Cruise Mania

 

It’s a good year to be a cruiser. Or better yet, to own a cruise line. At the annual Seatrade Cruise Global convention back in April, the industry’s largest, the mood was celebratory with record attendance, a record number of exhibits and record enthusiasm. “Happy Days Are Here Again” was the unmistakable message, and we couldn’t agree more.

The industry is on a roll. No more pandemic. No more masks. No more vax checks or Covid tests. No more isolation. As a result, a record number of cruisers set sail last year – nearly 32 million, up two million from the pre-pandemic record set in 2019. Meanwhile, industry trade group CLIA (Cruise Lines International Association) is forecasting another two million plus passengers this year.

“The concept of pent-up demand is gone,” declared Carnival President & CEO Josh Weinstein, meaning it’s no longer “pent-up” but in full swing. Calling the current demand level “unprecedented,” he added that bookings in 2025 were also at record levels and CLIA was forecasting a three-million-passenger increase next year.

The Wonders of Cruising

Barbara and I were part of that unprecedented demand, setting sail in March on a random cruise to the southern Caribbean. Why? Because we wanted to get away, have some fun, go somewhere we’d never been before, and because it was so cheap – proving once again the incredible value proposition that cruising is. Plus we hadn’t been on a “big ship” in six years, favoring the smaller river cruises instead, and wanted to see if we still liked it.

We did. It was the Celebrity Equinox – a premium experience and a line we’d never sailed on but had heard good things about from seasoned cruisers whose opinions we respected. Not too big, not too small. Just under 3,000 passengers (well, too big for my colleague Tony Munoz). Excellent service, excellent food, smaller accommodations than on a river cruise (but hey, you can’t have everything), and lots of Canadians, which surprised me. We traveled with a large group of friends, so there was always someone to talk to.

Starting from Port Everglades on Florida’s east coast, we sailed mainly east and then southeast, winding up in the Atlantic time zone. We island-hopped from Antigua to Barbados to Martinique, St. Lucia and St. Kitts. Nearly to South America and back, a 2,500-nautical-mile round-trip.

How many of those islands have you been to? We hadn’t been to any, which is why the itinerary appealed to us, so we took guided tours at every stop, taking in the scenery, the cuisine, the local history and culture and flora and fauna. These are all volcanic islands, springing up from the sea and featuring mountains and long-dormant volcanoes.

Have you ever seen a mongoose? We did – in St. Kitts, dozens of them near a crowded beach, scurrying around like squirrels, looking for worms and rodents and reptiles to eat. Not surprisingly, there are no snakes on St. Kitts nor on most of the other islands we visited.

Cruising is all about exploration and discovery. We learned that all of these islands were centers of sugar production – and its major byproduct, rum – beginning in the 17th century and continuing pretty much uninterrupted until the late 19th century when bigger islands like Cuba and Jamaica took over. Today, they depend largely on tourism to get them through the year, with the main cruise season lasting from December to May when there are no hurricanes.  

The most recent, Hurricane Beryl in early July, a Category 5 monster, unfortunately wreaked havoc on Barbados and most of the other islands we visited. It’s a fact of life to the natives who live there and a constant threat, but hardly seems to diminish their sunny outlook.

Barbados was the biggest and by far the most prosperous of the islands, and it still produces some sugar (and lots of world-class rum) but generates most of its income from mainstream activities like banking and real estate and, of course, tourism.

It’s also known for its cuisine, and in that regard we were fortunate to have our good friends Paul and Charlotte, experienced cruisers both, with us. They had visited Barbados many times and guided us to a restaurant in Bridgetown called Champers, at a beautiful site overlooking the water and which we would never have found on our own. I had grilled barracuda for the first time and enjoyed a bottle (or was it two?) of Banks beer – the local favorite, brewed in Barbados.

Among the colorful characters we met along the way – and there are always colorful characters on cruises – was Ron, a 90-year-old, long-time Celebrity cruiser who had just lost his wife of 62 years and was traveling with his daughter. He introduced himself in the Sky Bar one night, sans daughter, and explained to us that the secret to a long life was a daily Belvedere martini. He was at the bar every night.

Shane, our tour guide on St. Kitts, was another. Barbara picked him out of a line of guides with signs advertising their services as we exited the ship (she has a shrewd eye), and he turned out to be a gem. Took us around in his 12-passenger, air-conditioned white van (just the two of us) and showed us places both on and off the beaten track, including the beach where we saw the mongooses and had lunch. He even took us by the house where he grew up and where his mother still lives. She came out to greet us and reminded him to mind his manners.

A third character was a big, grizzled farmer with a deep voice and thick fingers from western Saskatchewan named Tim. He was travelling with a group of fellow Canadians, doing a “back-to-back,” meaning they’d stay on the ship when she docked in Port Everglades and go on her next voyage out, this one to the “ABC islands.” I know you savvy MarEx readers know what the ABC islands are, so I won’t bother naming them.

We docked in Martinique on a Sunday and took a bus ride to a small seaside town when it started to rain. Across the street from the plaza where the bus parked was a Catholic church – the Church of St. Henri – and there was a Mass going on. It was in French with English subtitles on two elevated screens, one on each side of the altar. The church was packed, unlike most other churches in the world. We ventured in, partly out of curiosity and partly to get out of the rain, and arrived just in time for the sermon (and the collection basket). We wound up staying till the end, along with several other cruisers. When we emerged from the church, the rain had stopped.

Such are the wonders of cruising. One surprise after another. One new experience after another. Everything taken care of – meals, drinks, lodging, transportation, excursions. All you have to do is show up. The biggest decision you’ll make each day is what to wear to dinner that night.

Postscript

Celebrity, the line we cruised on, is part of the Royal Caribbean Group (NYSE: RCL), whose other brands include Royal Caribbean (its contemporary, family-oriented, mega-ship offering) and – on the luxury end – Silversea, featuring much smaller vessels and highly personalized service.

Celebrity is the in-between brand, its so-called “premium” offering. The iconic “X” on the stacks is the Greek letter “chi” (rhymes with “sky”) and represents the first two letters of Chandris, the name of the Greek family that founded the company. Even today, almost all the officers on Celebrity ships, including the one we sailed on, are Greek.

The three Royal Caribbean brands are having a banner year, and RCL stock is up nearly 50 percent year-to-date at a recent $168, easily outperforming the market as well as its two major competitors, Carnival and Norwegian.

In a recent Barrons article, Citi’s James Hardiman says, “Royal Caribbean is our top pick across the leisure and travel sector as the company has the best assets, the best management team, and the best balance sheet to capitalize on the moment that the cruise industry is having.”

He adds that cruise passengers are getting more bang for the buck as travel prices have skyrocketed: “The price of a cruise vacation relative to a comparable land-based vacation/hotel stay is as wide as it has ever been, and has expanded significantly since the onset of the pandemic. We would argue that this gap should be smaller than ever given significant advancements made to the cruise experience and, conversely, deteriorating customer satisfaction with traditional hotels/resorts.”

Couldn’t put it better myself. Look for continued value in the cruise experience and in cruise stocks like RCL, and happy sailing!

Jack O'Connell is the magazine's Senior Editor.