The top cruise lines in the world include Holland America, Norwegian, Royal Caribbean, Disney, MSC, Costa, Carnival and Princess. Cruises are sold either directly with these cruise companies or through dedicated online cruise providers such as Cruise Direct, Cruise.com and CruiseAbout. Most online travel agencies such as Expedia, Orbitz, Travelocity, iTravel200 and others also sell cruises.
The cruise industry is the fastest growing travel sector in the world, with good reason - cruise vacations are fun, safe, good value and offer a wide variety of amenities and recreational activities. The numbers of cruise vacationers are growing, rapidly heading towards 20 million per year. Cruises offer an all-in-one experience with many benefits to travelers of all ages, with a variety of options in one location. Themed-cruises such as family cruises, singles' cruises and golf cruises are available for travelers seeking a unique brand of fun, relaxation, entertainment and fine dining.
Online Cruise Companies
Cruise Connections is based in Vancouver and is Canada’s largest cruise-only retailer. Started in 1993, they have served hundreds of thousands of guests across North America. Cruise Connections is the Official Travel Partner of the Vancouver Sun 100 Cruise and its exclusive partnership and recent initiatives with The Globe and Mail have also brought about the biggest travel programs in Canada including the highly successful Caribbean Odyssey and Mediterranean Odyssey.
Cruise.com claims to be the web's largest seller of discount cruises. It was established in 1998 and in 2010 was named Travel Agency of the Year by Vacation.com. Cruise.com is a wholly owned subsidiary of Omega World Travel, the second largest privately owned travel management company in the U.S. Located in an relatively unspectacular two-level building in Dania Beach in Florida, the company also encourages clients to visit them on site. They also have a Spanish version of their website. It has one of the best cruise search engines in the business and a useful starting point for cruise ideas and prices.
CruiseDirect.com is a cruise-only company, utilizing the latest advances in technology, such as live pricing and availability, allowing clients to research, arrange and book reservations online. The company provides customers with rich, inspiring content to help ease the decision making process and work with the best suppliers in the business to ensure that lowest prices and a booking engine makes the process fast and friendly. While clients can book the whole cruise online, they also offer a live support and a crew of sales agents by phone.
Cruiseabout is the global cruise brand of and a division of Flight Centre. It offers a wide range of cruise vacations, including airfare, accommodation, transfers, car rental, land tour and insurance. It offers customers the choice of in-store, online and over-the phone booking capabilities and has multiple retail locations in Canada. It has a 'lowest cruise price guarantee' and will beat any price - if a customer find a cheaper cruise the company will better it by $1 and give a $50 voucher for a future travel booking.
Cruise Timetables.com is a website where one can find up-to-date cruise ship schedules, itineraries, sampled prices, ports-of-departure and cruise destinations for all the major cruise lines. Its information on every cruise departures from every port in the world is an indispensable guide for everyone planning a holiday on sea.
Cruise Critic is a subsidiary of TripAdvisor and is based in New Jersey. It claims that it is the leading cruise reviews- and information website in the world and it has more than three million visitors per month. Its Cruise Critic Reviews provides over 100,000 reviews from its own contributors as well as from travelers of almost every cruise ship in the world, as well as reviews of cruises, cruise ports, cabins and more. It also has a very capable search engine for finding cruise deals and to research destinations.
Cruise Lines
Princess Cruises is based in California, incorporated in Bermuda and is owned by the Carnival Corporation after its acquisition of P&O Princess in 2002. Princess has 16 large and mega ships such as the Ruby Princess, Diamond Princess, Sapphire Princess and other 'jewels of the ocean', as well as two smaller ships catering for less than 700 passengers. The company launched the 'Movies under the Stars' concept and its frequent cruiser programme is called the Captain’s Circle. It offers its won Princess Visa card with cruise benefits and opportunities to earn points. In 2013 and 2014 the Royal Princess and the Regal Princess became the flagships of Princess Cruises. See the images of the new Regal Princess.
Norwegian is a U.S. company based in Florida. It has 13 cruise ships in different classes such as the Breakaway, Jewel, Epic, Dawn and Sun class. It has pioneered the Freestyle Cruising concept, allowing for flexibility in that there are no fixed dining times or pre-assigned seating. Norwegian has 120 ports of call, 145 cruise itineraries and 18 departure ports. Norwegian was the 2014 World Travel Awards winner for Caribbean's Leading Cruise Line for the second consecutive year and the Norwegian Getaway was voted by the Bon Voyage Magazine Editor's choice as the best new ship.
Carnival is a U.S.-British owned cruise line based in Florida and it is one the 11 cruise lines owned by the Carnival corporation. It has 23 cruise ships and its newest ship is the Carnival Breeze. Its departure ports and cruise destinations are predominantly in North America and the Caribbean. Also see Carnival's Google Plus site.
Disney Cruise Line is a British domiciled subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company with its operational headquarters in Florida. There are four Disney Cruise ships with the Disney theme quite prominent, including decorative gold lines on the sides of the ships. The ships are the Disney- Magic, Wonder, Dream and Fantasy. Disney has its own private island port of call in the Bahamas called Castaway Cay.
On the left is one of the many stunning ships in the Royal Caribbean fleet, the Radiance of the Seas, docked here in Vancouver. This cruise ship is described on the company website as follows: "Hungry for a dazzling at-sea experience that combines sleek swiftness, panoramic vistas, and an array of our best new dining options?...With acres of glass enclosing the nine-story central atrium, elevators facing the sea, and floor-to-ceiling windows throughout, you'll never be at a loss for an incredible view. Plus, we've just added eight new dining experiences, ranging from casual eats at Boardwalk Doghouse, to the family-style Italian fare at Giovanni's Table, to the sizzling skewers of Samba Grill Brazilian Steakhouse".MSC an Italian-Swiss shipping company which belongs to the Mediterranean Shipping company and is based in Geneva. It has 12 cruise ships, most with musical or Italian inspired names such as Poesia, Preziosa, Musica, Lirica, Magnifia, Opera and Sinfonia, and food and passengers have distinct Italian themes and origins. The ships are staffed by Italian officers and crew and itineraries focus on the Mediterranean, but it also covers destinations as far away as South America, South Africa, Australia and the Caribbean. It claims to be the third largest cruise company in the world.
Costa is an Italian cruise line based in Genoa and belongs to the Carnival Corporation. It has 17 cruise ships and its newest ship is the Costa Diadema. It claims to be the largest European cruise operator, but its reputation suffered badly when the Costa Concordia ran aground in 2012 with the loss of 32 lives.
Viking River Cruises operates a fleet of 52 river cruising vessels primarily along the rivers of Europe, but is also active in Russia, Ukraine, China, Southeast Asia and Egypt. In Europe typical itineraries include the 8-day, 3-country 'Romantic Danube', the 15-day, 5 country 'Grand European Tour' or the 10-day cruise on Portugal's Porto River. It has its main headquarters in the U.S. and offices in Australia and the UK, but is operational headquarters is in Basel, Switzerland. From 2015 Viking will also offer ocean cruises.