Widgety has officially unveiled its new AI Cruise Assistant at the CLIA Southampton Trade Fair, marking a major milestone for the cruise technology specialist as it celebrates its 10th anniversary. Widgety provides cruise ship content on its platform to travel agents.
Developed exclusively for the travel trade, the AI-powered tool is designed to support travel advisors rather than replace them. Built to streamline cruise sales and improve efficiency, it gives agents instant access to detailed cruise information, helping them answer customer questions quickly and confidently—even if they have never sailed on a particular ship.
The AI Cruise Assistant has been in development for 14 months and is powered entirely by the Widgety API. More than 250 travel agents have already tested the platform, providing valuable feedback ahead of its official launch.
Travel advisors often spend significant time searching through brochures, cruise line websites, and PDFs to find answers for clients. Widgety’s new solution aims to eliminate that process by delivering instant responses through a simple chat interface. Agents can search across more than 2,500 cruise ships and 75,000 itineraries, enabling them to respond to both straightforward and highly detailed customer requests within seconds.
Early users have praised the technology. Emma Sanger-Horwell, Director of Cruise at Travelpack, described it as “far more than just another piece of technology,” highlighting its potential to transform how cruise products are researched and sold.
The assistant can handle a wide variety of queries, from comparing cruise brands and identifying suitable itineraries to providing destination-specific travel advice. It can also generate client-ready email quotes, helping agents move seamlessly from research to sales.
Beyond frontline sales teams, Widgety says the platform has been designed to support the entire travel business. Remote agents can use it as a virtual colleague when dealing with complex requests, while call center teams can generate summaries to reduce after-call administration. Marketing departments can quickly create promotional content, and operational teams can verify ship features, itineraries, and rates using the same centralized source of information.
The AI Cruise Assistant also includes customizable branding, activity reporting for managers, and conversation-saving features, allowing teams to revisit previous searches and generate customer summaries with ease.
Widgety will be demonstrating the platform at the CLIA Southampton Trade Fair between June 4 and 6, showcasing how AI can help cruise sellers save time, improve accuracy, and drive more bookings. The conference and fair, the largest annual travel agent event of its kind in Europe and the 18th to take place, will include ship visits, conference sessions, the networking trade fair and a celebratory Sailaway Party.
