Celebrity Cruises’ Giles Hawke says a sailing is the perfect way to combine overseas travel with big-ticket events
While demand for experience-led holidays and bucket-list-topping destinations is nothing new, events over the past 12 months have made a huge impact on the way we travel, broadening people’s minds to what the holiday experience looks like. Research from Abta, PwC and Deloitte discussed at this month’s Travel Convention all support the continued growth of experiential travel.
A year packed with globally engaging sporting events and concert tours from some of the biggest names in the music industry has firmly cemented a trend for passion-led travel and opened people’s eyes to exploring beyond the standard approach to holidaying. With music fans already making travel plans for events next year, it’s clear nobody is ‘looking back in anger’ at this positive trend.
This is all great news for cruise, as more and more people are considering how they can combine overseas travel with big-ticket events for longer stays, taking in multiple destinations and experiences. What better way to achieve this than with a cruise that can immerse you in the culture of multiple destinations in one sailing.
As well as celebrating sporting and culture moments, this year has brought many people the first opportunity to see the northern lights over UK skies, driving celestial experiences to the top of the bucket list. This has created a ‘miss it, miss out’ mentality, with travellers wanting to ensure they’re present for these once-in-a-lifetime experiences.
‘Event’ travel
It’s brilliant to see cruise lines already getting ahead of this demand and providing opportunities for guests to see the upcoming solar eclipses at sea. For Celebrity Cruises, guests will have the opportunity to witness the 2026 solar eclipse while in La Coruna, Spain, sailing on Celebrity Apex, or in Iceland, sailing on Celebrity Silhouette.
Game-changing ship launches and innovations in world cruise offerings over the past 18 months have led to an increased curiosity in cruise. In addition to dining, entertainment and shore excursion experiences on offer as part of a cruise holiday, the ship has become an experience in itself, increasing demand for longer cruise holiday experiences.
Across the travel industry, generally we’re seeing a tailoring of experiences towards special-interest groups. We see passionate hobbyists looking for elevated experiences and ways to expand their knowledge; those who prioritise wellness in their everyday lives and want to ensure their holiday provides opportunities to rest and restore; and those who want to explore new interest areas and try a variety of experiences on a holiday that they might then choose to pick up when they return.
Customer choice
Broadly, cruises are great for this type of traveller, as they offer something for everyone. The beauty of a cruise is that there will be different people on the same sailing having completely different, personalised holiday experiences, while at the same time, passengers will be bonding over unique passions and shared experiences, strengthening and even making new friendships and treasured memories in the process.
Importantly, guests are looking for choice. They want the ‘have it all holiday’ and they want to choose where to trade up on certain experiences but make savings on other aspects of their trip. Cruise has steadily become much more customisable, across all aspects of the holiday experience. It’s no longer just a choice of drinks package or not; now, guests can pick and choose from so many different types of cruise experience, allowing them to explore and enjoy on their own terms. Longer or shorter sailings, winter or summer sun holidays, fine dining and spa and wellness experiences, free time to roam at leisure in port destinations or fully curated and immersive sightseeing tours – the options are endless.
It’s been an incredibly exciting year for travel across the board and, with 2025 approaching fast, it’s fantastic to see the cruise industry not just meeting demand but helping to set the trends and inspire more personally curated ways to stay at sea.