Convention Special: Tea and biscuits sir?

Do cruise customers care about getting their tickets in a leather case or would they rather operators spend the money on improving the holiday?

This was the question hotly debated by cruise agents and a panel of experts at ABTA’s cruise forum in Malta this week, with many saying cruisers favoured the old fashioned approach of fancy ticket wallets and “chats and cups of tea” while picking a cruise rather than e-tickets and doing all their research online.

Managing director at Marble City Travel Tom Britton said: “People want to come in, sit down, have a drink and discuss their cruise with us. And when we hand them their leather wallets, it’s like we have just given them the Bible. It really makes them feel like they are going on holiday when they get them. They like to have something solid in their hand, not just an email to read.”

He added: “In 50% of cases, younger customers couldn’t care less about how their tickets are presented, but that’s not the case with more traditional cruisers.”

Creative cruises director Jason Peters added: “I think people who have spent a lot of money deserve a proper presentation of their holiday tickets. When they are spending vast sums of money, they might be celebrating a retirement, they might be a lottery winner, they might be taking friends away and they notice if the presentation is not right.”

He gave an example of a customer who was a first time Silversea cruiser and on receiving the box and leather wallet with the tickets inside had told him: “If this is the standard of the ticket presentation, I can’t wait to be welcomed onboard.” This statement prompted a huge round of applause from the ABTA audience.

But Carnival UK director of sales and customer services Giles Hawke said that he felt there was no struggle for cruise lines between keeping the traditional client happy while being innovative and moving with the times.

He explained: “On board the Queen Mary 2, if you are in a top suite you get your paper of choice delivered to you on an iPad by your butler which is a perfect mix of combining tradition with innovation.

“We were spending £3m a year on sending tickets out to agents to give to customers when in fact they did not need a physical piece of paper to get on the ship. Wouldn’t people prefer that we spent that money on improving the product onboard and making sure they had a fantastic time?”

Perhaps in the ultimate endorsement of the need to combine the traditional with the cutting edge to stay on top, Fred.Olsen marketing director Nigel Lingard said that his company has also just implemented a social media strategy.

By Dinah Hatch