Congratulations! You’re One In 2 Million…..

The media do like to spread negative news don’t they! With speculation about Thomas Cook and Brexit, the media are perhaps unfairly letting us believe that the Travel Industry is on a lull.   However, in the cruising world all is booming!

The “powers to be” in our cruising world have recently announced that UK and Irish passengers have reached the 2 million mark – basically showing us that there is a seven percent global increase in people taking a cruise from 2017 – 2018.

Not that I am surprised of course, cruising is really going from strength to strength and rightly so!  More and more families are now taking cruises which is great news. The average age of the UK and Irish cruise passenger is now 57 years old, which again has come down.  70% of all of us UK and Irish cruisers tend to go for a cruise in the Med, Baltic or Northern Europe however, there is a huge growth in cruises to Asia and South America too.

Why do you think there is such a growth?  For me it always has been the fact that one day you are in one city and the next a completely different area. That is the beauty of cruising.  If you just look at the ships which have recently launched – for example the Celebrity Edge (among many others) and see what they have on offer to entice you to book – well it is pretty amazing. We now have ships with planetariums, cabins with “infinite balcony’s,” F1 simulators, fantastic west end shows, huge entertainment areas, ice rinks, dodgem cars and even a tattoo artist on the new Virgin ship!

On a serious note the industry is also very committed to protecting the oceans and destinations with new technologies and bold sustainability commitments, it is not all about the gizmos.

I think when you book a cruise you are really just one little cog in a very happy family of world cruisers, you will find the ship and cruise line you like the best of course and will probably stay with them for most of your cruising with perhaps a little movement to another one to check them out!

There are of course many people who have yet to try a cruise and perhaps all of these gizmos will put some people off. We must not forget the beauty of the smaller ships (you all know what I prefer!). A smaller ship will not have all of the above included but what you do not get you most certainly will gain in another area.

In a nutshell, cruising in my eyes is a great holiday – just weigh up what you have on offer because that really is the difference between a Skoda and a Merc!

Till next time x