The ship is currently sailing on a 12-night itinerary around the UK with groups of agents joining the cruise at Southampton, Dublin, Glasgow and Edinburgh. The agents are spending between one and three nights onboard.
Rachel Poultney, director, sales, UK & Europe at Princess Cruises, said: “We wanted to get the agents onboard Royal Princess to experience the product, and the UK cruise seemed like a great opportunity.
“The ship is very relevant to the market, and it’s five years since the ship was named by the Duchess of Cambridge.”
Agents have been taking part in a range of onboard activities, including training sessions, treasure hunts, behind-the-scenes tours of the ship and a selfie competition.
The group had initially been due to experience Princess’s new Ocean Medallion wearable device during the cruise, but its roll-out has been delayed – while “technical tweaks” are made – in favour of a phased introduction onboard Regal Princess before introducing it on other ships.
Poultney told TTG that Princess’s UK bookings were “ahead of plan” for 2018 while 2019 sales were being boosted by a longer ex-UK season.
She added that the “best sold” itinerary so far for 2019 was a 24-night transatlantic round-trip from Southampton on Sapphire Princess, travelling to Canada, New England and New York, which departs in September 2019.
