Cruise line

Cruise line

A cruise line is a company that operates cruise ships. Cruise lines have a dual character; they are partly in the transportation business, and partly in the leisure entertainment business, a duality that carries down into the ships themselves, which have both a crew headed by the ship's captain, and a hospitality staff headed by the equivalent of a hotel manager.

Among cruise lines, some are direct descendants of the traditional passenger shipping lines, while others were founded from the 1960s on specifically for cruising. The business is extremely volatile; the ships are massive capital expenditures with very high operating costs, and a slight dip in bookings can easily put a company out of business. Cruise lines frequently sell, renovate, or simply rename their ships just to keep up with travel trends.

A wave of failures and consolidation in the 1990s has led to many lines existing only as "brands" within larger corporations, much as a single automobile company produces several makes of cars. Brands exist partly because of repeat customer loyalty, and also to offer different levels of quality and service. For instance, Carnival Corporation owns both Carnival Cruise Lines, whose former image were vessels that had a reputation as "party ships" for younger travellers, but have become large, modern, and extremely elegant, yet still profitable, and Holland America Line, whose ships cultivate an image of classic elegance.

Currently the five largest cruise line operators in the world are Carnival Corporation & plc, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., Star Cruises, MSC Cruises and Louis Cruise Lines.

See also

External links


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно решить контрольную?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Disney Cruise Line — Location Disney Cruise Line, Port Canaveral, Florida, USA Theme Cruise ships Website Disney Cruise Line homepage Operate …   Wikipedia

  • Norwegian Cruise Line — Type Private company Industry Transportation Founded 1966 Headquarters …   Wikipedia

  • Disney Cruise Line — Logo de Disney Cruise Line Création 1995 …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Commodore Cruise Line — Industry Cruise line Fate Bankrupt Founded 1966 Defunct 2001 …   Wikipedia

  • Premier Cruise Line — Former type Cruise line Industry Transportation Fate Bankruptcy/Liqui …   Wikipedia

  • Seabourn Cruise Line — Infobox Company company name = Seabourn Cruise Line company company type = Subsidiary of Carnival Corporation plc foundation = 1986 location = Miami, Florida, USA key people = Pamela C. Conover CEO President and CEO area served = Cruise Lines… …   Wikipedia

  • Seabourn Cruise Line — Rechtsform Tochter der Carnival Corporation plc Gründung 1987 Sitz Miami, Florida, Vereinigte Staaten …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Royal Caribbean Cruise Line — Logo de Royal caribbean International Création 1968 Personnages clés Richard D. Fain président, Adam M. Goldstein président …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Spector v. Norwegian Cruise Line Ltd. — SCOTUSCase Litigants=Spector v. Norwegian Cruise Line Ltd. ArgueDate=February 28 ArgueYear=2005 DecideDate=June 6 DecideYear=2005 FullName=DOUGLAS SPECTOR, et al., PETITIONERS v. NORWEGIAN CRUISE LINE LTD. USVol=545 USPage=119 Citation=545 U.S.… …   Wikipedia

  • Norwegian Cruise Line — Тип Частная компания Год основания 1966 Расположение …   Википедия

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”