Ensemble Travel Group travel agency members will soon be able to take advantage of a new cruise booking engine designed to provide them with a one-stop shopping and booking solution. Ensemble made the announcement at its annual conference in Las Vegas this week, Oct. 19 to 23.

Powered by technology partner Passport Online, the new Tandem cruise booking platform is free to all Ensemble agencies in the U.S. and Canada and will be accessible on www.ensembleagent.com, the group’s member-only information portal. Once beta testing is completed this fall, the booking engine will be rolled out to U.S. members by the end of the year and to Canadian members by end of first quarter 2012.

“When you closely examine what’s involved in properly servicing a cruise client, the time factor alone can be significant,” said Libbie Rice, Ensemble’s co-president. “With this new B2B software, which houses everything in one convenient and familiar location, members can look forward to increased productivity and profitability.”

In addition to the major time savings, the technology provides members with the ability to search and book in real time Ensemble’s preferred cruise partners, as well as the collection of Ensemble-hosted amenity group and promotional sailings. Ensemble Experiences (specially created complimentary shore excursions) and Ensemble amenities also will be clearly displayed for booking to make clients get access to them.

The new cruise booking engine will showcase rich graphics, deck plans, itineraries, photo galleries, maps and destination overviews. From a marketing perspective, Passport Online’s Agent Port will enable members to email itinerary options to clients, always with the members’ branding in place.

Rice said Ensemble conducted a thorough search of all cruise booking engines on the market before deciding on Passport Online’s product. “We needed a partner that could fully support our 1,500 sailings and related amenities and Ensemble Experiences each year,” she said. “Also, to the extent that we had different requirements for the Canadian market [primarily booking in Canadian dollars], that certainly came into play as well. Passport Online really listened to our needs and created a booking engine that’s a solid solution that works from a North American perspective.” For more information on Ensemble, call 800-442-6871 or visit www.joinensemble.com.