The cruise specialist agency will begin selling bespoke itineraries for customers from the end of April and is aiming to book about 1,000 passengers in the first year.

The five-person team, comprising four new recruits and one current Bolsover team member, will be led by product manager Katie Wilson, daughter of managing director Michael Wilson.

Wilson, who joined seven months ago after studying business management, said Bolsover had been planning to build its own packages in the past year after seeing the success of its suppliers’ product and that of rivals already doing it.

The agency currently offers cruise-and-stay packages through a third-party supplier, but Wilson said Bolsover was now in “the final stages” of securing its own Atol and arranging agreements with new providers including hotels and transfer firms.

“We really want to hit the ground running as we know there is just so much demand out there for the market,” said Katie Wilson.

She described how Bolsover’s package team would see its business increase with lines such as Princess Cruises and Cunard, and for destinations including Alaska and Canada on its hit-list
for combining sailings.

“I’m also really excited about the prospect of Virgin Voyages, as its destinations and length of sailings look very suited to packaging,” she added.

The itineraries will initially be offered on an ad hoc, bespoke basis, tailored to customers’ individual needs when they call and request, with Bolsover aiming to offer the product type more widely once the programme is under way.