U.S. Department of Transportation Office of Public Affairs Washington, D.C. www.dot.gov/affairs/briefing.htm

MARAD 11-06	Contact: Shannon Russell
Wednesday, October 18, 2006	Tel.: (202) 366-5807

Maritime Administration Figures Show Continued High Occupancy Rates for North American Cruises, New Cruise Ports Emerging.

During the second quarter of 2006, occupancy rates on North American cruises rose to 112 percent, the highest second quarter occupancy over the last four years, according to figures released by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration report, “North American Cruises” (Table 1).[1]

The report found that 15.7 million passenger nights were booked on North American cruises, up two percent from the same period a year earlier. About 2.4 million passengers were carried on 1,065 cruises by the 17 largest cruise lines. Growth figures (year to year) were lower than in recent years, due in part to a lull in new ship deployments.

“The cruise ship industry is one of the fastest growing marine transportation sectors in the world and is very important to the American economy,” said Maritime Administrator Sean T. Connaughton.

The report also found that the North American cruise market is highly concentrated, with three companies, Carnival, Royal Caribbean and the Star Group, accounting for 96 percent of the North American passenger nights (Table 2). By itself, Carnival accounted for seven brands and 53 percent of the passenger nights.

The top five departure ports in terms of passengers accounted for 55 percent of the North American departures during the second quarter of 2006, down from 60 percent four years earlier (Table 3). The cruise lines have been expanding the number of home ports for their fleets, thus reducing the cost of cruising by eliminating air fares to major cruise ports. Cape Liberty, Houston, Mobile and Jacksonville have emerged as formidable cruise ports.

The significant seasonal variation in cruise departures from Florida ports reflects the repositioning of cruise vessels to/from Alaska trades (Table 4). Departures from Miami and Fort Lauderdale declined by 336,000 passengers from the first to second quarter of 2006, while departures from Seattle, Vancouver, Whittier and Seward increased by a combined 337,000 passengers over the same period.

-more-

Table 1. North American Cruise Statistics, 2003-2006*
(Capacity and Traffic in Millions)
	Vessels		Capacity^		Traffic		Occupancy (%)
Year/Quarter	No.	Cruises	Passengers	Pass. Nights	Passengers	Pass. Nights	Passengers	Pass. Nights
2003	101	4,094	7.88	51.31	8.35	53.53	106	104
1	86	1,036	1.95	12.82	2.03	13.15	104	103
2	87	979	1.89	12.27	2.01	12.78	106	104
3	79	1,021	2.00	12.49	2.18	13.44	109	108
4	94	1,058	2.03	13.73	2.13	14.16	105	103
2004	112	4,465	8.72	58.00	9.42	61.63	108	106
1	99	1,173	2.20	14.93	2.31	15.41	105	103
2	95	1,068	2.11	13.74	2.32	14.83	110	108
3	87	1,097	2.18	13.90	2.44	15.31	112	110
4	107	1,127	2.23	15.43	2.36	16.07	106	104
2005	114	4,463	8.89	59.04	9.75	63.73	110	108
1	102	1,209	2.35	15.84	2.54	16.92	108	107
2	101	1,096	2.18	14.19	2.41	15.41	110	109
3	84	1,063	2.16	13.72	2.42	15.22	112	111
4	100	1,095	2.20	15.29	2.37	16.18	108	106
2006 (ytd)	107	2,180	4.42	29.41	4.86	31.71	110	108
1	99	1,118	2.24	15.10	2.42	16.01	108	106
2	98	1,065	2.18	14.31	2.44	15.70	112	110
Source: Maritime Administration.
*The Cruise statistics cover seventeen major cruise lines that offer North American cruises with a U.S. Port of call.
^ Capacity is based on 2 passengers per stateroom.

Table 2. North American Cruise Passenger Nights by Cruise Line, 2003 – 2006*
(Passenger Nights in Millions)
	2003				2004				2005				2006
Corp./Cruise Line	1	2	3	4	1	2	3	4	1	2	3	4	1	2
Carnival Corporation	6.44	6.46	7.08	6.94	7.67	7.85	7.99	8.13	8.68	8.12	7.85	8.05	8.12	8.37
Carnival Cruise	3.64	3.95	4.35	4.03	4.21	4.46	4.44	4.17	4.49	4.68	4.42	4.15	4.09	4.78
Costa Cruise	0.33	0.08	0.00	0.18	0.38	0.09	0.00	0.15	0.51	0.11	0.00	0.25	0.49	0.20
Cunard Line	0.00	0.09	0.08	0.07	0.30	0.17	0.12	0.22	0.23	0.17	0.22	0.18	0.22	0.15
Holland America	0.97	1.13	1.26	1.14	1.27	1.28	1.33	1.22	1.25	1.20	1.27	1.19	1.24	1.34
Princess Cruises	1.46	1.21	1.40	1.48	1.45	1.86	2.09	2.34	2.17	1.95	1.94	2.26	2.05	1.89
Seabourn Cruise	0.02	0.00	0.00	0.02	0.03	0.00	0.01	0.02	0.03	0.00	0.01	0.02	0.02	0.01
Windstar Cruises	0.03	0.01	0.00	0.02	0.03	0.00	0.00	0.02	0.01	0.01	0.00	0.00	0.01	0.00
Royal Caribbean	4.55	4.31	4.34	5.10	5.43	4.93	5.01	5.42	5.63	4.85	4.69	5.46	5.26	4.88
Celebrity Cruise	1.25	1.25	1.13	1.35	1.42	1.15	1.10	1.39	1.34	1.12	0.92	1.29	1.14	0.94
Royal Caribbean.	3.30	3.06	3.21	3.75	4.01	3.78	3.91	4.04	4.29	3.73	3.77	4.18	4.12	3.94
Star Group	1.46	1.35	1.37	1.43	1.46	1.32	1.62	1.69	1.59	1.74	2.00	1.86	1.72	1.80
Norwegian Cruise	1.46	1.35	1.37	1.43	1.46	1.32	1.62	1.69	1.59	1.74	2.00	1.86	1.72	1.80
Other	0.70	0.66	0.65	0.69	0.85	0.73	0.68	0.82	1.03	0.70	0.67	0.80	0.91	0.64
Crystal Cruises	0.06	0.07	0.08	0.12	0.10	0.05	0.09	0.15	0.11	0.06	0.09	0.13	0.07	0.02
Disney Cruise	0.46	0.48	0.45	0.45	0.46	0.48	0.46	0.44	0.48	0.48	0.48	0.44	0.46	0.48
MSC Italian Cruises	0.09	0.02	0.00	0.00	0.12	0.09	0.00	0.09	0.25	0.07	0.00	0.06	0.23	0.05
Oceania Cruises	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.03	0.05	0.00	0.00	0.03	0.06	0.00	0.00	0.03	0.05	0.00
Regent Seven Seas^	0.06	0.09	0.10	0.06	0.09	0.09	0.10	0.09	0.09	0.09	0.08	0.10	0.06	0.07
Seadream Yacht	0.01	0.00	0.00	0.01	0.01	0.00	0.00	0.01	0.01	0.00	0.00	0.01	0.01	0.00
Silversea Cruises	0.01	0.01	0.01	0.02	0.02	0.01	0.04	0.02	0.03	0.00	0.01	0.03	0.03	0.02
All Cruise Lines	13.15