Leading Cruise Brands in Q1 2024: A Sensor Tower Analysis

The cruise industry in the United States has experienced notable shifts in the first quarter of 2024. Sensor Tower's comprehensive data provides a deep dive into the digital performance of leading brands in the Cruises & Cruise Services category. This article explores the trends for Carnival Cruise Line, Royal Caribbean, and Norwegian Cruise Line.

Carnival Cruise Line

Carnival Cruise Line, renowned for offering fun-filled, value-centric cruise vacations, has maintained a strong digital presence through its website carnival.com and the Carnival HUB app.

• Audience Trends:

  • Carnival.com saw a significant increase in visits, reaching over 65M in March 2024, a clear rise from the 27M in October 2023.

  • The monthly true audience remained stable above 3.8M throughout Q1 2024.

• App Engagement:

  • The Carnival HUB app's monthly active users peaked at over 840K in February, before slightly decreasing to around 750K in March.

• Ad Spend & Channels:

  • Monthly ad spend varied, peaking at over $4M in December 2023. Impressions were highest in January 2024, exceeding 236M.

  • OTT (Over-the-top) and Facebook were dominant channels, with significant impressions.

Royal Caribbean

Royal Caribbean, celebrated for its innovative ships and diverse itineraries, leverages its website royalcaribbean.com and the Royal Caribbean International app.

• Audience Trends:

  • Visits to royalcaribbean.com showed growth, rising to over 32M in January 2024 from around 16M in October 2023.

  • Monthly true audience numbers were stable, hovering above 3.2M in March 2024.

• App Engagement:

  • The app maintained over 1.3M monthly active users in March 2024, reflecting a steady increase from the previous months.

• Ad Spend & Channels:

  • Monthly ad spend was highest in March 2024, at over $3.1M, with impressions peaking above 265M.

  • Channels like OTT and Facebook continued to dominate the ad landscape.

Norwegian Cruise Line

Norwegian Cruise Line, known for its "Freestyle Cruising" concept, leverages its website ncl.com and the Cruise Norwegian - NCL app.

• Audience Trends:

  • Ncl.com experienced a notable increase in visits, reaching over 16M in March 2024.

  • Monthly true audience numbers surged to nearly 2.4M in March 2024, up from 1.4M in October 2023.

• App Engagement:

  • Monthly active users on the Cruise Norwegian app rose steadily, surpassing 419K in March 2024.

• Ad Spend & Channels:

  • Monthly ad spend peaked at over $3.1M in January 2024, with impressions reaching 229M.

  • Desktop video and Facebook were key channels, delivering substantial impressions.

Conclusion

The Q1 2024 data underscores the robust digital engagement of leading cruise brands. Sensor Tower's unparalleled data offerings, including Web Insights, App Performance Insights, and Pathmatics, provide critical insights into cross-platform user behavior. These insights are invaluable for understanding the dynamics of the cruise industry's digital landscape, offering unique advantages for decision-makers seeking to navigate and capitalize on these trends.