The UK cruise market, which doubled in size during the last decade, will double again over the next 10 years - to three million passengers annually.

This prediction comes from the Chairman and CEO of Carnival Corporation Micky Arison and appears in the fifth annual cruise report to be published by the UK brands of Carnival UK* in The Cruise Report 2010.

He said it will be partly stimulated by a much-increased range of cruises coming onto the market, including more short duration cruises from UK ports.

The report also contains the results of a major online consumer survey carried out for Carnival UK by leading cruise retailer cruise.co.uk.

This attracted nearly 5,000 responses from frequent cruisers and revealed (among other findings highlighted in The Cruise Report) that more than a quarter would reduce other expenditure to ensure they could still afford their main cruise holiday.

And more than one in three would rather pay less than they would normally budget for a cruise than not book one at all.

Also, eight out of 10 prefer ships carrying at least 1,000 passengers with half voting for between 1,000 and 2,000 passengers as their ideal ship size. But just one in a hundred fancy cruising on a ship with more than 4,000 passengers and nearly a third prefer ships to have predominantly British passengers

In his report overview, Carnival UK CEO David Dingle revealed that, although 2009 was a tough year for the cruise industry, the company’s brands found they could hold prices at a higher level than they had initially expected.