Twenty-nine year-old Rachel Poultney, a former member of TTG’s 30 Under 30, was announced as Princess’ head of sales today.

She was previously sales manager at the line for three years, working with agents including Tui, Iglu and Bolsover Cruise Club, but told TTG she was looking forward to now meeting with independent agents.

“I’ve got every intent of getting out there on the front line, I need to get out there,” she said. “Princess has always been a big advocate of listening to agents. It was their feedback to our ‘Vote for Change’ initiative that shaped our new agent platform.”

Poultney praised the work of previous head of sales, also a member of TTG’s 30 Under 30, Alex White, for having done “fantastic stuff” with the line.

“He achieved a lot with the sales team. The first few months will be a big learning curve for me,” she said.

“Once I start my role [on December 1] I’ll be able to properly review everything that we’re up to, and then I can sit down with [Princess Cruises new UK and Ireland vice president] Tony Roberts and put our heads together and come up with a nice travel agent-centric plan.”

“Change is always a good thing,” she added. “It gives us an opportunity to take a wide look at what we’re doing and make sure we’re adding value to our agent partners. We’ll be taking a big look at everything.”

Poultney also hinted that the line would be offering agent incentives next month. “In December we’ll be celebrating our 50th birthday, and as part of that we’ll be offering agents some preferential rates. We want to them on board,” she said.

It comes as the line unveiled a new sale from November 11 to 26, which is only available through agents. The trade will be able to offer customers lower prices on ex-UK sailings onboard Emerald Princess, including a three night taster cruise.

Princess said it was now recruiting to fill Poultney’s previous role.