25+
New river cruise vessels launching in 2027
At least 25 new river vessels launch in 2027, most from established lines, per Pavlus Travel & Cruise.
Source · Pavlus Travel & Cruise
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Not An Atlas
By the numbers
The figures behind our reporting, each one published by someone accountable for it and linked to the source. Filter by region or topic, or shuffle and get lost.
18 Dec
Disney Believe first sailings
Sailings from Port Everglades begin for Disney's fourth Wish-class ship, on four- and five-night Bahamas and Caribbean itineraries.
Source · The Walt Disney Company
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85,195
Antarctic visitors who went ashore in 2025–26
Landed passengers rose about 6% even as total visitors fell 4.2% to 113,518. Fewer ships carried more people onto the ice.
Source · IAATO · 2025–26 season
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27,217
Antarctic cruise-only passengers, down from 36,769
Nearly all of last season's decline came from ships that sail past Antarctica without landing anyone, not from interest in going ashore.
Source · IAATO · 2025–26 season
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65.5%
Share of Antarctic landed visits at the top 20 sites
IAATO recorded 3,425 landings across 206 Peninsula sites in 2025–26. The top five alone took about 26.5%.
21
Experts on the team of every Seabourn Antarctic voyage
Seabourn Venture and Seabourn Pursuit run 19 round trips from Ushuaia between November 2026 and March 2027.
Source · Seabourn · 2026–27 season
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100 yrs
MSC's lease on Ocean Cay in the Bahamas
Signed in 2015 to turn a sand-mining site into a private island. A second island, Sandy Cay, opens in 2028.
Source · Wikipedia · Ocean Cay
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6
Explora Journeys ships planned by 2028
The luxury brand has three ships now. Its guests will share MSC's new Sandy Cay island when it opens in 2028.
Source · MSC Group · Sept 2026
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160 ft
Height of MSC World Atlantic's Cliffhanger swing
The ship floated out in Saint-Nazaire and sails 7- and 14-night Caribbean voyages from Port Canaveral from November 2027.
Source · MSC Cruises
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32
Solo Verandah cabins on the refitted Zuiderdam
Zuiderdam brings Holland America's Evolution refit to Canada & New England for the first time in 2028, with 32 solo balcony cabins and two new Bridgeview Suites.
4 ships
Royal Caribbean ships in Alaska in summer 2028
Anthem, Ovation, Serenade and Voyager of the Seas sail 7-night Alaska cruises from Seattle, Seward and Vancouver, from April to September 2028.
63
Cabins on the Bella Desgagnés, with 160 berths
Every cabin has a private bathroom and two are adapted for reduced mobility, according to Québec maritime.
Source · Québec maritime
$7.6B
Carnival Corp. customer deposits, end of Q3 2026
A record, up $0.5 billion on the prior year despite flat capacity growth, the company says.
Source · Carnival Corporation
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£488
Saga ocean per diem booked for 2027/28
Up 11.4% on the prior year, with the 2027/28 season 55% sold (up 3 percentage points) as of the interim results.
Source · Saga plc
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200
Maximum passengers on ships in Svalbard's protected areas
In force since 1 January 2025. Larger ships can no longer enter the national parks and nature reserves.
Source · Governor of Svalbard
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26,491
HX citizen science entries, 2026 Arctic season
Guest contributions across nine research programmes over 31 Arctic sailings, HX's largest-ever science data collection, according to the company.
Source · HX Expeditions
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40%
Ponant UK & Ireland sourcing growth, year on year
Reported by Seatrade Cruise News when the Aviate partnership was announced, alongside UK brand awareness of 5%.
Source · Seatrade Cruise News
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38%
Not Just Travel cruise sales growth in Cruise Month
Against 9% growth for the business overall; cruise rose to 23% of sales from 18% a year earlier.
74%
Beyond Cruising cruise bookings, Aug–Sep, year on year
USAirtours' cruise sister brand; USAirtours revenue overall rose 60% in its best-ever August and September.
332
VIVA Cruises 2028 departures
Across seven vessels on the Rhine, Danube, Douro, Dutch waterways and more; on sale from 15 October 2026.
86 days
St. Roch's 1944 east-to-west Northwest Passage transit
The RCMP schooner, launched in 1928, became the first vessel to cross the Passage in both directions. Its centenary sails in September 2028.
Source · The Canadian Encyclopedia
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6,764
MSC World Asia maximum guest capacity
Up to 6,764 guests in 2,614 cabins on MSC's third World Class ship, 216,638 GT; first guests board in Barcelona on 4 December 2026.
Source · Cruise Hive
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