While the world watched its pennies carefully in 2009 people were also looking for great value holidays and cruising appears to have been the standout performer according to TravelManagers.

National operations manager, Kim Wudko says their growth in cruise sales has been incredible to watch increasing by 157 percent over 2008.

"The bookings have just kept going up and up for cruising, it has been the all star performer in 2009.

Ms. Wudko believes there are two reasons that have attributed to the dramatic increase.

"While cruising is not a new product, people have a view on whether it is something they would like or not. It takes a well informed travel specialist who knows their client well and also knows cruising. It is vital to match the cruise product with the expectations of the client in order to get someone who's not keen on cruising to give it a try and that is something our personal travel managers have excelled at."

TravelManagers are huge advocates of the International Cruise Council of Australasia (ICCA) accredited training. They have gone from 14 personal travel managers being accredited, with one Cruise Master in January 2009 to 26 accredited with five of their personal travel managers holding Cruise Master status by January 2010.

"In addition to the qualifications being recognised worldwide, they ensure the personal travel managers have an in-depth awareness of the wide variety of cruises available, their individual specialities and are aware of how to sell the concept of cruising."

Ms. Wudko says the increase in ICCA accreditations now gives TravelManagers accreditation across each of the Australian states and territories as follows:
Western Australia = 4
Victoria = 5
Queensland = 3
New South Wales = 13
ACT = 1

The other main reason Ms. Wudko attributes such growth in cruising is its value for money.

"People's perceptions have been that cruises are only for the rich and famous but that couldn't be further from the truth. Of course there are the high end products but there is a cruise for each budget and once people understand all that is included in the upfront price, they can't believe what great value it is as a holiday option or part of a holiday."

Notable movements in sales for individual suppliers in 2009 compared to 2008 were P&O up 92 percent, Princess Cruises up 361 percent and Royal Caribbean International, while off a significantly smaller base is still up over 1000 percent.
"The encouraging aspect is we are seeing growth in all sorts of cruising especially Europe river cruising which has increased 166 percent."

Ms. Wudko says being able to see the product first hand and receive regular updates is always advantageous.

"There were twenty of our New South Wales personal travel managers who participated in the Wiltrans International's annual agents' cocktail party in January and on the 7 February there are seven who will attend a ship inspection of the Regent Seven Seas Cruises' Seven Seas Voyager."