With the transaction between Norwegian Cruise Line and Apollo Management nearing completion--and with it a cash infusion into the line of $1 billion--NCL is setting out on a course to enhance its fleet, as well as to strengthen its rapport with travel agents. One initiative, dubbed Freestyle 2.0, aims to upgrade the line's onboard product. These enhancements include redesigning and upgrading the dining experience, improving the quality of staterooms, adding a new range of onboard activities, rethinking service and amenities for balcony, suite and villa guests and relaunching a tiered Latitudes past-guest recognition program. NCL says it will immediately roll out these new initiatives. "We will now focus our attention on delivering the next generation of freestyle cruising," said Colin Veitch, NCL's president and CEO, "a significant enhancement to the guest experience fleetwide."
On the agent side, Partnership 2.0 is NCL's initiative to strengthen its relationship with travel partners at all levels. The program includes faster payment of group commissions, quicker problem resolution, simplified pricing quotes, enhancing reservations agents' product knowledge, faster credit card processing and payment of commissions electronically. "Partnership 2.0 is designed to make NCL better partners with the travel agency community," said Veitch. "We have taken a look at the way we work with travel agents and identified key areas for improvement, ranging from initiatives, which will enhance our relationships at a headquarters level to major changes that will further improve the working experience at the frontline agent level." Visit www.ncl.com. (DE)