Cruise industry in the United States - statistics & facts
The United States’ cruise industry is one of the most varied in the world, offering trips for all types of travelers. The country’s rich variety of coastal regions and its proximity to popular destinations play an important role in making the U.S. the leading global cruise market. Passengers traveling from Florida – home to the two busiest cruise ports worldwide – Texas, and New York, can easily reach the sunny shores of the Caribbean, the Bahamas, and Bermuda, the most visited cruise destinations in the world. Meanwhile, ships sailing from California and Washington offer voyages to Mexico and Alaska, two other key hubs for cruise tourism.
How many cruise passengers travel from the U.S. every year?
In 2025, U.S. travelers accounted for over half of all cruise passengers worldwide, highlighting how crucial this market is for the global cruise industry. That year, the number of cruise passengers sourced from the U.S. exceeded 20 million, the highest figure reported to date. As the volume of cruise goers reached an all-time high in 2025, so did the cruise industry’s revenue in the United States, amounting to over 27 billion U.S. dollars. This figure was forecast to reach 39 billion U.S. dollars by 2030.
What are the leading U.S. cruise companies?
Given the importance of the U.S. market, it comes as no surprise that three of the biggest cruise operators worldwide, Carnival Corporation & plc, Royal Caribbean Cruises, and Norwegian Cruise Line, are headquartered in the United States. In 2025, Carnival Corporation’s total revenue peaked at 26.6 billion U.S. dollars. Although this was the highest figure in the global cruise market that year, Royal Caribbean’s net income was higher than that of its competitors. Meanwhile, Condé Nast Traveler’s global survey crowned two U.S. companies, Disney Cruise Line and Holland America Line, as the best-rated large-ship cruise lines in 2025.
While the volume of passengers and revenue of the leading cruise lines reached new heights in 2025, the outlook for 2026 is more cautious due to the impact of the U.S.-Israel war with Iran on global travel. Although the Middle East and Eastern Mediterranean are not among the leading destinations for U.S. cruise passengers, an overall increase in travel costs, as well as disruptions to navigation routes, could still pose challenges in the coming months.
