Pack starts his newly created national training and engagement manager role on 10 November and will support both retail and homeworking agents in the UK, Ireland and Europe.

Hayley Moore, Princess’s outgoing UK and Europe sales director, told TTG she had been discussing such a role with Eithne Williamson, the line’s UK and Europe vice-president, since she started her position in January 2024.

“Mike will create training material and make our training really dynamic for different types of agents,” Moore explained, before it was announced she was leaving Carnival Corporation brand. 

“We’re super-excited. We needed to cover the needs of every agent and to be agile and nimble across the entire agent community – that’s what Mike will help us do. 

“It’s quite a big task. This hire also shows the confidence our US headquarters has in the UK and Irish market, supporting us with this additional headcount.”

Moore, who will join Hurtigruten at the end of January, said Pack would be “a true Princess brand ambassador” in his new role, which will involve attending agent engagement events.

Prior to Pack getting started, the line’s business development managers were responsible for delivering trade training, Moore said.

Pack, a Briton with more than 15 years’ cruise industry experience, has previously coached new and existing cruise directors for Carnival Cruise Line, which he joined in February 2022.

“We advertised this role internally and externally, but Mike came with fantastic recommendations,” Moore continued. “He was the clear front runner – it was a good decision to make.

“He has hosted many agents on fam trips. He has a real passion for the trade and saw the influence he could have when hosting those fams. He has more than 32,000 Facebook followers.”

Williamson said having Pack lead the line’s trade training programme would ensure Princess’s business development managers had more time to do business with agents and support new entrants.

Baltic 'resurgence'

Next year, Princess will base two rather than three ships in the UK, and for the first time since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, it will have a vessel operating out
of Copenhagen. “Travelling to northern Europe is really big at the moment – there’s a real resurgence,” said Williamson. 

“There’s a lot of interest in getting to the Baltics from Copenhagen. We’ve still got five ships in Europe, but one of them is doing northern Europe from Copenhagen. We will have two ships from Southampton – Sky Princess and Majestic Princess.”

However, Williamson stressed: “The choice of destinations that was available in 2025 is still available next year.”

Budget 'uncertainty'

With the autumn Budget near, Williamson admitted there was “uncertainty” in the market about which levers chancellor Rachel Reeves will pull, and how they will affect consumer confidence.

However, she is hopeful the Budget will deliver “some certainty” for clients at least. “We’re hoping for some stability,” she said. “There are some difficult decisions that need to be made.”

In its latest quarterly update, Carnival Corp reported record-breaking levels of bookings for cruises two years out. 

“This sends a really powerful message to the UK market,” Williamson added.

Moore said the Irish market traditionally supported Princess Cruises when the line needed to fill any late capacity. But she stressed: “The Irish agents have made huge, positive steps in booking further out. 

“This trend gives us some agility if any capacity remains available to us late on. We’ve got some partners there who might be able to support us.”

Moore also revealed Princess’s “streamlined” ship visit programme attracted a higher number of new agents to the brand.

“In 2024, we had a record number of agents onboard, but this year, we streamlined it,” she said. “Around 66% of travel agents who came onboard were new to Princess. We wanted to reach out to those who had not experienced the brand.”