Blake has joined the line as key account manager in the cruise specialist team, reporting into Ruth Gardiner.

He joins Royal from Black & Stainless Ltd, where he spent the last few years as product and marketing manager leading the launch of their new garden furniture portfolio.

He also worked as senior cruise consultant at Bolsover Cruise Club for a number of years – bringing experience from both agency and supplier, as well as a fresh perspective from outside travel for a period of time.

Speaking to TTG, director of sales for Royal Caribbean Stuart Byron said the addition forms part of the line’s plans to expand its sales team amid a review of the structure it implemented during the pandemic. 

"We’re also bringing back our field sales focus," Byron added. "So we’ll once again have our sales development managers focusing on geographical regions across the UK.

"What we really want to be able to do now is enhance our visibility across retail and hit more of those stores so we can do more in-person training with agents."

The expansion of the sales team comes following the launch of Royal’s "make your own brochure" tool for the trade and its plans to visit more than 1,000 agents towards the backend of 2023.

"The feedback we’ve had from agents has been amazing, some have said the My Royal Genie tool is the best tool to help new-to-cruise truly understand what a cruise holiday is all about," Byron added.