PANACHE Cruises has said it wants to become the world’s biggest seller of ultra-luxury and luxury cruises by the end of the decade, and the travel agency’s expansion into Australia will be key to this goal.
Founded by managing director James Cole in 2020, Panache is just weeks away from opening its first Australian office, which will see recently appointed head of sales & operations Juliana Nasmith lead a team of eight ‘cruise connoisseurs’.
Panache is one of the fastest-growing cruise sellers in the United Kingdom, which saw it expand to the United States two years ago, with a Canadian office also in the travel agency’s immediate future plans.
Cole told travelBulletin yesterday on his first trip to Australia that this market, with its unique cruise booking tendencies, will be key to Panache achieving its lofty goal.
“The Australian market for us is phenomenally exciting; it’s got the highest propensity to cruise of any nation in the world.
“More than one in 20 Australians cruise, there were more than 1.5 million cruisers in Australia in 2025, and fly-cruising grew by more than 17% last year.
“Combine that with how quickly the luxury and ultra-luxury cruise lines are building ships, and that is a phenomenal opportunity.”
Also key to Panache achieving its goal will be a focus on what Cole calls the “three Cs”: colleagues, customers, and cruise line partners.
“We need to recruit great people and we need to focus on customer service,” he said.
“We’ve employed somebody who is our first-ever head of customer experience to make sure that we’re great at customer service.”
Panache also believes its model and way of doing business will scale well in Australia, similar to its earlier expansion into the US.
Cole was confident only slight refinements will be required to adapt Panache to the local market.
“When we did move into the US, what we found is that about 90% of what we were doing in the UK worked in the US,” Cole explained.
“It was just understanding and being open-minded about what that 10% was for each of those three Cs.
“We just need to understand the difference of how we work with our colleagues, our customers, and our cruise line partners in the ideal way for the Australian market.”
Cole also said Panache is yet to see a downturn in travel sentiment from the Iran war, echoing that greater disposable income can help insulate against a range of macro forces.
“Our customers want to travel, they’re not looking for an excuse not to travel,” he said.
“If that means going in a slightly different flight path or perhaps going a couple of months later, then great.
“They’re not looking to cancel their cruise holidays, they’re looking to book their cruise holidays and go and tick off some of their bucket list destinations.”
