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i was amazed to see the wrong answer on
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blog posts and articles that several
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well-known cruise writers bloggers and
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vloggers give to a question that we all
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get asked frequently which is "I want to
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go on an ocean cruise on a non USA owned
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line what are my options?" I was
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surprised how some of those supposed
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cruise experts get the answer wrong by
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mostly confusing where a cruise line is
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based or is actively catering for a
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local market or region for being non USA
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owned for example one of my followers
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using a list of non USA owned lines
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she'd seen online told me she'd booked a
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well-known Norwegian cruise line instead
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but I had to tell her it was in fact a
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company that was listed on the New York
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Stock Exchange welcome aboard i'm Gary
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Benbridge and I spent time diving deep
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into this topic and even though I
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thought I knew who owned what there were
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a couple of surprises along the way I
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uncovered due to some recent ownership
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changes that had gone under the radar
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but first a couple of amazing
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revelations my analysis showed USA
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companies dominate cruising way more
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than even I had appreciated first
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USowned lines carry almost nine out of
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10 passengers 87% including on lines
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that passengers think are locally owned
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or operated second based on passengers
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carried only one of the top 15 cruise
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lines is not wholly or partly owned by a
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US- listed corporation US private equity
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firm or US family or privatelyowned
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company thirdly there is only one large
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mass market resort style and value line
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that's not owned by a US company and
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cruising non- USowned lines means mostly
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having to stump up for luxury and ultra
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luxury small ships so let's dive into
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the detail first I want to talk about
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the ones that most passengers think they
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know all about but because many don't
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know about the joint ventures some of
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these corporations have they actually
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think that some cruise lines are locally
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owned when they're not they're
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ultimately US-owned carnival Corporation
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carries 42% of all cruise passengers and
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own eight cruise lines carnival Cruise
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Line Princess Cruisers Holland America
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Seabor and those more locally focused
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lines like German focused Aida Italian
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focused Costa and British focused Piano
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Cruises and Cunard Cruise Line but they
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also own 40% of a Chinese joint venture
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Adora Cruises norwegian Cruise Group
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carries around 10% of passengers today
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and own three cruise lines norwegian
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Cruise Line Oceanania and Regent 7C's
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cruisers royal Caribbean Group is where
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most people including many of those
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writers bloggers and vloggers that I
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mentioned earlier get wrong because they
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miss out some of their joint venture
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lines they wholly own Royal Caribbean
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International Celebrity Cruisers and
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Silver Sea however they have a 50/50
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joint venture with TUI Cruisers in
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Germany and so they part own the German
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focused Mine Chief and Habag Lloyd and
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the UK focused Mela Cruisers so if
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you're looking for a German experience
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or a UK experience those lines will do
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the job but they do have USA parents
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also owned by and listed on the US stock
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exchanges of course are Disney Cruise
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Line because it's part of the Walt
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Disney Corporation and actually Lind
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Blad National Geographic i found that
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many passengers think the next two
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Europeanowned based on their very
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high-profile leaders and their origin
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story but they are not the first is the
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one that I referred to earlier Viking
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Cruisers it was created in Norway by
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Torston Hargan but he sold part of it
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way back in 2016 to USA private equity
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companies and was listed on the US stock
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exchange in May 2024 meaning it has many
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US owners many also think of Virgin
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Voyages as being British because of the
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association with the entrepreneur
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Richard Branson however it's actually a
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joint venture with US Bank Capital
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Private Equity in the US putting up most
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of the money and the Virgin Group
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bringing the brand name other private
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equity line firms own several cruise
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lines one of which I must admit I really
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think will surprise you because it did
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me so private equity owned Azamara
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Margaret Rita Villa fe the Ritz Carton
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yachts which is not part of Ritz Carton
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Hotels by the way just licenses the name
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Quark Expedition Line and the Greek line
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Celestial Cruises which I had always
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thought was Greekowned and operated us
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private companies owned WindStar
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American Cruise Line and the new Four
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Seasons yachts which is owned by a real
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estate mogul who owns several Four
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Seasons properties and he's working in
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partnership with the hotel chain but
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it's not actually part of Four Seasons
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as such with the USA side clarified it's
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time to dive into the lines owned and
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operated 100% out of the United States
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there are four privatelyowned cruise
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groups in Europe the largest and most
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significant are the lines owned by the
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Mediterranean Shipping Company now this
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is a family-owned company mse Cruisers
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is their main cruise line which is the
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third largest cruise line in the world
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based on passengers carried after
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Carnival andor Caribbean it's actually
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bigger than the Norwegian cruise line
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they have a new luxury line called
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Explorer Journeys as well now the second
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European and family-owned group is the
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Ponant group owned by the French Pinult
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family they have three lines in the
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group pon Cruisers an ultra luxury
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cruising an expedition line they have
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Poor Gargan a luxury line in French
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Polynesia and Aqua Expeditions the third
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privately owned group is the Mystic
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Invest group based in Portugal now they
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have within the group the recently
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launched Atlas Ocean Voyages an
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expedition focused line Mystic Cruisers
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focused on small ship expedition and
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cruising and Niko Cruisers which targets
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more the German market the fourth is the
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Heritage Group based in Monaco which is
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owned by Manfred Lefer the Avidio whose
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family created and owned Silver Sea
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before they sold it to Royal Caribbean
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now this group owns the ultra luxury
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crystal cruisers through their
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Abberrombi and Kent subsidiary there are
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several lines thought of as Norwegian
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based on their history and the routes
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they operate in though I discovered only
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three actually remain under Norwegian
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ownership and not the ones that most
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people think are one of the most famous
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is Hutigrin and HX Expeditions which was
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spun off out of the Hutigrin group both
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of those lines after facing some
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financial challenges are actually now
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privately owned by separate UK private
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equity companies the only
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Norwegian-owned cruise lines these days
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are Havilia Voyages which are similar to
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Hut Grutin Seadream the luxury small
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yacht company and actually Fred Olsen
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which focuses on the UK but is part of
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the Norwegian listed company called
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Bonhur in the UK there's also several
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locallyowned cruise lines there's Saga
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Cruisers which is part of the Saga group
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which is for 50 plus year old travelers
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only there's the Ambassador group which
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has Ambassador Cruise Line a small ship
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value line and also the small French
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line i want to massacre this
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Frances i apologize for that then in
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Scotland there is the Hebradian Island
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Cruisers there's a smattering of small
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privately owned lines in Europe like
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Swan Hellenic and Star Clippers in the
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rest of the world there is the
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Australian Scenic and Emerald Luxury
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Yachts which are part of one group and
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in Asia there is the Singapore-based
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Resorts World who have brought back Star
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Cruisers and Dream Cruisers which went
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bankrupt just after the pandemic
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shutdown as part of the Genting
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operation and in Japan is Mitsui Ocean
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Voyages which has been buying and
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revamping some of the older Seaborn
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ships if you want to cruise on a non USA
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line you're limited especially if you're
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cruising on a budget or kind of want a
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more family focused line so in the mass
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and value market you've really only got
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MSC cruisers then all the rest are
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mostly in the small ship luxury side
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like Explorer Journeys Seadream Atlas
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World Voyages or in the ultra luxury
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side lines like Crystal Ponard Paul Gan
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Scenic and Emerald Yachts there are
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several local and regional lines
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catering specifically for either
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immersive destination cruising like
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Norwegian Hut Grutin Hervalia and
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Scottish Hebrdian Island cruisers or
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those that are reflecting local language
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or onboard experiences like UK focused
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Saga Fred Olsson Ambassador French
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Ponardant German Nico and Portuguese
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Mystic now because I know all of this is
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a bit complex I've created a download
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that lists all of the cruise line and
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who owns them and you can download that
9:19
fortravelers.com/ownonus but before you
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do why don't you join me over in this
9:23
video looking at what it takes and how
9:25
much it really costs to live on a cruise
9:28
ship these days see you over there
