Royal Caribbean Sails Up as Largest Brand in the Industry

Royal Caribbean International will be the largest cruise brand in the world by 2029 noticeably ahead of Carnival Cruise Line, according to the 2023 Cruise Industry News Annual Report.

The Royal Caribbean brand will have an annual global capacity of approximately 6.5 million passengers in 2029, compared to 5.4 million for Carnival Cruise Line.

Royal Caribbean will sail 30 ships versus 27 for Carnival.

While Royal Caribbean will be the largest globally, based on known deployment and the current orderbook of new builds to be introduced, Carnival will most likely continue to dominate in the Caribbean where the brand tends to concentrate its deployment.

The other largest brands on a global scale in order of size will be MSC Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Line, Princess, Celebrity, AIDA, Costa, TUI and Holland America.

Two question marks would be what happens in China with Carnival’s joint Adora venture that could grow quickly when the Chinese market returns, and if more Costa ships were to be transferred to Carnival’s Fun Italian Style product.

The 2023 Cruise Industry News Annual Report is in digital and printed formats. Order today by clicking here.

German Market Growth to be Driven by TUI

Mein Schiff 3 photo credit Spacejunkie2 (flickr)

The cruise brands catering to the national German market have an estimated capacity of 2.1 million passengers (double occupancy) in 2023, forecast to grow to 2.5 million by 2020, according to the 2023 Cruise Industry News Annual Report.

The growth will mainly be driven by TUI Cruises which will launch three new ships over the time period, boosting its annual passenger capacity from approximately 600,000 to nearly 1 million.

TUI is focused on the German premium market along with Phoenix Reisen and Plantours. In the luxury segment are Hapag-Lloyd and Sea Cloud.

AIDA is the largest national brand today with an estimated annual passenger capacity of about 1.4 million, but has no new builds on order, and barring any further retirements of ships, will maintain its position, dominating the contemporary market segment.

These brands offer a German-language products. In addition, other European brands also market in Germany, including MSC and Costa, as well as North America-based brands.

Germany is the single largest national cruise market in Europe.

Cruise Ships Celebrate New Year in Funchal

Various cruise ships were welcomed in 2023 in Funchal as guests were onboard dockside and in the harbour for the city’s spectacular fireworks display.

Ship Line Up

  • Marella Cruises: Marella Explorer
  • Nicko Cruises: Vasco Da Gama
  • AIDA: AIDAsella
  • Fred. Olsen: Borealis
  • TUI: Mein Schiff Herz
  • Cunard: Queen Victoria

The city’s New Years’ eve celebration has quickly become a cruise tradition for European brands, which often time their itineraries with an overnight call to Funchal on New Year’s Eve. It’s among a handful of ports around the world already in a key cruise region at the right time of the year where guests can stay on the ship and have a front-row seat to a fireworks show.