List of Top Cruise Companies (A-G)

All the best cruise line companies list, also including several renown smaller lines and operators with well-established market positions and high indices for passenger loyalty. The best world ship travel lines, and the best river ship cruise companies information and concise reviews. All links pertain to the companies' official websites. For detailed info about the corporate ownership of some brands (Carnival and Royal Caribbean being the best examples), click on the last link below.

As to the ship fares, the cheapest (and the MOST FUN) lines are listed as "Best" (including luxury brands with cheap affordable cruises packages), and the majority of the most expensive cruise lines are listed as "major".

• AIDA Cruises (since 1960 - see "Major Lines").
• AMAWaterways (since 2002 - in "Major").
• American Cruise Lines (1991, Guilford CT) - 6 small ships (capacity 50-120 guests), including a renovated authentic paddle-wheeler. Operates the USA East and West coasts, and rivers.
• American Safari Cruises /ASC - (founded 1996, 3 ships, in "Alaska Small").
• APT River Cruises /APT Touring (since 1970 - in "Major").
• Avalon Waterways (since 2004 - in "Major").
• Azamara Club (since 2007, 2 premium ships) - cheap affordable all-inclusive, with over-night port stays, owned by RCCL.
• Carnival Cruise Lines (since 1972 - in "Best").
• CDF Croisières de France (2007, Norwegian-American, 2 medium size chartered passenger ships) - operates the French-speaking market exclusively, with Med (from Marseille) and Caribbean (from La Romana, Dominican Republic) sailings, founded and owned by RCCL.
• Celebration Line (2008, 1 ship, Riviera Beach FL) - 2-day Bahamas from Florida, Palm Beach. The line is the successor of the "Imperial Majesty Cruise Line", the MS Bahamas Celebration ship has capacity for 890 guests and 600 cars.
• Celebrity Cruises (since 1988 - in "Best").
• Classic International (1985, British-Australian, Neutral Bay, Australia) - 5 top luxury passenger ships, including the MS Athena ship - a fully rebuilt ocean liner from 1948.
• Costa Cruises /Costa Crociere SpA (since 1924 - in "Best").
• CroisiEurope (since 1965 - in "Major").
• Cruise & Maritime Voyages (2009, Dartford UK, serves the British market exclusively) - 2 smaller adults-only cruise ships, including the chartered MS Marco Polo ship of Global Maritime.
• Crystal Cruises (1988, Century City LA) - most expensive cruise line, with 2 top-luxury ships all-inclusive (capacity about 1,000 passengers), a subsidiary of the NYK Line (Japanese shipping company, one of the largest in the world). The Crystal line is awarded "Best" for almost 2 decades now.
• Cunard Line Ltd (since 1840 - in "Best").
• Disney Cruise Line (since 1998 - in "Best").
• EasyCruise (since 2004, Athens, Greece) 3 smaller ships operated by Hellenic Seaways (Aegean and Adriatic cruise passenger and ferry services).
• European Waterways (since 1977 - in "Major").
• Fred Olsen Lines (since 1848, Ipswich, Suffolk UK) - a Norwegian company with 4 smaller ships from England (Caribbean Fly-cruises from Barbados during winter), around South America, and Around the World sea voyages. The line is a feature brand of the Fred Olsen Group (luxury hotels, real estates, property development, aviation, crewing and building ships).
• GAP Adventures (1990, Toronto, Canada, the MS Expedition ship) - the largest cruise ship company in Canada, with more than 1,000 adventure sea ship travel tours per year, to over 100 countries.