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Cruising the Virtual Seas
US News & World Report · February 1, 2004

Lindsay Martin's father advised her against booking a cruise online--he thought she needed a human being to sort through choices and get the best price. But the Norfolk, Va., pet groomer decided to at least see if she could find a deal on the Internet. She did, on Travelocity: a two-night cruise to nowhere this October on Carnival's Victory for $229 a day for both herself and her husband. She bought it online, too. "It took half an hour, from start to finish," she says. "It was easy."

The conventional wisdom used to be that booking cruises was too complex for the Web. The many cabin classes and shore excursions--plus the fact that a cruise often represents a major purchase--were thought to make it unsuitable for online buyers. Travel agents also touted the "personal touch," since they're often cruise vets.

Sea click. But online travel agencies are making their cruise pages more user friendly. Consider Martin's experience. At Travelocity, she could check rates from her departure port. And she appreciated the site's blunt preview of various cruises, drawn from cruisecritic.com (sample review: an "average cruise experience" with cabins that may be "minuscule" and "mediocre entertainment"). When she had a question about the refund policy, she called Travelocity toll free and got an answer in less than 30 seconds. Maybe that's why nearly 1 in 10 cruise passengers books online--up from 6 percent just a year ago.

To lure more cruise customers, two of the major online travel agencies--Expedia and Travelocity--launched sales last month. After all, this is "wave season," the time of year when most people book a cruise. Buy certain cruises on Travelocity through February 26, and you'll get a prepaid MasterCard gift card worth up to $400. Expedia is offering rebates, too. On selected Silversea cruises, for instance, you'll get $250 in shipboard credits per suite, which can be cashed in for spa treatments or shore excursions.

No matter how you book, you can find great prices. There are still too many berths and not enough sailors. This year alone, a dozen new ships are being christened, including the recently launched, 2,620-passenger Queen Mary 2, the world's largest passenger liner. No surprise, then, that a seven-night Caribbean cruise costs only $92 a night per person on average, according to Cruise411.com, an online cruise agency. Yes, meals are included.

But you might run an online price past a cruise expert. Jim Antista, who owns a Raleigh, N.C., travel agency specializing in cruises, just spoke to a woman who signed up for a Panama Canal cruise online at a "discount" rate. To her dismay, the Web site added port fees, taxes, and booking surcharges after she reserved. Antista found her a comparable berth on the same ship for $180 less, so she canceled her online reservation. Maybe travel agents aren't sunk after all.

A Better Dot-Com Cruise

What sets a shipshape cruise site apart from a so-so one?

SEARCH OPTIONS. Techno-savvy sites let you cruise for cruises based on home port, duration, price, activities, or ship rating. Orbitz even lets you search by age--if you're over 55, you might nab a senior rate.

IMPARTIAL REVIEWS. Third-party comments give a site more credibility than a brochure. Cruise411.com and Travelocity both use pithy reviews from cruisecritic.com.

A VIRTUAL VIEW. Accurate and easily downloadable ship schematics, cabin diagrams, and 360-degree views of key places all can give you a sense of being there. Expedia just spent nearly $1 million to upgrade its 360-degree "virtual tour."

ALL-INCLUSIVE PRICE. A rate including port fees, taxes, and booking surcharges eliminates confusion.

PHONE NUMBER. Just in case. Some sites, like Travelocity, post it more prominently than others.

Christopher Elliott is a travel commentator based in Key Largo, Fla. All e-mailed questions may be edited, condensed or republished at the site's discretion.