What Cruise.com does

Cruise.com is a privately-held cruise vacation retailer and online booking marketplace founded in 1998 by Gloria Bohan and headquartered in Dania / Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The company operates as a licensed travel agency earning commissions on cruise bookings placed through its proprietary platform, with cruise line partnerships spanning more than 25 brands including Carnival, Royal Caribbean, MSC, Norwegian, Princess, Holland America, Celebrity, Disney, Viking, and luxury operators such as Regent Seven Seas, Crystal, Seabourn, and Silversea. Its core product is a transactional online booking marketplace augmented by 24/7 phone-based cruise expert support, a mobile app, a customer booking management portal, and ancillary offerings such as Disney World packages, shore excursions, travel insurance, and land tours through partner operators.

The business model is commission-based: Cruise.com negotiates exclusive discounts, onboard credits, upgrades, and amenities from cruise lines in exchange for distribution volume, and passes those incentives to consumers. Pricing is purely transactional (no subscription), with positioning across budget, mid-range, luxury, expedition, and world-cruise tiers.

The go-to-market is sales-led, combining a self-service digital storefront with a high-touch phone sales operation staffed by cruise experts available around the clock. The company targets individual and family leisure travelers across multiple segments (budget-conscious, family, luxury, special-interest, group), supplemented by an SEO-optimized website, blog, email newsletter, social media presence across Facebook, Twitter/X, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and Pinterest, and free educational webinars. The firm employs 51-100 people and maintains CLIA Premier Partner status alongside Agency of the Year awards from Royal Caribbean and V Cruises. Its technology stack is not publicly disclosed and no AI/ML capabilities are referenced in available sources.

Name

Cruise.com

Legal name

Cruise.com

Website

https://cruise.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1998

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Cruise.com is a privately-held online cruise travel agency and booking marketplace, founded in 1998, that sells cruises across 25+ major cruise lines to individual and family leisure travelers worldwide via its website, mobile app, and 24/7 phone-based cruise experts, earning transactional commissions on each booking.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Online Cruise Travel Agency

NAICS

Tour Operators (561520)

SIC

Services-Miscellaneous Amusement & Recreation (7990)

akta.pro primary industry

Online Cruise Agencies & Cruise Booking Platforms (THAKAKAB)

akta.pro secondary industries

Cruise Aggregators & Online Cruise Agencies (THAKAAAK), Cruise Booking Platforms (THALAFAG)

Keywords

• Cruise booking
• Online travel agency
• Vacation packages
• Cruise deals
• Travel insurance

Headquarters

HQ city

Dania

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Marketing or Sales, Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations

Revenue model

1. Travel Agency Commissions: Cruise.com acts as a licensed travel agency earning commissions on cruise bookings made through their platform. The company secures exclusive discounts, onboard credits, upgrades, and other valuable amenities from cruise lines, which are passed on to customers as part of their value proposition. Revenue is generated through transactional commissions on each cruise booking completed.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels12 records

Core offering

Cruise.com is an online cruise travel agency that retails cruise vacations from more than 50 cruise lines (including Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Norwegian, Disney, Princess, and luxury/premium/expedition brands) through its website, mobile app, and 24/7 phone-based cruise experts. The company earns commissions by booking cabins, shore excursions, Disney World resort packages, land tours, and travel insurance on behalf of cruise lines, and supports the booking through a member rewards program and award-winning customer service.

Product overview

Cruise.com is an online cruise vacation retailer and booking marketplace offering cruises across multiple cruise line partners. The platform operates as a single unified product combining an online booking marketplace with a mobile app, supported by 24/7 phone agents. The product portfolio includes the core Cruise.com booking platform, a mobile application for on-the-go booking, Disney World resort packages as a bundled add-on, a rewards program for member benefits, shore excursions booking integration, travel insurance products, and land tours through partner operators. The company has partnerships with cruise lines including Carnival, Celebrity, Princess, Royal Caribbean, Norwegian, Holland America, MSC, Oceania, Regent Seven Seas, Seabourn, Viking, Virgin Voyages, Crystal, Disney, Silversea, Celestyal, HX (Hurtigruten Expeditions), Explora Journeys, Costa, Windstar, Scenic, AmaWaterways, American Cruise Lines, Avalon Waterways, and Uniworld.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Cruise.com Online Cruise Booking Platform Online cruise booking platform that lets consumers search, compare, and book cruises from more than 50 cruise lines (including Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Norwegian, Disney, Princess, and luxury/expedition brands). Targeted at individual travelers and families planning cruise vacations.
• Cruise.com Mobile App Mobile application offered by Cruise.com that lets consumers browse itineraries, get cruise deals, and manage bookings on iOS and Android devices.
• Disney World Resort Packages Bookable Disney World Resort vacation packages bundled with or sold alongside cruise bookings, offered to consumers combining a cruise with a Walt Disney World stay.
• Land Tours Pre- and post-cruise land tour packages that consumers can book through Cruise.com to extend their cruise vacation with guided overland experiences.
• Shore Excursions Bookable shore excursions at cruise ports of call, giving cruise passengers a way to purchase port experiences alongside their cruise booking.
• Travel Insurance Travel insurance products offered to cruise customers at the time of booking to protect their cruise vacation.
• Group Cruises Dedicated group cruise service for booking multi-cabin sailings (weddings, reunions, organizations) with group rates and amenities, supported by Cruise.com's cruise experts.

Quantifiable outcome

• Named Agency of the Year by V Cruises and Royal Caribbean Cruise Line
• +1 more outcomes

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered major, core and supporting.

• Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA)majorGTM or Marketing PartnerCruise.com is a proud Premier Partner of CLIA, the world's largest cruise industry trade association. This partnership provides industry credibility, access to cruise line relationships, and marketing positioning within the cruise travel ecosystem.
• Royal Caribbean Cruise LinecoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorRoyal Caribbean named Cruise.com Agency of the Year, recognizing them as a top-performing distribution partner. Cruise.com offers exclusive Royal Caribbean deals including up to 60% off second guest, kids sail free promotions, military bonuses, and instant savings.
• MSC CruisescoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorMSC Cruises named Cruise.com Online Partner of the Year, recognizing excellence in digital cruise distribution. Cruise.com features MSC flash sales, up to 30% off promotions, and exclusive onboard credit offers.
• V CruisesmajorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorV Cruises recognized Cruise.com as Agency of the Year, acknowledging their service excellence and sales performance within the cruise retail sector.
• Tour Operators (Land Tours)supportingChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorPartnerships with land tour operators including Adventures by Disney, CIE Tours, Cosmos, G Adventures, Globus, Tauck, and Trafalgar to offer comprehensive vacation packages combining cruises with land tours.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Direct peers

• CruiseOne / Dream Vacations: Cruise-focused franchised travel agency network (part of World Travel Holdings) selling cruise vacations through a nationwide network of independent agents. Directly competes with Cruise.com in cruise retail distribution and supplier relationship leverage.
• CruiseDirect: Online cruise travel agency offering cruise deals across major cruise lines with exclusive promotions, onboard credits, and discounts. Competes head-to-head with Cruise.com on price-driven cruise bookings and supplier relationships.
• Avoya Travel: Host-agency model travel company with a strong cruise focus, using a network of independent agents and proprietary leads platform. Comparable to Cruise.com in the cruise retail segment, with a differentiated but overlapping distribution model.
• Vacations To Go: One of the largest cruise-only retail travel agencies in the United States, offering discounted cruise bookings across all major cruise lines via online and phone channels. Direct competitor with a very similar business model, supplier relationships, and target customer base as Cruise.com.
• iCruise.com (WMPH Vacations): Cruise-only online travel agency offering cruise bookings across major lines with phone support and exclusive deals. Closely comparable to Cruise.com in business model, scale tier, and target customer base.

Emerging players

• Cruise Critic: Leading cruise review, community, and meta-search site (owned by Tripadvisor) that drives cruise research and lead-generation. While not a direct transactional competitor, it influences the funnel that Cruise.com depends on and competes for cruise shopper attention.

Broad incumbents

• American Express Travel: Premium travel agency division of American Express offering cruise bookings as part of full-service travel concierge. Overlaps with Cruise.com's luxury cruise segment and serves affluent Card Members with similar phone-based consultation.
• Priceline Cruises: Cruise booking vertical of Priceline (Booking Holdings), offering discounted cruise inventory alongside its broader OTA portfolio. Competes with Cruise.com for cruise shoppers, leveraging parent-company marketing and tech investment at a much larger scale.
• Expedia Cruises: Cruise specialty division of Expedia Group, one of the world's largest online travel companies, offering cruise booking through franchise locations and online. Overlaps with Cruise.com on cruise retail but operates within a much broader OTA portfolio and benefits from Expedia's scale and marketing budget.

Others

• Royal Caribbean Direct: Direct booking channel of Royal Caribbean Cruise Line, Cruise.com's largest supplier partner. While a supplier rather than a competitor, Royal Caribbean's investment in its direct booking platform represents the primary structural disintermediation risk to Cruise.com's business model.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/cruisecom
• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/cruise
• Facebookfacebook.com/cruisediscounts
• Instagraminstagram.com/cruisecom
• TikToktiktok.com/@cruisecom1
• Pinterestpinterest.com/cruisecom

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Cruise.com