The exercise of the economic and social functions of maritime tourism has undergone significant changes in
recent years. A case in point is the development of the maritime cruise fleet, in both quantitative and qualitative
terms, across various regions. This is a result of, among other things, the changing needs of international
tourists in particular regions. The worldwide expansion of globalization has also marked a turnaround in preferences,
with customers now willing to visit regions formerly unattractive or rarely considered by tourists.
These changes are also visible in the variety of transport modalities available to passengers for both domestic
and international voyages. To a large extent, these changes stem from technological developments. New
possibilities for quick and efficient passenger transport have contributed to transforming maritime tourism in
many countries. This, in turn, has led to increasing volumes of tourist traffic, generating economic growth for
such nations. This article discusses contemporary trends in the world’s cruise ship fleets in the context of the
technical parameters of global cruise shipping. The authors have attempted to determine the basic quantitative
parameters and metrics expected for characterizing the global cruise ship fleet. To accomplish this, the method
of linear regression has been used, with the input data being the sizes of cruise ship fleets and some other
characteristic parameters, during particular time periods, carrying capacities, registered tonnages, numbers of
passenger cabins, main and auxiliary engine powers, and levels of fuel consumption. The econometric model
of linear regression has allowed calculating the projected values for the nearest future.