Hapag-Lloyd AG was created on September 1, 1970 as a result of the merger of the shipping lines Hamburg-Amerikanische Packetfahrt-Actien-Gesellschaft (Hamburg-American Line or Hapag), based in Hamburg, and Norddeutscher Lloyd (NDL), based in Bremen. At that time these companies, founded in 1847 and 1857 respectively, had been active in ocean shipping for over 120 years. Its cruise division is the leading supplier of cruises in German-speaking countries, offering both sea-going and river cruises. The MS Europa is its flagship. In 2004, the company began offering more bilingual cruises, setting its sights on the American market.

Hebridean Island Cruises has been operating cruise ships since 1989.The first vessel, Hebridean Princess, has cruised Scotland’s West Coast waters for the past fourteen years. Hebridean Spirit, joined the line in July 2001. Her year-round program takes her to intriguing destinations from the Arctic to the Tropics.

Holland America was founded in 1873 as the Netherlands-America Steamship Company (NASM), a shipping and passenger line. Because it provided service to the Americas, it became known as Holland America Line. The company's first ocean liner was the original Rotterdam, which sailed its maiden voyage from the Netherlands to New York City on October 15, 1872—a crossing that took 15 days.

The line was a principal carrier of immigrants from Europe to the United States until well after the turn of the century, carrying 850,000 passengers to new lives in the New World. The line offered its first cruise in 1895; Three years later, HAL owned a fleet of six cargo and passenger ships that also provided service between Holland and the Dutch East Indies via the Suez Canal.

With the growing preference of the public for jet travel to Europe, HAL suspended in 1971 its trans-Atlantic passenger trade and turned to offering cruise vacations full time. It introduced two radically designed vessels-the ‘ new’ Nieuw Amstersdam and Noordam-in the 1980s, which allowed for more space for leisure-cruising activities. HAL, along with Seattle-based Westours and Windstar Cruises, was acquired by Carnival Corporation in 1997.

Imperial Majesty Cruise Line operates two-night cruises out of Fort Lauderdale, Florida to the Bahamas.

Launched in March 2002, Island Cruises is a joint venture between First Choice Holidays PLC in the UK and Royal Caribbean International. The current ship, the Island Escape, formerly sailed as the Viking Serenade for Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, and now spends the summer months in Palma, Majorca from where she cruises the Mediterranean's most popular cities. During the winter months, Santos, Brazil is her homeport from which the vessel offers cruises to UK and Brazilian passengers along Brazil’s Atlantic coast.

Kristina Cruises is a Finnish family-owned shipping company with over fifty years of experience in cruise business. Kristina Cruises (then known as Rannikkolinjat) was founded in 1985. The company was registered in Kotka. In the same year the company acquired the possession of its first passenger vessel Kristina Brahe from Fagerlines Ltd., which had operated the vessel mostly in the Lake Saimaa area. Two years later the company bought the s/s Bore which became the Kristina Regina. She underwent a major refurbishment in 2000. The company operates cruises mostly in Northern Europe and the Mediterranean.

Since 1979, when Special Expeditions—now called Lindblad Expeditions—was founded by Sven-Olof Lindblad, son of well-known travel pioneer Lars-Eric Lindblad, the company has been noted for its commitment to the environment. The trips are staffed by distinguished expedition leaders and naturalists, cultural authorities and local guides who are knowledgeable about the flora, fauna, culture and history of the regions visited. intense on-site research and itinerary planning is coordinated with staff from universities and scientific institutions to support the planning of these expeditions.

*Chartered to My Travel for 2004

**Chartered to Thomson Holidays

The company was founded in 1935 as a travel agency. In 1987 the Louis Group began acquiring ships. Today it operates ten vessels offering various cruises to the Mideast and Mediterranean ports as well as the Caribbean. In spring 2004 the company acquired two additional vessels—Sunbird and Carousel—which were chartered to the British tour operator My Travel. In May 2005, Sunbird will be chartered for six years to Thomson Cruises.