Alex Delamere-White, P&O Cruises vice-president of sales and marketing, said its new ship Iona, launching next May, continued to “perform well” after “the most successful ship launch in P&O Cruises history”.
The line has put more than 400 cruises on sale, covering summer 2021 and winter 2021/22.
Highlights include the second year of voyages for Iona, which will travel to the Norwegian fjords in summer 2021 followed by a winter season sailing around Spain, Portugal, Canary islands, and a seven-night trip to Europe’s northern cities.
“This [programme launch] shows the confidence we’ve got not only in the UK cruise market but in the trade support on that,” Delamere-White told TTG. “This is the first time we’ve ever put on sale our summer and winter season at the same time and this far out.”
He said pulling forward its programme launch two years ago from April to September had exceeded expectations.
“That has given us the confidence to think even more boldly about how much further we can push that,” he added.
Delamere-White said Iona would be at the forefront of the line’s wave activity, adding: “There’s exciting news to come in terms of incentives. Shine Rewards Club offers always-on rewards for agents but they can look forward to something even more special for this wave.
“We’ve not announced our ship visit programme for 2020 but with Iona joining the fleet you can be sure she’ll feature prominently in that for our frontline agents to visit.”
The programme will go on sale today (21 October) to Top Tier Peninsular Club members before opening up for general sale on 23 October.
