Balkan”.

Yet, it wasn’t just agents who were fond of her. The specialist handed her several promotions during her six-year stint. Jones started as a regional sales manager in 2019 before being promoted to national sales manager in 2022 and then head of sales and brand in November last year.

However, in April, Balkan suddenly closed its UK business after nearly 60 years, cancelled all forward bookings and made around 20 UK-based staff redundant – including Jones, who at this point had started telling colleagues she was pregnant.

“I loved it at Balkan but they decided ultimately it was not financially viable to keep operating here,” says Jones. “While it was a shock to be made redundant, it wasn’t a surprise.” 

’This is a great move for me’

As Jones came to terms with losing her beloved job, she was determined not to let the inevitable stress affect her unborn baby boy due to arrive in October.

Fortunately, Jones’ army of industry friends rallied around her at one of the lowest ebbs. Ambassador Cruise Line’s interim head of trade, Karen Cameron, got in touch to offer her a lifeline. The pair had got to know one another at Scottish Passenger Agents’ Association events over the years.

"I was made redundant on the Thursday, spoke to Karen on the Friday and then signed my contract on the Tuesday,” recalls Jones. “I thought about Ambassador’s offer for about two seconds!”

Jones reveals she was contacted by other travel companies about working for them but only ever gave Ambassador’s offer of a four-month contract serious thought despite not having any significant cruise sector experience on her extensive CV, which features spells with the likes of Skiworld, Neilson, Tui and, of course, Balkan.

"I was approached by other companies as well but – no pun intended – Ambassador has made a lot of waves recently,” she says with a smile, when asked why she decided to join the cruise sector.

"After being made redundant by Balkan Holidays, I just felt cruise was the right step for me. All the feedback from agents I’ve spoken to before was always cruise, cruise, cruise. I feel Ambassador is a great move for me.” 

Jones adds: “I thought cruise – generally speaking – was a lot harder for agents to sell. It felt like I used very complicated systems to sell cruise holidays when I was at Tui.”

Prior to joining Tui, Jones spent 12 years managing ski resort hotels in the Alps, meaning she is nearly fluent in French. So, have her linguistic skills helped Ambassador following its merger with French cruise operator Compagnie Francaise de Croisieres (CFC) in January? 

Jones claims colleagues only discovered her secret talent in July – almost halfway through her short-term contract, which ends just before her due date and the start of Ambassador’s debut Caribbean programme.

“I did speak French in a meeting in London with two French colleagues the other day,” she explains. “To be fair, I’ve not really needed to [use it] – but never say never.”

’Ambassador investing a lot of money’

Jones says she’s “loving” her time at Ambassador. “I feel so lucky Ambassador took away much of the stress by employing me quickly," she continues. "It sounds cheesy, but Ambassador saw something in me. It’s great to feel at home straight away. I’ve honestly never been part of such a big team.

"The other day, we worked out the team had 235 years’ travel industry experience with the likes of [national account manager] Louise Tansey, [business development executive] Debbie Ballantyne and Karen.”

Her new colleagues are constantly checking in with heavily pregnant Jones to make sure she is comfortable. “Last week, we were in London, and we had a team meal out – they were asking if I wanted help with the stairs, if I was tired, if I wanted to go home. They’re constantly checking in on me."

On the day Jones speaks to TTG about her new job, she is visiting a Hays Travel branch in Rochdale with plans to meet agents in Bury and Halifax soon after. “There’s a lot of positivity around the [Ambassador] brand from all the agents that I’m visiting,” Jones notes. “I think the agents see how much effort comes from the trade team. Clearly, we’re investing a lot of money into the brand.” 

Following Ambassador’s merger with CFC, a 10-departure Caribbean programme was announced – part of the line’s first-ever fly cruise programme. 

To help promote the programme and support agents selling it, Ambassador hired 19 reps from sales agency 3For in addition to its own 16-strong in-house trade sales team.

Jones says: “I think Ambassador has done a great job. We’re turning the high street purple. And we’re offering a completely different Caribbean product to other cruise lines.” 

Jones reveals she’s using her contacts to good effect and is currently working with Virgin Atlantic – one of Ambassador’s airline partners for the programme – and Visit Barbados ahead of the October launch. 

In addition, she has distributed research questionnaires to agents to understand what tools they need to sell Ambassador’s new Caribbean sailings. “Agents have been asking for more posters and training so we’re doing a myth-busting session to educate the trade about our new products,” Jones reveals. 

The burning question on my lips though is what does Jones plan to do when she resumes her successful travel career after maternity leave? After all, Jones has now had time to consider her next move.

Plus, being unattached professionally speaking means she won’t be tempted to check her work emails during the long-night feeds in the months ahead. “Hopefully I can come back to Ambassador after nine months,” she says. “It has all worked out in the end.”