Summer 2022 is being seen as a possible turning point for the recovery in the cruise industry to 2019 performance levels.

The cruise industry was the first segment of the travel industry to suffer a hit with the advent of COVID-19, with meaningful change only seen starting in summer 2021.

Greg Purdy, senior vice-president of marine operations for Royal Caribbean International, a line which fields approximately 25 cruise ships operating worldwide, says that with hopes of conditions normalising, the industry’s most urgent need is staff.

Speaking at a

Jamaica Observer Business Forum recently, he shared, “We need people now.”

The cruise industry, he said, suffered a slowdown due to Omicron, a variant of the COVID-19 virus, but several lines are now indicating record bookings.

Purdy said, “People are wanting to get out on vacation and that helps us tremendously. Hopefully, this [COVID] is a once in a lifetime event and we can get back to prospering. No one has put a date on pre-pandemic recovery, but things are looking better right now.

“Most cruise lines will have their full fleets back by summer. For Royal Caribbean there are only four ships left. We are just waiting for those ships to fill up with guests.”

Adam Coulter of the UK analysis source

cruisecritic.com said in a recent publication that “Pent-up demand already has led to a huge surge in bookings in 2022 and 2023 from cruisers who have had their trips cancelled or delayed because of the pandemic as well as new bookings from people who foresee cruising coming back safer than ever.”

He cites as examples Oceania’s world cruise for 2023 sold out within one day of opening for sale to the public on January 27, 2021 while river cruise operator Uniworld has seen a 425 per cent year-on-year increase in late 2021 and 2022 bookings to destinations like India, Vietnam and Egypt.

The State of the Cruise Industry: Outlook 2022, a publication of the Cruise Lines Industry Association (CLIA), forecasts that passenger volume is expected to recover and surpass 2019 levels by the end of 2023. In the upside forecast, passenger volume is expected to recover to 101 per cent of 2019 levels a year earlier, by the end of 2022.

The association notes that furloughs and lay-offs were common within the wider cruise community as a result of the pandemic. However, resumptions are occurring industry wide.

Seventy per cent cruise-related businesses and organisations reported lay-offs and furloughs as a result of the pandemic. The report said that currently, approximately 60 per cent of cruise-related businesses and organisations are hiring.

Rachel Elmore, cruise industry recruitment consultant, writing on

LinkedIn, notes that there is strong cruise demand for 2022, 2023 and even 2024.

Meanwhile, she notes, the challenge for the industry does not lie in product demand.

She said, “Companies that started recruiting earliest had the pick of the talent — they were able to choose exactly who they wanted. However, the ones who were more cautious are now struggling to catch up because they can’t find the right employees.”

Elmore said that to attract talent to cruise, “Salary is a massive factor because travel is an underpaid industry — and it always has been. To attract people or keep the talent they already have, companies need to offer candidates what they are worth. Make sure that the financial package stacks up.”

Elmore further noted that some people who love to cruise are booking in greater volumes and booking more expensive cruises. She suggests that they are using the money that they haven’t spent on holidays throughout the pandemic.

She noted, “We are finding that people are booking higher-class cabins or higher grades of cruise ships than they previously have.

“We’re also hearing about strong demand for polar and Antarctic voyages, as well as increased demand for long duration world cruises, which could be three months or longer.”

It is also noted that small and luxury ship lines are getting bookings from people who are new, showing an increase among vacationers who dislike crowds and prefer a more intimate atmosphere.

Now is a very good time to set your sights on small cruise ships. Industry-wide, the CLIA notes that innovation as a means of reducing carbon footprint, improving health and advancing efficiency is being pursued.

These include advanced recycling protocols, use of alternative fuels, reverse osmosis water filtration systems, waste to energy initiatives and energy efficient ship design.

CLIA notes that currently there are 26 LNG-powered cruise ships representing, 231 cruise ships fitted with advanced wastewater treatment systems representing 81 per cent of global capacity, 174, cruise ships with shoreside power connectivity, and 176 cruise ships with exhaust gas cleaning systems installed.

According to

cruisecritic.com, vaccine passports, or at least something showing proof of vaccination, is likely to become part of a requirement to travel, “the same way certain inoculations, such as yellow fever, are for entering certain countries.”

Coulter of cruisecritic is also predicting long-term changes to the embarkation process: “In addition to proof of vaccination or negative COVID test results, changes first rolled out by lines that have restarted already around the world (Costa, MSC and Royal Caribbean, for example) will become part of the cruise experience. Expect to see fixed (and enforced) boarding times to avoid huge crowds; fully automated and almost touchless check-in and a more robust health screening, such as temperature checks at boarding and possibly even PCR testing.”