Cruise News

Carnival Corp. said its cruise lines have made a case for additional advertising and marketing dollars to generate more bookings — and the parent company is listening. Now we wait to find out how that money gets spent and what kind of results they will see.

Cruise loyalty programs are different from airline and hotel offerings, but Carnival Cruise Line's approach can still be instructive — especially as it evolves.

Carnival Corp. reminds us that China is a small part of its business — which is true. But if the market is going to become the world's largest as the company expects, there are a lot of complications to work through.

We've seen both luxury hotel and luxury cruise companies develop private jet products recently, but only one hotel brand is currently taking its moniker to sea. This is easily the most interesting thing the otherwise traditional Ritz-Carlton has ever done.

Passengers may not care much what executives at cruise companies earn, but it's instructive to realize what goals those CEOs are driven to reach.

MSC Cruises continues to show its ambition as it plans to add more ships to an already fast-growing fleet. Now the question is whether demand can keep up with all that supply.

Will a no-Boomers-allowed policy, youth-focused design, and tailored shore excursions be enough to convince millennials that river cruising is the way to experience Europe? The CEO of U by Uniworld thinks so — and she only has to win over 120 passengers at a time.

Higher-than-expected cruise passenger counts are good news for an industry that saw much slower growth just a few years ago. A lack of high-profile disasters has been helpful, and cruise lines are getting better at promoting themselves and expanding into new markets.

Cruise lines have the luxury of going in and out of nearly any port they choose, making it easier for them to respond to geopolitical changes as well as changing consumer tastes.

The river cruise industry has exploded since AmaWaterways was established 15 years ago. We'll be interested to see how the operator moves forward with its new investor.