TORONTO — New and improved cruise booking functionality from Softvoyage is coming this fall, says VP Sales & Marketing Dan Langevin.

“We’re known for packages, and for air and hotel product. We felt the time was right to offer a stronger cruise product. The cruise lines are doing much better with their online content and that eases the booking process. We feel cruise lines have the right technology now,” said Langevin.

By connecting directly to the major cruise lines’ res systems such as Carnival, MSC, RCCL and NCL, Softvoyage intends to boost its cruise product content as well as the number of cruise offers available for tour operators and travel agents using SIREV. Online travel agencies using Softvoyage’s B2C e-commerce solutions will be able to tap into the content and offers as well.

“We met informally with a number of travel agents and tour operators in recent months, and believe there is a growing need for a seamless integration of major cruise line content and systems. Our integration will allow both Canadian tour operators and travel agents to access, manage and market this content more efficiently and with more flexibility.”

Cruises will be available to be sold a la carte, alone or as part of a bundle, for example, flights plus cruises. Pre-packages will be available as well. And cruise lines will have the ability to sell their cruises directly.

“Agents would prefer to have a one-stop shop. That’s what we’re giving them,” said Langevin.

All of SIREV’s key features will be available for the cruise module, including single sign-on, mark-ups/discounts, the Personalized Brochure, TripBook and merge-backs. Softvoyage’s website is softvoyage.com.