A company that owns and manages cruise ships or cruise liners is called a cruise line. These cruise liners actually intend to provide the guests an experience of opulence and comfort while on board akin to staying to a luxurious hotel while at sea. Opposite to these are the so called line voyages or ocean liners which bring people from one port to another, the very original purpose of voyages. One can expect only the basic and practical needs to be satisfied in ocean liners while the comfort and lavishness in a cruise liner go overboard. Thus, there are two sets of crew. A ship captain heads the navigation crew while a hotel manager heads the hospitality staff.

Tha past decade saw to the rise in the popularity of cruising. The change in the mode of travel favored the use of airlines for quicker and easy travel so that cruising became the strategy to boost the shipping industry. The needs of people to be able to make fast transactions and deals were best served by the airline industry. With more airline companies, prices also became competitive. This led to the ocean liners fizzling out favor. To rejuvenate the industry without competing against the airline industry, cruising was conceptualized. The Caribbean cruises were among the first destinations. The Carnival Corporation & plc., Louis Cruise Lines. Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. and MSC Star Cruises are the world’s largest cruise line companies that rule the seas. Meanwhile, the largest cruise ships are the Royal Caribbean International’s MS Oasis of the Seas and its sister ship MS Allure of the Seas which can carry about 6,000 passengers.

There are about 400,000 crew members in the cruise line industry with a takeout pay of almost 6 billion USD and billions of dollars in profits too. With a projection of about 23 new ships coming, it is reasonable to estimate that it will be creating about 26,000 additional new jobs. This is enough proof that the industry of cruise line is still very much to the tourists’ favor. This also means more dream vacations are waiting to be realized.