Helen Caron, currently Director of Ireland, will now be responsible for managing the Thomson Cruises business, said TUI UK & Ireland, part of TUI Travel plc that is parent company of the two.

Caron will report to Fraser Ellacott, her predecessor in her new post, who is now Customer Operations Director and starts her new role on 2nd January 2014.

Ellacott commented: “We have an extremely successful and popular cruise business in the UK and as the third largest operator, it continues to play an extremely important part in our overall strategy. We have been focused on driving a programme of innovation and modernisation forward in the past few years and have developed a successful brand strategy. I am delighted that I can hand the baton over to Helen who will continue to strengthen this approach and has done a fantastic job of transforming our Irish business.”

Thomson Cruises operates five vessels on the British market. They are all built between 1982 and 1992 and range in size from 34,000 to 57,000 gross tons.