Such an amazing industry produces fascinating facts and figures. Here are some of my favourite, reading them makes me proud to be part of it.
Ports of call …There are over 2000 ports of call around our planet that cruise ships can visit. A world cruise is the perfect chance to take in as many ports of call as possible. Even on a 7 night cruise there is plenty of time to pack in up to 5 or even 6 ports of call.
Most popular starting ports …About half of all passengers on major world cruise lines begin their trips in one of these three Florida ports: Miami, Port Canaveral, and Fort Lauderdale.
Most popular destination …More people cruise to the Caribbean than any other destination in the world. The Caribbean is one of my favourite cruise destinations with all those beautiful islands to explore. Which is your favourite?
Non-destination …For some cruisers, the ship itself is the destination, not the ports of call. Ships today are in their own right resorts at sea and with so much to see and experience on board I can see why.
Cruise length ….The average length of a cruise is slightly over seven days….but for the lucky ones out there you can stay on board and enjoy much longer voyages some over 100 days!
Cruise ship population …There are more than 300 sea-going cruise ships in the world. They can collectively accommodate over 300,000 passengers per day. Just imagine all of those people out at sea at once!
Individual cruise ship capacities ….The latest super liners carry over 4 thousand people. They would dwarf the Titanic and are as tall as a sixteen-story building. Are cruise ships becoming too big, are 4000 passengers on board too many at once? I’m not so sure that the bigger the ship the better but that’s a thought for another day.
Construction cost …The huge ships can cost a cruise line a half-billion American dollars before the first passenger even boards the ship. P&O’s new ship the Britannia is set to cost £500 million pounds! Wow!!
I hope you enjoyed reading my facts and figures, and I’m sure there are many more that I haven’t looked at. I would love to hear your favourite cruise industry facts.