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The Detroit Free Press reports that a Michigan based online cruise agency, Cruise Value Center, seems to have collapsed leaving clients without money or cruises. According the Detroit Free Press the owner of Cruise Value Center blamed the economy for the collapse of his business.

There is lots of cruise business in Panama. Panama tourism is up again this year and Panama expects to have seen 1.8 million tourists by the end of 2008. The problem seems to be in the United States. Travel news reports describe two to three million dollars in cruise bookings that never got to the cruise lines. The newspaper states that clients of Cruise Value Center have contacted the newspaper with complaints of $1,500 to $60,000 paid with no cruise booked. Other clients complained that Cruise Value Center did not even pay for travel insurance.

The lesson here is to watch out whom you deal with when booking a cruise. The cruise lines are not going out of business. Press reports do not tell us what other business dealings the owner of Cruise Value Center had but with the financial mess in the USA right now it is not hard to imagine highly leveraged financial dealings that caught up with Cruise Value Center when the bills came due.

The attractiveness of a business like Cruise Value Center is that they can offer a range of options for cruises much like dealing with a travel agent. The problem is when a disreputable booking agent like Cruise Value Center uses their clients’ money to pay other expenses and then goes bankrupt. A better choice for Cruise Value Center’s clients would have been direct booking with any of the number of excellent cruise lines that are alive and prospering.

According to the Detroit Free Press article, “Cruise Value Center of East Brunswick, N.J., was bought last year by Travel Holding Entity, a Michigan company owned by brothers Richard and Ronald Smith. They merged Cruise Value Center with an online travel agency they already owned, Cruises of Distinction, whose office was in Bloomfield Township.
“Customers who lost money were contacting police departments in East Brunswick and Bloomfield Township, as well as the consumer complaint division of the Michigan Attorney General’s Office and the Middlesex County, N.J., department of consumer affairs.
“As of today, the company had not formally declared bankruptcy, according to federal court records.”

Panama Cruises

Panama cruises are still a hot item as is Panama tourism. Panama is looking to better organize and expand its tourism activities. This includes the possibility of a new international airport to let travelers have closer access to tourism destination in Panama. A new aspect of Panama cruises and Panama tourism is the Enchantment of the Seas cruise out of Colon, Panama. This is the first Caribbean cruise with a home port in Panama. Prior to this time you have always needed to start or end in the United States for a Caribbean cruise. Now Latin Americans especially can bypass the USA by booking with Enchantment of the Seas out of Panama.