More of this Feature • Part 2: Cruise Price Comparisons

Related Resources • Sailing & Cruises • An Inexpensive Cruise • Cruise Line Directory • How to Afford a Cruise

Elsewhere on the Web • Carnival Cruises • eBay Travel • Expedia • Priceline • Wal-Mart • Yahoo! Travel

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By Susan Breslow Sardone

If you're a bargain-hunter and budget-watcher, you may find yourself buying your next cruise vacation online from Wal-Mart, bidding on a week's stay at a Maui condo on eBay, or scooping up a just-reduced airfare from Yahoo! Travel.

With travel the golden goose of e-commerce, these well-known brands all have gotten into the act -- and cruisers can benefit. Wal-Mart, which recently opened vacation centers in some of its stores, struck a deal with Carnival Corporation, the world's largest cruise company, to offer low-priced cruise specials to popular destinations. Those deals are now available online as well.

In a recent test, I compared cruise-only prices for the same ships, dates, and itineraries on Expedia, Yahoo! Travel, Priceline, eBay, and Walmart. The latter consistently offered the lowest rates -- yet Expedia often tied with it. Bargains started as low as $249 for a three-day voyage from Florida to the Bahamas aboard the Carnival Fantasy. Walmart.com also offers 10-20 percent discounts on rooms at low-profile hotel chains and 20-25 percent savings on Avis and Budget rental cars.

Also launched in 2002, eBay Travel offers would-be vacationers two paths to fun in the sun:

1) Use its Priceline-powered booking engine to access discounted airline tickets, hotel rooms, rental cars, vacations, and cruises; or

2) Search vacation auctions posted by smaller hotel, condo, and B&B proprietors.

A compulsory vetting process known as Square Trade commits eBay travel sellers to disclose pricing policies and resolve disputes. Since eBay only indemnifies itself up to $450 for scams, it's wise to scrutinize sellers' feedback to before bidding.

Yahoo! Travel, in partnership with Travelocity, enables users who customize a My Yahoo! page to see deals on favorite destinations, eyeball dynamically changing "Best Fares" to score a cheap flight, and store their reservation info on a personal Yahoo! Calendar. This site sells cruises as well.

> See cruise price comparisons > Page 2

Image from the deck of the Norwegian Sky, by Vincent Sardone.