Leading cruise lines and travel agents are believed to be planning a massive February onslaught to kickstart bookings and restore the image of a booming industry in the wake of the Costa Concordia disaster off the Tuscany coast.

Dave Mills, at online agency iglucruise.com says: “The buzz in the industry is that February is the new January.

“Traditionally, the cruise industry has a massive annual campaign starting in December called The Wave – to shift the following year’s stock at good prices. This year, that didn’t happen, with Costa Concordia causing a clear one-week wobble in bookings in January.

“Individual cruise lines never like to be first to move on price, so the buzz is now that February 1 onwards could be the start of something rather special.

“There is no doubt that cruise regulars expect some great deals - and some callers are even enquiring again about taking a Costa cruise. But we don’t have new prices from them, as yet...”

Ahead of the potential relaunch, Mills says a remarkable 17-night Eastern Med/Adriatic voyage on Cunard’s Queen Victoria, ex-Southampton April 4, is “flying off the shelves” from £999, barely £60 per day.

Fly-cruises with MSC, mostly ex-Genoa, start in April from £549. That’s great value, because the price includes return flights, while 11 nights on RCCL’s upmarket Azamara, departing New York in mid-April, is a steal from £1,049.

Stealing a march on rivals, Cruise Thomas Cook, the biggest cruise agent with a 16 per cent market share, has linked with Marriott Hotels to offer a free pamper day to customers booking cruises between February 9 and 14.

This new promotion in the 2012 retail campaign includes savings of up to 25 per cent on some lines, including Royal Caribbean, P&O Cruises and Cunard, and up to £1,600 off per couple at Princess Cruises, plus extras such as free parking, all-inclusive upgrades and onboard spending money.

A similar incentive is being offered in Co-operative Travel stores – cruise booked between February 16 and 21 get a free case of Laithwaites wine.

Included in Thomas Cook’s sale is a 14-night Scandinavia and Russia Cruise on Celebrity Eclipse from £1,329, ex-Southampton on July 21 to Bruges, Berlin, Helsinki, St Petersburg, Tallinn, Stockholm and Copenhagen. Also included is 50 dollars of free spending money, car parking and/or coach transfers.

Mike Hall, marketing director at Cruise & Maritime Voyages, says: “Inevitably, Costa Concordia’s tragedy affected everybody in the cruise industry.

“There was a hiccup that weekend, and into the following week. But interest soon picked up, and we are virtually back to where we aimed to be by this stage.

“Both our ships – Marco Polo and Ocean Countess – carry 800 passengers, so regulars hardly see us in the same light as resort-style ships with 3,000-plus passengers.

“Obviously the market is challenging in current economic conditions, so we are keeping our promise of discounts up to 25 per cent on 2012 cruises, on bookings by February 29.

“We also tweaked our advertising to get across the message that we are a British cruise line, with small ships for 800 passengers.”

Another useful website for last-minute cruise bargains is Bonvoyage.co.uk, an online agency created by the founders of Sunshine.co.uk.

Thomson Cruises currently promises discounts of up to 50 per cent on cruises for this winter if booked online; last-minute prices on Thomson Celebration’s seven-night Red Sea voyage from February 2 started at just £440.

Penny Guy at the Passenger Shipping Association says: “We predicted last year that 1.73 million Britons would take a cruise, up from around 780,000 in 2001, and we still expect to reach that figure.

“There is no doubt cruising is one of the safest types of holiday available.”

* INFORMATION: Cruise Thomas Cook 0800 9166070 and cruisethomascook.com; Cruise & Maritime Voyages 0844 4146185 and cruiseandmaritime.com; iglucruise.com 020 85446300; bonvoyage.co.uk (01252) 813377; Thomson Cruises 0871 2314124 and thomson.co.uk/cruise. Cruise Thomas Cook customers aged over 18 will get a Spa Day voucher for use at any Marriott hotel across the country for every booking made during Cruise Weekend with minimum value of £1,250 per person and departing before October 31, 2012.