Appearing as the keynote speaker at the Clia River Cruise Conference in Amsterdam at the weekend, Ellen Bettridge said the line was not afraid to “stir things up a bit”, as she insisted the move to create the new 21-45 brand was “not a light decision”.

Bettridge revealed Uniworld conducted extensive research prior to announcing U by Uniworld, asking customers of sister brand and youth specialist Contiki what they would want from a river cruise product.

“We went and asked Contiki customers if they had done a cruise and very few said yes. But when we asked them if we created one for them whether they would be interested, 94% said yes!

“So we did some focus groups and talked to tons of people – this was not a light decision. I’m really excited,” she added.

U by Uniworld will initially only be offered on two of Uniworld’s ships, which have been redesigned for the brand, and renamed The A and The B. However Bettridge said she would like to see more capacity added in future.

“I will need 7,000 passengers next year [for U by Uniworld]. That’s not too much to find,” she said, “so we’re looking at where we can do something in Asia”. She added that if new ships were to join the fleet, they would be called The C and The D.

“We’ve a lot to learn, I’ll be brutally honest”, she said. “We are doing something for the first time, and we are learning”. As proof she highlighted how the line decided to amend its original age range of 18-45 to 21-45.

She later told TTG that the line was “not afraid to throw spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks” and added with a smile: “I think there are a lot of people who are watching us”, when asked if other lines might follow suit.

Meanwhile Bettridge told agents that bookings so far indicated the average of customers was around 28-35, and they tend to be professionals – “think teachers, doctors, fire officers, police officers”.

She also revealed more details about the eight fams which will be run next year, on which agents – and their customers - of all ages will be able to join.

And she urged delegates to get behind the new brand, which will set sail on its first itinerary on April 14 2018, as she admitted that “bookings have been light from here so far”.

“The word is still getting out about this product. Our core source market is North America, followed by Australia which is closely followed by the UK. This is an incredible opportunity for the UK,” Bettridge added.