Cruise demand leaves pandemic in rearview with record passengers, more construction on tap – Orange County Register

MIAMI BEACH – The COVID pandemic has crippled the cruise industry, but numbers released Tuesday indicate the comeback years are officially over with further expansion coming.

More than 31.7 million passengers took cruises worldwide in 2023, said Kelly Craighead, president and CEO of the Cruise Line International Association, speaking at the annual Seatrade Cruise Global conference at the Miami Beach Convention Center .

CLIA is the lobbying group for member cruise lines, including Royal Caribbean, Disney Cruise Line, Carnival, Norwegian, MSC and most other major brands.

The pandemic halted shipping starting in March 2020, and only a small number of ships were back online 18 months later in summer 2021. Cruise lines only partially returned to full capacity until ‘in 2022, which took a full year of navigation. in 2023, the industry could get a real sense of the scale of demand as people returned to holiday travel.

“We are a resilient and thriving industry all over the world, breaking records in ways we might never have imagined,” she said.

The total for 2023 is 2 million more than the industry’s in 2019. CLIA projects that 34.1 million in 2024 will increase to 34.6 million in 2025. That’s still a tiny slice of the overall travel pie. more than 1.3 billion, but the share of cruises is growing.

She noted that surveys of travelers who would consider a cruise for a vacation reached an all-time high, noting that 82% of those who had previously taken a cruise said they would cruise again, but more importantly, among those who have never sailed, 71% would do so. consider it.

The youngest generations – Gen X, Millennials and Gen Z – are the biggest drivers.

The fleet is also meeting growing demand, including this year’s introduction of the world’s largest cruise ship, Royal Caribbean’s Icon of the Seas.

She said CLIA member lines had more than 300 ships sailing the world for the first time in 2023, with 14 new ships starting sailing in 2023 and eight more expected before the end of the year. They have 88 new ships on order until 2028.

Already this year, Royal Caribbean Group and Carnival Corp. announced major new shipbuilding contracts, and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings added to that this week with its order for eight additional ships under its three brands.

Leaders from these groups were on stage to discuss where the industry is headed and bask in their recent successes.

Carnival Corp. Chairman and CEO Josh Weinstein put it in a way that drew applause from fellow panelists and others at the conference.

“The concept of pent-up demand for cruises is gone,” he said. “We’ve been sailing for three years, haven’t we? It’s finish. This is a natural request because we all provide incredible experiences. We brought happiness to literally 31 million customers last year. And people see it, they feel it.

A big part of what cruises lacked during the pandemic, he says, was the word-of-mouth promotion needed to convince people to try their product.

“We now have 31 million people getting off our ships and going home telling their friends and family who have never been on a cruise before, ‘You don’t know what you’re missing.’ ‘This is incredible.'”

All executives echoed the industry’s claim that they offer much better value than land-based holidays, but that the experience gap between the two has now shifted in their favor to the end of the pandemic.

“The appreciation for creating memories with friends and family as we emerge from COVID is at extraordinarily high levels,” said Jason Liberty, president and CEO of Royal Caribbean Group. “And also the transfer of wealth, right? Grandparents want to see this transfer of wealth live, watching their children and grandchildren experience this at an unprecedented level. … We have a secular trend where people buy less things, they want experiences. We are in the experience business.

Another positive aspect of the industry has been the ripple effect of all the new ships since the pandemic, said Harry Sommer, president and CEO of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd.

“Their new products are so extraordinary and so much better than those delivered in 2015, 2016 and 2017, that they are generating additional excitement for the entire industry,” Somer said. “When a new vessel is delivered, whether it is in our portfolio or the other portfolios, the demand improves for all of us because it adds excitement to the industry.”