CruiseOne Agents Say Demand For Cruises Continues to Bounce Back

USAToday.com reported that travel agents attending the CruiseOne and Cruises Inc. National Conference last week on board the Carnival Pride say they're seeing a surge in last-minute bookings for fall and early winter as consumers grow more confident about the economy.

"Within the past two to three months the pendulum has swung upwards," says Ralph Santisteban, a Miami-based CruiseOne agent who has been in the business for 11 years. "I think they've been waiting to make sure they could leave with a clear [conscience]." Santisteban and other longtime cruise-selling agents at CruiseOne and Cruises Inc. say they're seeing people who have put off booking vacations all year long finally pulling the trigger.

"People have said 'enough is enough, I'm going,'" says Becky Piper, a CruiseOne agent in the Cleveland area. "I think they've realized that they still have a job, and they're mentally exhausted and need a vacation." Piper says her business began bouncing back in July after a horrible start to the year. As of March, her bookings were off 60% year-to-date from the previous year, she notes, but after a good July, August and September she's now caught back up and even is ahead a bit for the year.

The travel agents at the CruiseOne/Cruises Inc. conference, which took place last week on the Carnival Pride during a seven-night itinerary out of Baltimore, admit that heavy discounts by the big cruise lines has been a key factor in bringing back demand. Santisteban says customers definitely remain cost conscious. "The person who used to call to ask me for a suite is now calling to ask about a balcony," he notes. "The person who would call asking for a balcony is now calling to ask about an inside."

That said, the booking window -- how far people book in advance of a voyage -- is starting to move back out, say agents, and pricing is starting to edge upwards after months of rarely seen discounts. "Pricing is moving up, but what's funny is the client's expectations is that the pricing is still where it was (a few months ago)," says Piper. "It hasn't been an easy year," Piper adds. "But I really believe things are getting better."

CruiseOne and Cruises Inc. are part of World Travel Holdings, which bills itself as the nation's largest cruise retailer. The company also owns Cruises Only and Cruises.com, which sell cruises on their websites. It is important to note that each CruiseOne franchise is independently owned and operated, and CruiseOne agents like me offer unique personalized service that you can't get by booking on the internet or through a call center.

I would agree with my CruiseOne colleagues that pricing has started to creep upwards, but even if pricing is headed higher than it was a few months ago, there are still tremendous deals out there. However, I think the trend with my clients is that the booking window is holding steady from where it was early in the year, but this is still a shorter window than in the past.

Remember that it's not too late to book a cruise for the end of 2009, and you can take advantage of special deals in celebration of World's Largest Cruise Night, which is on October 13. Check out my website for more information at www.serenitycruising.com.

CruiseOne Agents Now Officially Sell Land Vacations!

It's official! On October 7, 2009, during its national conference aboard the Carnival Pride, CruiseOne and Cruises Inc. launched their first land division. As reported in today's edition of Travel Pulse, "As part of the new integrated program, 1,000-plus CruiseOne franchise owners and Cruises Inc. independent agents are now officially licensed to sell land travel and will be rewarded for doing so with exclusive incentives. The new land division of CruiseOne and Cruises Inc. will be rolled out in several phases. The first phase includes 10 preferred land partners -- Apple Vacations, Club Med, Disney Destinations, Funjet Vacations, Globus Family of Brands, GOGO Worldwide Vacations, Sandals Resorts, Trafalgar, Travel Impressions and US Airways Vacations. Future phases expected to launch over the next 24 months will include the addition of new land partners."

This is REALLY big news for us CruiseOne agents because so many times we have gotten requests from clients for land packages, but we've never really had access to great deals before. Traning on land operators has always been on-our-own -- I am already a Certified Apple Vacations Agent, and am in the process of completing my training with Disney Destinations -- but now we can expect more formal training and support from our corporate headquarters. But the best part about this news is that now, by forming partnerships with these top land providers, we can access great deals for our clients and earn top commission dollars as well. So it's definitely a win-win situation and I am very excited about this opportunity.

So start thinking about that next vacation to Hawaii, Europe, DisneyWorld or Las Vegas and call me, your Independent Cruise Specialist, at (630) 868-6719 or toll-free at (877) 823-8597.