Big ship orders and a buoyant future for cruising were the buzz at Seatrade Cruise Global, the cruise industry’s biggest confab of the year, held in the second week of April in Miami.
Record levels of early booking for 2025 are not a result of left-over demand from the shutdowns of the pandemic era, but the new normal, Josh Weinstein, CEO of Carnival Corp. declared in the State of the Industry panel discussion at the conference.
After two years of ships sailing half-full following the 2020 shutdown, a record 31.7-million people cruised globally in 2023 and many ships are completely sold out for this spring and summer, said Kelly Craighead, president of industry group Cruise Lines International Association. Advance bookings are also hitting records for 2025. CLIA projects to 34-million will cruise this year and 36.4-million in 2025.
Other CEOs at the event cited what they call a virtuous cycle, with people who have enjoyed a cruise sharing their experiences with family, friends and neighbors, who then look into a future cruise vacation. “That positive word of mouth is really huge for our industry,” said Harry Sommer, president and CEO of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings.
Committing to new ships
NCLH then unveiled what it is calling the most comprehensive new ship order in its history—a total of eight state-of-the-art vessels representing nearly 25,000 additional berths—all from Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri. The order includes new classes of ships for each of its three brands—as well as the construction of a multi-ship pier at Great Stirrup Cay, the company’s private island destination in the Bahamas.
Norwegian Cruise Line is expected to take delivery of four ships that each can accommodate nearly 5,000 guests, in 2030, 2032, 2034 and 2036. Oceania Cruises is scheduled to take delivery of two ships with capacities of 1,450 guests in 2027 and 2029. And Regent Seven Seas Cruises is scheduled to take delivery of two ships, each carrying 850 guests, in 2026 and 2029.
Meanwhile Royal Caribbean Group has nine new ships on order and MSC Group has eight. And Windstar Cruises announced it’s adding two new high-tech ships to its fleet.
However, Carnival Corp, which is the largest cruise group remains an outlier with only four new ships on the horizon. “I know, biggest company, smallest orderbook,” said CEO Josh Weinstein at Seatrade. “We’re not embarrassed, ” he explained. “We can’t beat around the $30-billion bush,” he said, referring to the high debt the company ran up during two years of having its ships anchored rather than carrying passengers. It is paring down debt to be ready for any future uncertainties. But he added the current industry outlook justifies a lot of new ship orders in the next 10 to 15 years.
Maintaining identity is essential
Recently named presidents of Norwegian Cruise Line, Princess Cruises, Celebrity Cruises and The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection agreed in a panel at Seatrade that they need to cultivate unique identities that makes passengers return.
“One of the things that is super important for all of us … is to make sure we’re truly differentiating ourselves for our specific customer bases,” said Celebrity Cruises President Laura Hodges Bethge, who took the top job in May, 2023. “There’s a lane for every cruise line, and as long as we all keep really focused on being differentiated, we’re going to be able to attract more and more of those vacationers into the industry.”
And Norwegian Cruise Line’s President David Herrera said attracting first time cruisers from land vacations is a key goal, because the cruise industry is still only 3 per cent of the total leisure travel market.
To put that into perspective, Hodges Bethge said that if Celebrity Cruises could get just entice 1 per cent of the land-based vacation market to ship out, “we could fill 22 Edge-class ships” every week.
New ports and cruise attractions in Asia
Four of Asia’s most active cruise destinations celebrated The Rebound of Asia’s Destinations in an event at Seatrade.
Hong Kong is expanding options for cruise passengers with the development of Kai Tak Sports Park, in the neighborhood of the Kai Tak Cruise Terminal. The park boasts a main stadium with a seating capacity of 50,000 people, making it an ideal venue for hosting mega events. Additionally, SKYCITY, located adjacent to the Hong Kong International Airport, offers an extensive array of options for retail, dining and entertainment for arriving or departing cruise passengers.
Korea is building two new deep-water cruise ports in Pohang and Daesan. The Pohang Yeongilman Port International Passenger Terminal is within a city, while the Daesan Port in Seosan is a brand-new access point on the west coast, in a region famed for historic temples and Buddhist relics.
Not to be outdone, The Philippines is developing five new cruise ports in Boracay, Coron, Camiguin, Siargao and Puerto Galera. It’s also exploring potential for new destinations ready for cruise tourism, such as Cebu and Zamboanga.
Meanwhile, China’s Belt and Road initiative is expanding cruise options in China. Hailed as the Garden on the Sea, Xiamen is one of China’s four major international shipping centers, and its Xiamen International Cruise Terminal 2 is set to open in September, 2024.
Norway turns challenge into opportunity
Norway highlighted a number of projects to make cruising more environmentally aware, including shore power while ships are in port.
One particularly clever environmental cleanup led to the opening of two new cruise piers this year in the middle of Hammerfest. Centuries of contaminated bottom sediments in the harbor were excavated to create a pristine harbor for cruise ships and local passenger ships up to 300 meters long. The cleaned up bottom sludge has been deposited behind pilings that serve as the base of the new quays. Dredging to deepen the harbor also created new land for commercial buildings in the middle of the city.
“We are planning for the future, aiming to offer our guests and citizens unique adventures that reflect our Arctic identity, industry, and culture, said Trond Rognlid, a spokesperson for Hammerfest Port.
Story by Wallace Immen, The Cruisington Times
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