FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CruiseCompete Releases February 2012 CruiseTrends™ Report and 2012 Cruise Index™

Europe Leads The Way As Most Popular Cruise Region With North America Close Behind

DETROIT (Feb 2, 2012) –CruiseCompete has released its CruiseTrends™ and Cruise Index™ reports for the month of February 2012.

The CruiseTrends™ report for February 2012 is detailed below. To see more topics and data, please visit CruiseCompete’s Press Room or click here to see the entire February 2012 report.

The CruiseCompete Cruise Index™ for February was 144, a 1.4% increase from January 2012, and an increase of 4 points over February of 2011. All regional pricing indices saw an increase from January except for Europe, which dipped slightly by 0.6%.

The CruiseCompete Cruise Index ™ is calculated based on the average daily per-passenger (double occupancy) cost for the lowest-priced oceanview cabin category on a seven-night cruise on the six largest North American cruise lines. See details and indices by region and Monthly Historical Cruise Prices.

Most Popular Cruise Lines
(Based on the total number of quote requests for each cruise line in the given month)
1. Premium/Contemporary: Carnival Cruise Line
2. Luxury: Oceania Cruises
3. River Cruises: Viking River Cruises

In second place is Royal Caribbean International for premium/contemporary, Seabourn for luxury and Uniworld for river cruises. More…

Most Popular Cruise Ships
(Based on the total number of quote requests for each ship)
1. Premium/Contemporary: Carnival Dream (replacing Ruby Princess last month)
2. Luxury: Oceania Marina (replacing Queen Mary 2 last month)
3. River: American Queen (Great American Steamboat Company)

Next in popularity are the Norwegian Gem for premium/contemporary, Queen Mary 2 for luxury, and the SS Antoinette (Uniworld) for river. More…

Most Popular Cruise Regions
(Based on the total number of quote requests for each region)
1. Premium/Contemporary: Caribbean
2. Luxury: Europe
3. River: Europe

Next in popularity are North America for premium/contemporary, Mediterranean for luxury, and North America for river cruises. More…

Most Popular Cruise Departure Ports
(Based on the total number of quote requests for each departure port)
1. Premium/Contemporary: Fort Lauderdale, FL
2. Luxury: Instanbul, Turkey (changed from Fort Lauderdale, FL last month)
3. River: Amsterdam, Netherlands (changed from Budapest, Hungary last month)

Next in popularity are Miami, FL for premium/contemporary, New York, NY for luxury, and Budapest, Hungary for River. More…

Most Popular Cruise Ports Visited
(Based on the total number of quote requests for each port visited during cruise itineraries, excluding departure ports)
1. Premium/Contemporary: Nassau, Bahamas (replacing Cozumel, Mexico from last month)
2. Luxury: Kusadasi, Turkey (replacing Corfu, Greece from last month)
3. River: Cologne, Germany (replacing Vienna, Austria from last month)

Next in popularity are Cozumel, Mexico for premium/contemporary, Dbrovnik, Croatia for luxury, and Rudesheim, Germany for river cruises. More…

Most Popular Countries Visited
(Based on the total number of quote requests for each country visited during cruise itineraries, excluding countries of departure)
1. Premium/Contemporary: Bahamas
2. Luxury: Greece
3. River: Germany

Second are Mexico for premium/contemporary, Italy for luxury, and France for river cruises. More…

Most Popular Cabin Types
(Based on the total number of quote requests for each cabin type)
4. Premium/Contemporary: Inside Cabin
5. Luxury: Balcony Cabin
6. River: Outside Cabin

More…

Hottest Months for Cruising
(Based on the most requested months)
1. Premium/Contemporary: March 2012
2. Luxury: March 2012 (replacing January 2012 last month)
3. River: May 2012 (replacing April 2012 last month)

More…

Other data available at the February 2012 CruiseTrends™ report.
• Number of cabins requested
• Most popular cruise itinerary lengths
• Travel insurance requested
• Cruise line past passenger status requested
• Booking window of time

This cruise trend information is available monthly from CruiseCompete and can be insightful, especially for financial analysts and travel writers. To see 12-months’ of cruise trend data, please click here: Cruise Trends

For purposes of the CruiseTrends™ report, cruise lines recognized as premium or contemporary are grouped together as premium/contemporary.

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About CruiseCompete, Where Travel Agents Compete to Offer Consumers the Best Cruise Deals:

Since 2003, over 700 travel agencies and 2700 cruise experts have provided 9 million quotes in response to more than 2 million consumer quote requests.

CruiseCompete continues to garner the highest praise from the media for its revolutionary premise that free-market competition provides the best pricing options for consumers.

The New York Times says "…independent travel agents compete to offer you the best deal," and follows similar praise from Kiplinger’s, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal. The Street says "Score Luxury Cruises at Bargain Prices."

For more information, please visit CruiseCompete.com or Cruise Compete Groups. CruiseCompete is an Iowa limited liability company and is not a travel agency or owned by a travel agency.

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Media Contact:
Heidi M. Allison
Allison and Taylor, Inc.
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