A range of offers and discounts will be on show during the current National Cruise Week which is the latest undertaking to promoting awareness of the cruise industry. The event runs until Monday and features a raft of bargains for potential cruise goers.

The annual awareness campaign is run by The Passenger Shipping Association and this year features free upgrades, free flight offers and a range of discounts that can be located on the association’s website. The PSA is the voice of UK cruising and as such several heavyweights have thrown their products into the mix.

The Luxury cruise line Regent Seven Seas is offering the chance to win free flights when booking along with selected cruises giving free onboard credit. Italian Costa Cruises is offering a £300 onboard tab on several routes for those customers who book within National Cruise Week, and Crystal Cruises is giving away up to £600 of credit for new bookings. Baltic, Caribbean and Mediterranean discounts are all featured heavily with P&O cruises.

To date, over 1.5 million UK cruise goers have been recorded in Britain this year as the rising cost of fuel, airline closures, the car hire shortage and other recession based factors have led people back to the seas. In order to remain competitive, many agencies and cruise companies have had to offer special deals to keep customers while acknowledging their profit margins have diminished in the short-term. All of this has been good news for customers who are expected to grow around 12% in the next 12 months.