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History in the Making
Cruise Nation was founded in 2009 by Phil Evans who wanted to change the common misconceptions about cruising. Believing that cruises could be a mainstream holiday of choice for the masses, he set about developing a team to help him achieve his goals. Starting with just 4 team members, Cruise Nation quickly developed in the industry with their focus on creating low-cost Smart Packages which made booking a cruise holiday simple for first-time cruisers by fully including the cruise fare, flights and hotel stays to add value for money. The success of the Cruise Nation Smart Packages led to successful business partnerships with the likes of Costa Cruise Line, Norwegian Cruise Line and MSC Cruise Line; earning Cruise Nation several notable awards including ‘Best UK Agent Growth’ for Costa Cruise Line, ‘Agent Account Development’ for Princess Cruise Line and ‘More Than a Million for Norwegian Cruise Line’.
During 2014 to 2015, Cruise Nation developed recognition and notoriety in the travel industry, claiming even more awards such as CLIA’s Rising Star and Best Online Travel Agent at the Wave Awards. Cruise Nation’s continued success saw them beating travel industry titans to the successful win of Best Cruise Holiday Retailer at the British Travel Awards.
In 2015, Cruise Nation soft-launched cruise holiday packages which were fully bookable online – an industry first! Priding themselves on being at the forefront of travel technology, this new system has enabled Cruise Nation customers to seamlessly build their perfect holiday online and get the best possible price for it. Earlier in 2016 Cruise Nation relocated to a new expansive office space, complete with modern facilities and the potential to increase the team from 35 to 50 employees. By developing the team, Cruise Nation was able to develop their products too which kick-started the launch of Maison du Cruise; a bespoke offering of luxurious, tailor-made cruise holidays.
Today, Cruise Nation provides holidays for a diverse mix of 16 different cruise lines, ranging from impact travel brands like Fathom Cruises to the most luxurious of cruise lines such as Regent Seven Seas. This range of choice allows Cruise Nation customers to have access to over 120 different cruise ships and thousands of different itinerary packages for destinations that include the Mediterranean, Caribbean, Norwegian Fjords and even more remote, speciality locations such as the Polar regions.
The Cruise Nation commitment to providing the best-value cruise holidays, has helped to win loyal and supportive customers, 89% of whom would recommend Cruise Nation and 87% of whom plan to book their next holiday with us. As a trusted Feefo Gold Merchant, Cruise Nation has earned 4 ½ stars from thousands of reviews from happy customers, demonstrating that low-cost holidays and fantastic customer service can be combined.
Whilst the Cruise Nation history has been filled with successes, 2016 marks the cornerstone of an exciting journey to come. With a future filled with new partnerships, an expansion into the homeworking arena and plans for global growth, this year truly marks Cruise Nation’s history in the making.
On the 22nd November we hosted a special event at Margam Park Orangery in South Wales to mark pivotal moment of growth for Cruise Nation. Our ‘History in the Making’ event was designed to bring our team, customers and business partners together in one place so we could reflect on our journey so far and reveal some of our exciting new plans and developments for 2017, including the launch of our new employee uniform.
On this page you can discover the videos we used to share our story on the evening as well as photos of our guests and entertainment.
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