Cruise Operations Management

As a textbook, Cruise Operations Management by Philip Gibson was well written for the hospitality and tourism industry. It appeared to be well suited for students at the community college or undergraduate levels. With additional material, it could be adapted to be suitable for a stand-alone lower level graduate course or as a part of larger course. The book and associated chapters were laid out nicely. The book was informative and appeared up-to-date and well referenced. There are two major flaws that I see with this book. The biggest flaw was in Chapter 3 (Maritime Issues and Legislation) couple with Chapter 10 (Health, Safety and Security) as it was closely related to Chapter 3. Unfortunately, much of the information on maritime conventions (i.e. SOLAS, MARPOL, ISPS, ISM, etc.) was either under-written or just plain wrong. To paraphrase a B-movie, readers will be dumber for reading Chapter 3. The author and editors need to rework Chapter 3 at the earliest opportunity, particularly in view of public image and regulatory penalties that have been imposed on cruise ships in the past. The less of the two major flaws was the lack of detail for the financial aspects of the cruise industry. To make up for short falls in the fiscal elements of the cruise industry, I would recommend that appropriate articles or video (i.e. CNBC's Cruise Inc. -- [...]) could be incorporated into the classroom. A minor shortcoming of the book was the lack of good introduction to cargo ship cruising. While it couldn't have been a major portion of a chapter, it should have been address as one of the cruising industry segments. Overall, the book was good and would be recommended as a textbook.

This book has not primarily been written for cruise passengers, but for students, for people interested in a cruise management position, and for business partners of cruise lines. It provides a comprehensive look behind the scenes both shipside and shoreside. Many examples and short case studies help the reader appreciate the multiple facets of cruise operations. Along with Cartwright/Baird's 'Development and Growth of the Cruise Industry', this is probably the best text about cruise management on the market. We use it in our undergraduate Cruise Industry Management course (Hochschule Bremerhaven, Germany).