AI Audio Player
Letting travelers listen to a ship's story instead of reading it.
How I designed a short spoken summary for every ship, made automatically from information we already have, and placed right where travelers are comparing cruises.
Overview
Many people already listen to articles instead of reading them, big news sites like TIME and the Washington Post offer a "listen" button with the length shown up front. I brought that same familiar idea to our cruise booking site: a short spoken summary for every ship. Nobody has to write anything new. The audio is created automatically from the ship details, highlights and description the team already keeps up to date. Same information, just a second way to take it in.
Made automatically
One tap to listen
Familiar play controls
Clearly labelled as AI
The Problem
Ship descriptions are long blocks of text, they take time to read, and there was no other way to get the information.
1. Reading was the only option
Ship descriptions are long, and travellers who'd rather listen while comparing cruises had no choice but to read.
2. A new idea needed to feel trustworthy
People already trust "listen" buttons on news sites, but they'd never seen one on a cruise booking site. It had to feel familiar from the first click.
3. Risk of the audio saying something different
If the audio were written separately, it could easily fall out of step with what the ship page actually says.
How I got there
Three key choices shaped the feature, where it appears, what it's made from, and how openly it says it's AI.
Choice 1
Use what we already have
The summary is made from the ship details, highlights and description already on the site, so there's nothing extra to write or keep updated.
Choice 2
Right there, not on another page
​Every line follows the same pattern, so your eye always knows where to look. Clear headings split the panel into "Choose your cabin", "Nearby" and "Your cabins". "Choose Cabin" became a simple "Select".
Choice 3
Use the whole phone screen
​On phones, cabin names were squashed into a narrow column.
I spread the layout across the full width and moved extra details onto a second line, shorter cards, much less scrolling.
​
The Result
A "Quick Listen" button with the length shown sits beside each ship's name in search results, and again on the ship's own page. Tap it and a simple player opens right there, nothing else on the screen moves.
Length shown up front
Travelers see how long the audio is before they press play, so there are no surprises.
Opens where you are
One tap opens the player without jumping the page or resetting search filters.
Controls everyone knows
Skip, mute, speed and download, the same buttons people use on any audio player
Same button on the ship page
It looks and works the same everywhere, so people only need to learn it once.
Sits beside the ship video
Audio and video live together, so all the ship's media is in one place.
FITTING INTO WHAT ALREADY EXISTS
Search results look the same
The button adds just one small line to each ship, nothing else on the results page changes.
One player, two places
Search results and the ship page use exactly the same player, so travel agents and travellers learn it once.
No extra writing work
Nobody writes a second version of the ship, the audio simply reads out what's already there.
The AI label is part of the design
The note that it's AI is just as easy to see as the button itself.
What changed for travelers
Easy to find
The button appears exactly where people are choosing between cruises, not hidden on another tab.
More ways to take it in
People who'd rather listen than read now have a real choice, with full play controls.
No surprises
The length is shown, the controls are familiar and the button is always in the same spot.
Nothing extra to maintain
Because the audio comes from information already on the site, keeping it current costs the team nothing.
Looking back
The hardest part wasn't making the audio, it was resisting the urge to turn it into a big separate feature. Building it from what's already on the ship page meant the audio could never say something different, and nobody ended up with a second writing job. Being open that it's AI, right next to the button, mattered more than hiding it would have. Trust came from honesty, not from making the voice sound human.
WHAT I'D DO NEXT
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Bring Quick Listen to phones and to other pages beyond the ship page.
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Measure how many people listen all the way through, and whether it keeps them on the page longer.
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Let travelers choose different voices and speeds, the way some news sites do.