Photo © Brett Critchley | Dreamstime.com
We already know that drinking at sports events is going down but here’s a new trend that seems to dovetail into that: Cruise lines (where open bars and all-you-can-eat buffets have long beckoned guests) are offering themed events where sports enthusiasts can watch their favorite athletes compete – and get their own training and competition in as well.
Multi-disciplinary functional fitness racing brand Hyrox (which, by the way, wants to be an Olympic sport) is the newest entry into the market, according to Athletech News. (A quick 101 course about Hyrox can be found here.) Athletetech notes that the brand will launch its Hyrox Cruise, an adult-only fitness trip running October 21 to 25, 2026.
The voyage marks the debut of Hyrox Experiences, a travel training category that Hyrox describes as the “world’s best fitness vacation.” The company also lists camps and resorts as coming soon on its website.
But this is not a spectator-only experience, notes the article. Cruisers can participate in five to six training sessions as well as clinics, panel talks and meet-and-greets with exclusive guests, plus special activities when the ship stops in Marseille and Barcelona. Guests will also be able to watch a Hyrox race in a format they have never seen before, featuring special athletes, according to the brand.
Hyrox is hardly the only one jumping aboard the cruise craze, though. All the way back in 2018, SDM remarked on the rise of the pickleball cruise. And that trend has not slowed down, according to Travel Weekly.
KLOVE notes that multiple cruise lines have installed pickleball courts, including Royal Caribbean, Carnival Cruises, MSC Cruises, Princess Cruises, Regent's Seven Seas Explorer, Virgin Voyages, Oceania Cruises and even the revitalized cruise brand Crystal. Additionally, several river cruise lines (characterized by smaller ships and a more compact passenger list) have implemented pickleball as well. Additionally, Pickleball At Sea Group Cruises offer both onboard play and coaching, as well as land-based play when the ships come into port.
And honestly, let’s not forget about esports. The Game of Nerds (who could NOT love a site with that title?) reports that GACUCON (short for Gaming, Animation and Comic Ultra Convention Cruise) includes console gaming, tabletop games, cosplay, and crafts.
Onboard, games can be played competitively or recreationally. Participants can win monetary prizes for charity or for themselves. Additionally, these cruises feature Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) tables and GMs to run the campaign. (Plenty of other cruises for gamers are offered; these include JoCoCruise and D3AtSea.)
On the more mainstream side, there’s golf. And while golf tourism has been rising steadily, golf cruising is growing as well, says Links Magazine. (Ships might not have 18-hole courses but they do have putt-putt, simulators, netted driving ranges and other amenities.)
In general, golf cruises, which include everything from onboard appearances from high-profile golfers to golfing tips and clinics to stops in port to play fellow passengers at destination resorts, are also gaining in popularity.
More recently, activewear brand Under Armour has partnered with Star Cruises to launch (see what we did there?) a workout-themed cruise offering guests a four-night active-lifestyle cruise that blends workouts and recovery with travel from Port Klang to Phuket and Singapore.
Fan-themed cruises, which are less competitive and more experiential, are also popular. These include Bananaland At Sea, where the wildly popular Savannah Bananas (and their entertaining teams, the Party Animals, Firefighters, Texas Tailgaters, Loco Beach Coconuts and Indianapolis Clowns) provide family-friendly entertainment and training clinics, and the Legends of Baseball Cruise, where stars of the game will make appearances throughout the cruise. NFL Fan Cruises are another example.
Even Zumba is rebooting its Zumba Cruise in 2026, turning the Norwegian Pearl into a floating dance and wellness festival.
Overall, sports cruises fold into the larger phenomenon of what has become known as wellness travel.
“Wellness tourism has been having a moment for a while, but it’s grown so much since the pandemic,”, Beth McGroarty, vice president of research and forecasting at the Global Wellness Institute, told Men’s Health. “It’s one of the fastest growing markets in travel.”
Sports Tours International, which coordinates trips to the world’s largest international mass- participation sports events, saw more than a 30 percent increase in sign-ups between 2022 and 2024; this uptick in interest has led other operators to expand their fitness offerings, too.
And while it’s unlikely that this discipline will totally replace the traditional vacation, it’s a trend that bears watching, particularly for event owners seeking a new hook to garner attention for their tournaments.
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