One influencer made $350,000 promoting cruises to Gen Z — how a younger crowd is transforming the cruise industry

For some, it’s turned into a big earning potential. Bloomberg reports that Business professor Melissa Newman, known online as “Professor Melissa,” earned $350,000 last year, or quadruple her regular salary, from cruise-related content (1).

She did this mainly by sharing videos, blogs and podcasts to her nearly half a million subscribers covering everything from the worst ports to packing tips. She monetized her posts through affiliate links and advertising.

The arrangement is simple: Influencers earn money while traveling, and cruise lines gain access to audiences who might never have considered booking a trip. And it’s reshaping the industry.

A smart marketing strategy

Hip content creators are now a core part of how cruises are marketed. TikTok videos tagged #cruise have been viewed nearly 39 billion times, reports Bloomberg, citing data from Exolyt. That kind of targeted reach is difficult for traditional advertising to match.

But reach alone isn’t enough. Cruise lines initially approached big-name celebrities, then discovered that lesser-known niche creators with engaged audiences were more effective.

“No one is going to believe Kim Kardashian sails on Virgin Voyages given her lifestyle,” said Virgin Voyages’ chief marketing officer Nathan Rosenberg. Authenticity, they learned, drives bookings, not view counts.

Influencers get compensated in various ways. Other than earning money from advertising, they are often paid directly by cruise lines to create content for marketing campaigns (2). Some may also receive perks such as free or discounted travel, and earn commission when people book trips through their links (3).

For cruise lines, it’s a far cheaper and more effective approach than traditional advertising. Virgin Voyages said its video production spending dropped by about 95% after shifting toward creator-led marketing.

Catering to younger tastes

It’s not just a case of cool photos and videos getting impressionable youngsters onboard. The product itself is also changing.

Cruise travel is no longer defined by long, expensive voyages. Operators are increasingly introducing shorter, more flexible and price accessible options to appeal to younger crowds.

“Over the past couple of years, we’ve worked to bring the average length of our cruises down,” Aaron Langford, senior sales director at Royal Caribbean in the U.K., told the National Geographic. “And what we’ve found is the formula works for two reasons. One, it really entertains the ‘new to cruise’ [market], which really skews towards the younger demographic, and, two, it appears to be attracting a broader set of holidaymakers (4).”

Three- and four-day trips to the Caribbean have proved particularly popular among younger newcomers. In 2024, nearly 15 million people cruised in the region, up 17% from the previous year, according to the Cruise Lines International Association (5).