“Newlywed, overfed and nearly dead,” is the joyful descriptor my elevator mate gives of cruisers as I ascend to the stateroom of my very first ship trip. Damon, a Canadian who seemed modestly fed and far from the grave, was joking.
But clichés in travel are basically law; French tourists are rude, Americans are incurious and Australians are all drunks. Or Irish, Irish tourists are drunks. Or is it Germans?
In fifteen years of travel, a cruise fell somewhere below Yemen. But like so many other time-poor Aussie millennials and Gen Zs that are worn down by an intensifying cost of living crisis, the siren song of cruising finally reached my shores this year.
Not having to book a hotel room, or multiple hotel rooms, inclusive food and drinks packages, dreamy locations in the Caribbean and the Med? All of a sudden I was listening, along with the rest of the world.
In their global 2024 industry report Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) revealed that 71 per cent of international travellers surveyed are considering taking their first cruise, and 27 per cent of cruisers in the past two years are new-to-cruise. (Another travel law; any time you think you’re being original, you’re definitely not.)
While a lot of these are families looking for a holiday that works for everyone – 28 percent of cruise travellers sail with three to five generations – the average age of a cruiser is now 46, with a massive 36 percent under the age of 40.
Princess Cruises, who hosted my maiden voyage from Sydney to Melbourne, has also seen a surge of new cruisers in the last two years, with fly-Med and Caribbean trips being the most popular with younger travellers.
High-speed wi-fi, wearable tech that lets you order food and drinks wherever you are onboard, and a range of destinations and experiences in a single sailing are among the biggest draws.
Cruises are primed for the experience economy
Despite a recent inventory of snide think-pieces like the viral “meatball at sea” by Gary Shteyngart for The Atlantic (“Thinking people should simply not be put on cruise ships,” writes Shteyngart, before admitting to literally crying himself to sleep because people weren’t paying him enough attention) the numbers don’t lie.
Global passenger volume has jumped to 31.7 million – up 6.8 percent from pre-pandemic 2019, and the cruise lines have responded by curating experiences for every type of traveller imaginable.
There are women’s only cruises, cruises for metalheads, “The Walking Dead” and “Gone Girl” cruises, cruises for cats and the humans that serve them, cruises for scrapbookers, Star Trek fans and wrestling.
While my modest two nights on the elegant Diamond Princess’s theme would have been something like “a nice time had with margaritas and two hours in the Japanese spa” it was easy to see that what cruises do exceptionally well is deliver an experience.
Every aspect of my time was curated, from the school-camp-vibe of arriving at the terminal, to the mind boggling roster of both onboard and in-port activities (Fruit carving! Bingo! Botox!) that would be available the following day, delivered to my cabin via a daily onboard newsletter, The Princess Patter.
I felt like both an unsupervised seven year old at a birthday party and a woman of the world staying in a good four-and-a-half-star hotel with an absolutely packed lounge bar and silver service. Even when I was doing absolutely nothing, it felt like I was experiencing something.
It’s this attention to experience that feels like the magnet behind the pull towards cruising for the new generation. According to McKinsey survey data, structured “experiences” are what the younger generations are prioritising above all else – even destinations – when it comes to travel.
Shorter cruises, active shore excursions, access to countries that would usually be out of budget, eco-tours, on-board self-improvement seminars, dance festivals in Miami or Mykonos, world-class poker championships, cruise lines are using their talent for experienced based holidays to court a new generation of devotees.
By the end of last month Royal Caribbean’s now legendary nine-month Ultimate World Cruise racked up over 150 Million views on TikTok. Gen Z, as they say, have entered the chat.
So, is it that fickle younger generations have flipped their perspective on cruises, or that the cruise industry has shrewdly future-proofed itself by casting a net so wide that no one can escape it?
From my private balcony on the Baja deck of the elegant Diamond Princess I can honestly say – who cares?