Several cruise lines say they saw high booking volumes on Black Friday and Cyber Monday — two typically very busy retail days after the US Thanksgiving holiday — without specifying how high they were.
Carnival Corp said its brand Holland America Line “hit a record high” for Cyber Monday, and the day’s booking volume was 20% higher than the 2019 Cyber Monday result.
Revenue for this year’s Black Friday-to-Cyber Monday period was also 10% higher than it was during the same four-day period in 2019, Carnival said.
Most notably, Holland America’s Black Friday US bookings for Alaska were up more than 60%, compared to 2019, and up more than 25% for the Black Friday through Cyber Monday time frame.
“Our guests went on a shopping spree this weekend, and it wasn’t at the mall,” Holland America president Gus Antorcha said.
“We are very pleased to see pent-up demand for cruising play out in such a significant way, especially in Alaska where we are the pioneers of cruise travel and the only cruise line with owned land operations in Denali and Yukon.
“The strong bookings are an encouraging sign for our brand and the continued strength of cruising.”
Carnival also said that its Seabourn brand achieved the highest booking volume ever for November while registering a record number of guests for 2023 and 2024 sailings.
November bookings also tripled the number of bookings achieved during the comparable period for 2019 sailings, according to brand president Josh Leibowitz.
Seabourn also experienced its best one-week booking period for expedition voyages ever since launching the 264-passenger expedition ship Seabourn Venture in July 2022, Carnival said.
Meanwhile, Royal Caribbean Group said its Royal Caribbean International brand received the highest number of booking in one day in its 53-year history on Black Friday.
The line also took in the most bookings in one week ever during the prior seven days.
“This has been a year for the books at Royal Caribbean International,” said Michael Bayley, the brand’s chief executive.
“Every milestone met is an accomplishment achieved. It’s a wonderful start to 2023 and we are excited for what lies ahead.”
Celebrity Cruises, another Royal Caribbean Group cruise line, also posted its largest booking day ever on Black Friday, followed by its best Cyber Monday in history, Royal Caribbean said.
“We saw demand across the full depth and breadth of our itinerary offerings around the globe,” Celebrity Cruises chief executive Lisa Lutoff-Perlo said.
Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings said its flagship brand Norwegian Cruise Line collected the most revenue in one day ever on Black Friday. It also broke records for bookings taken in on Cyber Monday and all of November.
“Momentum is strong and there is no better evidence of this than our record-breaking performance this November, the best-booked month in the history of our cruise line,” brand chief executive Harry Sommer said.
“This achievement is even more impressive when considering November is historically one of the slower booking months for our business. … I’m very excited about 2023 and all that is yet to come.”
