It takes more than a chilly economy to keep prospective vacationers from finding a hot deal, according to some area travel agents.

"I think travel is doing very well," said James "Skip" Chipps, a Halethorpe resident and 10-year veteran of the industry.

Operating his own business, Your Way Holidays, from his Mineral Avenue home since 2007, Chipps is recommending cruise vacations in particular for this year.

Richard Purdy, who manages Peirson Travel Services on Catonsville's Frederick Road, agreed with Chipps that a cruise offers good value with food, lodging and transportation combined.

"(Many) people don't want to fly," he said, on another bonus to hopping a ship.

With four cruise lines -- Carnival, Celebrity, Royal Caribbean and Norwegian -- operating from the Port of Baltimore this year, southwest Baltimore County residents can leave heir homes and usually arrive at their ship of choice in less than half an hour by car.

"Cruising out of Baltimore -- you can't beat it," Chipps said.

"My vacation started 10 minutes from my house," he said of a trip he made to Bermuda.

With the Port of Baltimore cruise season beginning in late April, budget-minded travelers have time to save money for an onboard vacation.

Chipps said it is not unusual for his customers to book one or two years in advance.

"They are working it into their budgets," he said. "It's almost like putting a vacation on layaway."

Both he and Purdy say they expect the demand for their professional services to remain afloat through 2009 and beyond.

Nor do U.S. Department of Commerce statistics, which show a 2008 decline in travel and tourism spending, prompt these agents to jump ship for another profession.

"People need vacations. They'll still take vacations. They'll just want to make sure that what they're paying for is what they want," said Chipps.

Chipps said he prides himself in knowing his products.

A registered member of Cruise Lines International Association, he routinely visits the port to inspect the amenities he is selling.

"When ships come in, I go down and look at them," he said. "We check things out over and over."

With Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla., a popular destination among his clientele, for example, he attended the College of Disney Knowledge.

"I've earned my ears," he said of the Mickey Mouse-style graduate cap he received for completing the online training program Disney offers licensed travel agents.

Just as Chipps has focused on learning the ins and outs of the cruise industry and Disney vacations, Peirson offers specialized service in the "niche markets" of assisted travel for seniors and people with disabilities, Purdy said.

Founded by Bridget Peirson in 1975, the agency affiliated in 2004 with Living in a Free Environment, a Baltimore-based nonprofit that offers a variety of services to developmentally disabled adults.

Agents say such experience and attention to current information differentiates them from their major competition, the non-agency travel resources available online.

"Our competition is not from other agencies. It's the Internet," Purdy said, noting the common practice for many travelers to book plane, train, cruise ship or hotel reservations directly online.

"But we have faithful clientele and much of our business is repeat," he said, citing the Catonsville-based Charlestown retirement community as another important source of Peirson's travel clients.

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