With 239 ships set to be in service, global cruise capacity will be up 8.4 percent in December, according to the latest edition of the Cruise Ships in Service Report by Cruise Industry News.
With 425,000 berths back in service, this means another 30,000 berths are operational compared to the amount sailing in November.
While 28 vessels are welcoming guests back through the end of the year, the restart will reach nearly 60% of the global cruise fleet.
Most of the world’s cruise brands are back in business as well, as 68 of the nearly 90 active cruise lines are now sailing with guests again.
The cruise fleet in service is also growing its average size, as smaller, niche vessels enter their normal winter pauses and more contemporary mega-ships return, the average capacity per ship has gone from 1,109 guests in June 2021 to 1,782 in December.
Five brands concentrate nearly half of the month’s capacity, that is Royal Caribbean International, Carnival Cruise Line, MSC Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Line, and AIDA Cruises, with together, operating over 240,000 berths.
Currently the brand with the most capacity is Royal Caribbean with 20 ships with 71,700 berths sailing in December.
In January, just short of 40,000 berths were back in service, with 14 brands and 21 vessels in commercial operations and while the numbers went slightly down from February to April, May marked a turning point for the industry, with 25 ships and nearly 55,000 berths in service.
The capacity uptick continued in June, with a 56% increase in cruise capacity and 77 vessels sailing again and fuelled by the opening of the US ports, the industry saw a 82% increase in business in July, with over 180,000 berths and 140 ships back in service, and with until December 2021, the capacity numbers continued to grow by an average 19.5% per month.
Edited by: John Alwyn-Jones, Cruise Editor.
Cruise ship capacity up by 8.4% in December
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