Amadeus has announced the launch of Amadeus Cruise Shop, a locally developed business-to-business shopping application that builds on the long-standing success of Amadeus Cruise.

According to industry figures, approximately 1.8 million Brits are expected to take an ocean cruise holiday in 2013.

This is a predicted increase of two per cent over 2012 figures, adding up to more than a decade of rising passenger numbers.

To help travel professionals tap into the growing popularity of cruise holidays, Amadeus Cruise Shop caters to the needs of experienced cruise specialists with its Fast Sell functionality.

It also provides step-by-step guidance throughout the entire cruise search and sales process to enable all agents to provide a superior cruise booking service; even those who are less familiar with the cruise industry and what it offers.

All users of Amadeus Cruise Shop will benefit from smarter comprehensive search functionality coupled with dynamically filtered results.

Key features of Amadeus Cruise Shop:

• At-a-glance list of previous searches appears on the user dashboard for a quick sale.
• Smarter, more comprehensive ship and itinerary overviews include destination descriptions.
• Superior service administration module offers travel agency customisation options.
• Better connected; wherever alternate sailings exist for the same itinerary, they are displayed by default to enable pro-active sales and customer service.

Diane Bouzebiba, managing director, Amadeus UK & Ireland, said, “We’re committed to helping our customers succeed in selling cruise, which is why we have been listening better to cruise specialists and travel agency customers over recent months.

“They have shared their need for a shopping solution that provides reliable, instant access to ever-expanding cruise content, with intelligent filtering and user-friendly features like the new ‘price slider’.

“We believe this provides an opportunity for Amadeus to offer a superior service and revolutionise the cruise booking process, in a similar way to what we have been doing for air travel.”

Bouzebiba continued: “Amadeus Cruise Shop will enhance sales conversions as well as the overall customer experience – thanks to helping consultants more accurately match customer needs with the relevant cruise line product.

“Many holidaymakers shopping for a cruise still value the expert advice of a travel professional, which is why we believe that Amadeus Cruise Shop is an exciting leap forward for the industry.

“It builds on our pioneering development of professional cruise booking applications as part of our ongoing mission to enable success in travel.”

Amadeus Cruise Shop will be showcased at our forthcoming VIP Executive Forums in Dublin on May 29th and London on June 26th 2013.

Market launch will follow during summer 2013.