August 23, 2004 -- Travel Direct Corporation, today announced a new online travel service that pulls together the Internet's best cruise deals in one place. The new service; Cruise Connect Online (www.cruiseconnectonline.com), gives cruise travelers immediate direct access to the available inventory of 9 of the top cruise line brands.

Cruise Connect offers consumers a rich selection of destinations, cruise lines, ships and up-to-the-moment cabin inventory, plus the best cruise line offered discount prices – including hard-to-find internet specials – all in one place. The service lets cruise travelers with a few clicks purchase a cruise from brands they trust. With Cruise Connect, cruise travelers also have the opportunity to receive valuable special offers, such as cabin upgrades, and onboard spending credits.

With Cruise Connect, cruise travelers get the best priced cruises and most convenient options by going straight to the source.

Cruise Connect has search technology that can access all of the cruise inventory available from up to 9 cruise brands, which conventional search engines, crawlers and shopping bots cannot. Because the cruise lines have made their inventory available through their own sites, Cruise Connect can access this information. The technology is designed to search all of the cruise lines databases for cabin inventory and up-to-the moment pricing. And make them available in real-time.

Cruise Connect Online benefits cruise travelers:
Offering a huge selection of the Web's best cruise deals. To find the best cruise price with the same destination, itinerary and sailing date, cruise travelers must flip from cruise line site to cruise line site on their browsers, with Cruise Connects' search technology consumers are offered an alternative.

Cruise Connect smoothes and simplifies the online vacation research.
What's the most annoying thing about doing vacation research online? It has to be copying and pasting all the information you need for note-taking from multiple cruise line web sites.

Cruise Connect searches the sites' databases of the cruise lines themselves – sites like Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, Crystal, Holland America, Windstar, Disney, Crystal and Norwegian Cruise Line – for their best cruise offers. Cruise travelers do not have to jump from site to site to look for the best cruise line bargain. Cruise Connect allows users to see all the deals and to make informed choices. Switching back and forth between cruise line web sites can be a pain. With Cruise Connect, all the major brand cruise lines are all together at one home port.

Gathering information is easier and faster.
Those with limited internet time will find Cruise Connect especially useful for getting the necessary travel information and signing off quickly.

Easy to use interface enables comparison of cruise ship itineraries, sailing dates, up-to-the moment cabin availability and prices. The Cruise Connect search engine allows cruise travelers the option to troll through thousands of discounted fares and special deals the cruise lines have on offer, and they can tailor the search terms ( price, cruise line, sailing date, duration, departure ports and destinations ) according to their own personal travel needs.

With Cruise Connect, cruise travelers can check prices of competing cruise lines to make sure they always find the cruise line's best deals. Consumers save money by comparison-shopping.

Cruise travelers payments go directly to the brands they trust.

Cruise Connect brings cruise travelers all the information they need to book a cruise. When they are ready to book, the Pay Direct Process insures that all payments go directly to the cruise line of their choice, giving them piece of mind, from the cruise brands they trust.

A Personal Cruise Travel Advisor is part of every sale. When a cruise traveler books their cruise online, a personal Cruise Travel Advisor is assigned to their account: The Cruise Travel Advisor offers fair and impartial advice. Cruise Connect features all the major brand cruise lines - but doesn't promote one particular cruise line over another. Choosing the right cruise experience is the number one priority.

The Cruise Travel Advisor;
1. Will review the proper immigration/passport/birth certificate documentation necessary for their cruise.
2. Arrange any special needs -- such as a handicap-designed stateroom, or a special diet.
3. Inform cruise travelers of their dining choices and arrange for any special occasions they might be celebrating like a birthday or anniversary.
4. Will explain the importance of travel insurance to cover the unexpected such as trip delays, missed cruise connections and lost or delayed baggage.
5. Will review General Information materials that cover over 18 "Things to Know Before You Go".
6. Will point out their stateroom on the deck plan ( all deck plans are available online ).
7. Will Inform cruise travelers when final payment is due and the deadline to request air deviations and arrange pre-or-post cruise land packages.
8. Advise about tipping; packing; clothing; flights and schedule options; shore excursions, etc.

Cruise Connect is available for free from the company's internet site www.cruiseconnectonline.com



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