Hawaii is Number 5 on Top Cruise Destinations List

Hawaii is continuing to gain popularity as a cruise destination. The islands moved up once again on the top cruise destinations list, placing at number 5 this year. While this still pales in comparison to what Europe and the Caribbean book, it is great news for Hawaii and its economy.

Hawaii ranks fifth among early 2012 bookings with 2.78 percent of cruise-goers booking Hawaii for 2012, according to the Cruise Holidays 2012 Cruise Trends survey released Wednesday. That’s an improvement over a seventh-place ranking in 2011 and a No. 8 ranking in 2010.

Europe and the Caribbean are of course still way ahead of the rest of the pack. The numbers break down like this:

• Caribbean – 59.88%
• Europe – 11.47%
• Alaska – 6.7%
• Bermuda – 4.7%
• Hawaii – 2.78%

The rest of the top ten follows like this:

Panama Canal, 2.48 percent; Mexican Riviera, 2.26 percent; trans-Atlantic, 2.03 percent; Canada/New England, 2.0 percent; and South Pacific, 1.52 percent.

Survey results are based on actual bookings from Cruise Holidays’ booking system as well as from a supplementary opinion survey taken between Dec. 21 and Jan. 4 by 118 Cruise Holidays owners and agents. The bookings include any staterooms booked by Cruise Holidays from Jan. 1 to Dec. 21, 2011, for any cruises scheduled to begin in 2012.

It is good that Hawaii is gaining more popularity as a cruise destination, as this brings more money into our economy. With the new Disney themed cruise ship coming through here as well, it should help Hawaii become even more popular as a cruise destination in the years to come.