Charlotte, NC (April 10, 2007) — CruiseDeals.com, one of the largest experienced sellers of cruise vacations on the Internet today, was recognized Thursday evening by Travelzoo as the “most outstanding provider of cruise deals by an agency.” The honor was bestowed on CruiseDeals.com President John Keen at the 2007 Travelzoo Awards—or Tzoos—held at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas.

“The Tzoo Award is a symbol of quality and is our way of recognizing the companies we know to provide the best value in travel deals,” said Ralph Bartel, chairman and chief executive officer, Travelzoo. “All 16 Travelzoo Award winners have consistently provided us with the most outstanding travel deals we have seen on the Internet over the past year. Even though our deal experts were ultimately only able to select one company from each category, all of our 59 finalists are leaders within their sector.”

“The team at CruiseDeals.com is an industry leader in developing amazing cruise offers,” said Michael Stitt, executive producer at Travelzoo. “They have great relationships with major cruise lines, giving them access to promote top-notch deals. We've also found their knowledgeable phone agents and easy-to-use Web site create a seamless booking experience.”

“While it comes as no surprise to us that we live up to our name, our entire team is extremely proud to have been honored by Travelzoo for what we do best: helping our customers plan the perfect cruise vacation through our proven combination of excellent service and the lowest cruise fares,” stated Keen, who founded the Charlotte-based CruiseDeals.com in 2003. “Our key customer touchstones—friendly agents, great rates, quick follow-up, service after the sale and our comprehensive Web site—parallel the criteria Travelzoo uses to determine their honorees.”

In order to determine the 16 Travelzoo Award winners, a committee of travel deal experts examined a collection of offers from over 600 travel companies. After evaluating all of the offers provided by each company in five specific areas, they arrived at a list of 59 finalist companies that consistently surpassed the rigorous criteria. Specific deals were then debated from a quantitative and qualitative perspective within each category. Award winners consistently achieved top status in every evaluation criteria that included:

• Competitiveness: These companies offered competitive travel deals that were equal to or greater in value when compared to similar offerings in the marketplace. Finalist companies regularly developed deals that inspired Travelzoo users to book trips they did not otherwise plan on taking.
• Reliability: The deals provided by finalist companies, when test booked by Travelzoo's Test Booking Center™, were found to be easy to book having a low incidence of usability issues. The Test Booking Center compiles thousands of data points each week in order to test online and offline experiences that users can have when booking deals including availability, accuracy of information published and ease of booking.
• Consistency: All companies consistently provided Travelzoo users with several exceptional offers throughout the past year that inspired incremental travel, based on user feedback and reporting from advertisers.
• Appeal to travelers: These companies consistently achieved high ratings from Travelzoo users throughout the past year. As a way to improve content offerings, Travelzoo collects user data on how attractive a given deal is to each user. To achieve finalist status, these companies needed to develop deals that scored well among Travelzoo's users.
• Quality: All companies provided travel deals so good that Travelzoo staff would recommend booking an offer from these companies to their family and friends.

“Considering the stiff competition in the online travel space CruiseDeals.com has outperformed, we’re proud that Travelzoo has recognized our services as a breed apart,” Keen noted. “As always, our agents stand ready to exceed each customer’s expectations at every juncture of the booking process.”

To let CruiseDeals.com plan your next cruise vacation, visit www.cruisedeals.com or call 800.668.6414.