The Q2 2026 benchmarking report for UK cruise companies has just been published. Learn how the top 12 UK cruise companies perform across the digital space.
The latest Q2 2026 benchmarking report for UK cruise companies has just been published. It covers the largest 12 UK cruise companies, including P&O Cruises, Cunard, Fred. Olsen, Saga Cruises, Ambassador Cruise Line, Regent Seven Seas Cruises, Royal Caribbean Cruises, MSC Cruises, Princess Cruises, Celebrity Cruises, Hurtigruten, and Silversea.
The research gives an inside track on who is winning the biggest share of voice online and quantifies the gaps, risks, and missed opportunities for other budget hotels to win brand exposure, drive traffic online, and even increase in-store footfall, where relevant. The report highlights quick wins that will improve enquiries from your online strategy and identifies the barriers that may be reducing your site’s ability to optimise digital performance.
To see a preview and contents page of the Q2 report, click here. To get a copy of the full report and the key takeaways, please complete the enquiry form or schedule a call. 
Q2 2026 WINNERS LEADERBOARD
For a glance into just 6 of the metrics, we evaluated these top 12 UK cruise companies, check out our quick-look table below:
To understand what the *CTM Digital Performance Index™ is click here.
Continue reading for further detail on this quarter's best and poorest-performing UK cruise companies or request a copy of the report for the full review.
What The Industry Research Report Covers
The 70+ pages of research benchmarks each site based on 50+ metrics and indicators of successful digital strategy, including organic visibility, domain authority, paid media ads, conversion performance, technical performance, site speed, universal search, content, social ads, accessibility, and mobile performance.
Driving Optimal ROAS from Paid Media Channels
Some of the leading players in the space are high spenders on paid media channels such as Google, Bing & Facebook - but have a poor or sub-optimal conversion improvement strategy. Without an optimised, sophisticated conversion strategy that maximises the conversion rate, the return on investment is unsustainable or will under-perform. Scaling spend on paid media is not achievable unless the conversion rate delivers optimal performance in the sector. Some in the space have paid media spend levels from 30k+ per month but dedicate minimal resources and budgets to conversion testing. Given the cost per clicks on ad networks will continue to rise, we recommend spending at least 10% of your paid media budget on ongoing conversion optimisation testing schedules to ensure your paid media ROI maintains long term viability, competitive advantage, and sustainability.
Technical Website Compliance
Savvy digital marketers know that having a technically sound website is an essential component of a successful fully integrated digital strategy - plus a site capable of maximising conversion performance. Poorly designed 404 pages that offer no helpful links or search functionality can leave users feeling trapped. Without clear routes back to active sections of the website, visitors may simply close the tab rather than attempt to continue browsing. This creates unnecessary customer loss.
Saga Cruises received the most 404 errors (145). Meanwhile, Silversea and Royal Caribbean Cruises reported the fewest 404 errors (3). Visitors searching for customer support or contact information may become particularly annoyed if those pages return 404 errors. When users already need assistance, encountering technical problems can increase frustration levels further. This may damage the relationship between customers and the business.
Site Speed & Conversion Rate Performance
When 62% of consumers are less likely to convert if they have a negative mobile site experience, ensuring that your site is quick and easy to load makes a significant improvement on your overall conversion rates. Slow-loading pages can reduce users’ confidence when filling out forms or entering payment details. If buttons don’t respond quickly or pages take too long to process, visitors may worry that something has gone wrong. This uncertainty can cause users to abandon tasks midway through.
The mobile site speed ranged 38 and 6, with Fred. Olsen reporting the slowest speed and Hurtigruten receiving the fastest speed. Delays between page transitions can make websites feel disconnected and difficult to explore. Users may lose track of where they are or become irritated waiting for each new page to load. This interruption to the browsing flow can reduce engagement and time spent on the site.
Building Competitive Advantage with Domain Authority
Domain authority is an essential metric for measuring the effectiveness of SEO performance, and helps create a reliable overall gauge of how effective your site is at achieving organic traffic, i.e. ‘free’ traffic that isn’t gained through sponsored ads. Websites with high domain authority are often more attractive to other sites looking to create backlinks. Businesses, bloggers, and publishers typically prefer linking to trusted sources with established credibility. This can naturally strengthen a website’s backlink profile even further over time.
A ‘good’ DA really comes down to how your competitors are performing, however it is generally considered average between 40 and 50, good between 50 and 60, and excellent above 60. This quarter, the DA score ranged between 82 and 58, with Ambassador Cruise Line receiving the lowest score. High domain authority may improve click-through rates from search engine results pages. Users often trust websites that appear prominently in search rankings, assuming they’re more reliable or relevant. This can result in more users clicking through to the site instead of competitors.
Organic Performance – Mobile & Desktop
A strong organic performance is strategically important as it ensures your site ranks above competitors for key, transactional keywords. When 93% of your customers won’t go past the first page of Google, your absence or lack of targeting for essential keywords will cost you conversions. Websites that aren’t fully responsive may struggle to attract or retain mobile visitors. Text that’s too small, menus that are difficult to use, or buttons placed too closely together can frustrate users on smaller screens. Poor usability often leads to lower mobile traffic and higher bounce rates.
Two brands reported a decrease in organic traffic on desktop, with P&O Cruises seeing the biggest loss (-15%). On mobile, Royal Caribbean Cruises was the only company to report a decrease in organic traffic (-1%). Websites that rely heavily on pop-ups or intrusive adverts may struggle more with mobile users. On smaller screens, these elements can cover important content and make navigation frustrating. Desktop users may tolerate these interruptions more easily due to larger display space.
Universal Search Opportunity
Google Universal Search Results is an evolving opportunity to make your pages visible on a SERP (Search Engine Results Page). Universal results often appear before traditional listings and are eye-catching for users. Universal search results refer to rankings on a SERP that are not the traditional ‘blue line’ Google link, and a brand can appear for universal search results without being strong in standard rankings. 'Image pack' results would be a useful universal search result for cruise companies wanting to show their products directly on the SERP, while results such as 'FAQs' and 'people also ask' content can assist and build trust with buyers looking to make a one-off purchase.
P&O Cruises secured the most Universal Search appearances (18,784). The majority of their appearances came from ‘images’ (15,400).
The Longtail Keyword Opportunity
Longtail keywords are often considered high intent and potentially more likely to convert as a searcher is being more specific. Optimising for longtail keywords also puts your content strategy in a strong position to rank for brand new search terms as they enter Google’s index. Longtail keyword strategies often support content diversification. Instead of repeatedly targeting the same broad terms, websites can create a wider range of articles, guides, and landing pages focused on different user needs. This helps expand organic visibility across multiple searches.
P&O Cruises secured the most longtail keyword appearances for position 3 (6,038). P&O Cruises secured the most appearances for positions 4–10 (7,633). Websites targeting longtail keywords may benefit from quicker SEO wins compared to highly competitive short keywords. Ranking for niche phrases is often more achievable, particularly for newer websites with lower domain authority. This can help businesses build momentum gradually.
Facebook Adverts
With the number of Facebook users in the United Kingdom (UK) hitting over 44 million users in 2023, it is not surprising that companies have jumped at the opportunity to advertise on the social media platform. Facebook’s UK digital advertising revenue has been estimated to have breached 2.6b GB pounds in 2019. Budget hotels can use Facebook ads to drive awareness of their latest news and deals and use their social media as an opportunity to build a close relationship with their audience.
We’ve included screenshots of Saga Cruise’s sponsored Facebook posts. This UK cruise company utilised vertical images/video to cater to social media users on their mobile.
Top Social Shares & Content
When it comes to social media and on-site content strategies, it is important to release content that has a longer shelf life. An article is considered 'Evergreen' if it has maintained its relevancy to an audience for longer. It's great for your brand engagement, but great for Google, too, who will recognise content which achieves traffic over a long period of time. Cruise companies can create content that shares real-life past customer experiences for authenticity.
MSC Cruises secured the most Facebook Likes (6.4m), and Princess Cruises secured the most Instagram followers (2m). Facebook was the most popular social media platforms of all brands. Silversea received the highest total engagement rate (47,857), and Saga Cruises received the highest average engagement (330).
Website Readability & Accessibility
20% of people in the UK have a disability – 2 million of which are people living with sight loss. In addition, 1 in 12 men and 1 in 200 women have some degree of colour vision deficiency. When websites are not designed to meet these needs, brands lose customer interest as they turn elsewhere. When websites are not designed to meet these needs, brands lose customer interest as they turn elsewhere. Cruise companies will want to regularly monitor their accessibility alerts with the aim of eliminating all of them.
Celebrity Cruises received the most accessibility alerts (379), and Ambassador Cruise Line received the most contrast errors (93). When websites minimise avoidable accessibility alerts, screen reader users can move through content more smoothly. Too many automated announcements can break concentration and make it difficult to locate important information quickly.
GET THE FULL 70-PAGE Q2 2026 REPORT
To get a copy of the full report, please complete the enquiry form. If you want to talk to us about accelerating your digital performance, please call us on 01543 410014 or schedule a call with Rory Tarplee.