Royal Caribbean International has announced a new senior leadership role and team structure for its sales team in Ireland. With immediate effect, Jennifer Callister is promoted into the new position of ‘Head of Ireland’.
She will report directly into Ben Bouldin, Sales Director for UK & Ireland, and sit on his UK&I sales leadership team.
Based in Dublin, but constantly on the road (or at sea!), Jennifer has worked for Royal Caribbean as National Account Manager for four years and was previously with British Midland International. Reporting directly into Jennifer will be Holly Wilkinson, Trade Support Executive for Ireland, and Michaela Banks, Regional Sales Manager, Ireland.
Ben Bouldin said: “Jennifer is a huge talent with a deep knowledge of our brand and massive likeability. She is great friends with our Irish travel partners and her dedication and support in this key region is evident through the strong bookings we are seeing. We are the best resourced team and invest more in the Irish market than any of our cruise competitors and this means we are in the best position to support our valued agency partners and look forward to continued success with them.”
Jennifer added: “I am excited to be working on such an extraordinary and ambitious brand at a time when more and more holidaymakers in Ireland are discovering cruise for the first time. With this new role, and dedicated team, we are committed to reaching even more travel agencies to help support their cruise business and find the perfect holiday for their customers.”
These changes come alongside ambitious plans from the brand to grow the cruise market in Ireland. Royal Caribbean, the market leader in Ireland, has seen continued growth in the region, following the two recent ship launches: Ovation of the Seas and the world’s largest cruise ship, Harmony of the Seas. Harmony, which hosted over 200 Irish agents when she launched in May, will join her sister ships, Oasis of the Seas and Allure of the Seas in the Caribbean this winter – a favourite destination for over a third of RCI’s Irish guests.
Royal Caribbean has also seen great engagement from Irish travel agents in its award-winning loyalty programme, Club Royal. At nearly two years old, the scheme has over 10,000 members, over 800 of which are from Ireland. To celebrate this success, the team will be hosting its first membership event to thank 20 agency partners on Thursday 6th October at the Cliff House Hotel and Spa in Ardmore, Co Waterford.
Congrats Jennifer well deserved!