Last month, we shared Royal Caribbean’s announcement that its new Espresso booking system would be launching in March. Travel agents around the country are preparing for the March 29th launch date with online and live training sessions.

One of our agents, Robbin Hunter of Blu Diamond Travel, was featured in an article by Travel Agent Central covering the Davie, Florida live training session. She first heard about the training session through KHM Travel’s Agent Access weekly email updates.

We asked Robbin to expand upon her Espresso training experience to give fellow travel agents an idea of what to expect.

“Going to live training was awesome, they had laptops for every agent” she said. “You actually did the training as if you were doing an actual individual or group booking.”

Robbin also noted that Royal Caribbean had more than 20 specialists on hand to work directly with agents and answer questions during the four-hour session.

Espresso, which is replacing Royal Caribbean’s CruiseMatch booking engine, includes many new features that streamline the reservation process for agents. For instance, agents can view side-by-side comparisons of up to four stateroom categories. The new “Single View” function also lets them compare individual pricing and inventory against the group space they’ve already reserved.

One of Robbin’s favorite new features is the interactive ship deck that allows her to click on specific cabins, and get pictures of the rooms to send to clients. Being able to quickly communicate with a Royal Caribbean agent during the booking process will also save the agents time.

“I love the idea that it allows agents to engage in a ‘live chat’ or ‘request a call’ with the cruise line’s automation consultants,” says Robbin. “The training and new system, Espresso, will help me as an agent and is more user-friendly.”

Aside from learning the ins and outs of Espresso, the training sessions offers other perks for agents. According to Robbin, she had the opportunity to win several giveaways, including a cruise for two and round-trip airfare for two.

“I think, if possible, each travel agent should try to go to the live training,” she says.