Have you ever wondered how many cruise ships there are?
Or how many of each cruise line?
While the number of cruise ships in the world varies year to year as old ships are scrapped and new ones are launched, we have worked out the current total with a full breakdown for each cruise line in the table below.
How Many Cruise Ships Are There?
In the table below, we have listed all known cruise lines with the number of ships in the fleet and a total passenger capacity per cruise line.
| Cruise Line | Number of Ships | Total Capacity |
|---|---|---|
| Royal Caribbean | 26 | 112,993 |
| Carnival | 24 | 75,384 |
| MSC Cruises | 21 | 85,452 |
| Norwegian Cruise Line | 18 | 53,634 |
| Princess Cruises | 15 | 47,950 |
| Celebrity Cruises | 15 | 32,377 |
| Hurtigruten | 14 | 9395 |
| Ponant / Paul Gauguin | 13 | 2625 |
| AIDA | 12 | 38,572 |
| Costa Cruises | 12 | 37,019 |
| Holland America | 11 | 39,577 |
| Silversea Cruises | 11 | 4438 |
| Lindblad Expeditions | 10 | 970 |
| Viking Cruises (Ocean) | 7 | 6510 |
| P&O Cruises | 6 | 20,385 |
| TUI Cruises | 6 | 15,862 |
| Oceania Cruises | 6 | 5798 |
| Seabourn Cruise Line | 6 | 2875 |
| Windstar Cruises | 6 | 1514 |
| Quark Expeditions | 6 | 967 |
| Disney | 5 | 17,400 |
| Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines | 5 | 5099 |
| Regent Seven Seas | 5 | 3475 |
| Hapag Lloyd | 5 | 1641 |
| American Cruise Lines | 5 | 651 |
| Marella Cruise | 4 | 7404 |
| Phoenix Reisen | 4 | 3239 |
| Azamara | 4 | 2983 |
| Saga Cruises | 4 | 2382 |
| P&O Australia | 3 | 7198 |
| Cunard | 3 | 6868 |
| Virgin Voyages | 2 | 5400 |
| Celestyal Cruises | 2 | 3097 |
| Margaritaville at Sea | 2 | 2804 |
| Sea Dream Yacht Club | 2 | 224 |
| Voyages to Antiquity | 1 | 380 |
| Hebridean Island Cruises | 1 | 60 |
| Totals | 302 | 664,602 |
Paul Gauguin Cruise line, one single ship, was purchased by Compagnie du Ponant in 2019 and is counted as part of the Ponant fleet.
Ship Capacities are a guide. The majority were taken as the maximum number of passengers on board, but some figures included double occupancy figures, which are slightly lower.
Passenger capacity numbers may vary between maximum number of passengers and double occupancy capacities so should only be treated as estimate.
How Many Carnival Cruise Ships Are There?
There are 24 Carnival Cruise ships under the Carnival brand as of early 2023. However, the parent company Carnival Corporation & plc owns several other cruise line brands, for a total of 86 cruise ships.
This makes Carnival Cruise the world’s largest cruise line operator.
The number of Carnival Corporation & plc cruises ships by brand:
- AIDA (12)
- Carnival Cruise Line (24)
- Costa Cruises (12)
- Cunard Line (3)
- Holland America (11)
- P&O Cruises (6)
- P&O Cruises Australia (3)
- Princess (15)
Total = 86
How Many Royal Caribbean Cruise Ships Are There?
As of 2022, there are 26 Royal Caribbean cruise ships in the current fleet. However, the parent company Royal Caribbean Group owns three smaller cruise lines for a total of making it the second largest cruise line operator.
Royal Caribbean Group Cruise lines 2022:
- Royal Caribbean Internationa (26)
- Celebrity Cruises (15)
- Silversea Cruises (11)
Total = 52
Royal Caribbean Group also has a 50% stake in TUI Cruises which currently has 6 ships in its fleet.
How Many Norwegian Cruise Ships Are There?
There are 18 cruise ships in the current fleet of the Norwegian Cruise line in 2022. NCL is owned by its parent, the company Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, which also owns two other cruise lines and, in total, runs 29 cruise ships across the three brands.
The Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Cruise brands are:
- Norwegian Cruise Line (18)
- Oceania Cruises (6)
- Regent Seven Seas (5)
Total 29
How Many Cruise Lines are There In the World?
As of early 2023 there are at least 37 cruise line companies, but smaller lesser known ones may also exist.
Royal Caribbean is the largest cruise lines in terms of number of cruises ships with a total of 26 ships and a combined passenger capacity of 112,993.
Cruise Lines Gone Bust or Ships Scrapped
2022 was not a great year for the number of cruise ships, with 3 cruise lines going under.
Star Cruises and Dream Cruises were owned by Genting Hong Kong, which went bankrupt early in 2022 and a number of the ships were sold for scrap.
Crystal Cruises went insolvent in 2022, and 2 cruise ships were brought by A&K Travel Group which intends to relaunch them in 2023.
The other way cruise ship numbers can change is if a cruise ship sinks or capsizes. Thankfully no cruise ships have sunk for a number of years.
How Many Cruise Ship Passengers Are There?
Across the 37 cruise lines we a total of 664,602 passengers could be carried at any one time if all 302 cruise ships were filled to capactity.
