Premier Cruises

While the major operators such as Carnival Cruise Line, Norwegian Cruise Line and Royal Caribbean International were not focusing on this at the time, Premier marketed their cruises largely to European and South American customers through strategic marketing partnerships with some of the major tour and travel groups in the world such as Thomson Holidays in the U.K, TUI in Germany, Fritidsresor in Scandinavia, Alpitour in Italy, and Pullmantur in Spain (subsequently acquired by Royal Caribbean International for $800 million),[1] as well as through more than a dozen operators in south / Central America such as CVC in Brazil (which was acquired by the Carlyle Group [63.6%] in January 2010 for $250 million).

Premier then entered into a similar licensing agreement with Warner Bros. featuring the Looney Tunes characters, in order to maintain its family friendly image.

The line continued to operate offering land/sea vacation packages including visits to Disney World and Universal Studios theme parks in Florida.

From the company's inception, Mr. Stensby grew Premier Cruises from one to six ships, operating on itineraries in the United States, Bahamas, South America, the Caribbean and Europe.

Thomson Holidays also used the opportunity to build and expand their cruise operation post 1997 and is now part of the largest travel group in the world TUI.