Cruise lines are sharing record sales numbers, a sure sign that
cruise travel is rebounding and the traveling public is raring to get
out on the world’s lakes, rivers and seas.
Regent Seven Seas Cruises is one of several brands to witness record
sales this season. The luxury brand’s 2025 world cruise sold out before
bookings officially opened, breaking its record time for the fourth
consecutive year. Corporate cousin Oceania Cruises similarly saw one of
its best-ever single booking days when it released its 2024 voyage
collection.
Cunard
Line is another that just recorded its busiest booking day in a decade,
when reservations for the new Queen Anne opened. Windstar Cruises,
meanwhile, recently marked its best week of reservations since the start
of the pandemic (which also happens to be one of the best in the line’s
history).
“We’re optimistic to see this type of booking activity during our
Windstar Week sale (from May 3-13), which points to a return in demand
for vacations and especially small-ship cruise vacations,” said
Christopher Prelog, president of Windstar Cruises. “People are
discovering the advantage of small, yacht-like sailing and all-suite
cruising to aspirational destinations.
Back in March, InteleTravel tallied a 50% increase in cruise
reservations over the prior month. The host agency has further seen a
20% rise in Viking cruise bookings already in 2022 versus all of 2019.
Comparably, CruiseCompete’s June trends report also lists Viking’s
river cruises as the most popular river brand, while Royal Caribbean
International comes in for premium/contemporary lines, and Oceania
Cruises ranks for luxury ones.
Customers are also seeking to cruise sooner, rather than later. Of
the most popular sailing months requested, June 2022 wins for the river
category, July 2022 reigns for the premium/contemporary category and
August 2022 is No.1 for luxury cruising.
The Agency at UF, a student-led communications agency at the
University of Florida, in collaboration with Carnival Cruise Line,
studied 21.3 million online uses of key travel terms, and found that
today’s travellers care more about who — family members, significant
others or friends — they travel with than where they go.
The findings resonated with Christine Duffy, president of Carnival Cruise Line.
“Bringing
loved ones together for a fun-filled, stress-free vacation is what we
do, so we are happy to find that today’s traveller is craving just
that,” she said. “On a Carnival cruise, we take care of all of the
details — transportation, dining, entertainment and much more — so that
our guests can focus on what’s really important: quality time with those
they love.”
But the allure of specific destinations shouldn’t be discounted. The
survey also found that about 10% of mentions still allude to targeting
tropical, sunny or beach regions. And, thankfully, consumer confidence
is rising to match the desire to flee, with a 58% increase since January
and about a 63% increase in users expressing optimism regarding the
2022 travel environment.
“Many indicators point to a 2022 summer travel season that will meet
and exceed pre-pandemic levels, as vacationers feel more eager than ever
to reclaim the opportunities for memory-making that only travel
provides,” said Dr. Rachel Fu, director of the Eric Friedheim Tourism
Institute and chair of the department of tourism, hospitality and event
management at the University of Florida.
Source: Travel Age West