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Are you wary of telling your customers to book onboard a ship because you fear you will lose their business? Katherine Lawrey delves into the onboard sales process on P&O Cruises’ Britannia, and finds it is very agent-focused
What are the benefits of booking onboard, rather than going through a travel agent?” I hear a cruise guest ask at the onboard sales desk.
Uh-oh, this could go one of two ways, I think to myself, and prick up my ears to catch the response:
“If you book onboard, then you will qualify for our onboard credit offer and we will remove any credit card charges,” replies Christopher Foy, loyalty and cruise sales assistant. “We’ll also be able to see the name of your travel agent, and will transfer the booking back to them, so when you get home, you can continue to use them to service your enquiry. It means you get the best of both worlds.” It is an answer that is likely reassure agents who have previously expressed concern that lines are not always as transparent as they claim to be.
I hear variations of this conversation repeated many times throughout the day I spend observing the onboard sales process, at the invitation of P&O Cruises.
This transparency is part of a concerted effort on P&O’s part to demystify the onboard sales process, and reassure agent partners that they are not trying to cut them out of the equation.
“There’s a lack of trust and fear of the unknown, which we want to overcome,” admits Rosy Sims, onboard sales manager, Carnival UK. “Some agents may be unaware that we want to strengthen that partnership with them. Cruise specialists often know about the ability to book onboard but agents outside of cruise don’t necessarily know about the benefits.”
In fact, Nathaniel Sherborne, senior sales manager for onboard sales, Carnival UK believes booking onboard is a “triple win” for all involved when it comes to both P&O Cruises and Cunard. He explains: “The customer wins because there are exclusive onboard booking benefits, the agent wins because you retain the customer and earn the commission as if you’ve made the booking, but you’ve not actually done the work, and P&O Cruises wins, because we’ve reconverted the customer at the earliest possible opportunity.”
There are two permanent sales staff on every P&O ship, except Adonia, which has one, and a six-month trial is about to start with a third person on Britannia. My time onboard also coincides with there being an extra person as P&O agency sales account manager Hayley Edwards has arranged a two-week secondment, working in onboard sales: “I broached the subject with my manager,” she tells me. “I wanted to do it because I thought the knowledge would be really useful. It’s been a real eye opener how strongly we push booking with an agent. I’ll definitely be encouraging my agents to promote the service, because it’s not how it’s perceived.”
“As much as P&O can train agents to sell our product, it’s never going to be as strong as the people who live and breathe it. It’s good for agents to piggyback on that.”
On a busy sea day, in the week that 2017 world cruises have gone on sale, there’s a constant tide of enquiries and bookings for Foy, Edwards and Louise Arthur, loyalty and future cruise manager, with confirmed bookings for Iglu, Cruise.co.uk, Thomas Cook, Bolsover Cruise Club and The Co-operative Travel among others.
“I’ve had customers refer to agents many times,” says Arthur. “The name of the agent comes up on our system anyway but the customer will often say, I’ve known my agent for years, please can you make sure my booking goes back to them.”
“I’ve not had a single person say they didn’t want to rebook with their agent,” adds Edwards.
Sims explains that the split between agent and direct sales makes no difference to the targets for the onboard sales staff: “They are targeted to hit a revenue figure, and they will earn the same commission whether the cruise is booked through an agent or booked direct.”
It is physically possible to remove an agent from a booking, but Sherborne says P&O would only do it if the customer was insistent on account of poor service from their agent, and they would never transfer the booking to another agent:
“The passenger signs a disclosure to remove it as an agency booking.”
For indecisive passengers, there is another way to guarantee those booking benefits. They can put down a £50 future cruise deposit while onboard, which is valid for bookings within 12 months.
“The risk is they can go back and book with any agent [without losing their deposit],” explains Sherborne. “But if they really value their agent’s opinion, the deposit works for those faithful agent-client relationships.”
“We decided to strike while the iron is hot,” one passenger tells me, having just paid his deposit.
There is plenty of expertise, however, within the onboard sales team to help cruisers select their next adventure. Foy joined Britannia at the beginning of August. An avid cruiser, it was Cunard’s Three Queens 175th event in May that convinced him to look for a role within the company. “It’s been my dream since I was five to work on a cruise ship. I get to speak to people all day about their holidays. It’s like no job I’ve ever had,” he says enthusiastically.
“I’m interested in ships and destinations, and I find it very comfortable to sit there and explain the finer details. People do book off experience, and I’m a walking talking brochure.”
“People like to talk, and they feel safe when it’s someone they can see onboard the ship. They can chat to me now, but when they get off in Southampton, they won’t be able to – and that’s where the agent comes in.”
Arthur joined P&O in 2010 and has since worked on all the cruise ships apart from Adonia. “You definitely get a feel for what appeals to the different customers and it’s a big help when you’ve physically been on them all. Sometimes they don’t even realise they can book the entire fleet on this ship!”
The trio agrees there is no better environment to making a booking while the customer is on a ship in a relaxed frame of mind.
“Fellow passengers can help us promote future cruises,” adds Foy. “Recently we had an offer for double onboard credit when you booked a suite onboard Adonia. Some guests struck up conversation in the bar, and one couple physically brought the other couple to the sales desk, because they had convinced their new friends the offer was too good to miss. We can also tour the suites if available, which helps with the upsell.”
With agents on side, Sherborne has plans to grow the onboard rebooking business, organising more bespoke events such as cocktail parties for potential world cruisers where officers present on their favourite ports around the world.
These have already been done but the programme will be fleshed out. He also wants to roll out targeted cabin drops based on tip-offs from agents.
“My utopia would be this – a passenger arrives in the cabin, and there’s a personalised note from their agent, saying thank you for booking, have a wonderful cruise, and remember you can book onboard. It’ll be a logistical challenge for us, but there’s a great opportunity to add that level of personalisation.
“It’s a subtle change of language – instead of saying it’s possible to book onboard, we want agents to actually endorse the service.”
