Credit Union 24 has opted not to hold its 30th anniversary conference on a cruise.

Instead of booking a hotel or resort property, the CUSO's conference meetings would have taken place April 19-23, 2012, aboard Royal Caribbean's Jewel of the Seas, which departs from Tampa, Fla., and makes a round trip with a port-of-call in Cozumel, Mexico.

“In our 30 years of service to credit unions, Credit Union 24 has focused on being an advocate for credit unions in the EFT arena and bringing unrivaled financial access to credit union members around the country,” said Jim Park, president and CEO of Credit Union 24 when the cruise was announced in November 2011. “Hosting this conference allows us to reflect on what has been accomplished in POS and ATM access during the past three decades, and discuss the direction that the credit union and EFT industries are heading”

But Mary Warren, executive vice president with Credit Union 24, said the CUSO had opted not to go forward with the cruise after it became clear that credit unions' travel budgets were still too restricted to allow many executives or directors to attend and after recent highly publicized cruise ship accidents had scared off many travelers.

In mid-January, right when many might have been considering signing up for the trip, the Costa Concordia, an Italian cruise ship, struck a rock off the Italian coast and capsized. The accident killed 32 and led newscasts for more than a week.

Warren said the CUSO had not lost any money on the cancellation, explaining that there had been a clause in the agreement with the cruise line that allowed the CUSO to abandon the agreement if it had insufficient bookings by a given date. She also expressed a hope that the CUSO may return to the idea for a future conference.