Cruise market update

In 2009 more than 1.5 million Brits took a cruise, a growth of 4 per cent on the previous year and in that year, three new cruise ships dedicated mainly to the UK market were launched: Azura for P&O Cruises, Celebrity Eclipse for Celebrity Cruises and – most notably – the new Queen Elizabeth for Cunard which was named this week.

That’s not all, while no more UK based ships will be launched for at least 18 months, many lines are introducing cruise liners to the UK: both MSC and Costa cruises have brought ships to home-port in the South of England and many American cruise companies are bringing cruise ships to Europe, primarily Spain and Italy, to capitalise on the growth in the European cruise market, where one package holiday in ten is now a cruise. What’s more appealing to the cruise lines is that six out of ten regular cruise passengers take more than one cruise annually and sales of ‘ultra-luxury’ cruises have more than doubled in the past two years.