Bowman’s Travel Brief: Cruising’s Big Push

Is it just me, or are you also seeing cruise advertisements seemingly everywhere these days?

This past weekend, I’m watching the NFL playoffs and nearly every commercial break features an ad for cruising.

I absolutely love it.

We’re in the thick of Wave Season right now, when the cruise deals are hot, and the bookings are piling in for cruise sailings as well as all types of travel.

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Travel advisors are crazy busy right now, taking in tons of calls and requests and of course setting their clients up with amazing vacations.

But the interest in cruising is sky high and many advisors tell me they have clients not only booking or 2023 cruises but also for 2024 and even 2025.

The big push in advertising shows the industry is in a good spot. However, I do wonder if cruise lines feel like they need to do a massive reach for more consumer direct bookings – since the ads don’t quite promote calling your travel advisor to book.

Depending on the cruise line, it’s around 70 percent or more of all bookings are completed by a travel advisor.

I’d love it even more if cruise lines could double down on sharing with their consumers the importance of booking through a travel advisor.

It’s great that the industry is booming back, but cruise lines can’t forget how valuable travel advisors are to their overall business. Sure, they’ll love direct consumer bookings, but to me, there is higher earnings potential in doing all you can to get travel advisors to be super loyal to your brand.

But is that the big push cruise lines want to make? I think those that do will surely reap the rewards.

What say you?

Let me know your thoughts on Twitter and Instagram: @EricBowman_

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