The growth of the cruise industry has been fueled by the cruise lines success in attracting new cruisers combined with the with the fact that people who take cruises tend to repeat, with about 90+ percent of cruisers saying they will probably or definitively book a cruise as a next vacation. And with the majority of cruise passengers requiring flight arrangements to the cruise embarkation port, the market opportunity for cruise booking software that can include Air, Hotel and other travel components is tremendous. The challenge many face is that the process to build a cruise package can be quite complex and time consuming, which is why the majority of packages that are booked involve a travel agent.
The process to build a cruise vacation package can be complex and time consuming for most. Many travel agents still use various cruise line sites to research and book cruises for their clients. Then to add flights, they either forward to an air product team specialist to bundle in the right flights for a particular cruise or start the search themselves. Questions like what is the closest airport to the ship departure port? How far is the airport from the cruise port? What flights need to be selected based on when the guest needs to arrive at the ship? Will the passenger need pre or post cruise hotel accommodations? An agent can spend an hour or more to build a package or use other resources from the team to put a quote together.
They say "necessity" is the mother of invention, so it wasn't long before some innovative technology companies began developing cruise booking software to dynamically package these components to streamline the entire process. A dynamic packaging engine can give both agents and online consumers the ability to price as well as package Cruises, Airlines, Hotels and other travel products in real time.
Detailed descriptions of Cruise lines, Ships, Cabin categories & Itinerary information along with links to media files & rich content such as Cabin photos, Ship images and Deck plans can help the User select the right cruise and accommodations. The ability to Compare Cruise Only, Cruise Tours, Cruise Packages that an Agent may have already pre-built and saved in the platform can also be a distinguishing feature. Cruise booking software with a sophisticated rule engine allows a business owner to deliver the right marketing message to the User, whether the User is a travel agent or online consumer.
Once the cruise is booked, Users can add a flight during the booking process or after the booking process. These innovative applications consider travel time between the airport selected and the cruise port when selecting flights. Once the customer has selected the flights, some cruise booking software have the ability to include hotel accommodations as part of the package as well based on the flights and cruise dates.
Choosing a cruise booking solution with the right combination of options for your business can be a critical decision. Finding a technology partner that will help you reach today's mobile consumer with the content they are looking for can be just as important.
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