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Amadeus announced the availability of eCruise, an online booking engine and management tool that delivers real-time access to information on over 90% of the world’s cruises from 16 providers, including multimedia content, destination information and cabin availability.
Despite the recession, the UK cruise holiday market is showing signs of continued growth. Earlier this year the Passenger Shipping Association predicted that there would be a 5% rise in bookings, expecting a record 1,550 million people to book cruises in 2009. This shows that cruising offers undeniable value for money, even when pitted against traditional package holidays, as it is by nature an all-inclusive holiday. Helping travel agents capitalise on this growing sector, eCruise allows travel agents or consumers quick and easy access to all the details for a potential booking. Cruise selection becomes effortless and fast, with a three step booking process, a new level of clarity on costs, and accurate search and comparison tools.
Elaine Seeto, Director of Marketing, Amadeus UK commented: “As a leading technology partner to UK travel agents, it is essential that we develop products that allow our travel agency customers to drive revenues while providing real consultancy to their clients. When researching for eCruise it was clear that agents want to be able to capitalise on the growth within this market. We have designed a platform that caters for both expert and novice cruisers. Expert cruisers can search and complete bookings online with little assistance from the agent. Meanwhile, novice cruisers can search and compare different options and when they need help, the agent can then take over, offering further guidance to complete the booking. As a result, experts can easily find the cruises they know and trust without any hassle, and travel agents can spend more time offering their expert advice to customers who require it.”
Seeto continues: “eCruise will complement our existing desktop application, Amadeus Cruise. The benefit for travel agents is that eCruise offers a product customers and agents can access online, which will augment the desktop application currently used by travel agents. This will mean travel agents can ultimately provide better customer service across multiple platforms and drive new sales.”
“As an industry we welcome any advancement that supports the continued growth in cruise whilst ensuring we maintain high levels of customer satisfaction,” commented William Gibbons from the Passenger Shipping Association. “The ability to give the consumer a real taste of the cruise experience before they book, through pictures, virtual cabin tours, ship itineraries and video clips can only help in matching the right cruise with the customer’s requirements.”
eCruise Key Features:
– Is available alongside Amadeus Cruise
– Delivers real-time access to over 90% of the world’s inventory with real-time availability from 16 cruise providers worldwide
– Needs only basic hardware and minimal software installation; it’s easy to learn and requires minimal training
– Has a simple 3-step booking process, single screen cruise comparison, deck plans, cabin descriptions, information on +1300 ports, +100 itinerary maps presented in graphical lively format
– Enables comparison of up to 5 cruise lines returned in the search results on one page including pricing, ship and itinerary information and more
– Generates leads via the Internet, and customers who failed to complete online bookings are automatically routed to your agents so that not a single sales opportunity is lost.
Vicky is the co-founder of TravelDailyNews Media Network where she is the Editor-in Chief. She is also responsible for the daily operation and the financial policy. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Tourism Business Administration from the Technical University of Athens and a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Wales. She has many years of both academic and industrial experience within the travel industry. She has written/edited numerous articles in various tourism magazines.
