VIVA Cruises has increased its UK trade partnerships by 153% since 2025, after stepping up support for agents.
Speaking at a media briefing yesterday (1 October), Director of Sales UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand Michelle Daniels said the UK had also become VIVA Cruises’ ‘fastest growing source market’.
UK passenger numbers have increased by 131% year-on-year, while UK revenue is forecast to grow by around 400% between 2024 and 2026.
The cruise line, which is headquartered in Germany, expanded its UK and Ireland team in May with the appointment of Business Development Managers covering the north and south of England and the Republic of Ireland.
Michelle reported that its video-based online training platform for agents now has more than 620 registered users, with new sign-ups every day.
“Our biggest success over the past 18 months has definitely been the number of trade partners we’ve been able to get on board and actually experience VIVA first hand,” she added.
“We’ve had approximately 250 agents on fam trips with us in the last 18 months, and that will continue to grow as we offer more fam trips for the rest of this year and into next year.”
VIVA is also supporting the CLIA RiverView conference again, with a sailing on VIVA Two as part of the new format. The line will run a pre-conference fam trip, inviting up to 150 agents to spend two nights onboard between Vienna and Budapest.
In the trading update, Michelle also reported that younger customers are booking VIVA cruises.
She said: “We are seeing, particularly with the shorter cruises, people in their 30s and 40s,” she said. “Not huge amounts, but we are seeing that younger demographic travel with us.”
She added that the line was seeing bookings of younger ‘groups of friends, young couples’ and some families, including those with teenage children.
For 2026, Michelle said short breaks and city stays had been the strongest performers, with some VIVA ships remaining in city centres as ‘floating boutique hotels’ ahead of selected sailings.
“People are seeing [cruises] as a really good opportunity to offer something different to a traditional city break. We’ve given customers the opportunity to combine a city stay then with a shorter cruise,” she said.
“So then create a seven night experience, where you’ve got three nights in the city, then five nights, sailing Normandy, for example. That’s also another nice combination to have.”
She highlighted a new departure on VIVA UNIQUE for 2028, with a three-night ‘Venice City Stay’, with the ship remaining in the heart of Venice as a floating boutique hotel, including during the Venice Carnival.
