On The Deck: James Cole

Last Thursday we explained that we are currently in the process of implementing a number of changes here at Cruise News. The first of those will be four additions to our industry contributors. These are renowned characters who will all give their take on what is currently developing throughout our industry in relation to their specific field of expertise.

First up was Royal Caribbean AVP & general manager Jo Rzymowska who is also the current chair of CLIA UK & Ireland. Jo, along with our regular columnist CLIA director Andy Harmer, are voices that are certainly worth listening to. And for anyone who missed Jo’s first piece, it is now available online.

However, having set the bar pretty high, the pressure is on to maintain that quality of voice. This week’s contributor will have no problem with that: managing director and Co-Owner of World Travel Holdings UK James Cole.

One of the biggest cruise retailers in the business James has been at the forefront of the industry for many years now. He is in every sense of the word, an industry leader.
Himself and business partner Mal Barritt founded Cruise118 in 2008 and made £1million in bookings in their first six weeks. Since then the company has started numerous successful sites including cheapcruises.com, rivervoyages.com and sixstarcruises to name but three. In 2010 they announced a subsidiary agreement with World Travel Holdings, putting them in league with major, global players.

Probably someone who is worth listening to then….introducing Mr. James Cole:

Over the past few weeks I have been fortunate enough to be at the naming of Royal Princess, a tour of Oceania Marina and also onboard Norwegian’s latest ship Breakaway. All absolutely fabulous ships, superb products in their own right and a credit to their respective owners. As a cruise retailer, we sold our first cruise under the brand Cruise118.com exactly five years ago this week, it is always a pleasure to be invited to see any ship but undoubtedly it’s the new ones that leave me amazed at the innovation and differentiation that has gone into these new builds.From Royal Princess’ Sea Walk with views 128 feet straight down, Norwegian Breakaway’s New York theme to Oceania Marina’s 1,000+ pieces of artwork all personally chosen by their co-founders Frank Del Rio and Bob Binder.

Compare any of the above ships or of course the rest of the world’s cruising fleet to hotels around the world and not only do you find that the cruise alternative has better service, better food and in most cases better entertainment, you find above all else that the value of cruising is exceptional.

With all these features, USPs and innovation its up to us retailers to focus not just on the lead in price in our ads and only using price as our differentiator but to take a leaf out of the cruise lines books, innovate ourselves and continue to come up with new and exciting ways of selling cruises, adding value to the customer journey and promoting the benefits of cruising not just the latest low price, last minute message.