The International Cruise Council Australasia has declared the region’s first National Cruise Week a resounding success with agents and cruise lines reporting some of their best sales ever as consumers across the country took advantage of the special deals.

ICCA General Manager Brett Jardine said the inaugural National Cruise Week, from September 3 to 9, had achieved all he hoped and more.

“One of our primary goals was to further raise awareness of cruising and from the feedback we’ve received, we’ve definitely achieved that,” Mr Jardine said.

“Agents across Australia and New Zealand have told us they received referrals directly from the National Cruise Week websites, which received nearly 50,000 page views during the promotion – a great response.

“We know that the average person spent more than four minutes viewing all the great Cruise Week deals and then searching for their nearest ICCA member travel agent to find out more.”

Mr Jardine said many member cruise lines reported record sales during the week.

According to Jennifer Vanderkreek, Director Carnival Cruise Lines, National Cruise Week led to a sales boon.

“Bookings for Carnival Cruise Lines’ new Australian deployment had their best week ever during National Cruise Week,” she said.

Meanwhile, Adam Armstrong, Commercial Manager Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, said National Cruise Week delivered the second biggest sales week in the cruise line’s history and Chris Hall, CEO of river cruise operator APT, said some programs recorded the strongest weekly growth this year.

With all 29 member cruise lines and more than 1000 member travel agents across Australia and New Zealand taking part, Cruise Week was the largest consumer promotion ever undertaken by the local cruise industry.

Mr Jardine has confirmed the promotion will run again next year in early September.