‘Not your parents’ Love Boat’: The buzzy features bringing new passengers to cruise ships

By Natasha Chen, CNN

(CNN) — On Disney’s newest cruise ship, the Treasure, kids ride a slide down to enter a children’s club. While they play and design their own Avengers costumes, adults can grab a cocktail at a bar themed to Disney’s classic ride, the Haunted Mansion. Later in the day, kids, parents and grandparents can meet up at a restaurant intricately themed to Pixar’s “Coco.”

That’s just a snapshot of what cruising looks like today versus a decade ago or more when some industry experts say many would-be cruisers still thought of it as something only grandparents did.

But after the pandemic, there has been a surge in new cruise passengers.

“Everybody wanted to cruise all of a sudden, and the cruise lines were coming up with more and more entertaining equipment, so you could do almost anything at sea. It’s not your parents’ Love Boat anymore,” said Beci Mahnken, president and CEO of MEI-Travel and Mouse Fan Travel. “You have rock climbing walls and ice-skating rinks and princesses, and all kinds of things to do on board ships.”

The race to add bigger and more elaborate features at sea has been intensifying in the years since the first megaship debuted more than three decades ago. Those ever-evolving offerings are paying off.

At her travel agency, Mahnken said she’s seeing demand for cruises at its highest in 25 years. She said there are spaces on large ships that cater to each age demographic, so family members can split up to find their own fun and rejoin each other later for quality family time.

A report by industry group Cruise Lines International Association shows more than 30% of families traveling by cruise go with at least two generations, and 28% of them go with three to five generations.

That intergenerational appeal seems to be helping drive a growing interest in cruise travel.

The report also noted that 27% of passengers in the past two years were first-time cruisers, an increase of 12% compared with the prior two-year period. And there were a total of 31.7 million cruise passengers worldwide in 2023, almost 7% more than the last pre-pandemic year, 2019. The growth comes as the industry focuses simultaneously on reducing its environmental footprint.

“We do know that ‘cruise’ is actually the most powerful segment of the travel space right now. It is growing, whereas other parts of the travel industry are not,” said Kyle Valenta, editor and senior SEO manager at Cruise Critic.

Disney doubles down

It’s no wonder, then, that Disney is betting big on cruises. The Treasure is their sixth ship in the fleet, but the company announced in August an expansion to 13 ships around the world by 2031.

Across the industry, “there’s about 56 new ships on order for the next four years alone,” Valenta said. “So Disney isn’t really doing anything out of the ordinary in general in the cruise business. What is interesting is that Disney has very quickly decided to place a really large bet on diving into ‘cruise’ and owning more of the cruise space.”

Valenta said that is notable, coming from a company that is very cautious and strategic about what it does. He said it signals a confidence in the growth of cruising.

Two of Disney’s upcoming ships will be sailing exclusively in Asia. The Disney Adventure, Disney’s biggest ship yet, will launch in December 2025 out of Singapore, with a capacity for more than 6,000 passengers. In 2029, the Oriental Land Company, which owns Tokyo Disney Resort, will launch a Disney cruise ship out of Japan.

“It’s a smart move, because they already have Hong Kong Disney and Tokyo Disney … and Shanghai Disney,” Mahnken said. “They’re very popular. So to bring the brand over in terms of a cruise ship is again another brilliant move on their part. It’s a good risk.”

Those familiar with the Disney brand know that it involves deeply immersive stories and themes.

On the Treasure, which takes its maiden voyage in December, Disney fans will find the first cruise ship bar themed to a Disney ride: the Haunted Mansion. The lounge has an aquarium with a special effect, so that those walking around it will see “ghost fish” appear and disappear.

Disney told CNN that one of the original Imagineers of the Haunted Mansion attraction wanted to have an effect like that on the ride, but the technology wasn’t available in the 1960s. This effect is an homage to the original design team.

Another upcoming ship, the Disney Destiny, is expected to begin sailing in November 2025 and will be themed to heroes and villains. A new Hercules musical will debut on board.

Thomas Mazloum, president of Disney Signature Experiences, said Disney Cruise Line has the highest guest satisfaction ratings of his entire department, which also includes Disney theme parks, National Geographic expeditions, Aulani Resort in Hawaii and Disney Vacation Club.

Occupancy is high on Disney ships, at 98% across the five existing ships in fiscal year 2024, according to a company fact sheet.

“Forty percent of guests who cruise with us for the first time have told us that the only reason they cruise is because we happen to be in this space,” Mazloum said.

Competition on the high seas

Of course, everyone wants a piece of the same cruise passenger pie.

Bigger players, such as Carnival Corporation, Royal Caribbean Group and Norwegian Cruise Line, have more ships in their fleet than Disney Cruise Line and have been in the business longer.

In January, Royal Caribbean launched “Icon of the Seas,” the largest cruise ship in the world, with the largest ice arena at sea, the largest swimming pool at sea, six slides and the first family raft slides at sea.

Valenta said even non-cruise travelers may have seen it all over the news and social media when it launched, driving interest in cruising in general.

There are some cruise brands that still cater mainly to adults. But whereas cruising in the 1970s was more focused on couples and formal affairs, Mahnken said a cruise vacation now looks more like a theme park at sea.

And instead of relying only on public ports of call, cruise lines are creating their own private destinations by buying private islands just for their passengers to enjoy.

Competition over customers also means more competitive pricing.

She noted the “value perspective: a cruise can cost about anywhere from 15% to 20% less than a land trip, because of all the things [that] are included.”

Mahnken predicts cruising will stay very strong in the coming years because it provides a more cost-efficient option, especially for those wanting to explore different cities and countries, while still having a familiar place to sleep each night.

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