Early cruise bookings for 2010 are a healthy 29% higher than this time last year but customers are not necessarily just being tempted by price.

Travel agent delegates heard this upbeat assessment for the prospects of the sector at the Travel Convention’s cruise forum onboard Royal Caribbean’s Navigator of the Seas.

Sarah Smalley, managing director of GfK Ascent-MI, the official collator of industry booking data, said the cruise market was currently in “staggering growth” in comparison with the industry as a whole.

“Right now it’s up 29%; that’s phenomenal compared to the rest of the market. And consumers are choosing value but not necessarily the cheapest holiday,” she said.

“Looking to next year holidays priced over £1,000 are in growth. Average household income might be down by many thousands of pounds but people are actually paying more for a value holiday.”

The forum heard from Daily Telegraph cruise correspondent Jane Archer about how customers are raising “niggles”, particularly to do with tipping and other onboard expenditure.

But representatives from lines pointed out that a lot of the additional facilities and services lines now charge for, such as speciality restaurants, were not available in the past.

Robin Shaw, Royal Caribbean's UK managing director, said on today’s largest ship it would not be economic to offer everything for free and to expect guests who did not choose to use paid-for items to subsidise those who did.

He accepted the industry would be rightly criticised if it started charging for things that have previously been considered as a fundamental part of the cost of the cruise, such as sunbeds, for example.

“I think the model is changing. You have a situation that to actually cost everything in for all types of consumers is almost impossible," he said.

“If you offer everything free it becomes unaffordable and uneconomic for us. You want to offer certain facilities for people who want to use them. New ships cost a lot of money and you have to find a way of recovering that investment.”

Lol Nichols, general sales manager of Fred Olsen Cruise Line, said people continue to be “wowed” by the cruise experience despite the additional onboard charges.

“Admittedly there are a few niggles – though in fact we get very few. But the overwhelming feedback is the value they have. We have a repeat factor of 50% and repeat factors at other cruise lines are very similar.

“Once they have cruised, people are wowed by it and they come back again and again.”

However, Nichols did admit he would like his customers to spend more while onboard.

“It’s a key revenue and we are doing everything in our power to try to encourage people to part with their money.”

• TC 2009: British cruisers grow 5% to 1.55m (7 Oct 2009)
• TC 2009: Thomson Cruises' Dream sailings (9 Oct 2009)

• TC Photos: CCS cocktail party (7 Oct 2009)