The Cruise Globe is looking to recruit more travel advisors in both the UK and the US after taking more than £1 million in bookings since its launch in May.
The start-up agency, founded by cruise influencer Emma Le Teace (known online as Emma Cruises), Matt Jones and Will Ellison says it expects its annual turnover to hit £50 million next year.
The agency was launched on their back of the Cruise Globe app, which has 155,000 user who track and share their cruise history.
The trio said the app was central to their business has it gives advisors insight into customer preferences before consultations begin, including past sailings and future wish lists, helping to drive highly personalised recommendations.
CEO and Co-founder Matt Jones said the speed of growth has been ‘much faster than anticipated’. “Our biggest challenge isn’t now finding customers, it’s hiring enough great travel advisors to keep up with demand,” he said.
The company said bookings span the full cruise spectrum, from entry-level sailings to luxury world cruises.
Emma, whose content receives more than 10 million monthly views, told Travel Gossip: “We’ve been amazed with the number of people that have got in touch since our launch and are so grateful.
“We have 13 people on the team currently and all have lots of cruise experience, both personally cruising and booking cruises for guests. All have worked either at other cruise agencies in the past or directly for the cruise lines.”
Emma Taylor, formerly training manager at Panache Cruises, has been appointed as Founding Head of Agency for the UK. She has more than two decades of travel experience from roles with Thomas Cook, Co-op Travel and Six Star Cruises.
Matt said they are looking to ‘at least double’ their team of 13 by the end of the year ‘with very significant further growth in 2027’. Three further US agents are set to join this week.
“Our advisors use smart, AI-powered tools behind the scenes to take care of the busywork, but the job of guiding a client toward their next cruise will always sit with a person,” he added.
“We are resolute in our belief that people still want human interaction and a relationship with a trusted advisor when they book their cruises. Our advisors are absolute experts at what they do – we just make them five times more effective with technology.”
The Cruise Globe is part of the Global Travel Collection – owned by Internova, which also owns Barrhead Travel – and is fully ATOL and ABTA bonded, with the relevant protections in the US.
