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Date published: 2/7/2013
AP Travel Editor
NEW YORK
--Cruise watchers looking back at the industry's past year say the Concordia disaster affected everything from prices to safety drills to first-time cruisers, but bookings appear to be picking up as the 2013 cruise booking season gets under way.The first three months of each year are known as "wave season," a period when many cruisers book trips as they plan ahead for summer vacations. The Costa Concordia ran aground and capsized Jan. 13, 2012, killing 32 people just as last year's wave season began.
Michael Driscoll, editor of the industry newsletter Cruise Week, said a gradual recovery for the cruise industry began to emerge in the fourth quarter of 2012, and now, said Driscoll, a year after the Concordia disaster, "top travel agents are reporting a surprisingly strong winter season bookings for sailings that depart in later 2013, not great, but good."
Carolyn Spencer Brown, editor of CruiseCritic.com, said "we're definitely seeing everything rebounding. I see advertising is going back to appeal to first-time cruisers. And we're seeing more fresh sign-ups" on CruiseCritic