Travel agents hit with 'wave season'

NEW YORK -- Travel agents call this "wave season" -- the time of year when the cruise industry gets its biggest wave of bookings.

And with cruisebooking patterns trending earlier and earlier, travelers considering a sea voyage later this year may want to reserve their cabins now.

Nearly half -- 47 percent -- of all cruise bookings are now made six months or more in advance of the departure date, according to a recent survey of 850 travel agents by the Cruise Lines International Association.

Fewer than 10 percent of cruises were booked less than three months in advance of the sailing date, according to the CLIA survey.

The trend toward earlier bookings is a change from the months following the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, when last-minute vacations became the norm.

Because so many vacationers shop for cruises between January and March, cruise lines compete for customers this time of year by offering discounts and promotions such as stateroom upgrades, two-for-one fares, and onboard credits. Promotions include:

* On Radisson Seven Seas Cruises, two-for-one savings on three Seven Seas Mariner sailings, including a seven-night Caribbean itinerary from Fort Lauderdale on March 13; a nine-day cruise from Fort Lauderdale to the Caribbean on March 20; and a 15-day Panama Canal itinerary from Fort Lauderdale to San Francisco on April 3.

* Seabourn Cruise Line's 60 percent savings on a 12-day "Sunny Spain & Morocco" cruise departing March 28, from Lisbon to Madeira on the Seabourn Pride, and a 50 percent savings on the ship's 18-day Mediterranean Odyssey cruise departing Istanbul on May 2.

* Swan Hellenic's savings of up to 49 percent on a 65-day "Faces of South America" cruise scheduled for January (2007) aboard Minerva II, round-trip from Barbados cruise to 34 ports.