Travel restrictions are loosening throughout the world right now in light of vaccine distribution, and cruise demand seems to be getting higher than it has ever been during the pandemic. Demand never quite reached the lows that many in the industry feared, but it still definitely decreased over the past year. Many cruise lines are now reporting significantly increased levels of booking, and that bodes quite well for the future!
P&O is overwhelmed
Being overwhelmed is generally not a good thing when it comes to business. But P&O was definitely happy when they reported on March 22nd that they were seeing an “overwhelming” number of bookings for their UK summer cruises. It was only recently announced that cruising would be returning to the UK in May, and P&O is capitalizing on that. Their cruises along the English coast went on sale on the morning of the 22nd, and the demand was immediately apparent. The President of the company said, “We always hoped that these domestic cruises would be popular, given the uncertainty around holidays abroad, but we have never before seen such significant and immediate demand and it certainly shows the effects of lockdown and everyone’s need for a holiday.”
The summer season in the UK will be busy
It’s not just P&O that is facing an unusually high level of demand. Ports around the UK are reporting that they are being inundated with calls from various cruise lines looking for places to stop their ships. The head of Cruise Liverpool said, “The phone is red-hot. We’ve had a huge number of inquiries. At the moment, we’ve got 120 ships scheduled to call this summer.” That’s a lot of ships! From this, it’s pretty clear that the UK summer cruise season is going to be incredibly busy. It seems that the demand for cruises never truly went away during quarantine; it only increased!
Silversea’s world cruise is fully booked
In case you needed more evidence that people are excited to cruise again now that vaccines have the potential to return a sense of normalcy to the world: Silversea’s world cruise in 2023 is already completely booked. The tickets were only available for a single day before all the spots on the vessel sold out. If you missed out on your chance to snag a ticket, hop onto Silversea’s waitlist as soon as possible. The company is already reporting that the demand for the waitlist is quite high!
The past year has certainly been a whirlwind for the industry, so it’s reassuring to see how many people are still ready to cruise. Let’s hope that the industry makes a strong and safe return to form!
