p&o cruise control agents

P&O wants travel agents to shine with new scheme

P&O Cruises is to launch its first ever travel agent loyalty scheme. And t he news is sure to get the trade talking. The Shine Rewards Club – which rewards agents for their ‘interactions’ with the brand, rather than bookings alone – forms the lynchpin of the line’s travel agent strategy for the next few years. It’s also how they hope to fill that 30% capacity rise [that the new ship will bring] with new-to-cruise guests. We spoke to Alex White, vice president of sales at Carnival UK, to find out more about the launch of the new club.

Why have you launched an agent rewards scheme now? The timing is very much an evolution of the Partnerships team concept. Two years ago, we set out to transform how both P&O Cruises and Cunard support the trade. We’ve been very successful in that and had two record years of sales for both brands from a travel agent perspective. P&O is now looking to the future when it comes to how we engage our front-line sellers. We’re going to be putting our new ship on sale in less than a year so we’re looking at new ways to engage and reward front-line sellers as we prepare to go through the most significant transformation in our history. The new ship will add 30% to our capacity and we need to appeal to a wider audience.

We’re going to be putting our new ship on sale in less than a year so we’re looking at new ways to engage and reward front-line sellers

Tell us more about the programme itself… We wanted to have a loyalty and engagement programme that doesn’t just reward the people selling our holidays but encourages those who are willing and want to build advocacy for the brand – whether that’s attending ship visits or completing training modules. This is how we will drive our growth. This is a multimillion pound investment in terms of rewarding agents. It is the most important thing we will do for our trade engagement for the next couple of years.

So, it is more inclusive than just a scheme? Absolutely. That’s how we will engage with and train travel agents. It’s a fundamental change in what we’re doing. It will reward the behaviours that we want to see from our front-line sellers.

What do agents have to do to take part? Agents can register for Shine Rewards from November 20 and the scheme will open on December 21. From then, every time agents make a booking they can log it on the site. Once there, they can engage in the loyalty programme through a gamification element. They’ll be able to build up points which can be exchanged for a whole host of prizes. In the past, we’ve led sales efforts such as having your mortgage paid off for the entire year or winning a Mini, what we’ve learnt is that people want to be rewarded in different ways. Now they’ll have that flexibility.

Agents can  choose to either spend their points or save them up and eventually take a P&O Cruises holiday. The more agents that we get doing that, the more cruises they will sell – especially to those new-to-cruise customers, and it’s by doing that, that we will be able to build up the cruise industry.

This is a multimillion pound investment in terms of rewarding agents

We’ve ran graduation cruises in the past once agents have reached the top level of our training but the great thing about the new programme is that agents can get a free cruise from us no matter what level they are. It really is the most varied and flexible reward programme we’ve ever done.

How else can agents earn points? The primary mechanism for getting points is going to be making a booking. Once they’ve done that they will be able to spin the wheel on the website to try and win more. There will also be points available for ship visits and training. Our sales team will also make ‘surprise and delight’ visits if someone makes a fantastic booking, for instance, and we will add bonus points on to their account.

Could you reward agents for new to cruise bookings? Absolutely. In the future, because of the gamification element, the level of points that travel agents win will be determined by the value of their behaviour. So, we know that every newcomer who is booked is critical to our success, so we could make that a greater incentive. That will happen to other things too – whether it’s shore excursions or additional land stays. During wave, however, we will keep it simple but we will adapt it as we develop it.

This isn’t about growing in the cruise space. It’s about encouraging guests to book a guest who has never been on a cruise holiday. We’re not competing in the cruise space. We’re growing the cruise space and looking to reach new audiences.

At the moment this is just P&O Cruises but there’s no reason why this won’t be translated to other brands in the UK in the future, like Cunard. It’s not confirmed but long-term we want it to be a Carnival Corporation initiative.

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P&O Launches Flagship Site for Agents

Wednesday, June 29, 2016

P&O Cruises has launched its first dedicated travel agent site – Flagship – designed to make it even easier to sell a P&O holiday.

Developed specifically for Australian and New Zealand agents, Flagship provides a central hub for information on P&O Cruises’ product, as well as a range of agent marketing tools and an image and video gallery.

The website – flagship.pocruises.com.au – will also host a new online education program, Flagship College, aimed at streamlining agent training. 

Focussing solely on P&O product information, the mobile-friendly education program will offer an annual Flagship Master Class, which will take just over an hour to complete and will earn agents 10 Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) accreditation points. 

Agents will also be able to use the Flagship site to monitor their progress in P&O’s incentive program, which has been renamed Flagship Achievers to coincide with the launch.

With one Flagship Point earned for every dollar of revenue booked with P&O Cruises, agents can track their points daily on the site.  Qualifying agents will earn a Flagship Bonus of up to $500 a year, with the top 20 travel agents earning a spot on P&O’s annual Top Achievers Trip.

In a first for the cruise line, Flagship will also enable agents to register their interest in ship inspections.

P&O Cruises Director of Sales Ryan Taibel said Flagship had been developed in response to the cruise line’s continued fleet expansion.

“With more P&O cruises on offer than ever before, we wanted to make it really easy for our key partners, the travel agents of Australia and New Zealand, to access all the tools they need to sell our cruises,” Mr Taibel said.

“Flagship is simple to use and packed with great information, so agents can feel confident they have everything they need to know about P&O at their fingertips, including our great new education program which makes it very easy to learn about our product.”

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Travel Agent or P&O Direct.

By Daftlad , March 10, 2015 in P&O Cruises ( UK )

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I tried sneaking this question into one of the Brittania threads, but without any response.

So can I ask directly, what are people's opinions and experiences about using one or the other?

I ask simply because I get the feeling that if you use P&O Direct, you will benefit from any retrospective upgrades and or OBC than if you used a travel agent.

And I am talking specifically when booking a Select fare.

Opinions greatly received.

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When trying to book our cruise recently using the P&O website I kept getting the message that my cabin type had sold out. But when doing so via travel agents websites I was able to book.

So do a percentage of cabins get reserved by TA's?

When trying to book our cruise recently using the P&O website I kept getting the message that my cabin type had sold out. But when doing so via travel agents websites I was able to book.   So do a percentage of cabins get reserved by TA's?

I reckon that is certainly the case. I have yet to use P&O directly using a well known club in the East Midlands who have explained they are allocated batches of cabins to sell on.

The thing is that in most cases that I look at now prices advertised by both are almost identical. That is why going direct to P&O would seem to give you a greater chance of any "extras"

newbieafloat

As a solo traveller, I used a travel agent. I do not believe it would be economically viable for me to book direct.

If you are registered with a payback site like quidco you get 4% cashback from P&O Cruises when using the link to P&O website from the cash back site. ;)

groovechick

When we booked through a TA, we got a better position of cabin, OBC and free parking, they liaised with P&O re food allergies and everything was smooth as clockwork.

When P&O stopped doing business with some TAs for a while and we booked direct with P&O, we got contradictory information, incorrect info. (so we missed out on a cruise we really wanted to do) etc. At P&O you never get to speak to the same person twice (in our case the personal cruise consultant concept just hasn't worked) and they didn't seem in the least bit bothered that because they'd given us incorrect info we were not able to cruise with them last year. They seemed to think we could just book any other alternative cruise and embark at the drop of a hat, which with two working adults and children in college and school simply isn't possible.

I always think it better to use a Travel Agent - you are doing a face to face booking, you can ask questions, query points raised and if things not right you just go back to the shop - very difficult doing this online or on a premium rate phone line.

We like to book with the TA cruise specialist - always one in the shop.

As with many large purchases you must shop around. Get quotes from a number of specialist cruise TA's. Use people who sell cruises all the time. General TA's can not be expected to have the knowledge of the specialist.

my marina bay

Specialist cruise TA every time. Why do folk think they are getting a special service with PO direct - get real it's a call centre the majority are students on casual hours recruited from S/ton uni. As our friends said when their daughter got p/t work there 'the dog knows more about PO than she does'.

My original posting was not about getting a special service from P&O, but the perceived likelihood of better retrospective benefits from them as opposed to a TA. As someone said a couple of posts previous, prices are identical from both but if there was a chance of additional benefits from one and not the other, would we be foolish to ignore that possibility, no matter how small it may be?

My cruise booked with Thomas cook was 6% cheaper than P & O's price .......£610.00 onboard credit and booked the cabin we wanted

Can I ask if it was the price that was cheaper or the OBC was an increase on what P&O were offering or was it both?

I use a cruise specialist TA but have yet to find they offer anything less than P&O themselves.

When the cruises came out last year we couldn't get a better price with a TA as we had in the past so booked direct. For is it has been better as we have had a number of questions we've needed to ask P&O and it has been far better than having to go through a TA. The price we got was fab too - then again we did book last March for this August. :)

Can I ask if it was the price that was cheaper or the OBC was an increase on what P&O were offering or was it both? I use a cruise specialist TA but have yet to find they offer anything less than P&O themselves.

Hi the price was 6% cheaper than booking with p and o direct but the OBC was the same whoever I booked with

I did similar and booked through Top Cashback at the beginning of January. The money is still showing as pending on our top cash back account. How long did it take to get your cashback?

Hi the price was 6% cheaper than booking with p and o direct but the OBC was the same whoever I booked with ��

P&O is a Carnival Brand & Carnival do not allow UK TAs to undercut prices UK TAs get between 5/12.5 % commission depending on how many Carnival Brands cruises they sell & if they are caught undercutting the commission is cut as well. But they are allowed to give other incentive like, Free Car parking/Free Excursion/ More O.B.C/Free Meals in Speciality Restaurant's

NHS staff get 5% discount if you go through P & O but worth asking if the TA can match that.

The commission to travel agents was raised last year back up to sensible levels. I got an extra 5% off my Oriana cruise in September. Always better to use a TA for lots of reasons.

• 3 weeks later...

What did you decide, Daftlad? I am wondering the same thing.

I asked the same question a few weeks ago.

My experience.....

I contacted P&O directly and two well-known Cruise TA's (one in the North West and one in the East Midlands).

1. P&O quoted the wrong price but was able to specify the exact on board credit (OBC). Unacceptable.

2. The North West TA also got the price wrong and gave me a range (min / max) for the OBC. Unacceptable.

3. The East Midlands TA quoted the correct price and was able to specify the exact OBC. They also offered me a £35pp discount for being a new customer.

They immediately became my No.1 choice.

The "standard price" quoted by each company was the same for a cruise more than a year ahead.

I rang both TA's again and said that I had a received a better offer.

I provided the competitor details & the lower quote and then SAID NOTHING.

I let them go away, speak to a supervisor and come back to me with a better offer. It worked 2 out of 3 times.

I managed to get a 3% discount (£130 in total) with very little effort.

I was happy with the discount. It will pay for a few bottles of wine !!

FACT: If you don't ask then you don't get.

I found that it helped to know the exact cruise that I wanted to go on.

I made sure that the companies knew that I was a serious customer.

I ended up booking my cruise with the company that got everything right and offered the best price (the East Midlands TA).

You're paying a lot of money. They should work hard for your business.

Host Sharon

Please folks - brush up on the Cruise Critic Community Guidelines and stop naming specific Travel agents. Thanks for your co-operation.

After a lot of looking around, I have now made my choice and have pre registered with P&O for my 2016 cruise after a very helpful discussion with a very well clued up Personal Cruise Specialist.

All done now, pending confirmation next Wednesday of course after the cruises are on open sale. I was very happy with the package.

My biggest gripe with booking through a travel agent is their idea of final payment date is earlier than P&O's sometimes by several weeks. My next cruise had to be paid to the travel agent a full 30 days before RCI wanted the money.

I occasionally wonder what would happen if in the interim they went bust (which did happen to a big P&O travel agent a few years ago).

It just suits us for several reasons to book direct. We just like not having a third party and it's even better now we have a named contact in our Personal Cruise Specialist.

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Third Disney Cruise crew member arrested on child porn charges this year

A Disney Cruise Line worker was arrested on child porn charges Monday — marking the third crew member employed by the kid-geared cruise company to be accused of the sick crime this year.

Tirso Neri, a 44-year-old crew member on the Disney Dream ship, was arrested by US Border Control and Homeland Security agents who discovered sexually explicit images and videos of girls as young as 9 on his phone, according to a criminal complaint.

Neri, of the Philippines, was charged with transportation of child pornography and possession of child pornography stemming from the December search of his two phones.

The federal agents boarded the Disney Dream ship when it arrived at the Fort Lauderdale-Port Everglades port in Florida from the Bahamas and conducted a search of the worker’s cabin, according to the complaint filed in the US Southern District of Florida.

The officers confiscated two phones that Neri had on him and discovered “numerous sexually explicit photographs and videos of young children whose ages could not be definitely determined.”

Later digging revealed that the cruise employee had a folder with the name of an apparent minor victim which contained several sexual and nude photos and videos of the minor along with a photo of her Philippines passport that revealed her date of birth.

The passport confirmed that she was 17 at the time the footage was taken, the complaint states.

Neri said that he downloads adult pornography and buys links containing the explicit content from different group chats on Telegram and Facebook Messenger in an interview with officers at Port Everglades.

He claimed that he received the folder with the images and videos of the 17-year-old girl from one of the group chats and saved it to his phone without looking at what was inside, according to the court document.

A forensic review of his phone later showed that the images were not only saved but viewed by the phone’s user.

Other videos later discovered on Neri’s phone allegedly show a boy, between 10 and 12, engaging in sex with a girl between 12 to 14 and a young girl naked with an adult man with the text “9 years old delicious” in Filipino written across the screen, the complaint states.

Neri is being held at Broward Main Jail.

Two other Disney Cruise Line employees — Alvin Gonzales, 49, and Amiel Trazo, 28 — were each arrested and charged with felony possession of child pornography in January. Both men are also from the Philippines and worked aboard the Disney Dream, Local 10 News reported .

Disney Cruise Line did not immediately return a request for comment.

But a spokesperson for the company told the local Florida outlet that Neri is no longer an employee.

“In accordance with our zero-tolerance policy for this kind of alleged behavior, this individual is no longer with the company,” the spokesperson said in a statement Tuesday.

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