Royal Caribbean ‘actively considering’ home-porting in Ireland as cruise market grows 4pc

Aaron Langford speking to the Irish travel trade at Powerscourt Hotel

Royal Caribbean is forecastsing continued growth in the Irish cruise market. The line reported that the market expanded 20pc since 2019, equating to roughly 4pc compound annual growth.

Aaron Langford, Royal Caribbean’s sales director in London, expects moderate single-digit increases over the next 12 months but stated the true potential lies in double-digit growth once key barriers are removed.

Mr Langford told the 2025 Worldchoice conference at Johnstown Estate in County Meath that air access remains the largest obstacle to faster expansion.

The company increased flight allocations from Belfast and plans further investment in air programmes.

He confirmed that homeporting in Ireland stays under active review after Celebrity Cruises’ successful seasons from Dublin, which revealed a strong mix of local passengers and North American fly-cruise passengers.

The line unveiled multiple trade-support initiatives for 2026. Agents will receive invitations t o experience Legend of the Seas when the ship arrives in Europe in August. Royal Caribbean will expand ship familiarisation trips to Barcelona and introduce full virtual-reality ship tours using technology from its Miami design cave. A new AI-enhanced version of the Royal Genie sales tool will offer personalised closing recommendations and objection-handling support for frontline staff.

Further plans include Caribbean fam trips focused on private destinations, the launch of an Irish-market podcast series, the return of in-person agent events, and on-request in-store takeovers featuring VR headsets and exclusive offers. Langford described Royal Caribbean as evolving into a full holiday company rather than solely a cruise line.

He told agents that the cruise line was considering introducing shorter three- and four-night cruises from Barcelona, similar to those operated from Miami by Icon of the Seas, as it represents a realistic future opportunity for the Irish market, while deployment decisions continue to be driven by consumer research showing demand for unique experiences over traditional port-intensive itineraries.

Mr Lngford shared “Homeporting in Ireland is always on the table, we’re also lucky because we have such a flexible deployment model. I think the potential is double digit growth. We’re not just a cruise line, we are a holiday company and we’re starting to build these things.”