This research was partially funded by Transport Canada through the Canadian transportation research forum doctoral scholarship program. The authors would like to thank the cruise line employees who participated in the interviews for their valuable time as well as all other employees of the cruise company and other agencies who took time to explain so many intricacies of their daily tasks. We would also like to thank the three anonymous reviewers as well as the editor for their valuable comments, which strengthen the quality of this paper. Finally we are indebted to Professor Yvon Bigras and Professor Federico Pasin for their guidance in this research project.