‘Get me out of here’: Harsh winter spurs cruise bookings

While much of the country has had enough of what has been an unusually harsh winter, polar temperatures and record snowfall have been a boon for warm-weather travel destinations.

Both cruise lines and travel sellers are finding that last-minute bookings are up this season.

“On the heels of our one-month all-time high reservations record experienced in January, we are continuing to enjoy very strong booking activity, including a lot of close-in reservations,” said Jennifer de la Cruz, vice president of public relations for Carnival Cruise Lines. “Although it is difficult to say how much of a role the severe winter weather may be playing, we think it certainly is a factor as people dream of warmer climates while shoveling their walks and scraping the ice off their cars.”

Rob Clabbers, president of Cruise Holidays Chicago, said “almost everyone who calls us refers to the terrible weather and the fact that they’d love to see some sun. We’ve seen a healthy bump in new business so far this year.”

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The problem, Clabbers said, is that last-minute bookers are running into very high airfares, and that “there are definitely some people that decide to stay home once they realize that last-minute airfare can be higher than they expect.”

David and Cindy Locke, owners of Seize the Sea, an independent agency of Avoya Travel located in Parkland, Fla., said that even among their luxury cruise clients who tend to book much further out, close-in bookings are on the rise this winter.

“We are getting a lot of people calling for March and April now,” David said. “That never happens … Part of it has to be that people are sitting home, housebound, getting cabin fever, and Royal Caribbean and Princess are running ads of waterslides and tropical dancing.”

“People are calling me from their cars and saying ‘get me out of here’,” Cindy added.

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A possible cruise casualty of the cold weather is Alaska, which travel agents say is not on clients’ radars as much as it normally would be as people book summer cruise vacations.

“Alaska is definitely not top of mind right now,” said Shari Marsh, owner of Cruise Holidays and Land Vacations in Raleigh, N.C.

This item was written by Johanna Jainchill, who covers the travel industry for Travel Weekly. Jainchill is serving as Guest Editor of The Cruise Log while USA TODAY Cruise Editor Gene Sloan is away.