Eight in 10 luxury cruisers plan to take a holiday on water next year, although the majority will wait until they’ve had a Covid vaccination before stepping aboard.
The findings were revealed in research carried out among cruise retailer Mundy Cruising’s new Cruise Expert Panel, launched last month.
Just under half (47%) of the survey respondents said that they would only cruise once they had been vaccinated and the majority of the population had been vaccinated, while a further 39% said they would cruise once they had been vaccinated, even if the majority of the population had not.
A bullish 9% said that a vaccine made no difference and they would get on a cruise ship tomorrow if they could, while 3% said they would cruise without being vaccinated, provided that the majority of the population had already had the jab.
In terms of timescales, 30% of respondents expect to cruise again in the second quarter of 2021, while 22% have their sights set on the third quarter and 18% expect to be back on board between October and December 2021.
An April restart matches up with what most cruise lines are currently planning for, though 11% of the panel believe they will be back on board even sooner than that.
Mundy Cruising Managing Director Edwina Lonsdale said: "The overriding sentiment is one of cautious optimism regarding the resumption of cruising in 2021."
