The Woodward News

Local News

December 16, 2009

Cruises popular for holiday travel

Carol Bramlett is up to her ears in cruises this season.

As owner of McClure Travel, a travel agency in Alva, she has booked numerous holiday cruises to the Caribbean to destinations like Haiti, Jamaica, Grand Cayman, Cozumel, the Bahamas, St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Grand Turk and more.

“Cruises are more popular now than in the last 19 years,” she said. “And starting from January until now, my cruise activity has quadrupled.”

For Christmas this year, she has scheduled 18 cabins, she said, noting that “is a lot.”

She said she thinks the popularity of cruises at this time has to do with the economy.

“When the economy (dipped), cruise lines lowered their prices,” Bramlett said. “They lowered their prices on an average night cruise by 60 percent of the original cost.”

The discounts have helped her business, she said, noting she has scheduled both seven-night and 12-night cruises.

Though most of her reservations have been for cruises, Bramlett said she has helped arrange several trips to Las Vegas for people wanting to celebrate the new year in the entertainment capital of the world as well as some flights for people traveling home for the holidays.

Statistics from AAA Oklahoma show that holiday cruises are popular across the state.

“We at AAA travel have found cruises are hard to resist,” said Chuck Mai, vice president of public affairs. “They’re offering some real bargains. These attractions -- resorts and cruise lines -- are anxious to fill rooms even at half price rather than let them go empty.”

“It’s remarkable,” he said. “These deals may just pop up in the morning and be gone by afternoon.”

But while Bramlett’s travel agency is booking cruises, AAA Oklahoma has found that most people this Christmas are still going home for the holidays.

“Our survey indicates that at least in this part of the country 68 percent of them will be visiting friends and family,” Mai said.

Of those people who aren't going home for the holidays, Mai said “14 percent will be visiting a national or state park and 21 percent national or historic sites. Nine percent are going to the beach or to lakes, and 23 percent will be visiting amusement or theme parks.”

“Those are the biggies as far as activities they’re engaged in,” he said of holiday travelers.

Dorothy Woodard, Oklahoma City branch manager of AAA Travel, said a lot of the people going home “are driving because of the long weekend.”

However, she noted, like Bramlett, “we are also doing a lot of holiday cruises. You end up with two long weekends this year actually, so it is a good time to do something like a cruise. ”

“A lot of what we’re booking now is for Caribbean cruises because they’re warmer, but there’s an awful lot of people going home because they’ve got the long time to do it,” she said. “Of course, there are those who for some reason don’t want to be home.”

In Woodward, it appears people either want to go to Las Vegas or home.

Cristi Winn of Travel Services of Woodward said the agency has booked several Las Vegas vacations for the new year and several flights for people who want to go home for the holidays.

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