The fact not one but two major cruise line bosses flew in from the US to address the largest-ever Clia UK and Ireland conference says a lot about the buoyant state of the UK cruise sector right now.

It was particularly apt that while Celebrity Cruises president Laura Hodges Bethge addressed the 850 delegates at Southampton’s Guildhall, just a few hundred yards away, one of the line’s Edge-series ships was welcoming passengers onboard ahead of its four-day Bruges cruise.

While the future certainly seems bright for cruise lines and agents alike, industry leaders made several pertinent points on sustainability, pricing, brand partnerships and politics the trade must consider when selling a cruise holiday this year. Here’s what you need to know.

The ’elephant in the room’

Addressing agent delegates, Emmy-award winning TV host and biologist Jeff Corwin, who is also a Princess Cruises nature and adventure ambassador, argued sustainability has now become a “priority” for people and “a big selling point” for agents.

He urged agents to communicate what cruise lines are doing to meet industry-wide sustainability targets and to ensure customers board ships with “a sense of confidence”.

“We know sustainability is seen as an elephant in the room – and sometimes people complain about the cruise industry – so we need to open up a conversation around it which is currently not being had,” Corwin said.

Corwin also highlighted the progress cruise lines were currently making in areas such as shore power, reducing food waste and alternative fuels. “People can come on board our ships and hear from leaders on sustainable practices and see the technology for themselves,” he added.

’Stable’ cruise fares

Rob Scott, P&O Cruises’ vice-president brand, marketing and sales and deputy chair of Clia UK and Ireland’s executive committee, said cruise fares were remaining “stable” while package holiday prices were rising despite the “remarkable momentum” seen across every cruise segment.

“It’s more critical than ever to share the value for money in cruise, especially when we see the prices in the package holiday market increasing,” he said.  

Scott also hailed agents in the room and the wider trade community, saying: “Make no mistake, your passion and support will drive our industry forward. Thank you for your dedication and enthusiasm. Together, we will continue to bring the magic of cruising to market more than ever before.”

Virgin Voyages appeal

Virgin Voyages is one of the newer lines in the market today. The line’s first ship, Scarlet Lady, entered service in August 2021 before it launched Valiant Lady and Resilient Lady soon after.

Asked if the adults-only line had achieved its aim of bringing new-to-cruise passengers into the sector, Virgin Voyages chief executive Nirmal Saverimuttu said: “I think we have appealed to a new audience. We had a lot of capacity come online very quickly while we were educating the market on who we were.

"Now we have done that, booking rates are through the roof. We’ve earned that trust and people have confidence in us a brand. Quarter to quarter demand is increasing. The [brand] misconceptions are going away now.”

Last year, the line took many by surprise after it decided to offer cabins to agents to help boost their product knowledge, as well as help fill its operating fleet. Saverimuttu, though, insisted the move has paid off.   

“Agents who sailed with us got a sense of what our ships are like and therefore their booking levels are much higher than those who have not been on our ships,” he explained. 

Saverimuttu also argued Virgin Voyages is attracting passengers who fancy cruising without children at a lower price point. “Normally, if you are looking for a kid-free cruise vacation, you are looking very high prices on small ships,” Savertimuttu said.

“This is a good point of difference for us. We do not charge for tips which is important for the UK market because people get confused with value for money and cheap."

Each of Virgin Voyages ships – Scarlet Lady, Valiant Lady, Resilient Lady and the yet-to-launch Brilliant Lady – can carry up to 2,700 passengers. “We can serve the adult market as there is a lot of capacity [in Virgin Voyages’ fleet]," he added.

The general election

Thanks largely to the work of Clia and its cruise line members during the pandemic, the government finally understands the benefits cruises give coastal communities and remote regions around the country.

On Tuesday (21 May), tourism minister Julia Lopez met Clia officials on Ponant’s Le Dumont d’Urville in London to discuss the sector and the role it has within the nation’s economy. However, the following day, prime minister Rishi Sunak called a general election on 4 July.

On stage, Paul Ludlow, president of Carnival UK and P&O Cruises, raised concerns about having to rebuild relationships with a potential new government following the general election. “A lot of credit must go to [Clia UK and Ireland managing director] Andy Harmer and the team at Clia for the work they did during the pandemic and the years that followed. It was fantastic,” he said

“We’ve built some very strong relationships with governmental departments and secretaries of state. I don’t know what might happen at a general election, but most likely we’re going to have to start again. We don’t see that necessarily as a bad thing, but we will have to restart those relationships again.”

The power of partnerships

Ludlow went on to hail the positive effect of P&O Cruises’ multi-year partnership with the Baftas. “Our Baftas relationship just goes from strength to strength,” he said, before listing other relationships the line has with pop star Gary Barlow and chef Marco Pierre White.

“We do these partnerships because people recognise the talent from their day-to-day lives,” he explained. “We can then start to use that talent to tell our story."

Ludlow continued: “It breaks some of the walls that we’ve struggled as an industry to get through. It’s about people understanding what we’re doing.” 

To illustrate his point, he revealed “four times as many guests” made a P&O Cruises booking on Monday (29 April) after the Baftas compared with the Monday prior to the televised glitzy event in central London.

Capitalise on repeat business

During the business sessions, Harmer made agents aware of two figures that had emerged from recent Clia data. “Around 82% of people who take a cruise will take another cruise within two years,” he said. “That is an opportunity for you. They will go on board, have an amazing time and then they will be ready to book again. 

“The other stat is 71% of people have never cruised before. They are ready to book and it would be a shame not to get them to cruise.” 

Ludlow added: "It’s just a really exciting time to be apart of the cruise industry. People are booking earlier than ever before.

"[P&O Cruises] recently put its 2026 programme on sale and I think people realise that they if they want to have the perfect cabin on a perfect ship they need to book early."