Half of Global Cruise Fleet in Service for Second Consecutive Month

The cruising restart has seen a positive trend over the past few months. Fueled by various countries and markets reopening ports to cruise vessels, the industry saw an unprecedented number of vessels resuming revenue operations around the world over the summer.

As the restart continues, 205 ships are expected to be in guest operations by the end of September. This number means that, for the second month in a row, nearly half of the entire global cruise fleet is in operation.

According to the 2022 Global Cruise Ship Index by Cruise Industry News, the combined fleets of the nearly 90 active cruise lines currently account for approximately 410 cruise ships.

After significant growth over the previous months, 190 cruise ships were sailing with paying guests by Aug. 31. With 15 additional ships entering service through the end of September, the active cruise fleet is growing nearly 8 per cent this month.

More ships resuming service means that more cruise lines are relaunching revenue operations. In September, brands like Regent, Plantours and Star Clippers are welcoming guests back, making it 63 brands back in service.

The aforementioned data is from the Cruise Ships in Service Report by Cruise Industry News.

The restart numbers started growing in May, which saw 55 ships operating revenue sailings. In the preceding eight months – only an average of 20 ships were in service. 

A turning point, however, was reached in July. With the U.S. ports reopening for business, 141 vessels were back in service by the end of that month – an 82 per cent increase over June numbers.

From May to September, the average guest capacity per ship grew significantly, too, going from 994 to 1,454.