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The Savvy Cruiser is published by a former reporter and editor for The Washington Post and Newsweek magazine who loves to cruise. Our goal (The Savvy Cruiser travels with his wife, a gourmet cook) is to provide reports and commentary -- based on our own experiences, and those of fellow cruisers -- designed to help you have a better understanding of the cruise experience that awaits you before you book your cruise.

From shipboard discussions, we also have found an enormous variation in what cruisers have paid for similar staterooms. While this also exists in the airline industry, differences in air ticket prices largely are a factor of airline inventory management. When a lot of seats are available on a flight, fares come down.

While inventory management also plays a role in cruise fares, if you contact three travel agencies on the same day and ask for prices on the same stateroom, you are virtually certain to get three prices that may differ fairly significantly.

Certainly, travel agents that provide a great deal of hand-holding -- particularly for those new to cruising, or those searching for cruise ideas -- are entitled to a premium over the fare charged by a discount booking agency that serves cruisers who know exactly what category they want on a specific ship.

Our hope is to help you find cruise agencies that provide either the best prices, or the best service, or a combination of helpful service at a fair price. Please contact us with your suggestions (and complaints) so together we can achieve our objective: finding the right cruise at the right price.

Happy cruising.

--The Savvy Cruiser