[THURS POSS]Internet cruise bookings topping out at 20%?

At least one travel agent who sells the product thinks cruise line bookings by individuals via the internet are reaching their peak. Charlie Funk told TravelMole: “Carnival Cruise Lines is probably the leader in the number of direct bookings. My gut sense is they take 17 or 18%. I think that any cruise line is going to top out at 20%.” Mr Funk, who with his wife, Sherri, owns Just Cruisin’ Plus, thinks cruise bookings in the future will remain complicated enough so that the vast majority of bookings will continue to come from agents. Does Mr Funk think cruise lines in the future will want to employ their own booking agents? “The fact is the cruise lines will tell you, and anybody who wants to listen, that they don’t want to go to direct bookings,” he said. “I think people are going to understand that if they call, say Royal Caribbean, they’re only going to get information about them. I see people realizing that if they want a realistic and good comparison, they need to call somebody who is objective such as an agent,” he added. Just Cruisin’ used to do only cruises but went full service more than a decade ago, though 75% of its bookings remain in cruising. The Nashville-based agency is among the top ten in bookings in Tennessee, Mr Funk said. Report by David Wilkening