As founder Harley Van Stratten freely admits, the name cruisepricescompared.com hardly trips off the tongue - or indeed the keyboard - but it's hard to think of a moniker that more accurately suits what this new website does.
As my exclusive story in Travel Weekly this week explains, CPC is a marketplace where consumers can come in search of cruise deals and agents can advertise those deals for free. It couldn't get much simpler.
The catch is that if this is to succeed, Van Stratten needs lots of support from agents - and that means registering and putting up your cruise deals fast so there is something there for consumers to buy.
As it costs nothing and registration only takes minutes - or so I am told by Van Stratten, who is waiting by his computer now to OK applications (only ABTA or Travel Trust Association guys please) - it seems silly not to give it a go.
Once you're approved, you're free to put up your cruise deals using a series of drop-down boxes. That bit really is simple - I know because I have had a go.
The site's success also depends on cruise lines and other travel suppliers stumping up cash for adverts, and cruise lines can also pay for weekly slots on the home page to play their DVDs. That money will be ploughed back into cruise consumers' favourite newspapers - the likes of the Telegraph - to get them coming.
After all, a load of great deals with no one to buy them is pretty useless.
Jane Archer
