In addition to Norwegian Aqua, which arrived in the UK on Tuesday (25 March), NCL will welcome seven more ships in the next decade, increasing the pressure on the line’s regional bosses to fill them.
Anslow, speaking from the 3,571-passenger ship on Monday (24 March), confirmed he is currently recruiting a regional sales executive to support agents in the north-east and Scotland.
“Around 10 years ago people were speculating about the death of the high street – that’s nonsense,” Anslow told TTG. “We believe that every type of agent has an opportunity to grow. The UK has the strongest group of cruise specialists in the world.
“Cruise is going to keep growing. The vast majority of our business comes from the travel trade – that is why we’re recruiting. We think there’s an opportunity to deepen our footprint in the north-east and Scotland.”
Anslow revealed NCL had started to put more “boots on the ground” two years ago. “We’re definitely now seeing an uptick in performance from the agents we visit,” he added. “We’re going to need to sell more so this is a great time for agents to be working with us. We’ve currently got 20 ships on sale.”
’A nice mix of agents on Aqua’
NCL will host more than 1,400 agents on Aqua across two showcase sailings, the second of which is running this week. Each agent was required to sign up to its trade platform, NCL University, before embarkation.
“We’ve got a really nice mix of agents coming on Aqua,” he added. “We’ve got Travel Counsellors, InteleTravel, a big group from Hays Travel, and then The Travel Network Group and The Advantage Travel Partnership members.”
Anslow said that while any agent can complete NCL’s online training modules, he stressed: “There’s no better training than coming on one of our ships.”
Anslow confirmed his UK and Ireland team would welcome 1,000 additional agents on ship visits running throughout 2025. NCL also hosted 1,000 agents in 2024 and the year before.
’We’re a fly-cruise line’
NCL’s European programme is performing “strongly”, said Anslow, who added: “The Mediterranean is a bucket-list destination for our US guests. They love to come this way whether that be the Med or the British Isles.
“Europe is our largest destination in terms of the number of passengers we carry and that will not be changing any time soon. Nine of our 21 ships sail here.”
When asked about the chances of NCL deploying a ship in Southampton for a mini-season, Anslow said: “We’re principally a fly-cruise line. From a UK trade point of view, fly-cruise is our focus.
“We do have ex-UK departures but they are aimed at our US guests.”
Anslow said there’s currently “incredible demand” for NCL’s Caribbean sailings from the UK and Ireland. To that end, the line will unveil a $150 million multi-ship pier development at its private island destination, Great Stirrup Cay, later this year.
Anslow revealed 97% more Caribbean itineraries will include a Great Stirrup Cay call.
