Abstract: In this paper we describe the evolution of the cruise tourism industry and we analyze different impacts
on tourism destinations of this segment of the travel industry. The study includes the discussion of economic,
social, environmental, cultural and political effects. We present data to analyze and compare the performance of
the main cruise destinations and cruise lines. Analysis and data are based mainly on a selection of information
taken from different official worldwide reports (OMT, CTO), press releases and previous studies. The economic
impact is estimated from tourist expenditure and local information. Environmental impacts are compiled from
historical and current data. We also describe different activities related to the cruise ship industry to identify costs
and benefits to different actors of the local economies. From the analysis, we discuss some stylized facts about the
cruise ship industry and we show that some optimist evaluations of local decision makers are not completely
true