How The Wellness Boom Transformed The Cruise Industry
On a cloudless morning in Port Canaveral, Florida, last March, my daughter and I skipped up the gangway to board the newest floating city from Royal Caribbean International, the massive, 7,000-plus-passenger cruise ship Icon of the Seas. (Since then, the cruise line has debuted an even newer ship, Utopia of the Seas, launched in July 2024.) We each brought a small rolling suitcase packed with the usual—a few bathing suits, sunscreen, sundresses, and T-shirts. But we also brought piles of workout gear, including running shoes and Polar heart rate monitors, pickleball rackets, gym socks, and tons and tons of leggings. Of course we looked forward to hours of reading and relaxing with a tasty cocktail in hand, but unlike on cruises of the past, we also planned to get our sweat on. The gym on this ship was supposed to be epic.
Fitness and wellness travel is on the rise, according to the Global Wellness Institute, a nonprofit organization that promotes wellness initiatives worldwide. An $650 billion business, wellness travel is projected to grow by almost 20 percent over the next two years, and cruise lines that were once proud bastions of overeating and other forms of excess have gotten the memo.
The Global Wellness Institute divides wellness travelers into two camps: “primary” wellness travelers, whose main motivation for a particular trip is health, and “secondary” wellness travelers, who aren’t laser-focused on this but still want to make healthy decisions throughout their trip.
Over the past decade, companies like Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise Line have been heavily investing in new, state-of-the-art wellness amenities and options, working hard to move away from their earlier “unhealthy” reputations. From pickup basketball and soccer games to upgraded running tracks and pickleball tournaments on ships’ upper “sports” decks, wellness has become a central part of cruise vacations, rather than an afterthought. This is especially true for fitness and dietary options, says Chris Gray Faust, the U.S. executive editor at Cruise Critic, who has been on 102 cruises to date. She notes that these days you can even hire a personal trainer or nutrition coach to advise you for the duration of your cruise.
Floating Fitness
In 2025, many cruise ships are floating wellness havens that rival the fanciest, most expensive, most exclusive gyms. On the Icon and the Utopia, the fitness center is a sparkling ode to luxe seafaring wellness, with rows of brand-new machines, TRX and free weight sections, crisp folded towels, and fresh cucumber water in every corner. There are serene meditation rooms, quiet yoga and Pilates spaces, and rooms full of new spin bikes, from which riders emerge dripping with sweat after tough classes.
Many cruise lines are also experimenting with partnerships with well-known fitness brands, so guests don’t need to miss a single day of their normal home routine. “Virgin has aerial yoga and boxing, for example, while Celebrity has Peloton bikes and Ryde spinning. Princess Cruise Lines has Club Pilates on board,” says Gray Faust.
Perhaps best of all, the shiny treadmills and stationary bikes are parked in front of floor-to-ceiling windows with jaw-dropping 270-degree views of the ocean.
Beyond their cutting-edge machinery, many of these floating gyms have also been promoted to prime floors on the ships, occupying valuable real estate on a desirable, sun-drenched deck instead of being tucked away on a low, dark level next to the medical bay (where they used to be). Translation: They’re places you actually want to hang out.
Much of this transition has to do with how cruise lines are looking to position themselves to modern vacationers. Jay Schneider, Royal Caribbean’s chief product innovation officer, says a best-in-class gym with a primo location is a big part of showing guests how important wellness is to the brand. And when you’re in the middle of the ocean, that primo location is where guests can enjoy the view.
“I travel a lot for work, and I have worked out next to a sad carport in Finland,” Schneider says. “I can also think of the Hyatt gym in Paris looking out over the Louvre. Guess which one was better. You can feel the difference in priority when you have that level of visual exposure. That placement has been important to us too.”
And although none of the cruise lines that Women’s Health spoke to shared specific numbers, executives confirmed that use of wellness offerings like the gym and spa are way up over the past decade—and that certain clients pick the ship they travel on based on the size and quality of its wellness areas.
Activity Obsession
Schneider’s team spends a huge amount of time trying to understand the company’s customers and what they want—poring over surveys, research, and the results of concept and consumer testing. The cruise line’s teams go on board and talk to guests. And they read every complaint that comes in, Schneider says.
What does he find? The number one reason guests choose one vacation over another is the destinations they promise. And when checking destinations off their bucket lists, today’s cruisers prefer active excursions, says Gray Faust, which is partly due to the fact that cruise guests are getting younger. Indeed, 36 percent are now under the age of 40, and more than a quarter are taking a cruise for the first time, according to the Cruise Lines International Association’s April 2024 State of the Cruise Industry Report.
In 2024, cruises even went viral. In one instance, a nine-month cruise by Royal Caribbean exploded in popularity on TikTok after passengers (and influencers) began posting videos—the good, the bad, and the ugly—from the trip. Gen Z, which now makes up 14 percent of the cruising population, is asking for active adventure, and cruise lines are stepping up to answer the call.
Dalila Roglieri, a registered nutritionist from Italy, is in charge of wellness programming for the luxury line Crystal Cruises, where she has introduced all kinds of new active off-ship excursions. One of her favorites is something she calls “pickleball around the world.”
“We basically invite guests to enjoy their favorite sport wherever we are in the world,” she says. “It’s a memory that a pickleball player will have for their entire life. I’m a tennis player, and I still remember when I played pickleball in Indonesia in a very small village with a racket that was not mine—it was an incredible experience.”
Dibs Baer, a 55-year-old from Palm Springs, California, who has been on six cruises, agrees that active, adventurous excursions are crucial and that itinerary variety is a huge draw. “I’ve swam with dolphins, kayaked, gone bear-watching, rafting, biking, hiking, ATV-ing, Jet Skiing, fishing—and in Hawaii I rented one of those two-seater Batmobiles and drove around Kaua’i. I’ve been bird-watching on a pontoon and taken a submarine ride,” Baer says. “I would never have been able to do so many things on the same vacation anywhere but on a cruise.”
Farewell, Midnight Buffet; Hello, Health
While the midnight buffet has gone by the wayside (RIP to those iconic mermaid-shaped ice sculptures), cruise lines’ focus on exceeding dining expectations has not. Like the newly upgraded gyms, onboard dining has been revamped and now includes menus with healthier, dietary-restriction-friendly options—think plant-based, vegan, gluten-free, keto, etc.
Ten years ago, when Roglieri first started working on cruise menus, most of the wellness conversation on cruises surrounded weight loss. Thankfully, she says, the definition of wellness has expanded enormously, and more guests are exploring options that were previously considered niche. “In the past, we were serving vegetarian and vegan meals only for guests who were following this diet,” she says. “But of course now it’s not like this anymore. We have guests who eat meat and fish but still want more vegetables as entrées.”
Many cruise lines also offer dining options that work around your daily schedule, instead of the other way around. You can pick up a smoothie at the bar or opt for a grab-and-go meal, like a to-go salad or a veggie cup with hummus, before a scuba adventure or afternoon hike. Restaurants on board now feature everything from Mexican quick-service meals to Southeast Asian hibachi tables and fresh seafood.
Now when Roglieri works on a menu, her job is to make sure it’s nutritionally balanced and flavorful, and that it follows the basic rules of a healthy diet. “The recipe should not have more than 20 grams of fat, for instance,” she says. “If it’s higher, we change the recipe.”
And after just a few days of floating around the Caribbean, enjoying the luxury of delicious, healthy food, then getting stronger in the gorgeous gym and taking challenging new classes between excursions, my daughter and I both felt great—mentally and physically.
One morning, after a Pilates class on the Icon, I saw her flexing as she took a mirror selfie. “I think my upper body already looks more buff,” she told me.
Here are the best tips for healthy living on board, no matter which line you’re cruising on:
To prioritize healthy eating, start with veggies at lunch and dinner (this can be a salad or something veggie-forward like minestrone soup), says Dalila Roglieri, culinary nutritionist for Crystal Cruises.
Use the stairs as much as you can, Roglieri adds. On cruise ships, there’s quite a bit of vertical travel between decks. Defaulting to the stairs can help you stay moving.
Reduce your alcohol intake and enjoy a mocktail instead! You may want to imbibe while you’re on vacay, but you’ll definitely feel better if you skip the cocktails.
Book your cruise with a line that has gotten the wellness memo, and look for newer ships that have updated facilities, say Jay Schneider of Royal Caribbean, and Chris Gray Faust, Cruise Critic editor. Check out the amenities and menu options before clicking “book,” and make sure the cruise offers activities you’d *actually* enjoy. Some lines to explore: Crystal Cruises, Royal Caribbean International, Norwegian Cruise Line, and Princess Cruise Lines.
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