Luxury Unlimited

Luxury cruise lines are experiencing huge demand from local guests, who are snapping up voyages scheduled for 2022 and 2023 in record numbers. “It’s clear both from conversations with our guests and from our recent record booking days that the desire for luxury cruising is as strong as ever,” said Steve Odell, Regent Seven Seas Cruises’ senior VP and MD, Asia Pacific. 

In just two hours of going live, Regent’s 2022/23 Voyage Collection surpassed the total number of bookings received by nearly 40 per cent on last year’s launches and cruises for 2022 are already more than 50 per cent booked out. 

The luxury line is also experiencing a greater demand for closer-to-home sailings around Australia, New Zealand and Asia, particularly as Seven Seas Explorer (dubbed “the most luxurious ship ever built”) is scheduled to arrive in Sydney on December 19, 2021 for a series of voyages between Sydney and Auckland. 

“As we sail towards our 30th anniversary in 2022, we have received exceptional feedback from Australian and New Zealand travellers for our newly released sailing collections and value-add offers,” Odell said.

Another top-drawer line, Silversea, tells a similar story. Silver Shadow’s world cruise will set sail from Sydney on January 10, 2023 – and bookings sold out within a few hours of its release. Fares start from $136,000, by the way. “This shows incredibly positive sentiment about cruising and indicated that travellers are seizing the opportunity to take 139 days from their normal life to see the world in luxury,” said Silversea APAC MD Adam Radwanski.

It doesn’t seem likely there will be many bargains in the luxury cruise sector anytime soon – as Odell pointed out, FOMO (fear of missing out) is one of the factors driving this unprecedented demand.