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Luxury Cruise Fleet Average Age: 12-Year-Old Ships

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Luxury Cruise Fleet Average Age: 12-Year-Old Ships

Regent Seven Seas Grandeur photo credit Spacejunkie2 Flickr Account 

Data from the latest edition of the Luxury Market Report by Cruise Industry News shows that a luxury cruise ship has an average age of roughly 12 years in 2025.

After undergoing significant expansion in the past ten years, the luxury market saw newbuild after newbuild enter service over the last decade, led by aggressive growth from Viking, Ponant and others.

Ritz-Carlton, Swan Hellenic, Emerald and Explora are among the brands with the youngest fleets in 2025.

They also represent the newest brands, having all launched service with new vessels after 2020.

Brands such as Ponant, Silversea, Regent, Viking and Hapag-Lloyd have average fleet ages falling between ten and 15 years.

Among the brands owned by major public cruise corporations, Seabourn has the youngest fleet, with ships that are nine years old on average in 2025.

Silversea comes in second with an 11-year average fleet age, followed by Hapag-Lloyd with a 13-year average and Regent Seven Seas with a 14-year average.

Brands including SeaDream, Crystal, Paul Gauguin and Windstar have some of the oldest fleets in the market.

While extensively refurbished over the years, SeaDream’s yachts are among the oldest ships in the market, with a median age of 40 years in 2025.

Fresh from a major drydock in Singapore, Paul Gauguin’s sole ship, the Paul Gauguin, is another industry veteran with a nearly 30-year sailing career.

Amidst a rejuvenation project that includes the debut of two newer ships through 2026, as well as major refurbishment projects, the Windstar fleet had an average age of 28 years in 2025.

With a series of newbuilds scheduled to arrive starting in 2028, Crystal’s fleet currently has an average age of 26 years.

The Cruise Industry News’ report also shows that, with eight newbuilds scheduled to enter service for luxury brands, the market’s fleet median age is set to grow by nearly six months next year.

Shell Acquires Majority Stake in the Celtic Sea Floating Wind Farm

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By Laura Hurst (Bloomberg) —

Royal Dutch Shell Plc agreed to buy a 51% stake in an Irish project to develop a floating wind farm in the Celtic Sea.

Simply Blue Energy’s Kinsale venture will develop the Emerald floating wind farm, with 300 megawatts of capacity initially and the potential to scale up to 1 gigawatt. The companies didn’t disclose the value of the deal.

Shell divested its upstream oil and gas assets in Ireland in 2018, but the new acquisition falls into a growing list of investments in renewable and low-carbon assets designed to help the company achieve climate goals set out last year. Earlier this week, the Anglo-Dutch supermajor bought the U.K.’s largest public electric vehicle charging network, while at the beginning of the month it invested in a waste-to-fuels plant in Canada.

“This project could provide green power to consumers and businesses alike and contribute towards Shell’s ambition to be a net-zero emissions business by 2050, or sooner,” Collin Crooks, Shell vice president for offshore wind, said in a statement.

The project will also help the Irish government meet its climate target of 5 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2030, Simply Blue Energy CEO Sam Roch-Perks said.

Shell has been involved in offshore wind since 2000 and has more than 6 gigawatts of wind projects in development, according to its website. Its wind assets are mostly in The Netherlands and the U.S.

Princess Cruises abandons summer sailings

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Regal Princess Cruise - Ship Review - Photos & Departure Ports on ...

Worldwide coronavirus travel restrictions have forced Princess Cruises to abandon sailings for the remaining summer season.

The line, at the centre of controversy over Covid-19 outbreaks on a number of ships, has extended its pause in global operations from June 30 – the date new ship Enchanted Princess had been due to be named in Southampton.

The delivery of the new vessel was previously delayed with the Carnival Corporation brand now cancelling its five-ship programme in Europe this summer on Enchanted Princess, Regal Princess, Sky Princess, Crown Princess and Island Princess as part of the new wave of suspended sailings.

Other cruises cancelled until the end of the summer season include:

All remaining Alaska cruises on Emerald Princess and Ruby Princess

Summer Caribbean cruises and all Canada and New England cruises on Caribbean Princess and Sky Princess

Summer to autumn cruises departing from Japan on Diamond Princess

Australia-based cruises on Sapphire Princess and Sea Princess until August

July cruises sailing from Taiwan on Majestic Princess

Autumn cruises sailing to Hawaii and French Polynesia on Pacific Princess through to November

Princess originally announced a voluntary pause in operations for two months, affecting departures between March 12 and May 10. That was then extended in April through to June 30 before yesterday’s announcement.

The line made the “extremely difficult” decision to cancel select cruises through the end of the 2020 summer season due to reduced flight availability, the closure of cruise ports in regions around the world and “other factors impacting international travel”.

Princess pledged to protect travel agent commissions on bookings for cancelled cruises that were paid in full, “in recognition of the critical role they play in the cruise line’s business and success”.

Refunds are being offered but must be requested via an online form by June 15 or customers will receive refundable future cruise credits.

People who have booked and paid for the newly cancelled cruises have the option to receive a future cruise credit plus an additional bonus credit equal to 25% of the fare.

Princess will double the deposit, providing a refundable future cruise credit, for those who have not paid in full for the money currently on deposit plus a matching bonus FCC that can be used on any voyage until May 1, 2022.

The matching bonus FCC will not exceed the base cruise fare amount of the currently booked cruise and will have a minimum value of £100 per person.

President Jan Swartz said: “As the world is still preparing to resume travel, it is with much disappointment that we announce an extension of our pause of global ship operations and the cancellation of cruise holidays for our loyal guests.

“Among other disruptions, airlines have limited their flight availability and many popular cruise ports are closed.

“It saddens us to think about the impact on the livelihood of our teammates, business partners and the communities we visit.”