Princess Cruises UK & Europe sales and commercial director Rachel Poultney will join cruise and travel PR agency, PR42, in early September.

PR42 was launched two years ago by David Sanders, who formerly worked with Poultney at Princess as their PR director for UK & Ireland.

The agency currently has 13 clients including CLIA, cruise.co.uk, Riviera Travel and Sail Croatia. 

Poultney, who will work alongside Sanders as one of PR42’s directors, has been at Princess Cruises for nine years.

In that time, she has risen from sales manager to her current role and is a member of the UK senior leadership team.

She has grown Princess’ sales team to 14 and overseen trade support and engagement for multiple ship launches.

She led both the commercial and sales functions through the post-pandemic environment, into Princess’ return to service, including the introduction of ‘seacations’ in 2021.

Poultney said: “For anyone that knows David, it is no surprise that PR42 has done so well in its first start-up years.

“He is a PR guru and one of the most personable guys in the travel industry, so PR42 was always going to succeed. I’m genuinely excited to be joining the venture and can’t wait to see where it goes from here.”

Sanders added: “It’s a fantastic coup to secure Rachel as PR42’s first hire and I can’t wait for us to team up again.

“She is one of the most dynamic and talented colleagues I’ve worked with, and brings with her the experience and know-how that will take us to the next level. 

“PR42 has gone from strength-to-strength in just two years and it’s clear that we can be more than a match for our larger, more established contemporaries. Rachel and I will build on that ethos of a small agency delivering big results.”