Local travel agents have already received hundreds of enquiries about the 2007 World Cup, although tournament organisers have yet to appoint an official on-Island representative to sell their many package deals.

According to Barbara Bean of Global Travel, talk of a cruise ship transporting cricket fans down to the Caribbean in March of next year is unlikely to become a reality although she did not rule out the possibility of direct charter flights.

?I?ve had a lot of phone calls so far ? not just from people who want to watch Bermuda play but also from people who want to go down for the latter stages of the tournament,? she said.

?I am not sure the cruise ship idea is going to fly but we have already started looking into charter flights. I?ve heard all the talk of around 5,000 Bermudians going down there but, and this is just my opinion, I think this might be a little unrealistic. It?s going to be very busy and I?m not sure where everybody is going to stay. Plus when people start looking at the prices involved, they may think twice about it.?

Ticket packages will only be available when Bermuda?s official World Cup travel agent is unveiled, with organisers saying yesterday that this will happen ?some time this month?.

Corporate hospitality packages go on sale in February.

Anybody wishing to purchase individual tickets ? while making their own travel arrangements ? can do so as of May 1. It will only be possible to purchase tickets online after this date.

Bermuda are scheduled to play five games during their time in the Caribbean.

The first two are warm-up matches in St. Vincent against England on March 5 and against Zimbabwe on March 8.

In the World Cup proper, Bermuda play Sri Lanka on March 15, India on March 19 and Bangladesh on March 25.

Individual ticket prices range from as little as $10 for the warm-up games to $300 for the final.