Crystal Cruises loyalists hope the line will find a new owner, but many former employees have moved on. Carmen Roig, who was senior vice president of marketing and sales when Crystal closed, is now vice president of sales for Princess Cruises, a line she fell in love with as a child.
Carmen Roig.
You were going to retire after Crystal. What made you not to accept this position at Princess?
It was the thought that I had never been on a Princess ship and that I had started working in embarkation inspired by The Love Boat that made me think that I had never been on a Princess ship.
Nobody ever wants to leave an industry or a career on a low note, even though the ending to Crystal is very, very sad. It was a great opportunity to join an amazing brand, come back full circle to the family and do passionate sales, which is what I really love. It is a comeback of sorts.
What should agents know about Princess?
I think it is an amazing brand, but it has been very humble and not assertive with the trade. I want us to be the best in class from a sales perspective, and when you would ask a travel partner who is the best partner you have in the cruise industry, they would say Princess. I want to make sure that the trade knows who we are and that we are here to support them and grow their business.
I don't want to be caught up in the sameness of sales. The brand is not like that. It has to have those relationships that represent what the brand does.
We have to be more visible. We have to shout from the rooftops what makes us different. I don't think we have had that approach.
I want our sales team to be the CEOs of their territories. They own it, they own those relationships, and we look at the trade as do-or-die for us. Our future growth and success are dependent on those relationships.
A: It is a complicated world with Covid regulations and fighting. How are the sales going?
We are not in the driver's seat, which is difficult. We have all learned that the Pandemic has had an impact on the entire travel industry, not just on cruises. We are getting more challenges. It is not the number of challenges that we face, it is how we overcome them. It is still a recovery year. I like to tell the team that the business is unusual and that they need more travel partners. It is up to them to tell the consumer what a great value proposition a cruise is. It is not just a Princess message for the industry.
What are the trends you are observing right now?
Everybody wants to know what life was like before the epidemic. That is not the life we are in today. It is a very different situation. The trend is closer in nature. The booking window for Alaska is usually 18 months to 12 months. As far as 24 months. We are getting a lot of close-in business that you wouldn't have seen in Alaska. That is large.
It is close to home and they are doing it even closer in, which is fantastic. It doesn't change the fact that they are looking at 2023. We have the space and there are a lot of people closer to us.
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