The Cruise Industry in the Caribbean

The ship is one of the fundamental pillars in the transportation of goods and passengers by sea. She has undergone major changes that have allowed moving more and different types of goods, as well as more people with safety and comfort.

This article will specifically deal with cruise ships, which nowadays area large vessels dedicated to the transport of people and whose design and construction are aimed at being genuine floating hotels. These ships are touristic attractions on their own right as they provide a wide range of entertainment and satisfactions to their passengers. 

According to Sanchez R., editor of the blog CruceroAdicto, the story begins in 1839, when Samuel Cunard, known as the Prince of the Oceans, won the public tender to transport mail between Nova Scotia and the United States. The sailboat of the company Cunard Line, known as Britannia, sailed from the English city of Liverpool to Boston (United States) in 1840 and later, sold tickets on board the boat that allowed English society to enjoy the trip between England and Glen.

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Some people say that the history of the cruises, in which the passengers were not part of the cargo, dates back to 1856 when Lord Dufferin, a British diplomat, was the first to take a pleasure cruise on a schooner named Foam, that saw a passage through the North Atlantic making the route between Iceland, Greenland, Scandinavia and northern Norway.

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In 1858, the British company P & O through the Ceylon, offered as a regular line service for the route comprising the United Kingdom, Italy, Greece, Turkey and Egypt, until it was acquired by the British company Ocean Steamship Yatching Co. This company made large transformations to the ship that allowed her to sail around the world until she was scrapped in 1907.

However, the beginning of the golden era of this type of transportation was during the twentieth century with the construction of the well-known ocean liners, in which the RMS Lusitania and the RMS Mauretania, which belonged to the British shipping company Cunard Line, stand out. They were the largest vessels that dominated the cruise industry until the White Star Line Company launched the RMS Olympic and the RMS Titanic, in 1911 and 1912, respectively.

The evolution of these ships from the twentieth century has brought with it, not only a change in its design, size and speed of navigation, but also a change in the ability to comfortably accommodate a large number of people willing to enjoy their free moments and leisure at sea. Currently, the giants of the sea, cover the routes East-West and North-South. Different Caribbean islands are among the main tourist attractions currently offered by the cruise industry.

According to the classification presented by Port Mobility Civitavecchia, among the ten most magnanimous sea giants, four of them sail through the Caribbean, such as:

The Norwegian Breakaway, tenth largest passenger ship belonging to the company Norwegian Cruise Line. She won for the fifth consecutive year, the prize as the best cruise line in the Caribbean in the World Travel Awards 2017. She has a capacity for 3963 passengers and 1600 crew.	https://es.ncl.com/cruise-ship/breakaway#destinations
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MS_Liberty_of_the_Seas		The seventh place is occupied by theLiberty of the Seas and the sixth place is for the Freedom of the Seas. Both belong to the Royal Caribbean International line and have a capacity of 3634 passengers and 1365 crew members.
https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian_Epic		In the fifth place is the Norwegian Epic that belongs to the NCL Norwegian Cruise Line. She can accommodate the amount of 4100 passengers and 1730 crew.

Additionally, there are other shipping lines providing services in the Caribbean such as: Princess Cruise based in Santa Clarita, California, Costa Crucero Italian company, MSC Cruises, which is the fourth largest in the world and it is based in Europe, Pullmantur Cruises company,  from Spain, among others. However, the global newspaper El País (2016) indicates that this sector is in the hands of "three large groups based in Miami such as Carnival, Royal Caribbean and Norwegian, which control more than 80% of the business."

On the other hand, Schneider M. and Díaz A. of the CruceroAdicto blog, reveal that cruise itineraries in the Caribbean Sea are classified in the Western Caribbean, Eastern Caribbean and Southern Caribbean. The Western Caribbean includes the ports of Florida such as Miami or Fort Lauderdale, New Orleans or Texas and destinations such as Cozumel, Playa del Carmen, Grand Cayman, Key West (FL), Jamaica, Dominican Republic, Belize, Costa Rica etc. The Eastern Caribbean includes the ports of Florida or San Juan of Puerto Rico and destinations such as Bahamas, St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Haiti, St. Marteen, etc. Finally, the South Caribbean includes ports such as San Juan, Barbados, Florida or Cartagena de Indias in Colombia and whose destinations are Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao, Antigua, Martinique, Santa Lucia, Isla de Margarita, Granada, St. Kitts and Nevis, among others.

Also, people who use this type of service come from cold countries located to the north and whose preferences are aimed at enjoying the landscapes, culture and adventure. At this point the global newspaper El País (2016) indicates that "75% of cruise ship users come from North America and Europe, especially from the United Kingdom and Germany, and the most popular destinations are the Caribbean and Mediterranean routes".

One might think that the importance of the Caribbean in the cruise industry lies in the warm, paradisiacal and tropical climate, since according to the classification shown, 40% of the largest ships have a Caribbean island among their itinerary. In addition, with the evolution in the design of the ships, it could be said that there has been a change of paradigm in which, the importance does not lie in the transport of people themselves, but in the tourist destination and in the comforts and services that the ship offers, hence the diversity of marketing strategies used by the shipping lines of the sector. They are aimed at promoting aspects such as rest, innovation, personalized assistance, entertainment, cinemas, theaters, swimming pools, multipurpose courts, libraries, among others , created to satisfy the preferences and expectations of the consumer.