Oceania Cruises reports biggest booking day on record

Oceania Cruises has reported its biggest booking day on record, surpassing the previous best 24 hour-period set earlier this year by almost 60%.

Eighteen voyages – running from April to November 2023 – opened for sale on September 15 at 9am ET and 90 minutes later booking levels had surpassed the line’s former record set in March this year.

The line said all the bookings were new, and none included Future Cruise Credit. According to the line, sales were driven by the introduction of new 1,200-passenger ship Vista, due to launch in April 2023.

Nearly half of the inventory of Vista’s debut season was sold on the opening day with 30% of all bookings coming from new-to-brand guests. The British Isles and Canada, the Mediterranean, Holy Lands and Panama Canal were the most in-demand destinations.

Oceania said: “Virtually all of the top-tier Owner’s, Oceania, and Vista suites along with the newly introduced solo concierge veranda staterooms are sold out for the inaugural season.”

President and chief executive Bob Binder said: “The tremendous wave of bookings we saw on the day we opened sales for Vista underscores the extraordinary demand for our acclaimed small ship, destination focused vacations.

“We are seeing exceptional demand from both our loyal Oceania Club repeaters and new-to-brand guests who are attracted to Vista’s new restaurants and culinary concepts, staterooms and suites, and unique itineraries that present the destinations from a new perspective.”