The news was announced by group marketing director Si Morris-Green at the consortium’s 2018 Cruise Conference in Birmingham this week.
The new tour and cruise product is one of six tailored offerings from The Travel Network Group’s tour operator Cruise Club Concierge.
It will feature an exclusive coach provider on a “luxury landcruiser”, Morris-Green said, departing from four different points in the UK including the South West, Manchester and Wales.
From there the coaches will take passengers to a UK cruise port, and will then travel to meet them wherever the cruise finishes in Europe, before transporting passengers back to the UK on a seven-night land cruise.
“It allows agents to offer something to clients who don’t want to fly,” Morris-Green explained. “It will be bespoke to certain itineraries, and will feature boutique hotels to give a real local flavour”.
Other new offerings under the Cruise Club Concierge umbrella include Taste of Luxury; The Ultimate Collection (offering bucket list itineraries); Cruise and Rail; River Collection; and Unique Adventures (featuring destinations such as the Galapagos).
“Previously these were all just part of the Cruise Club Concierge collection, but now we’ve segmented them to make the products – and the marketing – more tailored,” Morris-Green told TTG.
Meanwhile he also revealed plans to launch river ship charters for members in 2019.
Morris-Green remained tight-lipped as to which cruise line they would be with but said the move would enable the consortium to host educationals for members as well as enable agents to package them up for clients.
All sailings will feature Cruise Concierge branding. The Travel Network Group will be trialling the move with six to seven sailings in 2019, but Morris-Green hinted there could be more in future.
“We’re testing the water. We know there’s an appetite for this from members. It is a big step, but it’s just another feather to our bow,” he added.
Also new for the consortium is a change to how it alerts members of new deals from cruise lines, with agents now being alerted via SMS text messages.
“We realise sometimes emails don’t cut through when people are busy so we wanted a different way of engaging with members,” Morris-Green said.
“When new product and deals come out we can alert members immediately.”
Elsewhere Morris-Green announced that membership to the consortium’s Cruise Club, which currently has 284 members, would become free from January 2019.
Members currently pay £149 for access to it, but this will be waived next year. “By removing the fee, we’re removing the barriers to cruise,” Morris-Green added.
The move means the consortium’s 957 members will now have access to the Cruise Club, which offers training, marketing and “VIP days” – described by Morris-Green as “thank you events by the consortium”, featuring cruise sailings including its first overseas trip in June with 17 agents flown on a private jet to visit Celebrity Constellation in Barcelona.
