Here’s a fact you already know – Australians have a very deep and very real love affair with cruising that isn’t going away anytime soon.
There’s no doubt that this love for cruising has been responsible for the evolution in the local industry over the last decade.
This is evident alone in the number of cruise lines and vessels visiting the country during and even out of the wave season.
For example, where once P&O Cruises was pretty much the only major cruise line to sail year-round from our shores, we now have Carnival Cruise Line and Princess.
Even the locations these ships are sailing to has taken a whole new direction, as lines like P&O, Princess and Royal Caribbean choose ports outside of Sydney to homeport their vessels – giving cruisers around the country a chance to cruise straight from their doorstep.
And if that’s not evolution enough, how about the drastic growth, which now sees Australian cruisers exceeding the one million mark – a target that was originally set to be achieved by 2020.
Here at KarryOn, we can’t wait to see how the industry grows over the next decade.
But until then, here are 10 facts about today’s cruisers that may surprise you:
1. We’re cruising for a decent amount of time
Cruises of eight-14 days remain the most popular, accounting for 54 percent of all passenger numbers.
The average ocean cruise for Aussies is around 9.7 days, while the average river cruise is 13 days.
2. But also keeping it short too
In contrast to the figure above, there was also an increase in the number of Aussies sailing for shorter durations.
Zero- to- four-day cruises attracted 59 percent more passengers than in 2013. And cruises of five to seven days were up 31 percent.
This figure could grow in the coming years as Carnival follows in P&O Cruises and Royal Caribbean’s footsteps, by adopting shorter cruises aboard its two Australia-based ships, Carnival Spirit and Carnival Legend.
More proof we like to keep our cruise holidays short is the 9.7 percent dip in World Voyages. Only around 12,299 of us took one those monster cruises last year, down from 13,615.
3. We’re not THAT big on the Tasman
Image: Jiri Foltyn/Shutterstock
I’ve heard it said before (and felt it myself) that the Tasman is the roughest crossing in the world.
So it isn’t the biggest surprise that we’d rather fly to our neighbours than cruise there.
The number of Australians cruising to the Tasman dropped 10.3 percent last year from 98,914 to 88,685.
4. But we are loving those islands
Island living definitely fits Australians well and we prefer to see them via the comfort of a ship.
The South Pacific continues to be our favourite destination, with 392,549 of us taking a cruise to Vanuatu, New Caledonia or PNG.
These itineraries not only fit our desired eight- to- 14 day travel time, but also encompass culture, adventure, and great food – everything we love.
But enough about the South Pacific, how about those figures to the Caribbean!
The majority of additional traffic was drawn to the Caribbean, Bahamas and Panama Canal, with 64.5 percent more Aussies cruising these areas compared to the prior year.
5. And we still adore our own country
What’s not to love?
Cruising around Australia grew by 27.8 percent last year compared to 2013. It’s our second favourite place to cruise.
And cruise lines line P&O Cruises, Princess and Royal Caribbean are making it easier for us to see more of the country, by sending more of their ships to new locations around our shores and homeporting them in new cities.
6. Our fascination with rivers has reached a new level
I always meet people that are surprised by news that Viking launches over a dozen ships in one go almost every year, or Scenic, APT, Uniworld and Avalon continuously unveiling new ship designs.
They say it sounds like the rivers are getting full and wonder whether there’s actually enough passengers to fill those boats.
And here’s a fact. There are!
River cruising is growing so rapidly in Australia alone, that river cruise lines often find their products sold out a year in advance.
Last year, river passengers from Australia spiked by 61.9 percent to now sit at 79,530.
7. The number of us cruising is growing at the speed of light (kind of)
It’s not uncommon to hear Australians are the fastest growing cruise market.
It’s written in almost every article about us (guilty), but here’s the actual proof.
Last year, the number of Australian cruisers grew by 20.4 percent – this is the largest growth worldwide and well ahead of the second largest, France, which grew by 13.6 percent.
Additionally, we’re the only major market to attain double digit growth in 2014.
Even more remarkable – the number of Australian cruisers has increased six-fold in the last decade from a mere 158,000 to over a million.
8. This has made us cruising leaders baby
Image: Jeanette Dietl/Shutterstock
The Australian market set a new global benchmark in 2014, with a market penetration rate of 4.2 percent – up from 3.6 percent in 2013.
For those of us that don’t quite know (guilty again), market penetration means that of the total Australian population, around 4.2 percent of them cruised in 2014.
That’s huge!
Not to mention a considerable jump on the prior year.
It’s also the first time a region has broken the four percent barrier!
‘Onya Straya!’
9. And we’re all doing it
Unlike other markets, Australia has no single age group dominating passenger numbers.
We’re evenly spread out from the over 70s to toddlers.
But if we do have pull out the figures, over 40s make up 30.8 percent of the market.
This is followed by the over 70s then 66-70s.
10. But we’re still tossing over when to book
The largest portion of cruise bookings are made between six to 12 months prior to the ship’s departure.
Despite the high figure, this is down from 43 percent in 2013.
The proportion of bookings made more than 12 months out also declined, falling from 10 percent to seven percent.
In contrast, those booking 90 days before departure picked up from 19 percent to 26.6 percent.