Author here. This is a somewhat of a follow on to another article, "Innovation in the Cruise industry... Where is it?" that you might also find interesting: http://blog.kangacruise.com/2012/09/innovation-in-the-cruise...

Happy to get a little more into the specifics if anyone's interested. It took us a long time to get out of the "better ui, kill the travel agent" mindset that's prevalent among travel startups. The greater complexity of vacation sales really seems to throw most of the precedent set by online travel agencies (Expedia) and meta-searches (Kayak) out the window.