Norwegian Cruise Line has further strengthened its Northern Europe and MEA operations, appointing former Carnival UK sales head Jeremy McKenna to head of sales for UK and Jacqueline van de Stadt as marketing and PR manager, Northern Europe and MEA.

These new hires demonstrate Norwegian’s commitment to the market, following the return to offering regular cruises from the UK in 2017 for the first time since 2010.

Christian Boell, managing director, Europe Middle East and Africa, said: “We have set ourselves ambitious targets and the appointment of both Jacqueline and Jeremy will enable us to keep up the momentum of 2015 and drive growth across our European markets.

“The UK market is especially important and we want to build on the record breaking guest numbers of 2015 and prepare the market for 2017, where we will not only be back in Southampton but offer a fantastic summer deployment that will feature a phenomenal five ships sailing in European waters.”

Reporting into Nick Wilkinson, general manager NE/MEA, McKenna will be responsible for leading the company’s business development managers and specialists for UK and Ireland.

He joins Norwegian from Carnival UK, where he held the position of head of sales, managing key relationships with travel agents through an account management and regional team structure.

Jacqueline van de Stadt will be part of Norwegian’s larger EMEA marketing team, working closely with Stefanie Hegener, senior director marketing and PR EMEA and boosting NE/MEA’s PR and communications, e-commerce and loyalty programmes.

Prior to joining Norwegian Cruise Line, van de Stadt led the NEC, Birmingham’s marketing team and has held a number of senior positions implementing strategic marketing campaigns for high profile destinations and events.