{"id":4974,"date":"2024-05-29T12:29:56","date_gmt":"2024-05-29T12:29:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/29\/why-it-seems-like-everyone-you-know-is-going-on-a-cruise\/"},"modified":"2024-05-29T12:29:56","modified_gmt":"2024-05-29T12:29:56","slug":"why-it-seems-like-everyone-you-know-is-going-on-a-cruise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/29\/why-it-seems-like-everyone-you-know-is-going-on-a-cruise\/","title":{"rendered":"Why it seems like everyone you know is going on a cruise"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad<\/strong>Lots of people will be getting their sea legs this summer.<\/p>\n

Ports have been packed with cruise ships over the last few years, as vacationers flock to ever larger vessels and operators race to accommodate a surge in post-pandemic bookings \u2014 many of them from first-time passengers. The industry expects even more this year.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Benjamin Xiang, a San Francisco-based flight attendant, went on his first cruise last August, setting aside his reservations about \u201ccruise people\u201d and a type of trip he\u2019d imagined would be \u201cnot my travel style.\u201d<\/p>\n

Benjamin Xiang took a Virgin Voyages cruise last year on a ship with an infinity mirror room.<\/span>Benji Xiang<\/span><\/p>\n

Taking advantage of a Virgin Voyages promotion that let him use credit card points to cover the $2,500 bill, Xiang booked a weeklong, all-inclusive, adults-only cruise from Barcelona, with stops at Mallorca, Ibiza and along the French Riviera.\u201cI invited my best friend, we prepaid a $600 bar tab, and we were like, \u2018We\u2019ll just hang by the pool, read a book or something,\u2019\u201d said Xiang, 35. \u201cTurned out we partied every single night and had a blast.\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019s among the many cruise newbies who\u2019ve helped power the industry\u2019s recent growth. Some 27% of cruise passengers over the past two years have been first-timers, up 12% from the prior two-year period, according to the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), a trade group.<\/p>\n

\n

Turned out we partied every single night and had a blast.<\/p>\n

Benjamin Xiang, 35, San Francisco<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cWill I go back? I think yes,\u201d Xiang said. \u201cWill I pay this time? Yes.\u201dThat\u2019s exactly what cruise operators are hoping for, and so far they\u2019re getting it: 82% of all cruisers say they\u2019ll book again, CLIA\u2019s latest report found.<\/p>\n

After welcoming 31.7 million passengers last year, 7% more than in 2019, the industry expects volumes to swell to 34.7 million by the end of 2024. Experts say a combination of newcomers, repeat bookers and younger travelers are powering the uptick.<\/p>\n

Like Xiang, many first-time cruisers are groups of friends traveling together, said Jennifer Klaussen, who owns Sundari Travel in Malibu, California.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce they get on a cruise and realize it\u2019s not what they thought it would be, they\u2019re usually interested in future cruises and diverse destinations,\u201d she said, adding that newer operators have managed to \u201creduce the stigma associated with cruising \u2014 that it\u2019s only for the elderly.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

This post appeared first on NBC NEWS<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00ad\u00ad\u00adLots of people will be getting their sea legs this summer. Ports have been packed with cruise ships over the last few years, as vacationers flock to ever larger vessels and operators race to accommodate a surge in post-pandemic bookings \u2014 many of them from first-time passengers. The industry expects even more this year. Benjamin […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":4975,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4974","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4974","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4974"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4974\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4975"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4974"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4974"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4974"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}