- Dublin Port hosted World Voyager to end 2026 cruise season
- Port of Cork will host three cruise liners
- Cruises contribute more than €17m to Cork economy
- 37.2m passengers on cruise ships last year
- CLIA forecasts more than 42m passengers by end of decade
Dublin Port has hosted Atlas Ocean Voyages’ World Voyager, which wrapped up a ten-night cruise from Reykjavik. The ship’s arrival marked the end of Dublin’s 2026 cruise ship season. The Port of Cork will host three cruise liners in the coming days.
Cruises contribute more than €17m to the Cork local economy. Cruise Lines International Association recorded 37.2m passengers on ocean-going cruise ships last year. This is a more than 25pc increase on pre-pandemic numbers in 2019. There were 327 cruise liners on the seas this year, 17 more than in 2025 and around 57 more than in 2019.
The industry fleet had just over 690,000 lower berths this year, up more than 6pc in a single year. The figure is roughly 140,000 more than the pre-COVID number, a 28pc increase. The CLIA forecasts more than 38m ocean-going passengers this year and more than 42m by the end of the decade. The average passenger last year was 46.7 years old. The United States accounted for 55pc of all global cruise-goers last year.
