In need of a cruise search engine
 

The other day, DH said to me 'Why aren't we on a cruise?'

Guess it's time to book the next vacation...

What I am looking for is a cruise search engine that's user-friendly, allows me to put in the general cruise area (Eastern Europe, Southern Carib, etc.), length of cruise (would really like to have one that gives me a better option than > 12 days, since that returns all sorts of lovely but not possible 3-week trips), and, just as importantly, size of ship.

So, where do you go to figure out what your next cruise will be?



(BTW, I already know that I don't like Expedia or Cruise Critic's options.)

I should add --- I usually book through my local agent. I've been using her for over 12 years now, so I'm not really looking for a place to buy, more just a place to shop.

I've become a big fan of Kayak. It acts basically as a search engine of other search engines.

www.kayak.com

I usually check these out first

http://www.vacationstogo.com/ and http://cruise.com/

I have my own cruise agency as well and if I find a better price on one of these (not often) they match it and give us an upgrade.

These give you a good idea of what is out there.

I like vacations to go, also. You do have your own agent that you can phone, if you want.

I don't know if this site has exactly the criteria you are looking for, but we booked our last 3 cruises through smartcruiser.com and it has always given us the best price in comparison to any other site. And we scour the internet for the best price every time.

Vacations to go is a great general search site (and sometimes has good prices as well).
Once you know the exact cruise you want, you can "post it" on
http://www.cruisecompete.com/
(you have to sign up - free). There web cruise agents will post bids on your cruise and you can choose the best deal.

There is a specialty search engine with actual photos of the cabins for all the major cruise lines. While it's a TA website, you can sign up for $12 and have access to their files. It's a great way to comapare cabins in various price catagories. The site actually has better info than many of the cruise line's offcial sites. They also pay $0.50 a photo of your cabin.

The link is: www.cruisestateroom.com

To look I find Yahoo! just fine. However I never book with them as their prices can be beaten. Good luck. Larry :-)