Cruise - small agencies hit out against undercutting

An article in Travel Weekly this week says small independent cruise agents are looking at the possibility of setting up a mini-consortium or campaign group to help each other compete against their larger rivals.

In recent weeks, agents have hit out against Complete Cruise Solution for offering exclusive deals to large agencies and failing to support small independents, which report customers being lured away by rock-bottom deals and free extras offered by their rivals.

CCS head of sales Mark Pilkington said consortia members already have access to special departure deals and should check with their head office.

What's your experience?

someone told me they wouldn't even bother trying to get into the cruise market now because it is so difficult for independent agents to compete. I don't sell cruise and don't think I would now.

Wicked, it still worth being in the cruise market. If your a member of a consortium join the cruise group. But also look how it is sold and what would sell in your area.

This is one area that interests me, however from the point of view of creating a shared website for the smaller independent cruise agents. If a group of individuals created a website and set it up correctly, they could in a relatively short time have enough content to vie with the big boys and gain a lot of web traffic without the need of employing expensive SEO Guru's. If enough web traffic was generated then groups such as CCS will work have to work with them and give them the same deals as the big few.