Niche cruise agency Blue Water Holidays has added mainstream cruising to its portfolio and created a new website.
The North Yorkshire-based company started selling river and boating holidays online in 1997 and now managing director Barry Peters has launched another site, cruisesonline.co.uk.
Peters said that he had been reluctant to branch into offering the larger cruise lines until now as he wanted to be able to show his customers live availability and deck and cabin plans.
Thanks to a deal with Amadeus Cruise, the company now has live data with nine major cruise lines including P&O Cruises, Royal Caribbean and NCL with more to follow soon.
He said: “We have had online availability of boating holidays for some years, but have been waiting for similar live data from the major cruise lines. Now working with Amadeus Cruise and its US associates we have been able to tap into the central cruise database and provide real-time cruise and cabin availability with UK pricing and discounts.”
However Peters warned that he would not make the deals bookable online yet as he believes customers still need a helping hand.
“People want to come onto the site and get more information on the ship, the cabins and prices – but then they have questions. I have found that although we are an online company, people like to talk.
“Given that growth is being aimed at first-time cruisers that are obviously going to want to discuss thing before they book,” he said.
Cruisesonline.co.uk provides guides to the cruise lines, with independent reviews from the Berlitz guide to cruising and its ship ratings. There is also a link to virtual cruises using Google Earth and live webcam feeds from ships and ports.