Cruise365 to diversify following £40,000 refurb as chief hints at more shops

Cruise365 has been based in Crook since 2001 and targets customers from across the country, but Blackmore decided to diversify the business and had started offering local clients in-person appointments in recent years. 

However, the arrival of the pandemic meant Blackmore quickly had to shelve these plans.  

Speaking this month following the office refurbishment, Blackmore said: “The whole building is 3,500sq/ft across two floors. We had a front office where only people who were interested would come in, while the back office was more for admin. 

“We’ve knocked down the wall so it’s a nice big open space. While it looks like a travel agency, we want to be an appointment-only business.

"We want Cruise365 to be seen as a cruise, touring and adventure, and luxury suite – that is how we want to be defined. We will not sell fly and flop holidays in the Med. We’ve always been a cruise and worldwide specialist.” 

Asked whether Cruise365 sought opinions from outside the business to create an atmosphere customers found “engaging”, Blackmore said: “We have 36 years’ experience so a lot of the planning was done in-house. A lot of the builders have come from local areas.

"We know how well this is going to go with the team that we’ve got, the social media that we put out and the engagement we get from that. Because we promote nationally, we’ve always had customers from across the country. Now we want to attract more customers locally.” 

So, what does the future hold once staff settle back into the refurbed office? “The long-term ambition is four to five concept stores, maybe starting with Edinburgh and then perhaps Cheshire,” explained Blackmore. “It will be a case of looking at opportunities building by building.”

For the time being though, Cruise365 has created itself an office building to be proud of, which could propel Blackmore and his team to even greater heights.