Cruise bookings are so hot that some lines are running out of inventory

02.10.2023 - 16:09 / thepointsguy.com / Cruise Line / Josh Weinstein / Cunard Line

You're not alone if you've been having trouble finding the cabin you want on a cruise ship.

Strong demand for cruises this year has resulted in cabins filling up faster than they have in years, with some ships now heavily booked not just for the rest of 2023 but well into 2024.

"We're now significantly ahead of the same time last year by about 10 [percentage] points, and well ahead of where we were in 2019," Carnival Corporation president and CEO Josh Weinstein said Friday when discussing advance bookings for 2024 on a conference call with Wall Street analysts.

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Weinstein said Carnival Corporation — the parent company of nine of the world's biggest cruise lines — had less cabin inventory to sell for the year ahead than at this same time last year despite a 5% increase in capacity due to the arrival of new ships.

Carnival Corporation is the parent company of Carnival Cruise Line, Princess Cruises and Cunard Line, each of which is adding a major new vessel to its fleet over the next few months. The three vessels will be able to hold more than 15,000 passengers with every berth filled.

"Our booked position is as far out as we've ever seen it," Weinstein added.

The heavily booked position for the company's ships for the coming months comes after three straight quarters of stunning booking levels that many cruise industry watchers attribute to pent-up demand for cruises in the wake of the industry's long COVID-19-related shutdown.

Related: How to pick the perfect cruise line for you

During Friday's call with Wall Street analysts, Weinstein noted that wave season — the traditionally strong cruise booking period at the start of every year — just never ended this year. It usually only lasts from January into February and sometimes into March.

"Wave was the longest wave in history," Weinstein said. "And I'm not sure when we're ever going to call it because we broke the record in Q1. We then broke that record in Q2, which never happens. We just hit a record in Q3. And when you look at the first four weeks of September, actually, we're up very nicely as well."

The bookings have been so strong that some Wall Street analysts are starting to pencil in a slowdown in cruise bookings in the coming months due to nothing more than a lack of inventory — a possibility that Weinstein acknowledged during the call.

"The only slowdown we see is as we're running out of inventory, it has to slow down," he said.

Weinstein's commentary echoed comments by Royal Caribbean Group president and CEO Jason Liberty during a conference call with Wall Street analysts in July.

"Booking volume since our last earnings call have continued to accelerate, both for