Henbury Travel owner Richard Slater contacted P&O Cruises after hearing the "struggle" one of his staff was having when trying to book a Caribbean cruise for a client.

Polar is used by agents and customers alike wishing to make a P&O Cruises, Cunard or Princess Cruises booking. However the versions – the customer-facing one and the travel agent-one – are different.

In a message sent to Paul Ludlow, Carnival UK and P&O Cruises President, and Ruth Venn, P&O Cruises' Associate Vice President of Sales and Distribution, Slater flagged his concerns about Polar.

"I’m sat at the back of the office and can hear the struggle," he wrote. "The clients are looking at the lovely, visual consumer version of the P&O Cruises website, while my team member is trying to match what they’re seeing with the cabin grades and availability in Polar.

"The point is that this team member has around 30 years’ experience using Polar. So this certainly isn’t a training or familiarity issue – it’s simply becoming increasingly difficult to marry the customer-facing experience with the agent booking experience."

He added: "I genuinely think P&O Cruises is potentially losing revenue by not giving agents the same visual selling tools you already give the consumer."

'I want to help P&O Cruises make more money'

Slater concluded his missive by confirming the booking had eventually been made by the agent despite the issues they faced. However, Slater reiterated his plea to P&O Cruises, calling for the system to be upgraded.

He told TTG: "All I'm trying to do is help them make more money. We want to be able to show our customers that for an extra £50 'you can have this cabin here like on the customer-facing version'.

"That is what we're getting at. We don't want a full new system. We just want a new website-based system that is password protected so we can access it and make a booking from that."

Other agents echoed Slater's comments, but stopped short of saying it was a definite barrier to booking for customers.

Travel Village Group Chief Executive Phil Nuttall said: My team use Polar really efficiently but I although I feel Polar is an antiquated system, it does not need a rebuild. Does it need updating? 100%, but it is not a barrier to booking."

Jill Waite of Pole Travel said Polar was "a crappy old system". "It is antiquated, but it does not matter what system we've got if people want a P&O Cruises holiday they will book no matter what," she stressed.

While Angela Davies, owner of Chester-based Sandy Lane Travel, said she had printed off a chart to help her explain cabin grades onboard P&O Cruises ship rather than relying on Polar. "If you compare the public version to ours, they are poles apart," she added.

'Complicated to use for new agents'

Nuttall called for P&O Cruises to reveal its roadmap for its booking system and share where it will be upgrades.

Davies, though, claimed she enjoyed demonstrating her knowledge of P&O Cruises cabin grades with customers when using the agent version of Polar. "If the customer is a bit baffled, they appreciate our expertise a bit more," she said.

Every agent who spoke to TTG confirmed experienced travel sellers did not have any issues with Polar.

Westoe Travel Assistant Manager Alice Appleby said: “I can see why, for new agents, Polar is a bit complicated to use. However, after using the system for many many years, you do get the hang of it.”

P&O Cruises' Venn said the line was committed to making it "as easy as possible for travel agents to do business with P&O Cruises and continuously listen to feedback from our trade partners". However she declined to say whether Polar Systems would be enhanced in the future.

She added: "Alongside our booking platform, we invest in a wide range of dedicated training and resources – such as Shine Rewards Club and webinars – to help travel agents sell P&O Cruises with confidence.

"Our research consistently shows strong levels of satisfaction in areas such as ease of doing business and booking support and feedback from agents remains an important part of how we evolve our resources.

"We continue to work closely with our trade partners to ensure they have the support they need to serve their customers effectively.”