Luxury cruise retailer Panache Cruises has reported record turnover of 拢35m for the 12 months to the end of July 2025 and made a string of new hires.
The turnover equates to a 56 per cent year-on-year rise from the 拢22.5m turnover the Chorley-based firm achieved for the same period in 2023/24.
Tech-enabled Panache Cruises has also celebrated the first anniversary of the opening of their US office, which achieved sales of $10m (拢7.3m).
To cope with the increased demand the firm has made a string of new hires including cruise connoisseurs Lisa Buckley, Wendy Mulholland and Rob Ledsham, along with finance apprentice Amy Ainsworth.
CEO James Cole said: 鈥淲e鈥檙e delighted by our latest record-breaking turnover and the new colleagues that have joined the business.
鈥淲e鈥檝e really intensified our efforts across the business. We鈥檝e focused on our colleagues, making sure we develop our management teams.
鈥淲e鈥檝e invested heavily in apprentices and plan to recruit another eight this year.
鈥淲e鈥檙e recruiting more new customers using social and digital marketing channels, along with聽increasing聽our number of repeat bookings.
鈥淚n the last four years, our top 40 customers in the UK have booked 460 cruises with us, spending more than 拢7.5m.
鈥淓very month more than 50 per cent of our UK customers have booked with us before.
鈥淭he combination of having an established customer base and consistently attracting new customers is really encouraging and testimony to the hard work of the team.
鈥淥ur mission is to become the world鈥檚 largest luxury cruise retail business.鈥�
In the last 12 months, Panache鈥檚聽workforce has grown from a team of 67 to 76 across the UK and US.
Cole, who launched Panache Cruises in 2020, hailed the opening of their US office in Orlando, Florida, as a 鈥榞ame-changer鈥�.
He said: 鈥淚 think it鈥檚 all about the approach that we鈥檝e taken.
鈥淲e gave the US market a lot of respect. We knew that how we dealt with colleagues, customers and the cruise lines in the US was going to be very different than the UK.
鈥淭hey may speak the same language as us but we still did our research and preparation.
鈥淲e wanted to give our US colleagues more holidays than they were used to with 20 days, give them a 401(k) pension match, which we understand is very unusual for a startup in the US.
鈥淲e also wanted to contribute to a private medical insurance from day one, which is聽also聽relatively聽unusual for a startup in the US.鈥�
Cole admitted there was initial scepticism among the US staff.
The CEO explained: 鈥淭hey asked: 鈥榃hy would you want to do that?鈥� It took us several months to get them onside and gain their trust.鈥�
Cole also revealed he鈥檇 made a deliberate decision to visit the US office eight times since it opened.
鈥淲e want them to feel they are part of Panache Cruises,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e have a full team weekly meeting every Tuesday or Thursday. We do it at 3.30pm so the US office can dial in so that we鈥檙e all together.
鈥淥ur star of the week covers the UK and the US. We want everybody to feel they鈥檙e part of a global organisation.鈥�
Cole also highlighted the success of their new brand called 鈥楶anache Expeditions鈥� for customers wanting to head to more remote destinations including Alaska, Antarctica, the Arctic and the Galapagos Islands.
Earlier this year Panache Cruises was included in the prestigious聽Sunday Times 100 and the #FEBEGrowth100 lists.
In June, a team from Panache Cruises climbed Mount聽聽Kilimanjaro in aid of Reuben鈥檚 Retreat and have raised over 拢70k for the worthy cause.