The Latest Trends in Cruising This Spring

Cruise travel is back as the industry's recovery is in full swing, with executives expressing optimism for the future and some cruise lines even smashing previous booking records. However, much like cruising itself in the COVID era, the brands, ships and places passengers are seeking out are constantly changing. Online cruise marketplace CruiseCompete.com has released its latest CruiseTrends report for April 2022, revealing the most in-demand cruise lines, ships, ports and destinations among some of the other latest trends based on actual consumer quote requests and transactions. With consumers requesting an average of more than 25,000 cruise quotes per month via CruiseCompete, the results paint a complete picture of what cruise passengers are looking for across a trio of segments-including premium, luxury and river cruising-right now.

When it comes to the most popular cruise line post-pandemic, Royal Caribbean International continues to dominate the premium category, with Carnival Cruise Lines and fellow Royal Caribbean Group subsidiary Celebrity Cruises rounding out the top three this April. Oceania Cruises leads the luxury segment, closely followed by Cunard Line and Royal Caribbean Group's Silversea Cruises. On the rivers, travelers are showing the most interest in Viking River Cruises as well as American Cruise Lines and American Queen Voyages.

Royal Caribbean International's Oasis-class ships remain as hot as ever, with Oasis of the Seas, Harmony of the Seas, Symphony of the Seas, Allure of the Seas and the new Wonder of the Seas rounding out this month's most popular premium cruise ships based on the total number of quote requests. When it comes to luxury vessels, Cunard's Queen Mary 2 is the most coveted ship, followed by Oceania Cruises' Oceania Insignia, Oceania Riviera and Oceania Marina. American Cruise Line's 150-guest American Heritage is the most in-demand river cruise ship right now, edging out Emerald Waterways' ships and Scenic Luxury Cruises & Tours' Scenic Azure.

Europe is the number one region among luxury and river cruise passengers this spring while the Caribbean leads the premium cruise segment. Meanwhile, North America ranks second in both the premium and river categories, with the Mediterranean finishing second in the luxury market. In terms of the individual countries that travelers are targeting, the U.S. ranks second across all three categories, with the Bahamas, Spain and Germany winning the premium, luxury and river segments, respectively. The latter two categories are dominated by European destinations, including Italy, Greece, France, the Netherlands, Austria, Hungary, the U.K., Portugal, Switzerland and Slovakia. However, premium guests are eyeing places like Mexico and a slew of Caribbean destinations such as the U.S. Virgin Islands, Aruba and the Dominican Republic, among others.

The most popular cruise ports to visit among premium cruise passengers are Royal Caribbean's private island destination Perfect Day at CocoCay and Nassau in the Bahamas, followed by Cozumel, Mexico, as of April 2022. Meanwhile, river passengers have fallen in love with Germany and France, with Cologne, Strasbourg and Breisach rounding out the top three most visited ports based on the number of quote requests. Luxury travelers are most interested in places like Bora Bora, Barcelona and other Mediterranean locales such as Civitavecchia and Santorini. In terms of departure ports, Florida is a favorite among premium guests, with Miami, Port Canaveral and Fort Lauderdale leading the way. Miami is also the second-most popular departure port among luxury travelers, trailing Barcelona and edging out Southampton in the U.K. In the river cruise segment, European ports like Amsterdam, Basel and Budapest rank high but New Orleans sneaks in at number two.

Cruise guests across all three categories are most often seeking a balcony stateroom but inside accommodations are the second-most sought-after cabin type among premium passengers while luxury and river cruise travelers value the outside cabin after the balcony option. When it comes to the most popular itinerary length, the seven-night cruise also sweeps all three categories this spring. Premium guests are more likely to book a shorter stay (four nights) while luxury and river passengers tend to look for longer getaways (eight to 12 nights).

Luxury cruise passengers are the most likely group to show an interest in purchasing travel insurance at 25 percent. Premium and river cruise guests share the same sentiment, with just 19 percent of these travelers expressing a desire to protect their investment. As for booking windows this spring-the average number of days between the date the cruise was booked and the date it sails-premium guests are the most likely to book within a shorter window at 192 days while luxury and river passengers tend to book further out at 260 days and 269 days, respectively.