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The ACE UK Cruise Convention 2010 will take place in the Port of Southampton from Thursday 24 to Saturday 26 June and will feature visits to six cruise ships, including the newly launched Celebrity Eclipse, P&O Cruises' Azura, NCL's Norwegian Epic and Compagnie du Ponant’s Le Boreal. Delegates will also be able to visit Cunard’s QM2 (25 June) and take advantage of a pre-Convention opportunity to view Princess Cruises’ Crown Princess on Wednesday 23 June.

More than 600 delegates are expected to attend the fourth ACE UK Cruise Convention with sessions taking place in the QEII Cruise Terminal. Leading cruise executives including David Dingle, Carnival UK CEO, Larry Pimentel, President and CEO of Azamara Club Cruises and Kevin Sheehan, CEO of NCL will be addressing this year’s ACE UK Cruise Convention. These three highly respected practitioners within the global cruise industry will cover topics including upselling to luxury, the value proposition of cruising and the state of the industry.  TV personality Judith Chalmers will moderate the sessions.

The strong line up for the fourth ACE UK Cruise Convention also includes a panel debate with Kathryn Beadle, Sales & Marketing Director with Hurtigruten; Giles Hawke, Sales & Customer Services Director, Complete Cruise Solution; Carol Marlow, MD of P&O Cruises; Trudy Redfern, Senior Vice President of Silversea; Jo Rzymowska, Associate Vice President, Royal Caribbean; David Selby, Head of Cruise, Thomson & Island Cruises, and Peter Shanks, President & MD for Cunard.

Business sessions will centre around ways in which travel agents can increase their cruise sales including advice on how best to create a customer for life and a presentation from Google’s Andrew Pozniak on how agents can boost their online presence.   Other sessions include digital marketing and social networking, river and niche cruising, and emerging cruise destinations.

Entertainment has always been a huge part of the convention and this year is no different; a special drinks reception will take place on Wednesday 23rd June at Carnival house, hosted by Complete Cruise Solution for delegates arriving into Southampton the night before the convention. On Thursday 24th June delegates will be wowed by a performance from X-Factor’s Stacey Solomon at an exciting evening at the Oceana Club, Friday 25th June will feature a black-tie gala dinner at the QEII terminal with surprise performances and Saturday 26th June will include an end of convention show including the ACE Awards ceremony on board the Celebrity Eclipse.