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More than 12.6 million passengers are expected to sail aboard a cruise ship in 2007 -- an increase of 4.1 percent -- but bookings for the year are off to a "tepid" start, according to industry analysts and the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA).

What this means for those planning a cruise in 2007 is that the best values continue to be in the Caribbean, with some good deals also available on Alaska cruises and few bargains to be found for American passengers on cruises to Europe and the Mediterranean.

CLIA, which released its 2007 projections on Jan. 17th, said that more than 10.6 million of the total passengers projected to cruise in 2007 were expected to originate from North America.

CLIA also released new numbers which projected that 12.12 million passengers sailed on cruise ships last year, an 8.4 percent increase over the 11.18 million carried in 2005. These included 10.18 million North Americans cruising in 2006 compared to 9.67 million in 2005.

"The state of the industry is very, very strong," said Dan Hanrahan, CLIA's new marketing committee chairman and the president of Celebrity Cruises.

But A.G. Edwards reported in the early days of the so-called "Wave Season," the first three months of the year when cruise lines traditionally get the most bookings, Caribbean pricing continued to modestly weaken, Alaska pricing was mixed and Europe remained the strongest.

"One week into the ’07 Wave, the initial start appears tepid," said A.G. Edwards analyst Tim Conder.

However, Terry L. Dale, president and CEO of CLIA, said "not only are destinations like Europe and Alaska flourishing, but CLIA travel agents are reporting early booking sales to such regions as Asia, South America and the South Pacific, which are experiencing increased demand."