Andrea Zelinski
Demand for longer cruises is strong, industry executives said, and that's leading some cruise lines to beef up their capacity for grand voyages and other long sailings.
Oceania Cruises, for example, is making a "major shift" toward grand voyages post-Covid, Frank A. Del Rio, president of Oceania, said during the christening sailing of the Oceania Vista last month.
For Oceania, a grand voyage is a cruise of 30 or more days, and next year, 40% of the line's capacity will be in grand voyages, Del Rio said. The line also operates 180-day around-the-world cruises, which it sells in grand-voyage sized segments.
Del Rio added that other ships in the fleet are sailing longer voyages.
What shocked Del Rio about the demand for grand voyages was that they attracted new customers to Oceania. Del Rio praised the trend as "perfect timing" coming out of the worst of the pandemic.
"If you think about it, our business has always heavily relied on past guests, and we lost two years' worth of new past guests during Covid," he said. "To be able to attract new-to-brand with itineraries is perfect."
Oceania isn't the only line adding capacity for long cruises. Holland America Line has doubled its capacity of cruises lasting 50 days or more, said president Gus Antorcha. In HAL's case, the line is also operating some of its longest journeys out of U.S. ports, saving guests the cost of international airfare.
"Our guests have told us they love longer voyages," he said during a presentation before this year's Seatrade Cruise Global Conference. "They've not only told us in surveys, but as we develop these more unique, longer voyages, we see it sell, and that ultimately is the best proof point."
Interest in longer cruises is strong, according to CLIA's State of the Cruise Industry Report. Research published in the organization's March report found that 43% of cruise travelers said they plan to book a longer cruise. The survey was conducted among 4,500 international travelers in nine markets, including the U.S., U.K., Australia and Canada.
Anthony Hamawy, president of Cruise.com, said demand has been "really good" for 2024 world cruises. But that's not the whole picture, he warned. "World cruises sold very well, but in some cases, we saw higher cancellations."
CORRECTION: A previous version of this report gave an incorrect length for Oceania's world cruises; it is 180 days.