P&O Cruises prepares agents for Azura
Tuesday, 18 Mar, 2009
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P&O Cruises will be urging travel agents to go ‘back to the future’ as they sell new ship Azura.
Cruises on the 3,100-passenger vessel go on sale on March 30 for departures from April 2010 to March 2011 with a range of offers including £100 on board credit and free car parking at Southampton for bookings taken by June 30. Discounted sailings are available for early bookings take before April 18.
Unlike family-friendly sister ship Ventura, launched last year, Azura has been designed to appeal to “heartland” P&O Cruises’ passengers who have taken an average of more than five cruises with the company in the past, according to managing director Nigel Esdale.
While Azura will also appeal to newcomers and families to a lesser degree, the company is anxious for agents to take on board the fact that the ship is a very different proposition to Ventura.
To help the selling process, 10,000 Azura training packs are being sent out to agents from Monday (March 23), a week in advance of the cruise programme going on sale.
These will include a DVD, cutaway poster, desk calendar, notebook, pens and sticky notes.
A specific Azura training module is also being added to the online Waves of Wisdom agents training programme with weekly prizes to be won.
Esdale repeated his hope expressed to TravelMole previously that Azura’s ‘on sale’ day would top the record 19,000 single day bookings taken on the first day that Ventura became available to book two years ago.
Azura has been dubbed the ‘foodie-friendly ship’ due to its emphasis on contemporary dining overseen by Michelin-starred chef Atul Kochar at the ship’s Indian restaurant as well as three main dining rooms, a fine dining restaurant called Seventeen, a wine bar and restaurant called the Glass House and a number of other venues.
Also on board will be The Retreat, an exclusive open air spa terrace which will carry a fee per half day of use.
Azura will also have a range of spa cabins where passengers can buy an optional spa package costing between £498 and £798 depending on the length of cruise. This will allow the user access to the Retreat, facials and massages, unlimited access to fitness classes, a welcome event, spa tour and a number of other extras.
Itineraries in a preview brochure range from a three-night break to Bruges and Le Harve in October 2010 starting at £264 per person to a new 29-day Christmas and New Year fly-cruise taking in 17 ports in the US and Caribbean, including Port Canaveral for Orlando, Port Everglades for Miami, Key West, two days in New Orleans and full days in a string of islands ranging from Antigua to Grenada.
Esdale said: For Azura we have gone ‘back to the future’. We’re looking back at how travelling at sea really should be; sophisticated, relaxing, indulgent and exciting, while we are also looking forward at the same time.
“Our first for P&O Cruises will include an outdoor cinema, an exclusive al fresco spa retreat and single staterooms.
“Travel agents need to understand what makes an Azura holiday an easy sell; the value for money provided by a cruise holiday, the itineraries developed to appeal to both newcomers and experienced cruisers and the personal service and attention to detail upon which P&O Cruises prides itself.”
by Phil Davies
Phil Davies
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