Andrea Zelinski
If you need more convincing about the strength of the cruise sector, Virtuoso chimed in last week with data showing its cruise sales among affluent travelers exceeded 2019 and 2022 levels for the first half of the year.
During Virtuoso Travel Week in Las Vegas last week, the travel network reported an overall 69% increase in total sales over 2019 levels. Hotel and cruise led the way, however, with hotel sales up 173% and cruise sales up 122%.
Specifically, future cruise bookings made in the first half of 2023 paced higher than in past years. Sales for bookings a year or two out were 106% higher this year than in 2019 and 44% higher than in 2022.
Cruise executives, for their part, are finding similar growth. Carnival Corp., Royal Caribbean Group and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings all pointed to strong sales in their Q2 earnings calls, with some increasing earnings expectations for the second half of the year.
Virtuoso sees specific behavior trends behind their growth in bookings, particularly in how travel patterns for high net worth travelers have shifted during the pandemic. Before Covid, taking a private experience was more of an "occasional splurge," if it factored into the planning at all. But social distancing "moved the monied set to seek out private options," which has since become the go-to way of traveling, the company reported.
This is apparent in cruising, with yachting increasing in demand in the Caribbean, Croatia, Greece and San Tropez, according to Virtuoso. Other private experiences are also on the uptick, such as private aviation and commercial first class.
The company is also noticing its travelers want to exert themselves more, both physically and mentally. This trend is apparent through a growing interest in scientific expeditions, such as learning from researchers in Antarctica and the Galapagos, the company said.
The growing expedition cruise sector can take advantage of that. Approximately 70 expedition ships are sailings around the globe, including two which debuted this month: the Seabourn Pursuit from Seabourn Cruises and Explora I, the first of six ships to sail for the new MSC Group luxury cruise line, Explora Journeys.