Is it secure to cruise again? Yes, say fans who’re cruising again

Outbreaks, port refusals, travelers stuck onboard.

Cruise ships dominated the news in early 2020 for all of the fallacious reasons. Some people predicted the industry would never get better.

But cruising fans say: That is ancient history.  

“Given a selection, we can be living on the cruise ship for the rest of our lives,” said Singaporean Peter Lim.

Those troubles from 2020 are “not of any concern,” he said. “We’re all vaccinated [and] take and observe personal health protocols.”

Lim said he’s “lost count” of what number of cruises he and wife have been on and has already planned three cruises through 2023.

He’s likes “waking up in a distinct country the subsequent day,” plus the good customer support and loyalty advantages cruises provide.

Lim said he wasn’t swayed by reports last week of a Covid-19 outbreak onboard the Coral Princess, a cruise ship that’s circumnavigating Australia.

Last week, 4 out of 12 cruise ships monitored by Recent South Wales, Australia had Covid-19 cases onboard, in line with the federal government’s website. The Coral Princess was categorized as “Tier 3” — the best risk level — indicating that greater than 10% of passengers are positive or that the vessel is unable to keep up critical services.

Pursuant to Australian regulations, passengers who test positive onboard cruise ships must self-isolate for at the least five days. But that is a far cry from being “trapped” onboard, as some media reports suggested, said Lim.

Those that weren’t infected were “allowed by local health authorities to enjoy schedules and programs,” he said.

Nearly two out of three travelers say they aren’t any longer concerned about Covid-19 on cruises, in line with a survey of 4,200 customers of the travel insurance company Squaremouth.

The corporate said it is a “complete shift” from earlier this 12 months, when 63% of its customers said Covid-19 was their biggest cruise-related concern. Now, respondents say they’re more fearful about weather and airline disruptions, in line with the survey published in October.  

The “2022 Member Survey” published by Cruiseline.com and the booking app Shipmate showed 91% of respondents planned to take a cruise by 2023.

Regular leisure travelers are also open to cruising again, in line with a recent report by Arrivia. The travel loyalty provider, which operates programs for American Express, Bank of America and USAA, said 75% of members indicated plans to cruise in the subsequent two years.

The pandemic didn’t scare away recent recruits either. Indian national Neel Banerjee said he had “no qualms” about cruising this month along with his family on Royal Caribbean’s Spectrum of the Seas — his first cruise ever.

He said he felt secure, and that his family wore masks in crowded areas.

He may cruise again as early as next 12 months, he said.

When cruise lines began to drop vaccination and testing requirements in August, the industry saw “an explosion of bookings,” in line with Patrick Scholes, a managing director of lodging and leisure at Truist Securities.

He told CNBC’s “Power Lunch” in September that this was very true for luxury cruises.

When bookings opened for the Norwegian Prima, a recent class of ship for Norwegian Cruise Line, it led to the “single best booking day and week in our company’s 55-year history,” Braydon Holland, Norwegian’s senior director, told CNBC.

Stefanie Schmudde, a vp of product and operations at the luxurious travel operator Abercrombie & Kent, said an increase in popularity of expedition cruising has taken travel advisors by surprise.

“Expedition cruising” is a subset of cruising that involves smaller ships, distant destinations and talks with onboard specialists, akin to marine biologists and astronauts, said Schmudde.

“Expedition cruising represents a better percentage of our bookings than at any time in A&K’s 60-year history,” she said. “Not only is demand surpassing pre-pandemic levels, but in lots of instances, so too is average spend.”

Despite a robust showing this 12 months, the worldwide cruising industry won’t return to pre-pandemic levels until 2027, in line with the market research provider Euromonitor International.

In 2019, the worldwide cruising industry grossed some $67.9 billion, in line with Euromonitor. This 12 months, it’s expected to usher in barely greater than half that quantity — about 38 billion — climbing 7% annually, to succeed in total retail sales of $67.9 billion again in five years.

Global recovery is being held back by two regions — Eastern Europe and Asia-Pacific, said Prudence Lai, senior analyst at Euromonitor.

Without elaborating, Lai cited “geopolitical tensions” which might be stunting growth in Europe.

In Asia, the issue is due “mainly to the slow recovery in China … attributable to the strict zero-tolerance Covid policies,” she said.

China has historically made up about 80% of the Asia-Pacific’s cruise market, said Lai. But “currently we only are seeing around 55% of pre-Covid levels driven by [the] domestic sector especially in regions [near the] Southern China Sea and Yangtze River,” she said.  

Cruising revenues in Asia-Pacific are expected to stay stagnant this 12 months in addition to 2023, reaching about 75% of pre-pandemic levels by 2027, in line with Euromonitor’s market research database Passport.