Cruiseship Tycoon

Grow a small cruise line into a successful business!

4.33 / 5 from 18 player ratings

TryMedia Affiliate

We're sorry but we are no longer able to offer a download for this game.

See more games you may like below, or browse retired games.

6.0FairDFG score

DFG Exclusive Review Summary

Better than average but has some noticeable flaws.

Pros

In-depth ship-building and customization.
Incredibly detailed visuals.
Humorous antics from the crew and guests.

Cons

Interface can be hard to understand at first.
Lacks difficulty.
Doesn't always run smoothly.

Read Full Cruiseship Tycoon Review

About this game

10 minutes until you set sail on the seven seas! This time you aren't a customer who can sit back and drink while watching those other people work.

You are in control of a cruise line. You will have to decide what staff to hire, what ship to buy, what entertainment to have, where to go, and many other details to running a successful cruise line. Watch out for the rocks and the sea creatures, or your luxery trip will end up being a titanic failure!

Maybe the people need a little entertainment. Build a basketball court outside and watch the people use what you built for them. Maybe grandma will throw down that monster jam! Do the people need nicer sleeping quarters? Build a master suite like no one has enjoyed before. You will have to keep your hand on the pulse of both the customers and crew to master this industry!

So everyone knows what you already knew, you're a genius! Build a bigger fleet to accomodate all of the new guests.

If you are going to rule the seven seas you must use all of your business accumen and have a little luck. Cruise Ship Tycoon will keep you at it until the seas are ruled by your mighty hand!

Features

Cruise Ship Tycoon was released in June, 2003.
This title is the work of Cat Daddy Games.
Cat Daddy Games is responsible for making all sorts of business simulation games. Some of them include Casino Mogul, Mall Tycoon 3, Gold Resort Tycoon, and the Ski Resort series.
Cruise Ship Tycoon is available for the PC.
The demo for Cruise Ship Tycoon has been downloaded nearly one hundred-thousand times off of CNET alone.

Cruiseship Tycoon Review

Review by David Galvin

Dave Galvin is a freelance writer and avid gamer. Somehow, he managed to find a way to combine the two passions.

Take a Trip

If the tycoon genre has taught us anything, it’s that running a business can be hard work. So much so that even the wealthiest business magnate has to take a vacation at some point in time. With Cruise Ship Tycoon, you won’t necessarily be going on vacation, but you will be running a popular choice for one. Despite that, however, this tycoon simulator can’t help but feel a little lackadaisical at times.

Inscrutably Detailed

At first glance, Cruise Ship Tycoon does not look like much. The graphics are colorful and everything looks as it should, but they’re still very simplistic. Nothing about the visuals is immediately eye-catching. However, looks can be deceiving, which is something you will quickly find out once you start to take control of the camera. Few games today can boast the incredible range of distance you can zoom in and out of whilst playing Cruise Ship Tycoon. You can go so far out that you’ll get a wide view of your entire ship, or so close you can count all the individual characters wandering around its hull.

Speaking of characters, they hold up surprisingly well on close inspection. There’s a good variety of models, from little children to overweight tourists to seniors with walkers, and they are all animated with remarkable fluidity. A lot of fun can be had in the game just by watching people. They move around like ants, sit at tables, eat, drink, socialize and best of all, get injured.

The Sounds of Relaxation

The music is pretty forgettable on the whole. It contains the typical beats of muzak you would expect to hear on a pleasure cruise or similar tourist trap. It fits the setting like a glove in that regard, though, and that’s all that anyone should expect in this kind of game.

Meanwhile, the sound effects are used to much better effect. You won’t hear anything but the background music while you’re zoomed out, but as you get closer, the muzak will give way to different sounds that tend to fit whatever area the camera is focused on.

For example, a nightclub will blast techno music, whereas a restroom will feature the sounds of flushing toilets and running sinks. The same goes for the characters; they’ll mumble, burp, groan, snore and make any other noise that matches up with their current activity. In general, it’s a really cool effect and makes the game feel a bit like The Sims.

Not the Friendliest Interface to New Users

The first thing that can be said about Cruise Ship Tycoon’s gameplay is that it can seem very confusing at the beginning. You have dozens of things you can build on your ship, multiple decks to keep track of, and countless statistics to follow. It’s not very obvious how things work, and the lack of tutorials doesn’t help. A little experimentation with the menus will hopefully bring things to light, but it still would have been nice if the game had just taken a moment to show the player the ropes.

Build Your Ship from the Water Up

One of the coolest things about Cruise Ship Tycoon is the way in which you can design the interior of your ship. You have a lot of freedom in determining what objects, services and rooms to have and where they’ll fit in on-board. You’ll need quarters so that your guests and crew can rest, restrooms where they can clean up, and medical services to treat injured personnel.

Additionally, no cruise ship is complete without a healthy dose of entertainment. You can set up dozens of such facilities, including bars, restaurants, stores, health spas, swimming pools, theatres, dance clubs and more. These not only keep your paying guests happy, they also add more funds to your coffers.

What services you offer is important, but what’s equally vital is how you lay them out. You might have a decent number of bars on-board, for instance, but if they’re in far off areas of the ship, it’s unlikely the guests will be able to find them. You also need to carefully consider where you place certain facilities in relation to others. The game in no way tells you what’s right and what’s wrong, which might make things seem daunting at first, but it also leaves plenty of room for experimentation. In that regard, Cruise Ship Tycoon is a fairly open game that lets you find a play style for yourself.

Little Depth to These Waters

Unfortunately, though the shipbuilding aspect of Cruise Ship Tycoon is extensive, the actual simulation portion of it is pretty simple. Ensuring that you can turn a greater profit with every voyage you make is as simple as addressing your customers’ complaints. Achieving a balance between your aggravated guests and limited funds can be an interesting struggle at first, and for the first hour or so, Cruise Ship Tycoon can be quite fun.

Sadly, it doesn’t last. Once you finally figure out the tricks, it becomes ridiculously easy to make a ton of cash after one cruise. The fact is there just isn’t a lot of depth to Cruise Ship Tycoon. There may be many facilities you can add to a ship, but it doesn’t take anything to unlock them all. There are no short-term goals to meet in the main game to keep you focused on a specific task. Most of all, aside from the occasional on-board injury, there aren’t a whole lot of hazards to be on the lookout for either. Overall, it feels less like a game and more like basic routine.

Technical Issues

Perhaps the worst and most unforgiving aspect to Cruise Ship Tycoon is how poorly optimized it is as a product. On first impression, the game does not boast particularly high system requirements, implying it should run smoothly on most computers today. However, as your ship gets increasingly more crowded, the frame rate will progressively stutter more and more. After a few hours, a single save can acquire so much lag that it can be rendered unplayable.

This issue can be alleviated by using a higher-end machine that exceeds the recommended specifications, but such a problem should not have been present in the first place, and it may only end up delaying the inevitable anyway.

Conclusion - Putting Her to Port

In the end, despite some in-depth customization, Cruise Ship Tycoon is a pretty shallow tycoon simulator with some really bad technical issues that drag it down. Casual gamers might enjoy it since it doesn’t demand a whole lot of time, but even they might shy away from its confusing and intimidating interface. Gamers should probably just look elsewhere.

Player Reviews

best game
It is a best game ever because it looks real. I don't no how the time is passed for an hour.It's a worthful game for all.It is very interesting to play.
by Umesh Siddarth on Apr 8, 2012
The best game ever!!!
Cruiseship tycoon is by far the best game ever, i mean who wouldnt want to have their very own cruise ship. There are so many different ways you can play and they are all very fun. Any game from this website I find fun and I bet other people will too! Well just wanted to say THIS GAME ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!
by Catie on Jan 8, 2012
great game
if you are looking for a game you can spend hours playing, this is your game!! great graphic and expending options. one of a kind!! management game for all ages
by maayan on Jul 20, 2011
AMAZING GAME !!
this game is my favorite game ever. i tried it one day because i was bored n i loved it ! its so addicting and its very easy to play. i would recommend buying it and not even trying the free trial, its just that good (: 5 STARS!!!!
by jacob on May 12, 2011
Simu-ntactic!
I have tried driving, to flying to farming simulations, but none got me so hooked than Cruiseship tycoon. From the graphical cool intro, to the melodious smooth music and ingame sounds, to the easy controls, everything about this game screams...superb. Owning ships has never been this easy and cool. try it today!
by Ptar Mwembe on Jun 3, 2010
awsomest game ever
I this is the best game ever its so fun and addicting i rate it *****'s.
by brh11 on Mar 28, 2010
brill
This game is absolutely brilliant! I am so addicted!
by charlotte on Mar 8, 2010
awsome!
Trust me this is the best game ever,And after you try it you just have to buy it! ps:whoever made this is totaly awesome!
by christopher on Dec 10, 2009
Great must buy for simulation fans
I have played cruise ship tycoon for a while and it is worth the $20. I started off well with the twin cabins, and even put a disco in, and after a few hours I was doing the top floor (I started from the bottom and went up). I liked the features and how the guests buy the rooms and I love the game and hope they will eventually come out with a sequel. On the down side, there isn't a good tutorial, though the game is fairly easy yet hard at once. Compared to other tycoon games, such as lemonade tycoon, school tycoon, mall tycoon, and tycoon city new york which are also fun, this one beats them all. Don't fret about the price and download, because it will be worth the wait.
by Kris on Aug 5, 2009
Stuning Realistic Adventures
This game has realistic effects including how to run stands and money wages as well as what port of calls you would like to go to. this is a games for Teens and Kids as well as Adults.the realistic money situations youll come across will defeat the old school simulations any day of the week, 4.5 STARS becuase it has shown me and it woulld you how stellular this game can be.so try it now and buy it.
by alexander on May 15, 2008
good game
this game is very good but it could use a auto navigate I don't like how u have to go to the navigation screen and change directions, and in 1-2 hours u have everything and theres nothing left to do.Although at the beginning it is a little hard when you learn how to play it it is a very cool challenge. You have lots of different buildings to make and also lots of staff to hire, also its ships are very cool and it is very realistic. It is good for any age and I really think the full version its worth the price. When you have already build up your cruise line empire it is really fun to play it. I strongly recommend it for people that have already experienced this type of games. This is an excellent creation.
by sonia on Oct 26, 2007
This is one of the best tycoon games I have ever played
The game is pretty easy to install and easy to play. Cruise Ship does not give you an option to have a tutorial with is not that good.You have lots of different buildings to make and also lots of staff to hire, also its ships are very cool and it is very realistic. This is one of the best tycoon games I have ever played.
by kyle on Sep 14, 2007
Cruising along the sea
The game is pretty easy to install and easy to play. No difficult actions to take and good instructions. The game is not too easy and makes it challenging to complete all cruises with a lot of cash. Been playing this game for many years now and cannot get enough of it!
by Peter G. on Aug 14, 2007
Hard starter...
Cruise Ship does not give you an option to have a tutorial
by Tina on Jun 28, 2007
One of the Best Tycoon Games
This is one of the best tycoon games I have ever played. Although at the beginning it is a little hard when you learn how to play it it is a very cool challenge. You have lots of different buildings to make and also lots of staff to hire, also its ships are very cool and it is very realistic. It is good for any age and I really think the full version its worth the price. When you have already build up your cruise line empire it is really fun to play it. I strongly recommend it for people that have already experienced this type of games. This is an excellent creation.
by Andrés Archila on Jun 9, 2007
very interesting game
this game is very good but it could use a auto navigate I don't like how u have to go to the navigation screen and change directions, and in 1-2 hours u have everything and theres nothing left to do. Otherwise i would say everything else is awesome. I highly recommend this game
by Jason Donnelly on Jun 4, 2007
you should try it
This simulation game is very interesting all though quite hard when I successfully learned the aspects of the game it was entertaining and incredibly realistic, to see the advantages of this game is to learn how to manage a cruise ship
by henry on Mar 31, 2007
cool
i had a great game going on this free trial i thought it was great it was a bit like ice cream tycoon i used my head also my brain i want to by the full version it was that good go on try it you will love it.
by danielle harris on Mar 17, 2007