cruise ship visitor definition geography

What is cruise tourism?

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Cruise tourism is BIG business! So big, in fact, that in 2019 (before the COVID crash), the global cruise industry welcomed 29.7 million passengers, created jobs for 1.8 million people around the world and contributed over $154 billion to the global economy. 

Cruise tourism is essentially a form of enclave tourism and it encompasses all faces of the tourism industry- accommodation, transportation, hospitality and attractions. Cruising has become the fastest growing segment in the travel industry across the world and it’s no surprise with the wide variety of cruises on offer nowadays.

Cruise tourism is hugely popular around the world, but it can also have severe impacts on the natural environment and limited economic benefits for host destinations- interested to learn more? Stay tuned to learn more

History of cruise tourism

Royal caribbean, p&o cruises, norwegian cruise line, princess cruises.

• Cruise ship packages

Cruise ship names

The largest cruise ship in the world, cruise ship facilities, river cruise, expedition cruise, mega cruise, luxury cruise, caribbean cruise, mediterranean cruise, nile cruise, yangtze cruise.

• Read also: Business tourism explained: What, why and where

Arctic cruise

• Cruise tourism: Conclusion

Further reading on cruise tourism

Cruise tourism refers to holidays which are entirely or partly based on a cruise ship. It enables tourists to experience a multi-centre holiday, whereby they spend time at various destinations throughout their trip.

Cruise ships vary from small yachts to mega ships and can take place on the ocean , river or fjords. Cruise tourism is popular in the Caribbean, Mediterranean and Arctic amongst other destinations.

In essence, cruise tourism is a luxurious form of travelling, involving an all-inclusive holiday on a cruise ship of at least 24 hours, with a set and specific itinerary, in which the cruise ship calls at several ports or cities. Cruise tourism is characterised by the concentration of large numbers of people who visit one particular destination at the same time.

If you are studying or teaching cruise tourism then I absolutely recommend that you consult the texts Cruise Ship Tourism and Cruise Operations Management: Hospitality Perspectives . These texts will cover all of the areas that I discuss in this post in more detail as well as discussing the impacts of cruise tourism and relevant management perspectives.

Cruise tourism has a long and fruitful history. The first notable leisure cruising began with the formation of the Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Company in 1822. Whilst the company started out as a shipping

line, it soon introduced round trips to a range of destinations. Over the next century more and more cruise liners began to emerge around the world and in the late 19th century, Albert Ballin, director of

the Hamburg-America Line, was the first to send his transatlantic ships out on long southern cruises during the worst of the winter season of the North Atlantic.

Fast forward to the 1980s and we started to see the development of cruise ships closer to what we recognise today. The first ‘megaships were built and cruise ships gradually became bigger and more luxurious with more onboard facilities than ever before.

Nowadays, some modern cruise ships are so big they cater for a capacity the size of a city! Cruise ships have a wide range of onboard features and there are cruise ship itineraries that cater for every corner of the globe.

For many, cruising has been perceived as an activity for the older generation. The Cruise Lines International Association offered a report for the following profile of an average cruise passenger in 2008:

• 93% Caucasian.
• Average age of 46-year-old.
• Well-educated (65% graduate, 24% post-graduate)
• 83% married.
• 58% work full-time.
• Average household income of USD$90,000.

However, since then it is important to note that cruise ships have become more diverse in their offered services: Offering a variety of onboard services to appeal to a variety of demographic groups, such as; couples, families, the younger generation, sports enthusiasts and the older generation.

Even I have taken a cruise and I don’t consider myself old just yet!

With the diverse demographic groups motivated by cruise tourism, there comes a variety of cruise types.

Cruise tourism companies

There are a wide range of cruise companies, although the market is largely dominated by the big five names:

Cunard cruises have been operating for more than 180 years and they specialise in luxury cruises with their famous White Star Service . This formal and traditional cruise company is ideal for couple and the older generation.

Royal Caribbean cruises are the leading cruise company for innovation. Offering everything from surfing to Broad Way shows, the cruise line is popular amongst a wide range of cruise tourists, including families, couples and solo travellers.

This is the most popular cruise line in the UK. It appeals to a range of customer types including families and couples. It offers traditional cruise products and services.

Another cruise line that is popular with UK cruise tourists, Norwegian Cruise Line offers an American-style service onboard their ships. You can sail from the UK or book a fly cruise.

Princess cruises offers sailings around the world using a traditional, American-style cruise approach. Princess cruises are popular the world over with couple, families and premium travellers.

Cruise tourism packages

When you book a cruise you are generally booking an inclusive package that will include accommodation, transfers, excursions, food, entertainment and more!

As the cruise industry evolves, so does the diversity of its packages offered to cruise tourists. Below I have listed a few examples of cruise ship packages from the Royal Caribbean International website.

Miami Stay & Weekend Getaway Bahamas Cruise

• Fly from UK to Miami
• 3 Night Hotel stay in Miami
• A dinner on us at Hard Rock Cafe
• 3 Night Weekend Getaway Bahamas Cruise on Navigator of the Seas
• VOOM Surf Internet WiFi whilst onboard your cruise for one device
• Overnight Flight from Miami to UK
• Private car transfers included

Singapore Stay & Spice Of Southeast Asia

• Overnight Flight from UK to Singapore
• 3 Night Hotel stay in Singapore
• Universal Studios – One Day Pass or Evening Marina Bay Tour
• 5 Night Spice of Southeast Asia Cruise on Quantum of the Seas
• Overnight Flight from Singapore to UK
• Private Car Transfers included

You can find some excellent t deals on cruise packages if you know where to look! Here are some of my favourite websites to find a cruise package holiday:

• Travel Supermarket
• Travel Zoo (I suggest you register for weekly updates on offers)
• Titan Travel

Looking for some cruise travel hacks? Best Cruise Tips: 303 Cruise Hacks Saving You Time, Money & Frustration has over 100 detailed pages of travel hacks to help you to make the most out of your cruise experience for as little money as possible.

There are many, many different ships used by the various cruise companies. Each ship has its own unique name so that you can research exactly what facilities are available onboard. For a full A-Z list of cruise ships, take a look at globalcruiseship.com .

Here are a couple of examples for you to take a look at.

At this moment in time, the largest cruise ship is the Symphony of the Seas. Measuring 361.011 metres (1,184.42 ft) in length and with a gross tonnage of 228,081 across 18 decks, this ship is a engineering marvel! The ship is able to accommodate 5,518 passengers at double occupancy up to a maximum  capacity  of 6,680 passengers, as well as a 2,200-person crew.

The Symphony of the Seas has every you would expect from the largest cruise ship in the world.

The cruise has;

• 22 restaurants
• 2,759 cabins
• A park with over 20,000 tropical plants

But we are witnessing growing trends in the mega cruise industry and it is no doubt that vessels are going to get bigger in time.

But this ship won’t be the biggest for long! Royal Caribbean International has announced that it will begin operations of its new Wonder of the Seas, in 2022. This ship will measure 1,188 feet long, 217 feet wide and will feature 18 decks and 2,867 staterooms. Wonder of the Seas will sail 7-night itineraries to the eastern and western Caribbean.

Cruise ships are pretty incredible. They will often have everything you could want onboard. In fact, many are like a small city!

It is fairly common among modern cruises for the following facilities to be found on board:

• Swimming Pool
• Fitness centre
• Restaurants

Take a look inside…

Types of cruise tourism

Whilst the large cruises that I have discussed above are perhaps the most well-known, there are in fact many different types of cruise, which are less high profile.

Below I have briefly explained the different forms of cruise tourism.

Many destinations are popular for river cruising. River cruising is different from ocean cruising as passengers are close to the shore and the focus of the cruise is more for sightseeing and visionary landscape purpose. During river cruises, passengers tend to step offshore, and these excursions are typically free of charge.

The facilities on board a river course is kept to a minimum and are restricted due to the smaller size of the ship (it needs to fit down the river!).

Typically, cruise ships will hold no more than 100 to 200 passengers, whereas ocean cruises can hold many thousands.

Expedition cruising is smaller in its scale, offering niche experiences with shore landings via an inflatable boat to access remote locations. The purpose of expedition cruising is to take part in a comprehensive educational experience.

More often than not, expedition cruises specialise in voyages that offer nature/wildlife-based experiences in areas like Northern Europe, Alaska or the Arctic, for example.

Mega cruises are the biggest cruise ships yet, including cruise ships such as; Symphony of the Seas and Norwegian Bliss. Mega ships are a new class of cruise vessel and focus on maximising capacity and onboard services.

Some mega ships can hold more than 5,000 passengers. The Oasis series built by Royal Caribbean International, Oasis, Allure, Harmony and Symphony of the Seas can each hold around 6,700 people.

Yacht cruising is particularly small in scale when we compare the form of cruising to luxury or mega cruising. However, yacht cruising can be similar to luxury cruising in that it is a very expensive form of cruise tourism and can have very high standards of service and facilities on board.

Yachts hold fewer passengers than other cruise vessels and usually a family or group of people will hire the entire yacht and cruise the seas. There are many places that are popular for the cruise tourism, such as hiring a yacht in Greece or a  Whitsunday yacht charter  in Australia.

Many of the types of cruise noted here can also be considered luxury cruises. Luxury cruises tend to half a low staff to passenger ratio and a premium class of service throughout. And the sky is the limit when it comes to pricing!

Popular cruise tourism destinations

So where do people go to take a cruise? Lets take a closer look…

Caribbean cruises are a popular choice for cruise tourists as the weather in the Caribbean is generally good all year round.

Whilst the cruise tourism industry in the Caribbean is large, the economic and environmental impacts are often centre of discussion amongst academics and practitioners.  Cruise Tourism in the Caribbean: Selling Sunshine  outlines these concerns in a well articulated and interesting way and is definitely worth a read.

Similar to the Caribbean, the Mediterranean has always been a very popular cruise destination. Particularly for its warm climate all year round. And there are so many great places to visit around the Med- from Barcelona to Venice to Malta!

As I discussed earlier, river cruising is becoming an increasingly popular choice of cruising among cruise tourists. And the Nile has become a very popular destination for river cruising.

There are many ways to cruise the Nile. Cruise packages range from luxury cruises to something more cut back and affordable. Cruises vary in duration, most commonly, cruises last 3 to 7 days but can also last up to 14 days. The Nile cruise has been deemed as one of the world’s best cruises and it is a great way to see what Egypt has to offer.

Being the world’s third-longest river , almost one hundred cruise ships operate along the Yangtze. This is an amazing way to soak up some of the sights of rural China and is particularly popular with Chinese domestic tourists.

Round the world cruise

Round the world cruises are quite literally cruises that travel around the world.

Round the world cruises is probably the most expensive cruise and can cost up to anything from £9,000 upwards. Some of the most luxury round the world cruises can cost up to £200,000 per person. They typically last around 90-120 days and allows passengers to embark and disembark in various places along the way.

Arctic cruising I often referred to as a form of extinction tourism’, whereby passengers travel to the Arctic to observe the distinct wildlife or culture whilst it is still there.

Most people who take an Arctic cruise are wealthy adventure-seekers, wishing to explore the natural wildlife and landscapes of remote locations.

The advantages and disadvantages of cruise tourism

As I mentioned, cruise tourism is a growing type of tourism around the world. This industry not only makes a large amount of income directly, but through its various industry partnerships and integration it also has the potential to reap significant financial rewards.

However, the reality is that this economic benefit is absorbed predominantly by the large corporations who own these cruise ships and there is very little economic benefit of cruise tourism to the destinations that host the tourists. Because their every need is catered for onboard, cruise tourists typically spend little money in the destinations that they visit, meaning that the local people reap few rewards for this type of tourism. In addition to this, cruise tourism can have devastating impacts on the natural environment when ships dock in shallow waters or when garbage is not disposed of responsibly. And last but not least, large numbers of tourists visiting a destination at one time can have adverse effects, with overtourism being a distinct problem around the world that often results from cruise tourism.

• The Cruise Planner – a place to record all the information and details you need to plan your perfect cruise with comprehensive lists, worksheets, a cruise arc planner, packing suggestions, diary and journal.
• Cruise Tourism in Polar Regions – This book discusses critically the issues around environmental and social sustainability of the cruise industry in Polar Regions.
• Cruise Tourism in the Caribbean: Selling Sunshine – This book considers the limited economic benefits of cruise tourism, its environmental and social impacts, and the effects of climate change, and “overtourism”.
• Best Cruise Tips: 303 Cruise Hacks Saving You Time, Money & Frustration – A guide to teach you how to make the most of your cruise experience for as little money as possible.
• Cruise Ship Tourism – This academic text covers the economic, social and environmental impacts of cruising, combining the latest knowledge and research to provide a comprehensive account of the subject. 
• Cruise Operations Management: Hospitality Perspectives – A practical guide for students and professionals alike, this is a comprehensive and contextualised overview of hospitality services for the cruise industry providing a background to the cruise industry and management issues.

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• Geography of cruise ships

Geography of Cruise Ships

Cruise ship holidays have become a part of global geography and are also big business!

Cruise ship holidays have become are part of global geography and are also big business!

It is difficult to give an exact number to the size of the global cruise ship fleet because there are many of different sizes and locations. There are small ones on rivers like the Nile, Rhine and Danube and huge ones on the oceans, but an estimate would be more than 300 ocean vessels and thousands of smaller river boats and touring yachts.

Old style cruise ships, or 'liners', were narrower-shaped and more boat-like for big ocean crossings, for example the QE2 which carried 1600 passengers, seen here on her last voyage in 2006.

New style ships like this one in Bergen Harbour, Norway, can carry over 2000 people - a floating town - and there are even bigger ones like the wrecked Costa Concordia with 3700 guests! Each ship has hundreds of cabins, verandas and windows; some have water parks and even ice rinks! They tend to concentrate their travel in tours of particularly attractive coastlines.

The Costa Atlantica

So is this tourism all good news for the places they visit and the planet?

The Global Honey pots for Cruise Ships

Geographers use the term 'honey pot' to describe popular tourist destinations that cater for large numbers of visitors. The term is usually applied to small places, like a national park visitor centre in the Brecon Beacons, but some international coastal areas have attracted millions of tourists.

Can you identify on this world map the names of the popular rivers and coastal / island cruising attractions?

Flash Player Required

Of course some cruises go all round the World or all around the Pacific Ocean - these can visit over 100 places and take 115 or more days- one third of a year on the cruise!)

How does this rapidly growing cruise ship industry affect on the places they visit? Well, there is some good news and some bad news.

The Cruise ship industry has many good features.

It provides very successful holiday packages for an estimated 20 million people per year.

It creates employment and income for on-board workers and the ports they use throughout the world.

But cruise ships are attracted to the most beautiful and easily damaged natural environments. There are many who concerned about a non-ecotourism industry visiting ecologically sensitive areas.

Here are a few of the concerns that have been raised.

They have a history of accidental damage to coral reefs and coastlines through collision and anchoring. Wreck of the Costa Concordia is an area that was unpolluted and rich in wildlife. In November 2007, two cruise ships sank in Antarctica. Many tons of fuel, hydraulic fluids, lubricants, harmful chemicals from televisions, computer screens, etc. were released into the protected Antarctic waters.

Analysts calculate that a cruise liner such as Queen Mary 2 emits double the CO2 per passenger mile, compared to commercial passenger aircraft.

The fuel oil burned by ship engines is a heavy air pollutant making air quality in ports particularly poor as these pictures taken in Bergen, Norway show. The smoke over the city is all from just one ship! Throughout the world, they release an estimated 1.2 million to 1.6 million metric tons of tiny airborne particles each year.

Bergen, Norway

Because of the holiday and luxury nature of the lifestyle, passengers cruise ships each produce on average 3.5 kilograms of rubbish daily - compared with the 0.8 kilograms each generated by local people on shore. (Source: Our Planet)

Visits to wildlife areas are very frequent and are unregulated for example Within one month (January) a survey team from the Scott Polar Research Institute in Antarctica recorded 14 visits by six tour ships with over 2000 tourists landing on one penguin island.

A large cruise ship on a one week voyage is estimated to generate 210,000 gallons of human sewage and 1 million gallons (40 more swimming pools) of gray water (water from sinks, baths, showers, laundry and galleys). Cruise ships also generate large volumes of oily bilge water, sewage sludge, rubbish and hazardous wastes. Management of this waste could, with cost, be environmentally neutral but the industry has a poor record of pollution incidents of 'grey water' releases in to the delicate environments they visit.

Cruise ships take on water as ballast (balancing weight) in one place and release it somewhere else later on when the ship's weight needs adjusting. This moves all sorts of plants and animals into new places and creates problems including that of invading species taking over.

Cruises do provide the areas they visit with income, but most of the money goes to the shipping and tour company and not to the holiday destinations.

The Costa Concordia

The Cruise industry is showing some efforts to increase efficiency, decrease pollution and use technology to manage waste, but it only takes an incident like the wreck of the Costa Concordia to show that the environment is still at risk from 'accidents' even from the largest, environmentally managed and well-equipped modern ships.

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Cruise Tourism

The cruise industry is a modern phenomenon but it rooted from the early years of the 19th century. As travel by ship was the only means to travel overseas. The Duke of Bridgewater was initiated to start water transport services from Manchester to London in 1772. His boat was used to carry passengers as well as goods.

In 1815 steamboats were developed and used to carry passengers and goods. To launch first cruise ship the credit goes to the king Charles IV of Sweden when he started his personal cruise ship in 1821 . In 1824 the first commercial cruise ship was started under the flag of Ireland. Gradually, steamship excursions became so famous and it resulted in the introduction of modern age cruise lines.

In 1938 the Peninsular and Orient steam was launched first long distance steamship services from India to the Far East. This company is still operating and has a good grasp of the cruise market. The Cunard ship company followed the P&O company and began regular services to the American Continent in 1840.

During the 2nd half of the 19th century, Britain dominated the cruise industry. However, this dominance has decreased in the later century with the advent of the substantial emigrant from Europe and the steady growth of US visitors to Europe.

Thomas Cook (the father of travel agency business ) stimulated the British tourists to visit North America. In 1866 he succeeds to operate first steamship excursion tour to the USA.

In the modern age, UK started first transatlantic lines ‘Titanic’ in 192 which was sold to the Newfound-land Islands in 1913. Second important cruise line ‘Queen marry’ was started in 1934 . It had 2000 passengers capacity along with 1100 crew members. It offered every facility for passengers such as comfort, safety, and entertainment. It was considered one of the great ocean liners.

In 1938 another larger sister ship Queen Elizabeth was launched by the same company. During the Second World War, these ships were used to carry British troops but after the war, their main business was to carry passengers across the Atlantic.

The year 1958 was the turning point in the steamship travel, as commercial jet aircraft has ended the dominance of steamship. By 1970’s steamship travel was only a curiosity. Due to less demand, high fuel prices and long duration of the journey all these resulted in the closing of many cruise company. Even many ship companies went bankrupt.

During 1980’s some large ships were converted into luxury liners, offering holidays to travelers who have money and time. Many cruise lines have taken the place of scheduled liner services.

The cruise industry is currently the fastest growing segment in the world tourism market and all tour operators now include cruises in their tour package.

Definitions of Cruise Tourism

The cruise tourism is an increasingly important part of the employment structure of advanced industrial nations as well as developing economies. Many of the cruise industries key players have made a significant contribution to the economic growth and development of the nation such as Star Cruises, Holland and American line Deluxe cruises. Crystal Cruises, Silversea Cruises, Princess Cruises, Royal Caribbean, and so forth.

Cruise tourism provides and offers food, beverage, accommodation, recreational, casino, shopping, and other services to the tourist. It is like an informal industry which makes an arrangement of various services i.e., cruise packages and combines these with air travel to attract the potential customer.

The cruise package includes a plenty of facilities designed to meet the specific requirement of passengers – such as accommodation, food, beverage, deck games, swimming pool, yoga classes, quiet lounges, sheltered dock, library, casino, disco films.

Many cruises include special interest themes – like astronomy, yoga, meditation, sequence dancing, classical music and many more.

Cruise Tour Package

A cruise tour package may be defined as a systematically planned return journey with entertainment and recreational facilities on board, and shore excursion. In other words, the cruise package is a pleasure an all-inclusive trip by boat or ship for specific days, to specific days, to specific destinations, and with a set price.

Cruises packages may be designed and planned for an individual group, families, FITs, business executives, honeymooners, and special interest tourists. Of course, these cruise packages are designed for cruise passengers. However, these could not be segregated from air travel and land arrangement.

Types of Cruise Tour Packages

If we see the cruise packages offered and marketed by tour operators and travel agencies , we find similar as well as more ingredients in cruise packages such as port handling charges, airport taxes, visa processing charges and so forth. Therefore, the elements or components of a cruise package may vary from tour company to company, destination to destination and from region to region.

On the basis of above discussion actual cruise industry environment the following main cruise packages are offered by cruise liners:

• Incentive Cruise Packages
• Group Packages
• Family Packages
• Business Cruise Package
• Honeymooners Package
• Special Interest Cruise Package
• Fly Cruise Package

Types of Cruise

Since the introduction of the first cruise in 1821, numbers of cruises came in the cruise industry. Some of them are still operating in the industry while others which were not attracting clients discarded from the industry. Thus, the following typology is based on sales, marketing and working conditions of the cruises:

Volume Cruise

As the name indicates, volume cruises concentrate on volume turnover. That is why these are called mass market cruises. 65 percent of all cruises are volume/mass market cruises. These cruises are very popular in the Caribbean sea, Asia Pacific and South East Asia.

In such cruises, accommodation and other services are comparable to the star hotel. Generally, these cruises emphasized two things i.e. Turnover and short-term passenger itinerary. These are further divided into three sub-categorized:

• Short term cruises – Normally two to five days.
• Standard cruises – For one-week duration.
• Large cruises – Duration is from the week to two weeks.

Premium Cruises

Premium cruises are the second largest segment of cruise industry accounting for mere than 40 percent of all cruise revenues. The duration of this cruise varies from one week to three months.

Due to this, these are known as upscale cruises. Their product and services are equivalent to its class resort, and hotel. Royal cruise, Star Cruises, Princess Cruises, Panama Canal Cruises are offering premium cruise service.

Luxury Cruises

Luxury cruises occupied a meager percentage of the cruise market. It may be due to its high-quality product and services and it focuses on long-haul itineraries for exotic destinations. These cruises are meant for elite people. The duration of itinerary may range from 6 months to 12 months.

In spite of high prices, these cruises are more popular among the tourists and honeymooners. Luxury cruises are operated by the Royal Caribbean cruises, Crystal Cruises, and Star cruises etc.

Specialty Cruises

These cruises are launched to cater the demands of specific interest passengers, such as newly married couple, whale watching, oceanography,   scuba diving. The quality of products and services is comparatively low as other cruises. The duration of these cruises is very less but depending on the package.

Presently, there is more than 150 cruise ship with 90,000 cabins world over . The largest cruise lines is Royal Caribbean cruises liner (RCCL) with nine ships and have a capacity of 15,000 births. The Star Cruises is the 2nd largest cruise lines having five ships with 7000 births capacity. Followed by Deluxe cruise lines, Crystal Cruises, Radisson seven seas cruises, Seabourn cruises, Silversea cruise and princes cruises etc.

Significance of Cruise Industry For Tourism

The tourism industry in many countries of the world has been profoundly helped by the cruise sector to shape the tourism product and to satisfy the sophisticated travelers.

The relationship between the cruise industry and tourism industry is, therefore, a highly complex subject involving a mixture of socio-economic factors, technological factors, market pressures, government policies, management attitude ad tourist expectations.

The following points can be perceived pivotal for the significance of the cruise industry:

• Evolving cruise as a vacation option.
• Realizing the competitiveness.
• Development in MICE destinations.
• Image Conscious.
• Increasing the size of the cruise market.
• Alliances and Networking.
• Shifting tourist demands.
• Re-structuring ownership.
• Labor flexibility and Employment.
• Boom-bust cycles and tourism.

Process for Development of Cruise Tour Package

The development of air transportation and improvement in their technology in so far as safety, speed economy, and comfort are concerned to have admittedly hurt the cruise industry. However, steamship travel remains as today’s transportation of pleasure, relaxation, and comforts with service comparable to country’s best hotels and resorts.

The cruise industry is now a resort or hotel activities that must be promoted as floating hotel/resort, not for just vacation at sea but a romantic interlude, wedding anniversary, mind-dazzling, nightlife, resort cruise, and a pleasure of meeting new people.

Many thousands of rupees are spent annually by the cruise companies to promote their products and services directly or, through the tour operators and travel agents but a crucial question remains unanswered. What should be included in the cruise package? How it is to be marketed? What will be the core ingredients? In many cases, tour operators failed to find the right mix of cruise package for their clients.

Standard Components of Cruise Tour Package

Cruise packages are developed to all clients such as honeymooners, nature lovers, students, adventurers, fitness/health conscious, sport minded, music lovers, special interests and education professional etc. Thus, a cruise company has to consider a wide spectrum of market demands.

Therefore, the components of a cruise package will vary from client to client and company to company. However, the following main components or ingredients can be drawn from the cruise packages offered by the most cruise companies and tour operators:

• Air travel or land arrangements.
• Cruise segments Accommodation Food and beverage Entertainment and recreation Deck games Swimming pool Health clubs Casino Films Music-dances Entertainment facilities for children Quite lounges Sheltered decks
• Special Interest Theme Cricket Bridge Astronomy
• Education Library
• Other activities

Process of Cruise Tour Package Development

Developing cruises trips/tours, working with some other players; formulating effective marketing, managing and determining cost and price are the activities that are not easy to handle for the cruise company. However, if the manager approaches in a planned and systematic way, tour designing will become a simple, and easy task.

Cruise Tour Itinerary

A well-planned cruise tour itinerary identifies embarkation points, ports of calls, types of cabin, cruise facilities, meal services, shore excursions, tipping, and other services. Gradually, the cruise itinerary combined with air travel and land arrangement to make it more attractive and effective.

However, individuals needs cannot be overlooked. Thus, in developing cruise tour itinerary, tour planners/cruise planners normally considered the market forces, cruise industry environment, and cruise reference tools. Moreover, a cruise planner keeps in mind the following facts while designing cruise itinerary:

• Name of the Cruise
• Sailing date
• Destinations
• Port of Embarkation
• Port of Termination
• Client choice client budget
• Legal formalities

Types of Cruise Tour Itineraries

Cruise tour itineraries are broadly categorized in the following types:

• Short duration itineraries
• Medium-haul – Short and long duration itineraries (7 night, 10 nights and above)
• Long haul – Medium duration itineraries (7 months)
• Transatlantic and Round the world itineraries ( 6 to 12 months)

Cruise tour itineraries are not limited only to sea but river cruise itineraries can be developed. The main rivers of the cruise are Amazon, Mississippi, Yangtze Kiang, Hung He, Nile, and the Rhine, etc.

Determination of Cruise Tour Package Coast and Price

Determination of cost and price of a cruise tour is one of the most difficult tasks of a cruise manager/planner. What should be the exact cost? What should be the right margin? These are the two important question which a tour planner has to face.  Total price must be perceived by the passenger to be reasonable.

The cruise planner must ensure about the cost. Thus, before determination of the cost of a cruise package tour planner considers the following factors:

• Length of Tour
• Types of accommodation
• Type and quality of facilities
• Position of cabin
• Density of ship
• Date of travel
• Govt. Policy
• Competitive forces
• Seasonality

A typical cruise package includes accommodation cost, meal cost, recreational and entertainment cost, activities for children and teenagers, port taxes, shore excursion cost, and airfare may also be a part of total cost. Thus, at first glance, it may seem an expensive package, but we must understand the cost represents not only the accommodation, Food, and transportation but also entertainment together with other services and opportunities to visit a foreign port.

Cruise prices vary among cruise companies, depending on various factors and quality of product and services. More importantly, price depends on the selection of itinerary and standard of qualities. In cruise, segment price is not the main criteria but the quality of services is important.

Thus, a cruise package must create value for money to repeat clients. Generally, cruise companies adopt a mix of pricing strategies such as:

• Cost-oriented pricing
• Market-oriented pricing
• Product line pricing
• Competitive or seasonal pricing

Cruise Tour Sales and Marketing

The selling of cruise tour ticket is substantially different from the selling of airline ticket. One of the most important features relating to this is that the airline industry is well organized and regulated as compared to the cruise industry. Today, selling cruises are becoming more easier and profitable than ever.

Due to competition, the cruise companies are offering more discounts and other promotional incentives to the passengers. Besides 15 percent commission, more incentives are offered to the tour operators or travel agencies by the cruise companies.

There is a minimum procedure involved in selling and booking cruise package. Like other means of transportation, cruise liner issue the ticket, and provide other information through cruise brochure such as accommodation, entertainment, travel insurance, foreign currency, travel tips, and so forth.

Thus, successful selling and booking steamship cruise requires knowledge of both passengers and cruise on which client will have the product services, comforts, and entertainment. Tour operators need certain information to book a cruise package about the client such as:

• Name of clients
• Duration of tour
• Date of sailing
• Cabin choice
• Meal option
• Entertainment and Recreational activities
• Address with e-mail and telephone no
• Other information which is mere relevant

After obtaining required information, tour operator negotiates with cruise lines/companies. He has various options – i.e. to select a cruise for any age group. A long cruise “ Round the World ” takes long-range planning while shorter cruise can be booked with 3 to 5 days or shorter notice.

Tour operators or a travel agency follow a well defined and designed procedure for booking a cruise. The process may vary from company to company and point to point, but it includes all most following steps:

Cruise Ticketing

Preparation and issue of cruise ticket is the last step in the process of cruise reservation. The cruise ticketing is mostly done by the cruise companies or by the tour operators/travel agencies who are authorized to hold stock and issue the ticket.

A cruise ticket is a legal contract between the cruise line and passenger, entitling him/her or groups, at a stated price, to travel and avail cruise facilities specified – i.e. cruise products or services during a set time. Thus, the acceptance of cruise ticket means acceptance of those terms and conditions which contained in the passage contract ticket.

A cruise ticket document includes or conditions the following items:

• Staterooms, inside, outside
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Cruise tourism is one of the leading industries suffering from covid-19 recently. Cruise tourism uses cruise ships with elegant services and various entertainment facilities as a means of transportation for scenic coastal tourist destinations. In particular, in accordance with the recent trend of increasing the size of ships, cruise lines have expanded the size and facilities of ships, and have continued to increase the maximum number of boarding ships. The cruise travel process and intensive entertainment system turned out to be a tourism structure vulnerable to the covid-19 pandemic. Will cruise tourism be extinguished? Should we prepare for the post-Pandermic cruise tourism era?

1. Introduction

Cruise tourism is one of the fastest growing tourism segments, and it has undergone significant transformation, especially in the last few decades [ 1 ] [ 2 ] . Since 1990, the average annual passenger growth has reached about 6.63%, with cruise tourists increasing from 7.21 million in 2000 to 26.86 million in 2019 [ 3 ] . The number of passengers originating from Asia hit a record high in 2017, with 4.052 million taking ocean cruises (up 20.6%), and Asian cruise passenger numbers hit another record high in 2018 with 4.24 million (up 4.6%). In 2018, there were 28.5 million global ocean passengers, 14.8% of which were from Asia (versus 15.1% in 2017) [ 4 ] . The five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of Asian port calls from 2014 to 2019 was 14%, and the five-year growth during that time was 88%, continuing an upward growth trajectory. Destinations such as Japan, mainland China, the Philippines, Indonesia, and India will show a stronger five-year CAGR and five-year growth than Asia’s average [ 5 ] . It is time to learn more about the rapidly growing Asian cruise market.

Some believe that the expansion of disposable income and increased interest in quality of life have contributed to the steep growth of the cruise industry. Most cruise tourists are repeat customers who have had a satisfactory cruise experience and become loyal to a specific cruise brand [ 6 ] [ 7 ] . The continued expansion of cruise passengers is also due to the provision of high-value cruising through the newest ships, world-class destinations, innovative ship facilities, and various onboard activities. Cruise lines design various services to meet changing customer needs [ 8 ] [ 9 ] . High-value cruising refers to various special services, including cabins with excellent amenities, restaurants with various dining options, spas and wellness programs, sports and fitness, meeting rooms, Kids Zones, and wedding packages. Cruise ship service innovation has made cruise vacations more attractive and available to more target markets [ 8 ] . Cruise lines should create sustainable demand and loyal customers by differentiating the service quality of the onboard experience. Research by Li and Petrick [ 10 ] demonstrated that customer retention should be improved by providing excellent service quality and unique experiences.

Academic research in the cruise field has led to quantitative and qualitative growth since 2010 [ 11 ] . Papatnassis and Bekmann analysed papers published in a total of 56 overseas academic journals from 1983 to 2009 and divided them into four categories according to their research subjects. They found that despite the diversity of research methods and topics, scholars tend to focus on business, management, and economics. Vega-Muñoz et al. [ 12 ] analysed 320 papers in 142 journals between 1980 and 2018 and determined that the cruise industry is a subject of research worthy of various approaches. Cruise tourism research has been fragmented because of its multidisciplinary nature and its relatively young status [ 12 ] . Moreover, quantitative studies covering quality of service, service attributes, and perceived value [ 8 ] [ 10 ] [ 13 ] [ 14 ] [ 15 ] [ 16 ] have been conducted, and a qualitative approach to these variables has also been taken. In addition, qualitative research into cruise lines has been conducted on limited topics such as brands, crisis management, and corporate sustainability [ 17 ] [ 18 ] [ 19 ] [ 20 ] .

The sustainability of the cruise industry has attracted strong scepticism, with discussions centred on its corporate social responsibility, environmental issues, economic contributions, and adverse effects on the port of call [ 21 ] [ 22 ] [ 23 ] [ 24 ] . As customers are increasingly interested in the ethical and environmental aspects of products and services [ 25 ] , many scholars believe that the future challenges of the cruise industry are related to sustainable development [ 22 ] [ 26 ] . The Cruise Line International Association (CLIA) [ 27 ] is committed to contributing to the port of call in the form of ‘partnerships with the local governments, staggered arrivals and departures, excursion diversification, shoreside power, and local passenger spending’. It is encouraging cruise lines to invest more than USD 22 billion in energy-efficient ships and technologies in order to achieve the goal of reducing carbon emissions by 40% by the year 2030, as compared to 2008 emission levels. In particular, the cruise industry [ 24 ] , which is already in a crisis due to the COVID-19 pandemic, must ‘improve its service process to improve its reputation’ [ 28 ] ; accordingly, it should seek to enhance its image through improved service quality, develop innovative management systems and strategies, and promote sustainability.

2. Cruise Service Quality

Service quality is recognized as a key determinant of business success and a major method of gaining competitive edge. With the rapid increase in the capacity of the cruise industry, cruise lines should reconsider differentiation [ 23 ] , and as service quality is an important variable in creating customer loyalty, it is important to derive a service improvement strategy by measuring service quality.

According to Parasuraman et al., service quality is defined as a ‘the consumer’s judgment about an entity’s overall excellence or superiority’ of the service; the authors use the concept of ‘perceived service quality’, which differs from objective quality [ 29 ] . Perceived quality, unlike objective or practical quality, is more abstract than specific product properties and similar to attitude; it is an overall evaluation by the customer. Parasuraman et al. [ 29 ] proposed SERVQUAL (see Table 1 ) as a perceived service quality measurement tool. Their SERVQUAL model adopts a disconfirmation paradigm in which the quality of service consists of five dimensions: reliability, responsiveness, empathy, assurance, and tangibles. Many researchers have tried to transform service quality to suit the hospitality and tourism environment [ 30 ] , testing the SERVQUAL framework in restaurants [ 31 ] , lodging [ 32 ] , destinations [ 33 ] , and outbound guide package tours [ 34 ] . Industry-adjusted measures include HISTOQUAL for historic houses [ 35 ] , ECOSERV for eco-tourism service quality [ 36 ] , and Cruse’s SERV-PERVAL [ 14 ] to measure holiday experience satisfaction (HOLSAT) [ 37 ] .

Table 1. SERVQUAL Model.

In an empirical study of Caribbean cruise passengers by Petrick, four measurement items (excellent quality, reliability, dependencies, and consistency) of SERV-PERVAL, a concept that emphasizes the reliability items in the SERVQUAL model, were used. The most suitable model for predicting behaviour was the quality model, rather than the satisfaction model or perceived value model [ 14 ] .

Kwortnik [ 20 ] expanded ‘Bitner’s service scope framework’ [ 38 ] by analysing customer data on an online cruise discussion board (CruiseCritic.com) to investigate the impact of cruise line service environments, specifically considering passengers’ emotions, meaning-making, and onboard behaviours. The physical environment of a ship, called the shipscape, was divided into (a) ambient environmental factors (scents, sounds, cleanliness, lighting, music, temperature, etc.); (b) design elements (decoration, colour, furnishings, layout, size, entertainment architecture, etc.); and (c) social factors (crowding, queues, cruise cues, crew co-working production, and friendship). Cruise customers who primarily pursue emotional enjoyment are consciously and unconsciously observing the environmental factors of cruise ships [ 20 ] , and these physical environments will be important determinants of customer psychology and behaviour [ 39 ] .

Lobo used the SERVQUAL scale of [ 29 ] for luxury cruise line passengers to measure the difference between expectation and performance of service quality and to explore the relationship between overall satisfaction and behaviour [ 40 ] . Li and Petrick empirically verified the impact relationships among quality, value, satisfaction, investment size, and alternatives on online panels of cruise experiences that affect customer loyalty [ 13 ] . Petrick analysed differences in cruise experiences, price sensitivity, monetary price, behavioural price, perceived quality, perceived value, overall satisfaction, word of mouth, and repurchase intention by segmenting Caribbean cruise passengers according to their perceptions of the cruise line’s reputation [ 41 ] . Yi et al. [ 42 ] explored Asian cruise travellers’ perceived value, in terms of satisfaction and behavioural intention, of the travel experience. The perceived value was measured on a SERV-PERVAL scale, and the results of the study showed that the perceived value of the cruise experience affects travel satisfaction and behavioural intention [ 42 ] . Chua et al. [ 8 ] used the three dimensions of service quality form developed by Brady and Cronin [ 43 ] , where cruise service quality is divided into three dimensions: physical environment (physical surroundings of cruise ships), interaction (employee service), and outcome quality (benefits given to customers at a service encounter). They analysed the relationship between novelty, perceived value and satisfaction, and loyalty [ 8 ] .

The quality of an interaction represents the customer’s perception of crew service in service delivery [ 44 ] , and the interaction between the customer and the crew is reflected in ‘Service Performance’, in which the customer evaluates the service experience [ 45 ] . Interactional quality can be measured with assurance (knowledge, employee courtesy, and ability to build customer trust), responsiveness (service delivery and willingness to help customers), reliability (employee’s ability to accurately perform promised services), and empathy [ 29 ] [ 43 ] [ 44 ] [ 46 ] . Outcome quality is the technical quality that determines the perceived service quality by what cruise customers received during service delivery [ 43 ] . Even though SERV-PERVAL [ 14 ] applies SERVQUAL to the cruise industry and emphasizes perceived value, this study focuses on SERVQUAL [ 29 ] because it is more commonly used.

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