This was the message from the line’s vice-president and managing director EMEA Jo Rzymowska, who outlined the plans for the line’s second Edge-class vessel during an event in London on Tuesday (1 November).

Apex will offer a range of four- to 13-night sailings from Southampton from May 2024 through November 2024, with itineraries including a new 12-night Norwegian Fjords and Arctic Circle cruise.

"We’re raising the bar for cruising from the UK by putting Apex out of Southampton for the whole season," Rzymowska told TTG.

"There is a massive opportunity from a sales point of view for our travel partners, as well as the opportunity for them to experience the ship in-person. We always like to make sure we get as many agents as possible onboard because we know seeing is believing.

"The agency community always has been, and always will be, fundamental to our business, and not just for Apex, but for our entire fleet of 15 ships.

"[The trade] is our largest channel of distribution, and consumers want to get independent advice, especially those who haven’t cruised before."

Rzymowska urged agents to sell cruise by highlighting brand differentiation and "selling on value", as opposed to selling a holiday based on the price. "If you sell on price, you’ll lose on price," she warned.

"If you sell on knowledge and brand differentiation, you tend to retain the client. We are very focused on working with our travel partners and training them on our product."

With the deployment of Apex in Southampton, Celebrity said it will continue to reassess how it works with its agent partners, through new training initiatives and in-person events.

"Obviously the homeworker model has become a far bigger one for a lot of our travel partners during the pandemic, and it’s no longer just homeworkers, retail, call centres and cruise specialists, as a lot of agencies tend to have multiple different arms of distribution," Rzymowska continued.

"How we talk to our homeworkers, and how we train them, is different to if you are visiting somebody face-to-face, hence the broader range of training initiatives."

Leigh Thomson, Celebrity Cruises’ head of marketing, communications and sales support, outlined the brand’s recently renovated "one-stop shop" for online trade training, Celebrity Central.

"It’s really important the new training is for frontline agents to help them bring the Celebrity product to life with their customers," she said.

"We try and include as many resources as we possibly can, including our on-the-road training manager, podcasts, our Facebook page, and an upcoming dedicated training platform, Celebrity Passport."