TripAdvisor has added cruises to its offerings, enabling
users to read and write reviews on cruise ships as well as book a cruise.
Cruise Critic, owned by TripAdvisor, will continue to
operate independently.
TripAdvisor Cruises will feature user-generated content in
the form of reviews and photos as well as "ship-tinerary" pages -- profiles
of ships detailing amenities and itineraries. Users will be able to compare
cruise prices and sort results by cabin type, price and itineraries. TripAdvisor
said its inventory includes more than 70,000 cruises.
"The addition of cruise will help solve the complexity
of planning and booking a voyage, supported by the confidence of rich user-generated
content with reviews and photos from millions of TripAdvisor members," said
Bryan Saltzburg, president of TripAdvisor flights, cruise and car.
Bookings will be fulfilled through TripAdvisor partners, a
mix of OTAs and cruise lines.
According to TripAdvisor, its audience is interested in
cruising: in 2018, 32% of users cruised before, and 44% are cruise shoppers.
TripAdvisor has 490 million average unique monthly users.
Citing data from CLIA, TripAdvisor said the cruise industry
is growing steadily, with 30 million passengers expected to cruise in 2019.
"The cruise industry is growing at an incredible pace,
with more travelers than ever planning their vacations at sea," Princess
Cruises chief marketing officer Gordon Ho said in a statement. "Having
cruise represented on TripAdvisor acknowledges the growth of the sector as a
vacation option and will help to introduce cruising to a massive new audience
as part of the world's largest travel site."
TripAdvisor Cruises is available in the U.S. and U.K.