All Discovery Cruising, the trade facing arm of All Leisure Holidays, has appointed Rebecca Lott as business development manager to further strengthen its relationship with the trade.

Lott boasts a wealth of cruise experience, having previously worked as regional sales manager for Seabourn UK.

In her new role she will work alongside the rest of the business development management team to help develop trade awareness and sales of All Discovery Cruising’s three cruise brands - Voyages of Discovery, Swan Hellenic and Hebridean Island Cruises.

Lott’s appointment follows the recent appointment of cruise veteran Nigel Lingard as business development consultant and comes as Swan Hellenic gears up to welcome mv Minerva back to Portsmouth following a £10 million winter refurbishment.

Later this year a second ship, Voyager, will be added to the Voyages of Discovery fleet and the Royal Crown river cruise vessel will join the Hebridean Island Cruises line-up.

Geoff Lawrence, sales & marketing director, explained: “All Discovery Cruising is looking to dramatically increase its bookings through the trade this year.

“Rebecca will play a key part in developing our existing trade partner relationships and supporting the many new retailers we believe will want to work with us.

“The investment in our Business Development Team is a clear signal of our commitment to retailers.”

The refurbished Minerva will begin sailing on March 2nd 2012 from Portsmouth.

Highlights include extensions of the internal and external public areas as well as a new wrap-around forward observation lounge that provides panoramic views at the forward end of the ship.

Swan Hellenic has increased the size of a number of cabins and added balconies to others, increasing the number of balcony suites to 23 per cent of all cabin accommodation.

All 181 passenger cabins will be upgraded with new en-suite bathrooms.