Smart travelers save by following the news

Travel news -- industry disputes, general trends, new companies and travel services -- sometimes has as much bearing on your next vacation as a special airfare or hotel bargain.

Here are some recent travel stories that may affect your plans:

* The only cruise ship allowed to visit Hawaii’s major islands without stopping at Fanning Island, hundreds of miles away, or without originating from a Mexican port, thousands of miles away, is Norwegian Cruise Line’s Pride of Aloha.

It just completed its first summer season, and the travel trade press reports the ship was well-booked. That means that its sister ship, the soon-to-be-completed Pride of America, probably will be heavily booked when it goes into service in July. If you’re interested in a Hawaiian cruise next year, make your reservations as soon as possible.

* Chances are that your next trip might be booked by a travel agent operating out of his or her home. And what’s wrong with that?

A controversy in the travel trade press has confirmed that thousands of agents, their former employers put out of business by cuts in airline commissions and the events of 9/11, are continuing to pursue their trade from a room in their home -- a place equipped with multiple telephones, computers, faxes and scanners necessary to turn a single individual into a mini-agency. Though some trade publications have criticized the single-person agency, others have lauded the breed, pointing out that an organization of home-based agents called Global Travel International accounts for more than $100 million in yearly travel sales.

Apparently, a large part of the public believes the home agent is competent and reputable.

* Disputes have erupted in the use of the Internet to book hotel rooms. InterContinental Hotels Group -- which counts Holiday Inn among its 3,500 hotels -- has announced that it will no longer permit Expedia and Expedia’s sister website Hotels.com to list or sell IHG’s hotel rooms.

Why? Mainly because Expedia and Hotels.com allegedly increase the price of IHG’s rooms by adding service charges that don’t go to the hotel but to Expedia and Hotels.com.

Because most of America’s large nationwide chain hotels no longer give big discounts to third-party booking engines -- and prohibit them from undercutting the price on the hotel chains’ websites -- most third-party websites, such as Hotels.com and Expedia, have added “service charges” to earn a satisfactory profit.

This underscores the fact that you, the public, often pay more by using the famous websites than by going to the hotel chains themselves to get your rooms. If you’re looking for a well-priced room at Holiday Inn, Hilton, Sheraton, Radisson and other nationwide chains, go directly to those chains’ websites to get the best prices.

* You may have heard that two maritime giants, Carnival Cruise Lines and Royal Caribbean International, have announced they will no longer permit travel agents, cruise brokers and Internet services to advertise rates lower than what’s listed in the cruise lines’ catalogs. The announcement, in my opinion, stems from the cruise lines’ euphoria over the present strength of the cruise market and is primarily aimed at the giant Internet booking engines.

This doesn’t mean you can’t still get a deal.

Smart travelers will continue to call the usual sources of discounted cruises: CruisesOnly, (800) 278-4737, www.cruisesonly.com; Cruises411, (800) 553-7090, www.cruise411.com; Cruise Brothers, (800) 827-7779, www.cruisebrothers.com. Ask: “What bargains can you offer me?”

The ads of discount cruise brokers will probably say: “Call us first for the best price.” By making those calls without the prompting of a specific advertised price, travelers may still be able to cruise at discount rates. See what’s available in the marketplace before you buy.