What happens when you invest in new product, or in this case new ships? You increase your chances of looking as suave as Sture Myrmell (above), but also experience record sales.
Over the last two years P&O has forked over a lot of cash to develop its offerings, and it’s all starting to really pay off.
In case you’ve been out of loop, the cruise line added two new ships to its fleet in 2015 – Pacific Eden and Pacific Aria – and recruited two known Australian celebrities to godmother the vessels and promote their launch.
The line has completely revamped the way passengers eat at sea by removing the buffet and introducing diverse dining options plus it’s three existing vessels have received a range of fun new changes, including Pacific Jewel and Pacific Dawn which were fitted with a range of activities as part of P&OEdge.
What else?
There’s also a range of new itineraries, giving guests more options when sailing around Australia and even Asia.
All those changes, hard work and investment are starting to pay, giving Myrmell and the team at P&O (everyone from ship crew to the gal in head office organising onboard entertainment etc.) something to really smile about.
In the first week of January the cruise line had its biggest ever seven days of bookings, with 84 percent more sales made compared to the start of January last year.
The records continued, with 7 January welcoming the highest number of bookings ever made in a single day.
P&O Cruises’ President Sture Myrmell said Pacific Eden and Pacific Aria are particularly hot in demand, with new and past cruisers keen to get onboard.
“We’ve been selling our expanded five-ship fleet for more than 12 months, but the bookings for Pacific Aria and Pacific Eden are really pouring in now that the ships are here and people can see for themselves how impressive they are.”
Sture Myrmell, P&O Cruises President
Myrmell expects growth to continue over the next 12 months, particularly as details emerge about the line’s sixth ship arriving in 2017 and the new-build coming in 2019.
“Our 2016 inventory is filling up fast, so travellers should move quickly if they want to cruise this year.”
