“We cruise because I don’t have to cook and clean the whole time” – why younger Aussies are cruising

• Statistics show that more millennial Australians are considering cruising.
• Around 44 per cent of Australians under 35 are considering a cruise this year.
• A Cruise Passenger survey reveals the reasons why younger Aussies are looking to cruise.

Demand for cruises continues to increase in popularity, but now younger Australians are looking to cruise for their next holiday.

A survey from the Tourism and Transport Forum revealed that a massive one in three Aussies are considering a cruise in 2026, a total of 33 per cent, compared to 26 per cent in the same survey from two years ago. Interestingly, this is happening as cruising demographics shift in Australia, with a surprisingly high 44 per cent of Aussies under 35 saying that they’d consider a cruise this year, up from 35 per cent in the previous survey. 

A Cruise Passenger survey investigated what has been driving younger travellers to cruise. Of the 170 Carnival cruisers surveyed, about 54 per cent listed the value and price of a cruise holiday as the main motivation to cruise, with about 20 per cent of cruisers mentioning the convenience of cruising as the next most important factor and about 15 per cent saying they cruise because it’s the first holiday for kids. 

For Royal Caribbean cruisers, they listed the convenience of the holiday as the number one factor, with the price coming in second.

Rachel Beennett a Royal Caribbean cruiser said: “I like that I’m never more than a few hundred metres walk from my cabin, yet I can easily access various cuisines, bars, pools, entertainment, casino. I like the vibe cruising, everyone is on holiday and happy and it just feels different to going to visit a destination with a mix of locals and holidaymakers.

“I cruised pre children and loved it and also love it now as a family that there are options for childcare for a break here and there as well as family friendly activities and entertainment we can do together. The staff are generally great and make your holiday special too.”

Kristy Lee is another young mum, she cruises with Carnival and says its the best holiday out there for her situation.

“We started cruising when my kids were little. As a young Mum I liked cruising because it was a well priced holiday where I could go and just relax. No cleaning, no cooking, no fussing.

“We had gone on some lovely family trips up the coast and had a great time. But I was in Mum mode all the time. The villa had to be kept clean, we had to plan meals, buy groceries and cook. Cruising really allowed me to turn off and relax as well.”

Nicole Waid is another young mother who says cruising just offers her a much more relaxing experience than other holidays.

“I am under 30 and we cruise because I don’t have to cook and clean the whole time. It’s the best holiday for myself and my child because it just makes it easier. While yes, you only get a limited amount of days in ports on the cruise and you have at sea days, it is so much more relaxing and they still have activities for the kids.

“Plus, you know what you have included when you book, so you don’t have to estimate as many additional costs, the variables aren’t so bad so budgets are easier to stick to.”

It’s abundantly clear the reputation cruising has previously carried as a holiday for older travellers to sit around and play bingo doesn’t quite hold up in the modern context. Nowadays on cruise lines like Royal Caribbean and Carnival Cruises you’ll see young families, people in their 20s and 30s partying with their friends, multi-generational families and more, with varied demographics onboard.

Carnival in particular appears to be catching a lot of the new to cruise market, where the low prices encourage people to ‘give it a go’ for the first time and many get hooked and become repeat cruisers.

The changing reputation of cruise, cost of living pressures and the convenience of completely forgetting about domestic chores all seem to be factors in driving more Aussies to cruise.