Cruise travel has never been more popular as the industry is expected to achieve record levels in 2024.
While no two travelers are the same, some notable trends have emerged this spring.
Online cruise marketplace CruiseCompete has released its latest CruiseTrends report for March, revealing the most popular cruise lines, ships, destinations, sailing months and more based on tens of thousands of actual consumer quotes and transactions.
Here are some of the big takeaways.
The Most Popular Cruise Lines
Royal Caribbean International continues its dominance as the most popular premium cruise line this spring, edging out fellow Royal Caribbean Group subsidiary Celebrity Cruises and third-ranked Carnival Cruise Line this March.
Oceania Cruises has garnered the most interest in the luxury segment, followed by Cunard Line and Seabourn. Meanwhile, American Cruise Lines reigns supreme in the river cruising category, with Viking and AmaWaterways rounding out the top three most popular lines this spring.
The Most In-Demand Cruise Ships
Regarding which ships travelers want to sail this spring, Royal Caribbean's newly launched Icon of the Seas is the most in-demand vessel among premium cruise lines. After Icon, the brand's Symphony of the Seas, Wonder of the Seas and Allure of the Seas ships are pulling in the most requests.
The Hideaway on Icon of the Seas (Photo Credit: Eric Bowman)
The hottest luxury ships are Oceania Vista, Azamara Journey and Queen Mary 2 at the moment while American Harmony, American Serenade and AmaMagna are the most popular on the world's rivers.
The Hottest Cruise Ports
When it comes to premium cruise passengers, most want to sail from Florida to the Caribbean. Miami, Fort Lauderdale and Port Canaveral are the top departure ports in that segment, with Nassau, Royal Caribbean's private island destination Perfect Day at CocoCay and Cozumel being the top three ports to visit on an itinerary.
Luxury travelers are most interested in departing from Miami, Barcelona or Piraeus (Athens) and have their sights set on the Adriatic Sea and Alaska as Kotor, Dubrovnik, Ketchikan and Sitka are the most in-demand ports based on CruiseCompete data this March.
Kotor Bay, Montenegro. (Photo Credit: Hans Brunk)
Amsterdam, Budapest and Astoria (Oregon) are the top departure ports for river cruise passengers this spring. Budapest is also among the most popular ports to visit on a river sailing. Fellow European ports Vienna and Cologne are also quite popular right now.
The Top Countries and Regions
The United States continues to be one of the most popular countries to sail this spring, ranking third for premium and river cruises and first for luxury travel. The U.S. trails the sun-drenched Bahamas and record-breaking Mexico in the premium category and tracks behind Germany and France when it comes to river demand. Trailing the U.S. in the luxury segment are Spain and Greece.
Several regions stand out across all three categories, with the Caribbean being the most popular premium cruise region, the Mediterranean conquering luxury and Europe being the hottest among river cruise passengers this March. Meanwhile, North America ranks second among premium and river cruise travelers and third for luxury.
Amenities on the ship are just one part of a cruise (Photo Credit: Adobe)
The Most Requested Sailing Months and Booking Windows
According to CruiseCompete's most recent data, premium cruise passengers have the shortest booking window at an average of 223 days before departure, with the most popular sailing months being March 2024, April 2024, May 2024 and June 2024.
On the other end of the spectrum, river cruisers have the largest booking window at 323 days, with those travelers preferring to sail in June 2024, May 2024 and August 2024 in many instances.
The booking window for luxury cruising comes in at an average of 260 days. Those travelers are most interested in summer cruises at the moment, with July 2024 and June 2024 and August 2024 being the most popular months to sail.
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