If there was ever a sign that cruising is well on its way to recovery, it’s this: Carnival Cruise Line just recorded its busiest booking week in company history.

During the one-week period of March 28-April 3, the cruise line recorded a double-digit increase from the previous record seven-day booking total.

Carnival Cruise Line currently has 22 of its 23 ships back in operations across all its year-round U.S. homeports, leading the industry in terms of restart and customer demand. Its final ship, Carnival Splendor, will return to service from Seattle on May 2.

This November, Carnival will also welcome its newest ship, Carnival Celebration, to PortMiami. By year-end 2022, the cruise line will have more capacity sailing (as measured by ALBDs, available lower berth days) than it was sailing in 2019. Finally, in 2023, Carnival will put into service another new Excel-class ship, Carnival Jubilee, from Galveston.

“The excitement of the industry’s restart, our successful return of our entire fleet, the guest reaction to Mardi Gras, our loyal guest response to our 50th birthday this year, the support of our travel advisor partners — and of course, the amazing work of our Carnival team — have all contributed to the strong demand we are seeing, and this record-breaking booking week,” said Christine Duffy, president of Carnival Cruise Line.

Duffy added that all sales channels, including Carnival.com, travel advisors, the Carnival guest contact center and personal vacation planners all contributed to the record-breaking results. With the restart of cruising in Australia now set, Carnival is finalizing plans for its return in Australia and will be announcing those details soon.

Source: Travelweek