The Ecruising Story
Brett Dudley, founder of the ecruising.travel started it in January 2000 and has built the company from the ground up. Originally formed with a staff of just two, the ecruising group of companies now consists of vertically integrated wholesale, tour and retail divisions employing over 20 people based in the Sydney office.
Ecruising.travel pioneered the way Australian consumers purchase a cruise holiday by opening up the distribution channels and allowing consumers to book a cruise holiday at their convenience, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Ecruising.travel has been able offer competitive packages through its agreements with major cruise lines, airlines, ground operators and over 200 hotels around the world. These relationships allowed ecruising.travel to create unique cruise packages that deliver seamless travel.
Brett decided to build his own systems so he wasn't reliant on 3rd party programs and companies. This turned out to be a master stroke because when the cruise lines offered API connections, ecruising.travel was at the forefront with a system that was compatible. Ecruising.travel was the 1st company in the Asia Pacific region to develop direct API connections with all the major cruise lines allowing cruise holidays to be booked online 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
In November 2008, ecruising.travel opened a regional office in Hong Kong, the first cruise only travel agency in Hong Kong proving Brett's business model and systems were not just confined to Australia and that it could work in other countries. After 7 successful years, the remaining 51% was sold to our HK partners and in 2010, Brett was recognised by Hong Kong's Chief Executive, the Honourable Donald Tsang, at the reception for Top Executives for New Companies Expanding into Hong Kong.
In 2009, Brett was honoured winning the Tourism sector at the City of Sydney business awards, the first travel agency ever to win this award. In 2011, Ecruising was recognised by Hong Kong Economic Trade for contribution to industry between NSW and Hong Kong, the first travel company to ever receive the award.
Ecruising.travel continues to lead the way in technology development. Consumers now have the ability to book online themselves in less than 2 minutes, 24 hours a day at very competitive pricing.
Over the past 22 years, ecruising.travel has successfully developed unique tours around the world and some of these tours have out grown the ecruising.travel brand. In February 2016, Latitude 33 was launched as the companies luxury brand. (www.latitude33.travel) Ecruising.travel still has its own cruise tours and continues to grow its portfolio.
In February 2020, Brett sold Ecruising.travel and Latitude 33 to a Private Equity firm called Sky Bound Capital. As part of their portfolio, Sky Bound own The Leisure group https://www.leisure.com.au/ located on the Gold Coast.
Ecruising.travel is a Member of CLIA and is an IATA agency. As an IATA agency ecruising.travel is fully audited every year.
Work is another world away, Dinner is on the horizon, drinks are close at hand ... you're cruising, discover the difference today!