The hour-long episode which was broadcast on Friday (February 24) saw McDonald, a former Loose Women panellist and cruise chanteuse sail onboard the Maria Theresa for Uniworld’s Enchanting Danube itinerary.
The line said that “thanks to the TV exposure” the programme had created; it received more than 40,000 visits to its website over the weekend and was now dealing with “nearly 1,000” enquiries.
Kathryn Beadle, UK managing director said Uniworld had been “blown away” by the response from both trade and consumers.
She revealed that the line had even opened its call centre on Sunday for the first time to help cope with the busy period.
“We knew that the show was going to be huge, but the level of interest has exceeded all expectations,” she said.
“During Friday night’s episode our web team was closely monitoring the Uniworld UK website to ensure that we could handle the traffic, and they said that the volume of referrals pouring in was akin to watching the numbers shooting up on a Las Vegas slot machine.
Beadle added that due to the influx in interest Uniworld had seen from the show there was a “phenomenal opportunity" for trade partners to "really capitalise".
According to Uniworld, broadcaster Channel 5 has reported that the four part series – during which McDonald also cruises onboard MSC Cruises, The Majestic Line and Holland America Line – is its “most successful new show launched this year”
It added that across combined television and on demand viewing figures the audience for episode three featuring Uniworld is expected to hit 2 million people.
“The trade has been brilliant at getting behind us and supporting the show,” continued Beadle.
“I’d like to thank them for their overwhelmingly positive reaction to date, and to let them know that we’ll be continuing to support them by pushing out the message. I’d also like to thank our dedicated call centre team, who have been working tirelessly to handle the volumes of enquiries.
“The show has been wonderful for Uniworld, but there’s also enormous benefit for the river cruise industry as a whole, as it has really helped to explain what travelling on the waterways is all about.
“I’ve been contacted by many travel agents who have said that watching Cruising with Jane McDonald has given them a much clearer understanding of the product, and that they will be now looking to sell rivers for the first time.”
