List of Major Cruise Line Companies

The best passenger ship travel companies with the best cruise passenger ships in the world. The cheapest prices of the best lines are generally attainable with early booking, low-season travel ship deals, cheap ships repositioning deals, booking the lowest cabin category. The last link below offers information about the corporate ownership of the major brands. The paragraph links redirect to the companies' official websites.

• AIDA Kreuzfahrten (1960 as Deutsche Seereederei, 12 ships, including 3 future) - oriented towards the German-speaking market, with mostly younger clientele. AIDA was a subsidiary first of P&O Princess Cruises plc (2000), and since 2003 is a brand name in the Carnival Group.
• AMAWaterways (2002 as Amadeus Watterways, 12 newly built river ships) - a top luxury river ship cruise company, operates Western Europe, Russia, and Asia (Mekong River), innovative river vessel designs and construction (balcony cruise accommodations, on-board pools and Jacuzzis).
• APT River Cruises /APT Touring (1970, a division of APT Group - an initialism for "Australian Pacific Touring") - Europe and Russia, Egypt, South America, North America (Canada Alaska), South Pacific (Australia New Zealand), and Asia, also operates chartered ships.
• Avalon Waterways (2004, Lugano, Switzerland, 18 vessels, the majority of which are newly built, and after 2006 (including the industry's first "suite boat"), with average capacity of 170 guests) - small ship and river cruise company, a brand of the Globus corporation, operating Europe (11 ships), Egypt (3), China (3), and the Galapagos islands (1 ship).
• CroisiEurope (1965 as Alsace-Croisieres, 4-star brand name, newly built vessels) - 26 top luxury river passenger ships in Europe exclusively, with capacity 100-180 guests.
• European Waterways (1977, Datchet, Berkshire UK) - operates in 9 European countries (including Ireland and Scotland), with 3 small river boats and 18 luxury boutique-hotel barges (4-15 passengers).
• IberoCruceros /Ibero Cruises (2007, British-American-Spanish, Madrid, Spain) - 4 big vessels for the Spanish and Portuguese market (operates Europe and South America). Owned by Carnival and Orizonia Corporacion (the 3rd largest tour operator in Spain).
• Louis Cruises (since 1986 as "Louis Cruise Lines" - ferries charters for short sea vacation voyages to the Greek Islands and the Holy Land from Cyprus, headquarters in Limassol, Cyprus) - a subsidiary of Louis plc (the leader of the East Med tourism industry), The Louis ship line operates mainly 2nd and 3rd hand ships, often chartered to other passenger ship companies (fleet of 5 big passenger ships, including SS Emerald - the last of the old ocean liners, and 2 other ships, currently chartered to "Thomson Cruises".
• Oceania Cruises (2002, Miami FL, 5 top luxury passenger ships (3 medium, and 2 large) - the largest luxury cruise line in the world (with some of the cheapest cruise rates). Fully owned by Apollo Management.
• P&O Cruises (since 1837, British-American line, Southampton, UK, 8 large cruise ships, including the largest built for the UK market) - Owned by Carnival Corporation & plc.
• P&O Cruises Australia (4 big passenger ships in Australia New Zealand, including 2 of the ex Ocean Village line) - a division of "P&O Princess Cruises plc" (Carnival plc), headquarters North Sydney, New South Wales, AU, owned by Carnival Corporation & plc.
• Regent Seven Seas Cruises (1990, the ex "Radisson Seven Seas Cruises", Fort Lauderdale FL) - owned by Appolo Menagement since 2008, top luxury cruise line all inclusive ("the most all-inclusive" - alcohol, shore excursions, tips) , 3 fully refurbished smaller cruise ships "all-suite, all-balcony", with the first Canyon Ranch Spa at sea.
• Seabourn Line (1986, Miami FL) - luxury world ship cruise line, a subsidiary of Carnival Corporation & plc, with 6 smaller all-suite cruise ships all-inclusive - 3 second hand, and 3 newly built, with some of the largest Spa at sea, and up to 4 alternative dining venues.
• Silversea Cruises (1994, Ft Lauderdale FL) - 6 top luxury all-inclusive ships (including 1 small expedition ship), providing the "Personalized Voyages" concept (guests choose their own embarkation /disembarkation ports, with a min of 5 nights, daily rates, all-suite  accommodations).
• Viking River Cruises (1997, headquartered in Woodland Hills CA, and Basel, Switzerland) - the world's largest river ship cruise company, with 19 luxury river ships all-inclusive (capacity from 100 to 250 guests, Asia and Europe), with cheap fly-cruises from UK, fully guided tours in China and Russia.
• Uniworld Boutique River Cruise Collection (1976, Los Angeles CA) - 21 luxury river ships (average capacity 130 passengers, shore tours and excursions are included), with over 500 itineraries annually in more than 20 countries (Europe, China, Russia, Egypt).