Continuing Education, Inc.

What Continuing Education, Inc. does

Continuing Education, Inc., operating under the University at Sea™ trade name, is a privately held Florida corporation founded in 1998 that organizes accredited continuing medical education (CME) and continuing education (CE) conferences aboard cruise ships. The company serves licensed U.S. healthcare professionals — physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, nurses, dentists, pharmacists, psychiatrists/psychologists, chiropractors, and legal-medical/ethics professionals — who need to fulfill mandatory state licensure and board-certification credit requirements. Programs are co-branded with major medical and dental institutions including Columbia University Medical Center, SUNY, UCSF School of Dentistry, SIU School of Dental Medicine, Weill Cornell, the New York State Nurses Association, and the American College of Osteopathic Family Physicians, and are accredited through Joint Accreditation to deliver interprofessional credits from a single sailing.

The company sells two revenue streams: (1) conference registration fees charged to individual healthcare professionals for live-lecture CME/CE content, classified as professional services revenue, and (2) cruise package group pricing, where it negotiates best-available rates with cruise lines and earns transaction-fee-style economics on the cruise component. Distribution is primarily direct-to-consumer via the company's website (continuingeducation.net) and phone support, supplemented by institutional and association referrals from co-branding partners. Cruise inventory is sourced from partnerships with Royal Caribbean, Celebrity Cruises, Holland America Line, Norwegian Cruise Lines, MSC Cruises, Seabourn, and AmaWaterways for European river itineraries.

Operationally, the company has scheduled more than 110 cruise conferences spanning 2026 through 2028, sailing to destinations across the Americas, Caribbean, Alaska, Hawaii, the Mediterranean, Northern Europe, Asia, and Australia/New Zealand. It maintains a single headquarters in St. Petersburg, Florida, and operates without disclosed technology platform, mobile application, API, or proprietary software product. The business model is therefore best characterized as a specialized services and group-travel operation rather than a technology-enabled education company, with moat derived from regulatory accreditation, multi-decade cruise-line relationships, and institutional co-branding rather than software or data assets.

Name

Continuing Education, Inc.

Legal name

Continuing Education, Inc.

Website

https://continuingeducation.net

Company type

Private

Founded year

1998

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Continuing Education, Inc. (University at Sea™) organizes accredited CME and CE cruise conferences for U.S. healthcare professionals, co-branded with major medical and dental institutions and delivered aboard partner cruise lines globally.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Continuing Medical Education Services

NAICS

Professional and Management Development Training (611430)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

Healthcare Clinical Professions (CME/CE for Nurses, Allied Health, Pharmacy) (EDAAALAC)

akta.pro secondary industries

Educational Cruises & Shipboard Learning Programs (THAKAGAM), Healthcare & Clinical Professional Development (CME/CE) (EDAGANAJ)

Keywords

• Continuing medical education
• Cruise conferences
• Dental continuing education
• Accredited CME programs
• Professional development travel

Headquarters

HQ city

St. Petersburg

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Conference Registration Fees: Fees charged to healthcare professionals for attending CME/CE cruise conferences. These are one-time professional services fees for live educational content delivery.
2. Cruise Package Group Pricing: Best available cruise rates negotiated with cruise lines, offered as group pricing to conference attendees and their families/friends. The company earns revenue through volume pricing arrangements with cruise operators while offering competitive rates to participants.

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Continuing Education, Inc. designs, sells, and operates accredited continuing medical education (CME) and continuing professional education (CE) conferences for healthcare practitioners, delivered aboard ocean and river cruise ships under the University at Sea™ brand. Each itinerary bundles a multi-day live clinical lecture program with cruise travel and onboard lodging, allowing individual attendees to earn required credit hours while on a vacation. Programming is jointly accredited and organized by clinical topic or attendee credential (physicians, dentists, nurses, pharmacists, etc.), with select activities co-branded by academic institutions and professional associations.

Product overview

Continuing Education, Inc. operates primarily under the University at Sea™ brand as a unified continuing education service that combines cruise-based travel with accredited medical and dental education. The portfolio consists of ocean CME cruise conferences (offering dozens of specialty topics aboard Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, Holland America, MSC, Norwegian, and Seabourn vessels), river cruise CE programs (via AmaWaterways on European routes like Danube and Rhine), and land-based conferences. Programs are organized by profession—Physicians (AMA PRA credits), Dentists (ADA CERP), Nurses (contact hours), Pharmacists (ACPE), Chiropractors, and others. Joint Accreditation enables multiple healthcare disciplines to earn credits together. The company serves healthcare professionals seeking to fulfill licensure requirements while traveling.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• University at Sea™ Cruise Conferences The flagship line of accredited continuing medical education (CME) and continuing professional education (CE) conferences delivered aboard ocean cruise ships. Each itinerary packages a multi-day live clinical lecture program with cruise travel and onboard accommodations, and serves physicians, dentists, nurses, pharmacists, chiropractors, optometrists, and other allied health professionals who need to earn required credit hours.
• Ocean CME Conferences Accredited CME/CE conference programs hosted aboard major ocean cruise brands including Royal Caribbean, Celebrity Cruises, Holland America Line, Princess Cruises, and Norwegian Cruise Line. Activities are jointly accredited and cover topic-based series such as Primary Care, Emergency Medicine, and Dentistry.
• River Cruise CME Programs Accredited CME/CE conference programs delivered aboard river cruise itineraries, expanding the cruise-conference format beyond ocean voyages to inland and European river routes.
• Jointly-Accredited Provider CME/CE Activities Individual CME/CE activities offered under the company's jointly accredited provider status, enabling a single activity to satisfy multiple credit types (e.g., medical, dental, nursing, pharmacy) for multi-credential attendees.
• Co-Branded CME Programs with Academic Institutions and Associations Select CME/CE cruise-conference activities co-branded with medical schools and healthcare professional associations, lending academic or association sponsorship to specific itineraries while the company manages operations and accreditation.

Named customers6 records

Segments7 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

15 partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Royal CaribbeancoreOthersMajor cruise line partner providing ships for CME cruise conferences. The company offers 'best available cruise rates' through volume group bookings aboard Royal Caribbean's fleet including Icon of the Seas, Symphony of the Seas, Oasis of the Seas, and other vessels.
• Celebrity CruisescoreOthersPremium cruise line partner offering ships for CME conferences. Programs operate aboard Celebrity vessels including Celebrity Edge, Celebrity Xcel, Celebrity Infinity, and others sailing to destinations worldwide.
• Holland America LinecoreOthersTraditional cruise line partner providing premium vessels for CME cruise conferences. Programs feature aboard Holland America ships sailing to Alaska, Mediterranean, and other destinations.
• Norwegian Cruise LinescoreOthersCruise partner offering modern ships for CME conferences. Programs feature aboard NCL vessels sailing to Caribbean, Hawaii, and Alaska.
• MSC CruisesminorOthersInternational cruise partner for CME conferences. Programs feature aboard MSC ships sailing to Mediterranean and other destinations.
• SeabournminorOthersLuxury cruise partner for premium CME experiences aboard intimate ships.
• AmaWaterways River CruisescoreOthersSpecialized river cruise partner for European CME programs. Programs feature aboard AmaWaterways vessels sailing Danube, Rhine, and other European rivers.
• Columbia University Medical CentercoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPrestigious medical institution co-branding CME cruise conferences. Programs include 'Cardiology & Clinical Pearls of Internal Medicine' offering up to 30 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits and MOC Part II points.
• SUNY (State University of New York)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMultiple SUNY schools co-provide CME cruise conferences including neurology, endocrinology, and gynecology programs.
• SIU School of Dental MedicinecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSouthern Illinois University School of Dental Medicine co-sponsors dental CE cruise programs including Scandinavia and Alaska conferences.
• UCSF School of DentistrycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerUniversity of California San Francisco School of Dentistry co-provides dental CE river cruise programs including European river cruises.
• New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAnnual 'NYSNA Seminar at Sea' conferences for nursing CE credits, including Asia and Mediterranean programs.
• American College of Osteopathic Family Physicians (ACOFP)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerProfessional association co-providing ACOFP CME at Sea conferences for osteopathic family physicians.
• Joint AccreditationcoreOthersAccreditation body providing interprofessional continuing education accreditation, allowing multiple healthcare professions to earn credits from single programs.
• Doctors Without BordersminorOthersHumanitarian medical charity receiving charitable donations from the company as part of their charitable giving program.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Emerging players

• MedBridge: MedBridge is an online continuing education platform for physical therapists, occupational therapists, nurses, and other allied healthcare professionals — directly competing for nurse and allied-health CE budgets that University at Sea targets with cruise conferences.

Broad incumbents

• AMA Ed Hub: AMA Ed Hub is the American Medical Association's online CME platform offering free and paid accredited continuing education to physicians. It represents the broad-incumbent, online alternative to live cruise-based CME that competes for the same physician CE-credit wallet.
• AudioDigest: AudioDigest is a long-established audio- and online-based continuing medical education provider for physicians, offering board review and specialty CME. It is a broad incumbent competing for the same physician CE-credit wallet through a non-cruise delivery model.
• PESI: PESI is a long-established provider of continuing education for healthcare and behavioral-health professionals via live seminars, online courses, and recorded content. It overlaps with University at Sea on live, in-person CE delivery for nurses, counselors, and allied health professionals.
• Pri-Med: Pri-Med is a large, established provider of continuing medical education for primary-care clinicians via live conferences and online programming. It is a broad incumbent in the same CME space with overlapping physician audience, though it does not specialize in cruise-based delivery.

Direct peers

• Wild Iris Medical Education: Wild Iris Medical Education is an accredited online provider of continuing education for nurses and allied healthcare professionals. It competes directly for nursing CE-credit dollars that University at Sea targets through nursing cruise conferences.
• CME Vacations: CME Vacations organizes accredited continuing medical education conferences aboard cruise ships and at resort destinations, serving the same healthcare-professional customer base with a similar cruise-plus-CME value proposition.
• NetCE: NetCE is an accredited online continuing education provider for physicians, nurses, dentists, and other healthcare professionals. It competes for the same multi-profession CE wallet as University at Sea via lower-cost online delivery.
• Sea Courses Inc. Sea Courses is one of the longest-running cruise-based CME providers in North America, organizing accredited medical conferences aboard cruise ships for physicians and allied healthcare professionals — directly comparable to University at Sea's cruise CME delivery model and customer base.
• CE Direct: CE Direct (now part of Relias) is an online continuing education platform serving nurses, dental professionals, and other clinicians — a direct competitor for the nursing and dental CE credits that University at Sea's cruise conferences address.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/cruise-conferences-incentives

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

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 Continuing Education, Inc.