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CRUISE PLANNING ON A BUDGET ISSUE - SPECIAL "HOW TO" REPORT

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CRUISE PLANNING ON A BUDGET

10 Recession Proof Cruise Tips

20 Great "Priced-Right" Cruises For Two.

Couples on a Ruby Princess cruise. Romance at Sea. Create your own kind of unforgettable experience that you’re both looking for at price you can afford, even now! Lovers only!

LINKS WE LIKE                           presented by Cruise Direct Online

Azamara Cruises                                 Cruise Sale Azamara Cruises consists of two intimate ships, Azamara Journey and Azamara Quest. Each can carry 710 fortunate guests and because they are smaller and sleeker than larger cruise ships, they can sail to ports that others simply cannot reach. Celebrity Cruises                             Cruise Specials Welcome to Celebrity Cruises. Your voyage through this Web site will be one of discovery. Here, you will learn about Celebrity's many itineraries and destinations, the fleet of Celebrity ships and the Celebrity Experience. You may even book your cruise. So sit back and enjoy the first step toward your Celebrity vacation. Share an unforgettable journey with Celebrity, the premium cruise line.

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TODAY"S HOT DEALS                                    SPONSORED LINKS

9 NT Mexico from $489 USD 7 NT Asia from $ 739 USD 10 NT Mediterranean from $499 USD 7 NT Western Caribbean from $499 USD 7 NT Bahamas from $459 USD 12 NT Eastern Caribbean from $679 USD 12 NT New Zealand from $999 USD

Note: Offers and amenities are subject to change at the discretion of the cruise, so check with your travel agent for the latest information

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IN THE NEWS

A recession could benefit the cruise industry as more people discover its "exceptional" value. Royal Caribbean Cruises chairman and chief executive officer Richard Fain said the industry is doing better than expected given the state of the economy because in times of recession people look for value. He said: "They look at the value of a cruise versus a land holiday, and the more they look, the better off we are." Fain admitted these are "troubling" times but said cruising will continue to "stand up well", although he is unhappy at the spate of heavy discounting. Norwegian Cruise Line is selling four-night cruises from Miami to the Bahamas next month for $99, excluding taxes and port dues, which is $25 a night. He added: "Discounting will affect our business, but we have the ability to do more and offer more to our guests and that will serve us well in the long term." "Book Alaska cruises early, ships are crowded" read the article Celebrity Cruises president and chief executive Dan Hanrahan said he was pleased with the rates the cruiseline is getting for 2,850-passenger Celebrity Solstice, which left Meyer Werft shipyard in Germany at the weekend to start sea trials. "Bookings are very good to the third quarter of 2009 and that's without anyone having set foot on the ship." Cruise Deal Searches Soar According to web site - Hitwise , their analyst team have been on the hunt for recession proof categories. Last week they  spotted another such category - Cruises. Visits to Cruises websites are up 7% year over year. However, further digging revealed that it isn't the category as a whole that is up but rather interest in "cruise deals" and "discount cruises". Looking at the top ranked websites in the category, they noticed that, traffic to some discount cruise web sites is up 36% year over year. Second, looking at search terms sending visits to cruise websites, they noticed that searches for "cruise deals" and "discount cruises" have soared in recent weeks.   Record Number of Passengers Although the United States news media is full of economic gloom-and-doom stories, Cruise Lines International Association forecasts that 12.8 million passengers will sail on CLIA-members' expanding fleets in 2009. Travel agents remain optimistic that 2009 will be an even better year than 2008. Read the cruise Market Profile Survey   Discount Cruise Season Extended Cruisers should look for fares well below typical high-season rates, in some cases 20% to 40% off. Cruise rates generally include all meals, but additional costs apply, including taxes and port fees, tipping, shore excursions and adult beverages. Most cruise lines offer discounted airfare to the city of embarkation and transfers from the airport to the ship. Royal Caribbean Europe Cruise Deals . From planning to packing, from discount rates to departure dates, everything you need to know is there Raye & Marty Trencher's Cruise Blog The Editor's of Cruise Traveler Magazine present Your Ultimate Cruise Guide - Know Before You Go. Tried-and-true Tips on how to have a successful cruise vacation. Get the latest cruise news, cruise reviews, and feature cruise articles. Be sure to read their Ultimate Packing List. A must read, before you plan your next cruise. Add your own article....share the experience.

TODAY'S HOT CRUISE DEALS

Recession Sale Event

Cruise Deals For Less

Find cheap but chic cruises

Cruise Planning On A Budget

Cheap Cruise Deals Start Here.

Cruises Close To Home

To lure customers, cruise lines are slashing prices, eliminating fuel surcharges, and redirecting ships from exotic locations to ports that don't require expensive air travel. 

Find a cruise deal that departs near you.

Royal Caribbean Islands on Sale from $249!

WHY BUY TRAVEL INSURANCE?

It Pays To Consider Travel Insurance

During Tough Times.

Travelers appear to be reacting to airline capacity cuts by booking trips and buying travel insurance plans further in advance. Based on a recent Travel Guard customer survey, consumers are booking cruises and buying travel insurance plans an average of 151 days - or more than five months - in advance of their scheduled departure date. 

“We strongly recommend clients book flights well in advance, especially for popular destinations,” said Tom Zavadsky, Travel Guard Executive Vice President. . “With fewer flights and fewer seats available, it’s the best way to ensure they get where they want to go, when they want to go.”

We understand that your trip can take a year to save for, but only a second to ruin. While you can't do anything to prevent the unexpected, you can do something to help cover your travel investment; you can buy travel insurance. And in these challenging times, ever penny you can get back is found money.

FEATURE ARTICLE

Cruise Reviews Online Launches Revamped Website to Provide Cruise Travelers with Innovative New Blog and Social Media Tools As clients’ need change, so has Cruise Reviews Online. The popular cruise reviews site debuts a new look, blog, and social media tools to provide cruise travelers with the best information possible to plan their dream cruise vacation. In over 10 years years of providing relevant cruise travel content on the Internet, Travel Direct Corporation, a leading travel management company, and it's Cruise Reviews Online web site focused on helping guests create their dream cruise vacation through insider information, cruise reviews written by travelers and professional travel writers and insight on where to find the best cruise deals. With the launch of their new website, Cruise Reviews Online provides new content, hundreds of new cruise reviews and social networking tools focused on information about cruise travel and services to further assist cruise travelers in planning their perfect cruise vacation. The new Cruise Reviews Online website focuses on providing unparrelled information about the most popular cruise ships and lines and detailed information of the world’s best-traveled destinations. With detailed descriptions of hundreds of destinations, and in-depth cruise reviews, travelers can find the cruise vacation that best fits their needs. Whether a guest is planning a singles, couples, honeymoon, senior or group cruise, cruise and land tour, cultural or theme cruise vacation, Cruise Reviews Online has the information, expertise and experience to help guests successfully migrate through the planning process. The new site also includes a blog and social media networking platform. Save on Shore Excursions Too! Up to 35% less that the cruise line's charge! SHORE TOUR DEALS While other web sites sell cruises and other forms of travel, Shore Tour Deals utilizes this expertise and offers multiple choices, so you can select the highest quality shore excursions delivered by local experts at a price to fit just about any budget. Since these companies are not like a cruise line,  focused on a revenue producing and profit maker,  as shore excursions, independent sightseeing and shore excursion firms allow you to travel in much smaller groups offering a more personalized experience. New forums allow travelers to post any question or comment related to cruising. Discuss cruises, cruise ships, cruise lines, cruise reviews, cruising and ports of call. Here they will find.. cruise message boards, cruising info, cruise ship forums, cruise discussion boards, cruise chat, cruise line forums, a cruise message board, a cruise bulletin board, and cruise reviews. Each registered Cruise Reviews Online member can have their own personal cruise page (PCP). This is sort of like a cruise-oriented "home page" where cruise enthusiasts can network with their friends, family and other cruise buddies. The interface should be familiar to anyone who has used Facebook or Twitter. Members can enter messages on their PCP and on their friend's PCPs. The message area can also be used as a "cruise blog" area where they can document the day-to-day experiences when on their cruise. Members can also upload their cruise photos and create photo albums that their friends and family can enjoy as well as maintain a Cruise History and, of course, enter their Cruise Reviews. Members can join any number of "Fan Clubs". A Fan Club is a group of members uniquely interested in something they find on Cruise Reviews Online. For example, a member might join the Carnival Cruises Fan Club, or the Celebrity Equinox Fan Club. By joining a Fan Club, links to these items will appear in the member's My Favorites section on the personal cruise page. One of the blogs updates regularly with destination insights from around the globe. Written by travel specialists, each blog shares firsthand accounts of premier travel destinations. According to Marty Trencher, Managing Director, "The Internet isn't just about cruise deals. It also is about getting rock-solid travel advice, not just from the experts but from fellow travelers. We want to provide innovative content and services that will help guide those travelers through the planning process, from the beginning of an idea through the reservation process, all the way to when they board their ship and beyond.” For more information on Cruise Direct Online and its services, cruise travelers can visit  www.cruisereviewsonline.com       CRUISE SHIPS ARE GETTING BIGGER AND... The nation's economic crisis apparently hasn't slowed the cruise industry. The next wave of cruise ships will be bigger, more spectacular and come with a host of eye-popping amenities never seen on seafaring vessels, even as the nation's credit crunch forces Americans to downsize their dreams. What's coming? How about the biggest ship ever -- by a lot. And two-story loft cabins, onboard zip-lining, ice bars and levitating bars, a carousel and a walk in the park ... on real grass, no less. Best of all, most new features onboard come with the price of the cruise.   Five cruise lines unveil their biggest ships ever over the next 15 months at a combined estimated cost of $4.47 billion, and none is more grandiose than Royal Caribbean's floating city, the 220,000-ton, 6,200-passenger Allure of the Seas   But considering today's economic climate, if they build it, will people come?   "Although we're not recession proof, we are recession-resistant," says Vicki Freed, Royal Caribbean's senior vice president for sales. "People continue to vacation. For many people they're in a rat race 49-50 weeks of the year and those two weeks are very important."   And just because cruise lines are building billion-dollar ships doesn't mean you can't afford to sail. Find the right week and you can get an inside cabin on the brand new mega - cruiser: Allure of the Seas and Oasis of the Seas for as little as $729 a person and $479 for the third or fourth person in an inside cabin. Family Cruises Family Cruises. They're not just about getting away. They're about getting together. Disney - Princess - Carnival Royal Caribbean - NCL Deals

SAVINGS ON VACATION

Strategies to save on your next cruise. In this economy it pays big dividends to check out ways to save on a cruise vacation. We can help.

Find out how...

Common Cents: Secrets

to Getting the Best

Cruise Deal

The World’s best cruise lines provide a risk-free return on your cruise investment.

Cruise Ships Are Getting Bigger and Bigger!

Read the Article

Recession or not, we're going cruising this year.

Read Why?

How to Take a Luxury Vacation during an Economic Recession More....

The savings are phenomenal

for all inclusive cruises. Recent deals on domestic vacations are dropping down well below $75

per person per day for luxury cruise lines.

 

SPONSORED LINKS

THE ULTIMATE GOTTA - GO CRUISE GUIDE The best cruises, special promotions, and last minute deals. MSNBC      Named Best for: Nabbing a discount  "This cruise booking supersite is  chock-a-block with cruise discounts,  shipboard credit, and other great  deals.  The site is impressively  intuitive, letting you search the deals  database by cruise line, destination, or port." CRUISE DIRECT ONLINE

"This travel advisor loaded with Alaska cruise and cruisetour information. Cruise line partners include Princess, Holland America, Celebrity, Royal Caribbean, Carnival,NCL and Regent Seven Seas Cruises." ALASKA CRUISE TOURS ONLINE

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"This travel provider offers Comprehensive 2009-2010 Hawaii Cruise, Hawaii Cruisetours and Hawaii Cruise Tour destination information, discount cruises to Hawaii, Honolulu, Hilo, Kona, Nawiliwili and Kahului or Lahaina on Maui." CRUISE HAWAII ONLINE

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Six cruise lines that focus on family cruises and values. Useful information for any family planning a cruise vacation.Family Cruises. Family Cruises.... They're not just about getting away. They're about getting together. FAMILY CRUISES ONLINE

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"Mexico Cruise, Mexico Cruisetours and Mexico Cruise Tour destination information, discount cruises to Mexico, Mexican Riviera, Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarta, Cabo San Lucas and Acapulco."  MEXICO CRUISES ONLINE

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