Hagger, who joined Beverly Travel’s homeworking arm Your Travel Partners in the spring, was encouraged by Beverly’s directors Kelly Cheesman and Karl Douglas to attend the conference last month to network and expand her knowledge of the cruise industry.
“I have been on cruises before but it was just an opportunity to meet more people and learn from suppliers,” Hagger tells TTG.
However, she left Paris with a free hen party, courtesy of Oceania Cruises UK and Ireland sales director Louise Craddock.
Hagger, who has been engaged to her partner Charlie since February 2022, was struggling to plan her hen do when she met Craddock on the last night of the conference.
Having tried three times to organise the party, she began "feeling a little disheartened" when she found that some friends couldn’t attend due to money commitments or so much going on in their lives.
“I was sitting next to Louise and the whole table was talking and sharing their experiences,” Hagger explains. “Louise asked me if I was married, and I let out a laugh because of the situation I was going through trying to organise my hen party.”
Filled with sympathy, and to Hagger’s shock and delight, Craddock decided she needed to step in. She insisted Oceania would sponsor the hen do so the party could go ahead.
“The team and I are delighted to be able to celebrate a valued trade partner’s upcoming wedding,” Craddock tells TTG. “Business is personal for us, and we consider our trade partners to be part of the Oceania Cruises family. We will always take the opportunity to surprise and delight trade partners wherever we can.”
After recovering from the surprise, Hagger decided to keep the gift secret from her friends for a few weeks.
“I wanted to surprise them so I only told them I was organising something and it wasn’t going to be expensive,” she says. “I really tried not to give them too many details until I made the reveal.”
With Oceania’s help, she is set to take seven of her closest friends to Liverpool for a weekend in early June before she ties the knot a month later in Sheffield.
“I just want to thank Louise for being so kind and generous," Hagger adds. "She made right something that was going wrong and she’s given me a really nice gift.”
