- Jennifer Callister appointed Head of Ireland
- Royal were first cruise line to open an Irish office
- New role in Royal Caribbean structure
Previously Royal Caribbean designated their Irish chief as head of sales for Ireland.
She will report directly into London-based Sales Director, Ben Bouldin, and sit on his leadership team.
Jennifer has worked for Royal Caribbean as National Account Manager for four years and was previously with British Midland International. Reporting directly into Jennifer will be Holly Wilkinson, Trade Support Executive for Ireland, and Michaela Banks, Regional Sales Manager, Ireland.
Royal Caribbean reports enthusiastic engagement from Irish travel agents in its loyalty programme, wit ireland providing 800 of Club Royal‘s 10,000 member. The team will be hosting its first membership event for20 agency partners on Thursday October 6th at the Michelin Star Cliff House Hotel and Spa in Ardmore, Co. Waterford.
Royal Caribbean was the first cruise line to open a dedicated Irish office in 1999 at a time when the Norwegian-orginated but Miami based company was ramping up its drive to build the biggest and most technologically advanced cruise ships in the business. Voyager of the Seas became the largest cruise ship in the world, to be succeeded by Freedom of the Seas, Allure, Oasis and Ovation. The Irish operation, headed up from the start by Lorraine Quinn, showed double digit growth for nine successive years. Including an astonishing 34pc in the recessionary year 2008, but growth rates suffered a setback when Palma and Malaga were discontinued as home ports.
According to Royal Caribbean CEO Richard Fain Irish customers have the highest onboard spend and the highest satisfaction rating of any country.
Ben Bouldin recently reported to the Irish trade that CLIA figures for the overall cruse market showed that Ireland thad rebounded at a faster rate than the English marie and was up 14pc to 35,972 in 2015. The Mediterranean accounted for 60pc of the Irish market in 2015, 21,475 passengers (up 28pc) ahead of the Caribbean 8,022 (up 3pc), Baltic/Scandinavia 2,389 (down 11pc), Greenland/Iceland 1,278 (down 14pc), Middle East 1,186 down 6pc, Alaska 535 down 14pc, Far East/Australia 464 down 25pc, Britain 441 and Panama 262. In devising his strategy for Royal Caribbean Ben Bouldin is a big fan of Adam Morgan’s Challenger Brand (see here).
Royal Caribbean say Jennifer Callister will be based in Dublin, but constantly on the road (or at sea!), We are revolutionising the cruise industry to make every holiday on board one to remember. Whether that’s wowing guests with our robotic bartenders, dazzling with a 30-foot giraffe or thrilling them with breath-taking destinations, we want to open their eyes to a new way to travel.
Ben Bouldin said, “Jennifer is a huge talent with a deep knowledge of our brand and massive likeability. She is great friends with our Irish travel partners and her dedication and support in this key region is evident through the strong bookings we are seeing. We are the best resourced team and invest more in the Irish market than any of our cruise competitors and this means we are in the best position to support our valued agency partners and look forward to continued success with them.”
Jennifer Callister said: “I am excited to be working on such an extraordinary and ambitious brand at a time when more and more holidaymakers in Ireland are discovering cruise for the first time. With this new role, and dedicated team, we’re committed to reaching even more travel agencies to help support their cruise business and find the perfect holiday for their customers. These changes come alongside ambitious plans from the brand to grow the cruise market in Ireland. Royal Caribbean, the market leader in Ireland, has seen continued growth in the region, following the two recent ship launches: Ovation of the Seas and the world’s largest cruise ship, Harmony of the Seas. Harmony, which hosted 200 Irish agents when she launched in May, will join her sister ships, Oasis of the Seas and Allure of the Seas in the Caribbean this winter – a favourite destination for a third of RCI’s Irish customers.
Royal Caribbean’s 25 ships visit 250 destinations (the press release says around the universe, exactly which non-earth destinations have they been to?).
- Listen here to Ben Bouldin speaking about how he intends to have direct pickups from Ireland in 2018
- Listen here to Ben Bouldin speaking about how he aims to double the number of cruises sold out of Ireland
- Listen here to ben Bouldin speaking about travel agents in Ireland.
- Listen here to Ben Bouldin speaking about Royal’s market share in Ireland
- Listen here to Ben Bouldin speaking how Ireland is 10pc of the business in his market area
- Listen here to Ben Bouldin speaking about how retail is where you win hearts and minds
