THE CRUISE INDUSTRY

TYPES OF CRUISE SHIPS

Types of cruise ships and recreational vessels designed to satisfy the most varied preferences and expectations.

A cruise ship is a passenger ship used for recreational and leisure voyages, in which the journey itself and the onboard amenities, attractions, activities and entertainment options are integrant part of the cruise experience.

The rapid growth and specialization process experienced by the cruise industry in the last decades has also affected the design and general aesthetics, materials, size and overall onboard functionalities, equipment and amenities of modern cruise ships and recreational vessels to satisfy a clientele more and more numerous and sensitive to quality, who demands the most diversified services with assurance of satisfaction and excellence, while providing solutions to the growing concerns about the cruise industry’s environmental impact on marine and coastal communities and ecosystems.

Nowaydays, every continent and region on Earth can be visited onboard a cruise or recreational ship, including the most exotic, faraway places and secluded destinations.

In the same way, and along the last years, a good number of vessels managed by companies and organizations unrelated to the cruise industry have been redesigned or adapted to offer cruise services to passengers looking for unconventional experiences.

This section is dedicated to show the different types of vessels and ships designed to provide cruise and excursion services in seas, oceans, rivers and lakes all around the world.

MAINSTREAM CRUISE SHIP

It is the most common and popularly known type of cruise ship, marketed by most of the companies in the sector as floating resorts designed and equipped to suit the needs of the majority of cruise passengers. These vessels have a capacity for 850 – 3,000 passengers, and include all sorts of standard resort features, amenities and services, such as restaurants, bars and pubs, nightclubs and discos, shopping areas, theatres and cinemas, galleries and museums, libraries, casinos, personal care areas with gyms and spas, swimming pools and other sport facilities.

MEGA CRUISE SHIP

Cruise companies have answered the increasing world demand for this kind of services with the design and building of ever-bigger cruise ships able to accommodate more than 3,000 persons. Mega ships are a new class of cruise vessel, and the next step in terms of capacity and onboard services, with some units that routinely serve more than 5,000 passengers; currently the largest and more sophisticated vessels in the world.

SMALL CRUISE SHIP

Cruise ships ranging from motor or sail powered yacht-like vessels to medium-sized classic cruise ships with a capacity up to a few hundred passengers onboard, offering more intimate and relaxing experiences than the larger mass-market vessels in less familiar destinations, designed to provide specific services (ecotourism, culture or history cruises, conventions at sea, sea sports, single cruises, senior cruises, business incentive cruises, etc.) or as the only way to navigate through waters, small inlets, ports or archipelagos that would not support larger vessels, providing the same level of comfort and the basic amenities as that of mainstream cruise vessels.

OCEAN CRUISE SHIP

A type of cruise ship built to more exacting standards than more conventional vessels, with substantially more solid designs and more resistant structures to withstand the especially harsh conditions of ocean voyages in long and world cruises.

LUXURY CRUISE SHIP

Motor or sail powered cruise ships equipped with the most sophisticated and technologically advanced nautical systems, high standard features and luxurious comforts to meet the special demands of an exclusive clientele looking for longer itineraries and more exotic destinations around the world.

ADVENTURE CRUISE SHIP

Cruise ships designed and equipped to provide services that include visits of remote destinations, most commonly out-of-the-way or inaccessible to larger vessels. Marketed to a very specific sector of clientele, adventure cruise ships are far smaller than mainstream vessels, usually sail powered and generally equipped with luxury features.

EXPEDITION CRUISES SHIP

Specially designed ships, or adapted research or icebreaker vessels, operated by specialized companies to offer their customers an exclusive experience in remote destinations and waterways, such as the Arctic and Antarctic regions or coastal areas in ecological and biosphere reserves, in what can be seen more than private expeditions than conventional cruises onboard vessels with an adequate level of comfort, safety and services, which include inflatable motor boats and, sometimes, even helicopters for expedition trips and shore landings.

RIVER CRUISE SHIP

Always smaller than seagoing cruise ships, and with a capacity for no more than a few hundred passengers, these vessels are specially designed to navigate rivers and inland waterways, offering from exciting experiences onboard ultra high-tech units, to nostalgic trips on paddleboats ships in rivers such as Amazon, Nile, Rhine, Siene, Volga, Mississippi, Yangtse, and many more in all the world.