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Online cruise company hits high street with first UK store
Discount cruise specialist Cruise1st.co.uk will launch the UK’s largest dedicated cruise store in Manchester next week.
Opening on January 9 in the city’s The Lowry Shopping Centre, MediaCityUK, the store will be equipped with the latest technology, including virtual reality headsets providing 3D tours of ships, resorts and hotels.
The new store features multiple touch screen monitors where consumers can research and plan their cruises.
CEO Dan Townsley said: "Cruise is a complex product.
"Our research shows that while cruise brands are changing the language and trying to make the cruise concept simpler and more logical to the consumer, consumers often find researching and choosing the right cruise confusing and complicated, especially new to cruise, which is a vital market for our industry.
"Getting new to cruise is a difficult challenge and we feel that personal face to face service is the way to do it.
"Our aim of launching the UK’s first cruise concept store is to gain new to cruise to our data base and cultivate these relationships, as well as to provide the expertise and support for our growing database of customers who are looking for a more intense cruise experience – land tours around India, water falls in Venezuela, The Terrocata Army and Great Wall China tours.
"These are difficult to sell via the internet as consumers feel more confident booking these high-ticket, extended destination cruises with the peace of mind that they can sit in front of somebody and ask any questions they may have before committing.
"The travel industry has gone towards digital, however specialists have not and customers, especially new to cruise, value specialist knowledge and the reassurance of face to face advice and support."
The new cruise1st store will be open seven days a week.
Lisa
Lisa joined Travel Weekly nearly 25 years ago as technology reporter and then sailed around the world for a couple of years as cruise correspondent, before becoming deputy editor. Now freelance, Lisa writes for various print and web publications, edits Corporate Traveller’s client magazine, Gateway, and works on the acclaimed Remembering Wildlife series of photography books, which raise awareness of nature’s most at-risk species and helps to fund their protection.
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