Reservations Advisor

Carnival UK (P&O Cruises & Cunard); Southampton; Hybrid; GBP 24,000 - 30,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Bonus Scheme

Travel discounts on cruises

Recognition programme

Office events

Learning & development opportunities

Employee networks

Health plan

Discounts portal

Generous leave entitlement

Job summary

Carnival UK (P&O Cruises & Cunard) is hiring a Reservations Advisor in Southampton. You will engage guests and travel partners, delivering superb service, driving bookings, and meeting telephony targets. The role supports pre/post-cruise queries via inbound calls, webchat, and sales activities.

The position is full-time with hybrid work: at least two days per week in our Southampton office, with shifts during Centre hours. Ready for a dynamic customer-service career in a global cruise brand.

Qualifications

• Excellent communication and customer service skills.
• Able to resolve enquiries and complaints with high-quality first-call resolution.
• Able to identify opportunities to retain bookings by promoting product features and benefits.

Responsibilities

• Using your product knowledge and exceptional customer service skills to resolve queries both pre and post cruise via inbound calls.
• Aiming to provide first-call resolution, delivering the desired outcome for guests and travel agent partners.
• Building trusting relationships with guests and travel agent partners, proactively identifying itineraries and cruise products that best match their needs.
• Converting enquiries into bookings by confidently recommending and selling cruise holidays, cabins, packages, and relevant products.
• Managing cruise bookings from initial enquiry through to confirmation, ensuring accuracy and attention to detail throughout the booking process.
• Delivering outstanding guest satisfaction and creating memorable customer experiences.
• Supporting travel agent and guest queries via webchat.
• Handling complex and special requests with professionalism, demonstrating expert product knowledge and ownership through to resolution.

Job description

Job Description

We take enormous pride from bringing to life Princess Cruises and as one of our Reservations Advisors, you will demonstrate a passion for our brand when talking to our guests and travel agent partners, providing exceptional customer service, enhancing guest experience, and delivering against sales & telephony targets.

Job Description

We take enormous pride from bringing to life Princess Cruises and as one of our Reservations Advisors, you will demonstrate a passion for our brand when talking to our guests and travel agent partners, providing exceptional customer service, enhancing guest experience, and delivering against sales & telephony targets.

Key Responsibilities Include:

• Using your product knowledge and exceptional customer service skills to resolve queries both pre and post cruise via inbound calls.
• Aiming to provide first-call resolution, delivering the desired outcome for guests and travel agent partners.
• Building trusting relationships with guests and travel agent partners, proactively identifying itineraries and cruise products that best match their needs.
• Converting enquiries into bookings by confidently recommending and selling cruise holidays, cabins, packages, and relevant products.
• Managing cruise bookings from initial enquiry through to confirmation, ensuring accuracy and attention to detail throughout the booking process.
• Delivering outstanding guest satisfaction and creating memorable customer experiences.
• Supporting travel agent and guest queries via webchat.
• Handling complex and special requests with professionalism, demonstrating expert product knowledge and ownership through to resolution.

This role is classified as CUK13 and is available on a full-time, permanent basis. We offer hybrid work with a minimum of two days per week in our Southampton office.

Requirements: What You Need to Succeed

• Effective communication skills and be able to offer great customer service, with the desire to go the extra mile for our guests and travel partners
• Be a problem solver with the ability to resolve enquiries and complaints, delivering first call resolution to a high-quality standard.
• Use product knowledge to identify opportunities to retain guests’ bookings by promoting our product features and benefits

We recognise the value in having people with a variety of backgrounds, experience and skills in our business. That means the role requirements here should be seen as a guide, not a checklist.

About You: The Ideal Candidate

You are more than just your CV. You're someone who brings:

• Professionalism – be ready for work, courteous to colleagues and protect customer information
• Positive Attitude
• Team Collaboration
• Adaptability

Reservation Advisor: What you need to know

Interview Process – will include a one way video interview, an online assessment and a face to face interview (Discovery Day) at Carnival House (this will include an Icebreaker, Q&A with a member of the team, a group activity and a 121 interview with competency style questions).

Discovery Day – week commencing Monday 28th September 2026

Start date – Monday 2nd November 2026

Training: first 5 weeks will be with our training team; Monday to Friday 9am to 17:00 which requires full attendance for the full period.

Average working hours are 35 per week.

You will be required to work shifts on a rostered basis within the opening hours of the Contact Centre (CCO) Monday to Friday 08:00 to 20:00, Saturday 09:00 to 17:00 and Sunday 10:00 - 16:00, inclusive of weekends and evenings.

You will be required to work 2 Saturdays in 4 and 2 Sundays in 4. Your shifts will be exclusive of breaks for lunch. Your exact shifts, rotations and breaks will be subject to local arrangements with the CCO Resource Planning team.

Why Join Us?

Working within our Contact Centre Operations teams means you’ll be part of a community that values growth, work-life balance, and well-being.

• Bonus Scheme
• Employee Discounted Cruising plus Friends and Family offers
• Recognition scheme with prizes and awards
• Regular office events including live entertainment, lifestyle events and charity partner fundraisers
• Extensive learning and development opportunities
• Employee-led networks
• Company paid Health Cash Plan and health assessment
• Discounted retail and leisure via discounts portal
• Minimum 25 days leave, bank holiday allowance and holiday trading scheme.

Take the Next Step

Our Hiring teams value giving candidates a great experience, if we receive a high volume of applications that will compromise our ability to offer the service we like to provide, the role could be paused or closed early, we therefore encourage you to apply early to avoid disappointment.

#Job Functions: Customer Service; Sales;

#PCL

#CUK

About Us

Holidays are one of life’s greatest pleasures. Having the chance to relax, escape and explore is a magical thing. And there is no better holiday than a cruise.

No one knows cruising like Carnival UK, where talented people from across the globe come together to create unforgettable holiday happiness. As part of the world’s largest holiday travel and leisure company, we take enormous pride in bringing to life two of the most iconic brands from Britain’s rich seafaring heritage, P&O Cruises and Cunard. Collectively they have been delivering unbridled joy, boundless adventure and lifelong memories to millions of people for over 350 years. And in a multi-million pound global holiday market, where cruising has barely scratched the surface, we have the opportunity to do that for many, many more people.

Our diverse yet tight knit teams share high standards, heartfelt values and passion for our purpose. Our Culture Essentials describe the expectations we have for ourselves and of each other, in building a culture that supports safe, sustainable, compliant operations and celebrates diversity, equity and inclusion.

It’s through the successful delivery of these extraordinary travel experiences for our target markets and our distinctive culture, that we hope to become Travel’s Employer of Choice.