UK’s leading cruise lines to be pulled from GDS Amadeus

Complete Cruise Solution (CCS) has announced it will end distribution through Amadeus Cruise at the end of November saying the GDS was no longer necessary.

Complete Cruise Solution (CCS) has announced it will end distribution through Amadeus Cruise at the end of November saying the GDS was no longer necessary.


The trade arm of UK market leader P&O Cruises, Cunard and Princess Cruises said 95% of its cruises are sold via its own site completecruisesolution.com.


Other brands in the Carnival Corporation group including Carnival Cruise Line, Holland America Line and Costa Cruises will continue to feature on the GDS for UK agents.


Travolution revealed in April that CCS parent Carnival UK and Amadeus were in talks about their future relationship with most agents fully expecting the operator to come off the GDS.


Carnival, which cut agent commission to 5% this year, is keen to take any additional costs out of its sales channels and says it is committed to a no fee distribution model.


In a letter to agent partners it said: “With almost 95% of travel agent online bookings now being made on completecruisesolution.com, we have decided that we will not be working with GDS providers from the end of November 2011.


“From 1 December 2011, all bookings will be made via completecruisesolution.com, by calling our reservations team or by connecting via our published API.”


A letter from Amadeus said it would continue to work closely with Carnival to continue its longstanding relationship but that GDS distribution would cease on November 30.


A sdpokesman said: “Following this development with Complete Cruise Solution in the UK, Amadeus will still offer 15 cruise lines to its customers, including Royal Caribbean International, Norwegian Cruise Line and Fred Olsen Cruise Lines, and we remain committed to investing in providing the best available cruise distribution solutions for travel professionals.


“Our belief in the value of a single, easy-to-use and secure cruise booking application for multiple cruise lines is stronger than ever. Proof of this can be seen in the addition of new content to our cruise portfolio, such as the recent addition of Silversea Cruises.


“We have also released free software upgrades in the past few weeks to accommodate the changing needs of cruise providers and cruise bookers alike.”


CCS has promised further upgrades to its system to help agents sell its cruises though completecruisesolution.com.