Royal Caribbean International’s vice-president EMEA Ben Bouldin has told travel agents to “keep an eye on the future opportunity” once the coronavirus pandemic is over, in his latest video message.

The cruise line, which has extended its voluntary suspension until 11 May 2020, has implemented a Cruise with Confidence policy, allowing passengers to cancel a sailing up to 48 hours before departure.

Bouldin said: “These are incredibly strange times for all of us. Strange, professionally, strange, personally strange socially, everything is different.

“As such, we at Royal Caribbean are doing our best to adapt to the changing needs of the environment we see ourselves in.

“We’re desperately sorry to have cancelled loads of holidays. We’re desperately sorry for the pain and the trouble that this causes our travel trade as they look to support their guests in rebooking holidays at a later time.”

He added: “We’re desperately keen to support our trade despite the fact that we’re all working from home.”

He urged travel agents “to keep an eye on the future opportunity that exists when we come through this”. Highlighting how there will be a huge number of people “desperate to take a vacation” once the pandemic is over, Bouldin predicted that  “Q3 and Q4 could be a really exciting time for the holiday market, not to mention 2021”.

He continued: “We’re spending a lot of our time now starting to think about how we can help you, our travel trade partners, when we come through this.

“What are the great offers we can give you? What are the market insights we can provide you with? What are the great incentives that we can offer you? How do we surprise and delight your guests? How do we look at our loyalty?

“We’ve got all of these great ideas and plans and we’re really focused on them, and I would urge you to try and find the time to do so as well.”

He concluded: “In the meantime, please stay safe. Take the time to enjoy time with your family. Take the time to do regular exercise. And please keep positive.

“We will get through this and we’ll get through it together.”

Our view:

The cruise industry is facing an unprecedented and ever-changing situation, and we are committed to keeping you informed with the most up-to-date news. However, we firmly believe that the cruise industry will bounce back. When it does, we’ll be on hand to help you get back to selling the cruises that people love.