Module 11: The Sector Destination #2 Types of Cruise Ships

Welcome to your second destination. Use the following resource article to learn about the main cruise line companies that are in operation today. Afterwards, close this article out and head back to the ship. Enjoy!

The Big Three

Now that you know about the history of cruising and the different types of cruise ships, it is important to know about the companies who own and operate these vessels. Over the last decade the cruise industry has undergone a lot of change. This has been mainly due to a series of acquisitions and mergers. While there are many companies serving the cruise vacation market, competition is dominated by the "Big Three" cruise lines.

The Carnival Corporation, Royal Caribbean and are by far the most visible in the industry and enjoy a combined market share of over 85%. These three companies possess among them considerable purchasing power and their moves tend to determine the direction of the industry and the nature of the competition.

The Carnival Corporation

The Carnival Corporation is the largest cruise line company in the world and is now the owner of the following cruise line brands:

V Ocean Village Cruises V Carnival Cruise Lines V Holland America Line (HAL) V V Seabourn Line V Costa Cruises V P&O Cruises V Princess Cruises V Windjammer/Barefoot Cruises V

Royal Caribbean International

Royal Caribbean International is the second largest cruise line company in the world and is owner of the following cruise line brands:

V Royal Caribbean Cruises V Celebrity Cruises V Azamara V

Star Cruises

Malaysia-based Star Cruises is the third largest cruise line company in the world and is owner of the following cruise line brands:

V Star Cruises V (NCL) V Norwegian Cruise Line America (NCLA) V

The remainder of the industry is shared among smaller operators such as Disney Cruise Lines and the ultra- luxury operators such as , Silverseas Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises. The larger lines tend to have a much broader line of service and market segmentation, while the smaller lines tend to be more specialized by serving niche markets and special itineraries catering to specific market segments.

Cruise Line Brands

Now let's look in more detail at the main cruise line companies in operation today:

Carnival Cruise Lines

Founded in 1972 Carnival was a pioneer in the concept of cheaper and shorter cruises. Its ships are known for their Las Vegas-style decor and entertainment. Its trademark is the smoke stack, or funnel, which is red, white and blue and shaped like a whale's tail.

The line calls its ships The Fun Ships and there is a wide range of activities offered on board which attracts a predominantly younger crowd. In 1996 the Carnival Destiny of 101,000 GRT became the largest passenger ship in the world at the time.

Carnival is the richest cruise line in the world. The company also owns Holland America Line, Costa Cruises, Seabourn Line, Cunard Line, Windstar Cruises, P&O Princess Cruises among others, but operates each cruise line independently, as separate brands.

Celebrity Cruises

Celebrity Cruises Ltd was founded in 1989 by the Greek Chandris Group but merged with Royal Caribbean International in 1997 to become Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., which operates Celebrity and the Royal Caribbean International lines. The signature "X" on Celebrity ship funnels is the Greek letter chi, for "Chandris"

Celebrity Cruises has established itself as a leader in offering quality cruises at a reasonable cost and was voted "one of the top-ten cruise lines of the world" by Travel and Leisure.

Costa Cruises

Born out of an olive-oil empire, Costa Cruises began sailing as a freighter ship in the early 1900s. It is now owned by the Carnival Corporation. Their fleet of passenger ships sail to ports worldwide, with an emphasis on destinations in the Caribbean and Mediterranean.

These ships express Italian elegance and the entire company strives to maintain an image of personal, old- world charm. The European atmosphere comes complete with strolling musicians, fine wines, and great Italian food. There are even opportunities for passengers to take cooking classes and attend historical lectures. Costa Cruises hosts a mainly European passenger list.

Crystal Cruises

Crystal Cruise Lines, most commonly seen as Crystal Cruises, is a luxury cruise ship line founded in 1988 and notable for its two medium-sized, high-end ships. The line is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the large Japanese shipping company Nippon Yusen Kaisha.

The Crystal passenger mix is about 85% North American, with about half of those from California. Crystal ships have been routinely voted as the best cruise ships by the readers of Conde Nast Traveler and other magazines; and guidebooks usually score their ships among the top 20 of all cruise ships afloat.

Cunard Line

For more than 160 years, Cunard Line has reined the high seas. Cunard features some of the cruise industry's top-rated ships that travel to more than 300 ports around the world, including unusual areas such as the Galapagos Islands, Vietnam, Antarctica, and the Amazon basin.

In 1998, Cunard became one of a number of lines owned by Carnival Corporation. In 2004 Cunard launched the QM2, "The world's largest, longest, tallest, grandest ocean liner ever".

Disney Cruise Lines

The Walt Disney Company created Disney Cruise Line in 1994, and its first ship, the Disney Magic, had its maiden voyage in 1998. Sailing to the Disney-owned Caribbean island, Castaway Cay, cruises are intended to give equal attention to adults and children, with plenty of activities for both to participate in, either separately or as families.

Disney Cruise Line currently has two ships in operation; the Disney Magic and the Disney Wonder. Passenger capacity is 1,760 per ship and each ship can carry a crew of 945.

Disney generally hires European officers, hotel and dining staff, and American cruise staff and children's counselors. Disney also hires concessionaires for photography, spa, and shops. In an article for Cruise Industry News Quarterly, Vice President Dale Stafford was reported as saying that Disney Cruise Lines goal is to be the "employer of choice among cruise lines," offering "outstanding crew services and facilities, salaries and benefits, as well as training and development."

Fred Olsen

Fred Olsen Cruises offers luxurious small cruise ship voyages worldwide. They literally offer a destination for every traveler and even have a special worldwide cruise that reach multiple regions of the world. Fred Olsen prides their cruises on being smaller and more intimate than many of the bigger lines out there.

Holland America Line (HAL)

Holland America was founded in 1873 as the Dutch-America Steamship Company, a shipping and passenger line. Because it was headquartered in Rotterdam and provided service to the Americas, it became known as Holland America Line (HAL).

The company, who became a wholly owned subsidiary of Carnival Corp in 1989, places a strong emphasis on trouble-free cruising, as evidenced by their "tipping not required" and "cashless" ship policies. Their large ocean liners carry a diverse clientele to exotic destinations around the globe.

HAL owns its own private island in the Caribbean called "Half Moon Cay" (officially known as Little San Salvador Island); nearly all of the line's cruises through the region spend at least a day there.

MSC Cruises (Mediterranean Shipping Company)

MSC Cruise Line is a division of Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), a privately owned company with a longstanding history on the seas, entered the cruise industry in 1988 and MSC Cruise Line was officially born.

MSC Italian Cruises combines a deep heritage at sea with an enthusiastic, young, motivated management team to present a company philosophy of Innovation = Tradition.

Norwegian Cruise Line America (NCLA)

In June 2004, NCL America launched the first US flagged cruise ships in 50 years its first cruise ship, the 2,114 passenger and it has been a huge success. The cruise line operates cruises around the Hawaiian Islands.

Due to the fact that their cruise ships sail primarily in US waters, their ships are U.S.-flagged and U.S. crewed. This makes NCL America a great place for American citizens (and those authorized to work in the US) to find work for a quality major cruise line. Since NCL America operates under US labor laws, its employees must be authorized to work in the United States and thus the positions cannot be filled by cheaper overseas labor.

Norwegian Cruise Lines, NCL America and Orient Lines are divisions of NCL Holdings which is a subsidiary of Star Cruises.

Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL)

Norwegian Cruise Line was founded in 1966 and helped pioneer the one-class cruising concept which treats all passengers equally. It has since become one of the most recognized brand names in the North American cruise industry. Norwegian Cruise Line has since successfully differentiated itself from its competitors through the introduction of Freestyle Cruising on board its vessels.

As the official cruise line of the NBA and NFL, Norwegian Cruise Line is the only line authorized to televise live games and broadcast ESPN onboard. For those who prefer active engagement in sports, there is even the Nike-sponsored "Beauty and Fitness" cruise, where passengers participate in competitive events and learn about fitness, nutrition, and sports medicine. Feature cruises often have an array of stars from both the sporting and entertainment worlds.

Norwegian Cruise Lines, NCL America and Orient Lines are divisions of NCL Holdings which is a subsidiary of Star Cruises.

P&O Cruises

P&O Passenger Division was re-named P&O Cruises in 1977 and offered cruises tailored specifically for British passengers providing an extensive selection of varied itineraries that feature a mix of new and less frequently visited places as well as the more popular destinations.

Princess Cruises

From its modest beginnings in 1965 with a single ship cruising to Mexico, Princess Cruise Line has grown to become one of the premiere cruise lines in the world. Today, its fleet carries more than a million passengers each year to more worldwide destinations than any other major line.

Princess is the most recognized cruise line brand in the world and was catapulted to stardom in 1977 when Pacific Princess was cast in a starring role on a new television show called The Love Boat. The weekly series, which introduced millions of viewers to the still-new concept of a sea-going vacation, was an instant hit and both the company name and its "seawitch" logo have remained synonymous with cruising ever since.

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd

Royal Caribbean founded in 1969 and was the first company to launch a fleet specializing exclusively in Caribbean ports of call -- hence the company name. It is the second largest company in the industry and they are also the owners of Celebrity Cruises, with which they formed a joint company called "Royal Caribbean International and Celebrity Cruises."

Royal Caribbean offers almost 50 different itineraries, including stops at more than 100 different destinations on 4 continents. In November 2006, Royal Caribbean finalized the purchase of Pullmantur Cruises in Madrid, Spain. Onwards from that point the company expanded radically with the creation of new cruise lines. Azamara Cruises was created in May 2007 as a subsidiary of Celebrity Cruises.

Royal Caribbean operates two privately owned resorts that are used as stops on some Caribbean and Bahamas itineraries. They are Labadee, a resort on the northern coast of Haiti; and Coco Cay, a private island in the Berry Islands region of The Bahamas. Each island features beaches, canopies for eating, lounge chairs, palm trees, and white sand beaches.

Seabourn Line

Acclaimed by the travel industry as the Rolls Royce of all cruise ships, Seabourn Cruise Line was founded in 1986. Their ships are known as the Yachts of Seabourn and are small enough to fit in many exotic ports around the world that large cruise ships can't reach.

With an emphasis on luxury and service, it targets the high end of the cruise travel market with an onboard environment comparable to the world's finest hotels and resorts. All passenger accommodations on its vessels are suites.

Silverseas Cruises

Silversea specializes in ultra-luxury cruise travel. The company operates four all-suite cruise ships with exotic worldwide itineraries. Silversea also offers passengers an opportunity to learn more about geography, culture, oceanography, photography, and nature from National Geographic Society photographers and journalists. In addition to onboard lectures, there are also shore excursions hosted by National Geographic experts.

Star Cruises

Star Cruises is credited for almost single handedly developing the cruise industry in the Asia-Pacific region and is currently the largest cruise operator in Asia.

In 2000, Star Cruises acquired NCL Holdings (Norwegian Cruise Line & Orient Cruise Lines), making it the third largest cruise line in the world

Its foray into the global shipping market has allowed it to tap into lucrative and more mature markets in North America and Europe. Its services cater to Asian passengers as well as to North Americans, Europeans and Australians interested in Asian destinations and they are hoping that familiarity with the cruise industry will cause Asian ports to be more open to North American and European cruise ships.

Close out this article and head back to ship as we prepare for destination #3!