Yahoo Finance Cruise ship bookings surge 40% since 2019
Cruise ship bookings for 2021 have surged in the last 45 days, trumping bookings in 2019, according to new data.
Online cruise marketplace CruiseCompete.com has seen a 40 per cent increase in bookings for 2021 compared to 2019, and just 11 per cent of the bookings are from customers whose 2020 trips were cancelled.
The statistic is interesting, given around 10 per cent of all coronavirus cases in Australia stemmed from the Ruby Princess, and four other major cruise liners saw the virus spread rapidly through the ship.
“People are still booking cruises and are anxious to sail again when this is all over,” CruiseCompete president Heidi Allison said.
Also read: Cruise ship passengers’ ‘surprising’ response to coronavirus
Also read: Nearly 50 cruise passengers test positive for COVID-19 after disembarking in Sydney
The most popular cruise liner remains the Royal Caribbean according to CruiseCompete, which voluntarily suspended sailings until May 11.
CruiseComplete’s figures follow reports from UBS equity analysts from March 31, which found booking volumes in March were actually up 9 per cent compared to March last year.
Voyages to Asia and Alaska were seeing the highest numbers, according to the report, while Caribbean and Bahamas cruises were also performing well.
Meditterannean cruises were the only major itinerary down in the last 30 days, which UBS put down to Europe being at a challenging point in the containment cycle.
And it could be the refund policies of cruise liners that are enticing passengers to book again, the UBS report found.
“Cruise Seller says that 76 per cent of those who have cancelled their cruises are taking the option for a future cruise credit of 125 per cent of the value, rather than getting 100 per cent refunded today.”
However, a Yahoo Finance poll of 1,740 readers found 83 per cent of respondents would not travel on cruises for fear of catching an infection, while 17 per cent said they still would.
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