cruise-booking
(2)
Cruisebound
Cruisebound is a digital-first online travel agency that makes cruise research and booking as simple as buying a flight. The platform lets travelers compare more than 27,000 itineraries across roughly 19 major cruise lines, lock in transparent prices with no booking fees, hold cabins free for 24 hours, pay in installments, and earn Cruisebound Cash rewards - all backed by a hybrid model of self-service technology and human cruise experts. Founded by alumni of Rocket Travel (a Booking Holdings company), it targets a new generation of cruisers with an e-commerce experience instead of the traditional quote-request phone call.
Pierre-Olivier Lepage
Pierre-Olivier Lepage is the CEO and co-founder of Cruisebound, a New York-based digital-first cruise booking platform he launched in 2022 after struggling to book his own first cruise online. A Polytechnique Montréal engineering graduate who earned dual MIT master's degrees in Transportation and Operations Research, Lepage previously built operations at Rocket Travel (a Booking Holdings company) and consulted at McKinsey before betting that the $66B cruise industry — where 80% of bookings still flow through travel agents — was ripe for a tech-native overhaul. Cruisebound has since raised $37.8M in total funding, serves customers averaging nine years younger than typical cruisers, and routes 42% of support queries through AI, positioning itself as the fastest-growing national online cruise agency.