Cruise lines desperately need Gen Z to fill their new megaships — and are betting on free WiFi, pickleball, and yoga to do it

• The global cruise fleet is rapidly expanding both in size and number.
• The industry estimates it needs to attract 4 million new customers to keep up with capacity growth.

Before Royal Caribbean's Icon of the Seas left the shipyard in Finland, the world's largest cruise ship was built on Fortnite.

The candy-colored "Hide 'N' Sea" game allowed players to explore the ship digitally and "capitalize on the fact that Fortnite is a huge platform and lends itself to a younger generation," Royal Caribbean International's Chief Marketing Officer, Kara Wallace, told Insider in April.

The seemingly left-field video game installation is just one example of the cruise industry's aggressive courting of younger generations, as brands push back on cruising's reputation as a "corny" vacation for retirees once and for all.

From designing adults-only cruise lines to listing ships for $10 million on Zillow, the industry has gone all-in on marketing toward Gen Z and Millennial travelers — and for good reason.

In order to keep up with projected capacity forecasts, the industry needs to convince 4 million people to take their first cruise by 2025, according to the trade organization CLIA. Over the next five years, cruise capacity is expected to increase by anywhere between 19% and 43%.

That's because cruise lines are adding new ships faster than they're retiring older vessels. The global cruise fleet is expected to grow by an additional 6o ships over the next five years, Cruise Industry News reported.

And those new ships are only getting bigger. Royal Caribbean just finished building what will be the world's largest cruise ship, the Icon of the Seas. The massive vessel can carry up to 7,600 passengers and 2,350 crew members — five times the size of the Titanic.

Today, the average age of a cruise passenger is 46-and-a-half years old — only slightly younger than four years ago, CLIA data shows. Approximately 65% of cruise passengers are over 40-years-old and around one-third are over 60, according to the trade group. Meanwhile, 20% of passengers are in their twenties or thirties and 15% are 19-years-old or younger.

That doesn't mean Millennials are completely ruling cruises out. In fact, the generation is demonstrating more interest in taking their first cruise than ever before, CLIA says. In a survey administered by the trade group, 77% percent of Millennial travelers who have never gone on a cruise before said they would consider a cruise vacation, and 88% of Millenials who have cruised before say they plan to cruise again.

According to Wallace, Royal Caribbean International is "seeing an increase in both Gen Z and Millennials,"

"Our average age of cruising is getting younger, and it's really driven by those two generations," she told Insider.

Millennial social media influencers the Beeston's took a week-long Royal Caribbean cruise last month for a 30th birthday celebration. The group's itinerary was action-packed with onboard and onshore activities like a pickleball tournament, surfing competition, and horseback riding — highlighting the different ways cruise ships are evolving for a younger, more active crowd.

Virgin Voyages, an adults-only cruise line that launched in 2021, specifically caters to Millennial travelers with wellness-focused amenities like outdoor yoga studios and vegetarian restaurants and entertainment options like live DJs and drag shows. Perhaps most important for the Instagram generation: there's free WiFi.

Cruising's rise in popularity among Millenials has less to do with video game marketing campaigns and more to do with the relative affordability and convenience of cruising, according to travel consultant Sonia Bhagwan, especially as hotel and airfare costs rise.

"Bucket list travel is a huge trend this year and cruising provides a way to visit multiple destinations yet only having to pack once," she said. "Basically, for the same cost, people can visit three to five destinations with the convenience of an all-inclusive vacation."

Cruising's resurgence from pandemic ground-zero to record-breaking bookings hasn't been without challenges, including norovirus outbreaks, man-overboard incidents, overbooked ships, and large crowds — on top of steady pushback from environmentalists and some port towns.

But the only concerns Bhagwan is fielding from clients "are related to being bored on the ship," she said. "Younger, inexperienced cruisers ask me if there will be enough to do on the ship when they aren't exploring a port."

Do you work on a cruise ship? Have a tip or story to share? Email this reporter from a non-work address at htowey@insider.com