For many well-heeled Americans, the idea of a luxury vacation is a fancy hotel or an expensive flight to an exotic destination. And for the wealthiest among us, taking a break means private jets and pricey beach resorts. But for more than 10 million Americans annually, their luxury vacation means a berth on a cruise ship.

“The United States is still clearly the No. 1… market for cruisers in the world,” Royal Caribbean president and CEO Adam Goldstein told Marketplace. “There are about 20 million people a year in the world taking a cruise right now and 11 or 12 [million] come from the United States.”

Cruise ships weren’t always so mainstream. In 1970, Goldstein said only 500,000 people took a cruise every year. 

“It’s definitely become more available, when I got into the business in 1988 we aspired to be a mainstream vacation,” Goldstein said. “It’s definitely become more accessible but what the last few years of challenges, economically, have posed to us is the need to really get across the value message of what is included in the cruise purchase.”

A cruise ship parked at the Port of Miami

According to industry research firm Cruise Market Watch, the ticket price for a typical cruise passenger is $1,311. When you combine onboard expenses and incidentals, the price tag rises to $1,711.

That’s not inexpensive, but the the average American family will spend $4,000 on a vacation, including airfare, according to a 2010 American Express survey.

“First of all, we draw pretty broadly, obviously we offer upscale vacations,” Goldstein said. “We are looking at household income of probably something like $75,000 and up generally speaking. The vast majority of our cruisers I would say would be middle and upper-middle class.”