More on the New Combined Holland America and Seabourn Sales Team

Last month, Carnival Corp. announced a significant change to the sales teams for two of its brands, combining and unifying the teams for Holland American Line and Seabourn into one sales force covering North America.

The move is a huge shift for the brands and one that Rob Coleman, the new senior vice president of North America and Australia sales who will lead the combined teams, believes is best for Holland America, Seabourn, and its advisor partners.

“There’s going to be more engagement for travel advisors,” Coleman told TMR during Virtuoso Travel Week on Tuesday. “This isn’t a new plan, we’re really leaning into this.”

Coleman said the combination will allow the lines to add a second layer of sales managers that are dual-branded. That second layer, only possible after the combination, will change the way they work.

“Every advisor-facing manager will have a second level of support representative,” Coleman said, adding that BDMs now will be directed to deal with advisors specifically and will have the support they need so they “won’t have to deal with every single detail.”

“It’s a new approach to sales that will also allow us, with that second layer, to build the best sales data and analytics,” he said,

The shift will also allow the group to better serve an agency community that is in the middle of a significant shift with the rise of host agencies. The new combined sales team will have dedicated specialists “whose whole job is to serve that model and make sure our team works best with what that kind of model needs,” Coleman said.

Natalya Leahy, Seabourn’s president, told TMR that the change is also “especially important for advisors who don’t specialize in cruise” because, as more consumers shift to that segment, advisors will get the kind of support they need to excel.

“It also helps us tailor more marketing for travel advisors, including training specifically geared to what they need,” she said.