FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CruiseCompete Publishes July 2011 CruiseTrends™ Report

Consumer Requests This Summer Establish Travel Trends For Fall & Winter 2011

DETROIT (August 1, 2011) -- CruiseCompete has mined its wealth of cruise data to report the latest trends in consumer behavior and purchasing decisions for cruise vacations. This valuable information and statistics are available in its CruiseTrends™ report.

CruiseTrends™ reports are compiled based on actual consumer quote requests on CruiseCompete, the highly acclaimed website where travel agents compete to offer the best deal for consumer cruise business.

The following comprises a sampling of trends for July 2011. To see more topics and data, please visit CruiseCompete’s Press Room or click on July 2011 CruiseTrends™.

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

Most Popular Cruise Lines
(Ranked by the total number of quote requests for each particular line in the given month)

1. Premium/Contemporary: Carnival Cruise Line
2. Luxury: Oceania
3. River Cruises: Viking River (Over Ama Waterways last month)

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

Most Popular Cruise Ships
(Ranked by the total number of quote requests for each ship)

1. Premium/Contemporary: Oasis of the Seas (replacing Allure of the Seas)
2. Luxury: Queen Mary 2
3. River: Viking Helvetia (overtaking MS AmaBella from last month)

Next in popularity are Carnival Paradise for premium/contemporary, Oceania Marina for luxury, and the MS AmaCello for river. More…

Most Popular Cruise Regions
(Ranked by the total number of quote requests for each region)

1. Premium/Contemporary: Caribbean
2. Luxury: Mediterranean
3. River: Europe

Next in popularity are North America for premium/contemporary, Europe for luxury, and Asia/Far East for river cruises. More…

Most Popular Cruise Departure Ports
(Ranked by the total number of quote requests for each departure port)

1. Premium/Contemporary: Fort Lauderdale
2. Luxury: Istanbul (changed from Venice last month)
3. River: Amsterdam

Next in popularity are Miami for premium/contemporary, Venice for luxury, and Budapest for river cruises. More…

Most Popular Cruise Ports Visited
(Ranked by the total number of quote requests for each port visited during cruise itineraries, excluding departure ports)

1. Premium/Contemporary: Nassau
2. Luxury: Kusadasi (Turkey)
3. River: Cologne (changed from Vienna last month)

Next in popularity are Cozumel for premium/contemporary, Dubrovnik for luxury, and Vienna for river cruises. More…

Most Popular Countries Visited
(Ranked by 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, Turkey for luxury, and Austria for river cruises. More…

Most Popular Cabin Types
(Ranked by 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
(Ranked by the most requested months)

1. Premium/Contemporary: August 2011
2. Luxury: October 2011 (changed from August 2011 last month)
3. River: October 2011
More…

Other interesting data available at the July 2011 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 travel writers. To see a full year of cruise trend data, please click here: Cruise Trends

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About CruiseCompete:
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.

A recent article in 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."

Since 2003, over 1,700 cruise experts have provided close to 8 million quotes in response to 2 million quote requests. 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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