As Americans cut back on spending, they’re looking for travel bargains this holiday season – and those may be easy to find in some areas, but harder in others.

A survey of American Express (AXP) travel agents found that 87% of the agents said clients were looking to use reward points from travel programs to help offset the costs of the travel, up from 70% last year.

Also, 47% of the agents surveyed said their customers are booking less-expensive hotels this holiday season compared with last year, and 40% said their customers are booking more flights closer to home and domestically.

Cruises seem to be one of the main areas to find less-expensive travel, according to people in the industry.

“Cruises remain the operative bargain these days. More ships are leaving more ports than ever before… You can grab one in Boston, New York, Baltimore, even South Carolina, along with Florida, the Gulf and West Coasts,” noted Robert Sinclair of AAA New York.

He added that people also find cruises attractive because there are no baggage limits and the security requirements are less strict.

The AmEx travel-agents survey concurred, with about 53% of the agents polled saying that cruises offered the best deals.

There might be some bargains in airfare, though they’re probably spottier because airlines have cut back their routes and flight offerings in an attempt to boost efficiency.

Still, a Travelocity survey released last week said Thanksgiving airfares had been decreasing over the past several weeks, with the average ticket costing $393, down from $404 a few weeks before.

While some of that could be due to people who know where they want to go booking early, and more flexible people willing to chase bargains coming in later, it could indicate that there are some late bargains to be had.

“Even though the slight decline in pricing over the past several weeks indicates a downward trend, which is likely to continue through the holidays, travelers who plan on flying during the busy season still need to book as soon as possible to get the most desirable itineraries,” Amy Ziff, Travelocity's editor-at-large, said in a press release.

As for the hottest tickets, the AmEx travel-agents survey indicated that the top five domestic travel destinations were New York, Miami/Fort Lauderdale, Honolulu, Las Vegas and Aspen, Colo.