Forget about recent headlines about mid-air collisions or the tragic story of the Titanic. Let’s look at the data to conclude which is safer, cruise ship or airplane travel?
It’s said that travel is not about the destination but the journey. That adage certainly holds when it comes to safety and picking your mode of transportation.
So, should you book that 14-day Mediterranean cruise or opt for the efficiency of flying directly to your destination? Beyond cost and convenience, there’s often an important question in the back of many people’s minds: Which is safer, cruise ship or airplane travel?
The question of safety affects all travelers but is especially relevant for those with families in tow. Recent headlines of airplane disasters in North America don’t do much to alleviate nagging worries. But are cruise ships safer than planes? Or should you consider staying home instead?
It helps if we take a step back and look into the data on cruise lines and commercial flights. And guess what? Both cruise ships and airplanes have impressive safety records—far better than the highway you probably drove on today. In fact, they’re among the safest forms of transportation available to modern travelers.
In this guide, we analyze everything from fatality rates and accident statistics to health risks and emergency response capabilities. We’ll help you make an informed decision about which is safer: cruise ship or airplane travel.
Is it safer to travel by boat or plane? Let’s dive in.
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Contents
Cruise Ship Safety: What the Numbers Say
Everyone’s heard of the Titanic and the tragic fate of 1,517 of its passengers. History’s deadliest cruise ship tragedy seems to have tarnished the name of cruise travel ever since. Blame Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet’s fabulous acting.
It’s a shame, considering that very few cruise ship sinkings and collisions have occurred in modern history. The most famous incident (mostly due to its recency) is when the Costa Concordia cruise ship ran aground off the Mediterranean coast in 2012, claiming 32 lives. While disastrous, let’s focus on the good news: the odds of boarding a fatal cruise line are extremely slim.
How safe are cruises?
The chances of you being involved in a serious incident on a cruise ship are about 1 in 6.25 million, a report on operational incidents published by consultancy G.P. Wild concluded. This puts cruise travel among the safest forms of leisure transportation, according to the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA).
Fatal incidents are even rarer. There have been 623 passenger and crew member fatalities on cruises between 2001 and 2019, researchers from Bowling Green State University found. For perspective, the cruise industry carried an estimated 34.7 million passengers worldwide in 2024.
Even if fatality numbers on cruise lines were as high as 200 per year – an unsubstantiated number often cited online – the odds would still only be 0.000006 to 1 for you to go belly-up during your cruise trip.
What’s more, the safety on board cruise ships seems to be improving, as per the G.P. Wilde report. While worldwide cruise ship capacity grew by more than 68% from 2009 to 2019, the number of operational incidents decreased by 41% during the same period.
Cruise Ship Safety: Security Concerns in a Floating City
The statistics on cruise ship safety are comforting, but cruise travel is not risk-free. While grounding or hitting an iceberg is virtually impossible with today’s technological advancements, crime still occurs on cruise ships, though at much lower rates than on land.
With thousands of passengers aboard these floating cities for days to weeks, incidents are bound to happen. In 2024, 168 crime incidents were reported to the FBI on vessels sailing to or from the United States. A staggering 94 of those were sexual assault or rape.
Concerning? Yes – but these incidents represent only a tiny fraction of the millions of passengers who cruise from and to the United States each year.
Cruise Ship Safety: Health Concerns
Forget about disasters or crimes occurring at sea – both are very unlikely to happen to you. But what about the health risks that are associated with essentially quarantining thousands of people in a floating city?
Health safety protocols have only increased since 2019 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The global health crisis saw outbreaks on ships like the Diamond Princess, which alone recorded 712 COVID cases and 14 deaths. Since the pandemic, cruise lines have been equipped with enhanced sanitation, better health surveillance, and advanced air filtration systems.
Yet health incidents do occur. 2024 was notably challenging for cruise lines, with 16 gastrointestinal outbreaks recorded – the highest number in over a decade. Most of these outbreaks were linked to the highly contagious norovirus, which spreads easily in the close quarters of ships. In December of 2024, the CDC reported four outbreaks of norovirus.
But stomach bugs generally only occur for 8.9% of shipboard ailments. Respiratory infections account for 29% of shipboard ailments, followed by injuries (18.2%), and seasickness (9.1%), scientific research showed.
All in all, an estimated 1 in 14 passengers sought medical attention onboard in 2023. Does that mean cruise ships are a serious health hazard? Not at all.
About 90% of illnesses on cruise ships are not considered serious or life-threatening, researchers found. More than 95% of ill persons seen by the medical clinic were treated definitively on board, and only 5% required consultation or disembarkation for shore-side medical care.
Yet it’s important to note that since medical facilities aboard cruise ships are designed to provide basic emergency medical care, travelers should consider getting extra health insurance coverage while away from their home country and for medical evacuation.
Air Travel Safety: What the Numbers Say
While jumping for the lifeboats from a sinking ship may be some travelers’ worst nightmare, many more break into a cold sweat just thinking of airplane turbulence. Aerophobia, an extreme fear of flying, affects about 25 million Americans, according to the Cleveland Clinic. Recent headlines about mid-air collisions only make those fears worse.
While flying phobia doesn’t necessarily mean you’re afraid of an airplane crashing, the anxiety of being on an airplane (or merely the anticipation of flying) is a real deal-breaker that makes those affected by it wonder which is safer, cruise ship or airplane travel?
Let’s look at the data. According to the International Air Transport Association’s (IATA) 2024 Annual Safety Report, the all-accident rate was 1.13 per million flights – that’s one accident per 880,000 flights. While this represents a slight increase from 2023’s record-low rate of 1.09, it’s still better than the five-year average of 1.25.
IATA Annual Safety Report Findings
And while those numbers are comfortingly low, it’s worth noting that they include all incidents. The likelihood of a fatal plane crash happening is far slimmer.
The year 2024 saw seven fatal accidents among 40.6 million flights, resulting in 244 onboard fatalities. This is much higher than 2023’s single fatal accident with 72 deaths – but nonetheless, seven fatal accidents are still within the historical averages. For perspective, the five-year average is five fatal accidents and 144 fatalities annually.
So what do these statistics mean for your personal risk? According to IATA, your statistical fatality risk when flying is just 0.06 per million flights. In other words, it would take you a daily flight for the next 45,631 years to statistically experience a fatal accident.
As Willie Walsh, IATA’s Director General, puts it: “Even with recent high-profile aviation accidents, it is important to remember that accidents are extremely rare.” The Director General reassures us that “Moreover, the long-term story of aviation safety is one of continuous improvement.”
The statistics confirm his statement. A decade ago, the five-year average (2011-2015) was one accident for every 456,000 flights. Today, the five-year average (2020-2024) is one accident for every 810,000 flights.
Airplane Safety: The Most Dangerous Parts of Flying
Aviation safety experts often point out that takeoff and landing are the riskiest phases of flight. The 2024 report confirms this, with landing identified as the most dangerous phase, responsible for 21 accidents, followed by approach and takeoff. Turbulence-related injuries, while frightening, only very rarely result in fatalities.
Airplane Safety: Health Risks in the Air
Unlike cruise ships, aircraft don’t typically experience norovirus outbreaks. The shorter duration of flights and continuous air replacement (cabin air is completely refreshed every 2-3 minutes in modern aircraft) greatly reduce any infection risks.
A 2023 study of respiratory droplet transmission found that aircraft ventilation systems are remarkably effective at reducing airborne pathogen spread when compared to other indoor environments, making flying relatively safe from a respiratory illness perspective.
Air travel presents its own health challenges, like:
- Dehydration due to low humidity in pressurized cabins
- Potential blood clot formation during long flights
- Hypoxia, or low oxygen availability at high altitudes
- Ear and sinus discomfort due to pressure changes during ascent and descent
- Motion sickness due to turbulence or aircraft movement
- The anxiety and stress coming from aerophobia
Most of these risks pose no significant health risks and can be prevented with simple safety measures like keeping hydrated. Besides, flight attendants are trained to assist in case of minor health issues.
For travelers with underlying health conditions, we recommend consulting medical professionals before flying and checking your health insurance.
Comparing Safety: Is it Safer to Travel by Boat or Plane?
Now that we’ve looked into both modes of transportation and accident rates in recent years, let’s move on to the central question: Which is safer, cruise ship or airplane?
It turns out that both are among the safest modes of transportation you could possibly choose for international travel. Both flight and cruise safety are much higher than traveling by car, for instance.
The lifetime odds of dying in a car accident in the United States are approximately 1 in 95, translating to more than a 1% chance over your lifetime, according to the NSC’s Injury Facts. This risk might vary for age, driving habits, and other conditions – but roads remain far more dangerous than taking to the skies or the water.
“The chances of a fatal plane accident are 1 in 11 million, making flying the safest mode of travel. Meanwhile, with over 7 million cruise passengers worldwide, the odds of dying on a cruise ship are about 1 in 6.25 million,” Charlotte from TravelCharlee assures us. “Whether you choose to fly or set sail on a cruise, you’re traveling on two of the safest modes of transportation.”
With odds that are so overwhelmingly in your safety’s favor, the question of “which is safer, cruise ships or airplanes” isn’t so much about statistics. Sure, airplanes are marginally safer – but either mode of transportation comes with negligible safety risks.
For catastrophic events, both have excellent records. Air travel incidents tend to be more immediately dangerous when they do occur. However, IATA’s data showing one accident per 810,000 flights underscores just how rare such events truly are.
If medical emergencies are your concern, cruise ships offer an advantage with their onboard medical facilities able to handle 95% of health incidents that arise during a voyage. Aircraft, while equipped with first aid supplies and trained crew, simply don’t have comparable medical resources due to space limitations and flight durations.
Similarly, cruise ships provide more space and opportunity for movement, potentially reducing health risks for travelers with mobility issues, like the deep vein thrombosis associated with long periods of immobility during flights.
Of course, the shorter duration of flights may present a less overall risk for those with serious pre-existing conditions.
The ultimate verdict: which is safer, cruise ship or airplane? Both modes of transportation offer extraordinary safety records that are only getting better with technological advancements and enhanced safety protocols.
However, taking a cruise isn’t any safer than flying based on safety alone.
If anything, flying is the safest of the two. The odds of your commercial flight getting into serious trouble are so low you can consider them negligible. For anyone worried about hopping on a plane, there’s no need to opt for cruise travel instead.
But lLet’s not get ahead of ourselves and call one definitively “safer” than the other.
With both types of transportation considered extremely safe the question of cruises vs flying ultimately comes down to which safety aspects matter to you. You’re better served by considering your specific health needs, itineraries and trip duration, and personal comfort when choosing between air and sea travel.
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