The evening saw Carnival awarding eight gongs showcasing the best-selling and most engaged agents during the first quarter of 2017.

The event, which was held in Birmingham last night (April 11), was hosted by Luke Smith, the line’s head of UK and international sales and Carnival Vista cruise director Matt Mitcham.

Virgin Holidays Cruises scooped three awards while the operator’s Eshaa Patel and Andrew McKenna from Book In Style were both named as Carnival’s Top Booking Agent on the night.

Thomas Cook, USAirtours and Ocean Holidays also claimed accolades.

The awards were the first of four to be held by Carnival around the UK during the year.

The line launched its Travel Agents Rock campaign last November with the sales initiative featuring the Loyalty Rocks Club rewards scheme, an online training programme and a holiday giveaway.

Smith said Carnival had seen a “really positive start” to Travel Agents Rock - especially with its Loyalty Rocks Club initiative.

“For us, rewarding travel agents for every single booking they make is not something we have ever done so that gives us the ability to compete with any other cruise line,” Smith told TTG.

“What we want to see now is making as many agents as possible aware of Loyalty Rocks Club and making sure they are getting the rewards that they are due and get the engagement up even more than it is now.”

As part of Travel Agents Rock, Carnival will host a day at the races for participating agents with Smith adding that the line would be hosting 50 agents during the Clia Conference in May.