What makes a Passenger Ship a Legend

In Cruising's ten million-passenger plus multi-billion dollar transnational world ships entering the market must woo the public imagination in order to compete. Ships that do so become legends. What do they possess that others don't? A Grounded Theory Approach Delphi Exercise and worldwide electronic survey are used to create a model and identify legendary ships. Factor Analysis distills identified tangible and intangible properties into four composite factors of Attractiveness Significance Power & Competitive Advantage. Significantly no modern cruise ships were among the top legends; save Queen Mary 2 built marketed and viewed as an ocean liner; indicating that the public views ocean liners and cruise ships as distinct entities. Seeing legendary ships grand hotels of the sea as extensions of other hospitality & tourism legends this book will be useful to hospitality marketing and communications professionals; maritime historians; architecture & transportation enthusiasts; and anyone else interested in a unique blending of qualitative and quantitative research.