Cruise bookings are up by nearly 30 percent

EARLY cruise bookings for 2010 are a healthy 29% higher than this time last year but customers are not necessarily just being tempted by price.
Travel agent delegates heard this upbeat assessment for the prospects of the sector at the Travel Convention's cruise forum onboard Royal Caribbean's Navigator of the Seas. Sarah Smalley, managing director of GfK Ascent-MI, the official collator of industry booking data, said the cruise market was currently in “staggering growth” in comparison with the industry as a whole. “Right now it's up 29%; that's phenomenal compared to the rest of the market. And consumers are choosing value but not necessarily the cheapest holiday,” she said