Princess was one of the first major cruise lines to announce a suspension of operations back in March 2020.

What was initially planned as a 60-day pause transpired into a far lengthier lay up and after more than 500 days without boarding a Princess ship, Roberts’ excitement to sail once again is palpable.

After returning to Alaska earlier this month, Princess will restart operations in the UK on Saturday (31 July), with Regal Princess kicking off its “Summer Seacations” programme - later joined by Sky Princess from 30 August. 

While other lines have already begun sailing British waters, speaking just days before Princess’s UK return Roberts tells TTG he is sure his line “got the timing right”.

“Whenever you do something like this, there’s a huge learning curve and we’ve had the chance to watch and learn from others who started before us,” he says, praising the “immense support and insight” given by Carnival stablemate P&O Cruises.

Launched in late 2019, Sky Princess is making its first trip to the UK this summer (returning in 2022 and 2023), and Roberts says the line is “committed” to getting agents onboard “as soon as we can”.

“We’ve had incredible support from agent partners,” says Roberts. “I’m looking forward to getting back to all those things we could do previously [pre-Covid] in engaging and supporting the trade.”

Roberts is determined to take positives learned during the pandemic forward, building on his team’s “flexibility and speed to market”. His outlook could prove crucial as the cruise sector seeks to rebound strongly and service much-predicted pent-up demand.

“2022 is already looking hugely strong,” says Roberts. “My expectation is 2022 will be similar in guest volumes to 2019, and then in 2023 we’ll get back to growth. We’re adding ships to the fleet and growing capacity so there are opportunities coming up – the strength of bookings for 2022 and 2023 are testament to that.”

The line’s UK seacation sailings highlight those opportunities, with around 20% more new-to cruise guests booking than during a comparable Princess season, Roberts reveals. This trend, he believes, is fuelled by the value of cruising and international travel “still remaining quite complex”.

“There has definitely been an increase in guests who are trying Princess – and perhaps cruise too – for the first time. I think we’ll see that continue and hopefully those guests will take more than one cruise this summer.”

With international cruising set to resume from 2 August, Roberts is hopeful the successful domestic restart will “pave the way” for overseas sailings.

“There’s movement in a positive direction,” he says, outlining plans to operate itineraries in Europe onboard Regal and Sky from the end of September and start of October as scheduled. 

Although given the turmoil of the past 16 months, just to be sailing the UK once again feels like a huge milestone. “A lot has happened, and it’s been a rollercoaster ride of emotions,” Roberts admits.

“Not only is our return to service here and our first sailing from the UK around the corner, but international cruising is also in sight and the future is looking really bright – we’ll come back from this stronger.”