Identification and Differentiation of the Hierarchical Structure of the Caribbean Cruise Shipping Network Based on Route Organization
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Paper sustainability-1826298 “Identification and Differentiation of Hierarchical Structure of Caribbean Cruise Shipping Network Based on Route Organization”
Comments
This study focuses on the identification and differentiation of hierarchical structure of Caribbean cruise shipping network based on route organization. I think the paper fits well the scope of the journal and addresses an important subject. However, a number of revisions are required before the paper can be considered for publication. There are some weak points that have to be strengthened. Below please find more specific comments:
*Abstract: The abstract seems to be adequate. No comments.
*Keywords: I suggest adding one or two keywords more.
*Introduction: The authors should expand the discussion regarding the growing demand for tourism and cruise shipping over the years, the existing challenges in cruise shipping (e.g., COVID-19, environmental regulations, cruise accidents), and different alternatives that could be used to address these challenges. This discussion should be supported by more relevant references, including but not limited to the following:
Key Factors Driving the Demand for Cruising and Challenges Facing the Cruise Industry in the Future. Tourism: An International Interdisciplinary Journal 2022, 70(1), pp.87-100.
Effects of COVID-19 on passenger shipping activities and emissions: Empirical analysis of passenger ships in Danish waters. Maritime Policy & Management 2022, pp.1-21.
Interactions between Arctic passenger ship activities and emissions. Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment 2021, 97, p.102925.
Cruise ship safety management in Asian regions: Trends and future outlook. Sustainability 2020, 12(14), p.5567.
Environmental Sustainability of City Sightseeing Cruises: A Case Study on Battery-Powered Electric Boats in Berlin, Germany. In Sustainable Transport and Tourism Destinations, 2021. Emerald Publishing Limited.
Such a discussion will help improving the quality of the manuscript significantly.
*Literature review: The literature review (partially discussed in the introduction section) seems kind of short. Please check for the most recent and relevant studies that have been published over the past 2-3 years. It is essential that the literature review is up to date.
*Please provide more details regarding the input data used throughout the experiments. Some supporting references would be helpful to justify the data selection.
*The resolution of figures seems to be reasonable. No comments.
*The manuscript contains quite a lot of figures and tables. Please double check and try to provide a more detailed description of these figures and tables where appropriate to make sure that the future readers will have a reasonable understanding of what these figures represent.
*The conclusions section could be expanded. I suggest clearly summarizing the outcomes of this research and expanding the future research needs using bullet points.
Author Response
Response to Reviewer 1 Comments
Point 1: Keywords: I suggest adding one or two keywords more.
Response 1: We have added two key words: Shipping group; Differentiation.
Point 2: Introduction: The authors should expand the discussion regarding the growing demand for tourism and cruise shipping over the years, the existing challenges in cruise shipping (e.g., COVID-19, environmental regulations, cruise accidents), and different alternatives that could be used to address these challenges.
Response 2: We have discussed the new demand and challenges, and added more relevant references.
”Recently, since, cruise tourism is faced with great challenges, such as the COVID-19 epidemic[28], the increasing frequency of accidents[29] and the new environmental effects[30]. With the rising public concerns of health and safety, some scholars enhance the studies in health crisis management and safety management of cruise. [29,31] In addition, some scholars concentrate on the emissions of cruise ships, studying environmental effects of CRs [30,32,33].”
Point 3: Literature review: The literature review (partially discussed in the introduction section) seems kind of short. Please check for the most recent and relevant studies that have been published over the past 2-3 years. It is essential that the literature review is up to date.
Response 3: We have added more related literature.
Renato L C A, Tiago A S. Cruise ship itinerary design considering port attractiveness for passengers. Research in Transportation Business & Management [J], 2022, 43, 100815.
Perucic D and Greblicki M. Key Factors Driving the Demand for Cruising and Challenges Facing the Cruise Industry in the Future. Tourism: An International Interdisciplinary Journal [J]. 2022, 70(1): 87-100.
Yue J, Maxim A D and Yui-yip L. Cruise ship safety management in Asian regions: Trends and future outlook. Sustainability [J]. 2020, 12(14): 5567.
Qiong C, Yui-yip L, Ying-En G, Maxim A. D, Tomoya K, Adolf K.Y. N. Interactions between Arctic passenger ship activities and emissions. Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment [J]. 2021, 97: 102925.
Zhaotong L, Xueqin W, Xue L, Kum F Y. Post COVID-19: Health crisis management for the cruise industry. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction [J]. 2022, 71: 102792
Qiong C, Ying-En G, Yui-yip L, Maxim A. D, Xiaodong S, Tomoya K, Abderrahman M, Xuezong T. Effects of COVID-19 on passenger shipping activities and emissions: Empirical analysis of passenger ships in Danish waters. Maritime Policy & Management [J]. 2022: 1-21.
Ralph W and Frank W. Environmental Sustainability of City Sightseeing Cruises: A Case Study on Battery-Powered Electric Boats in Berlin, Germany. Sustainable Transport and Tourism Destinations. [J] 2021, 13: 59-77.
Point 4: Please provide more details regarding the input data used throughout the experiments. Some supporting references would be helpful to justify the data selection.
Response 4: We added more detials and related reference.
“The important research data herein are those for CRs, obtained mainly from the Cruise Critic website (https://www.cruisecritic.com/) in Dec 2021 that hosts Caribbean CR data and involves 366 routes in total. The CR data include the following main infor-mation: the name of the CR, its sailing days and number of ports of call, and the names of its ports of origin, call, and destination, and the information about cruise ports and their countries. This data contains adequate information about ports and CRs, and is normally used in cruise study [17].”
Point 5: The manuscript contains quite a lot of figures and tables. Please double check and try to provide a more detailed description of these figures and tables where appropriate to make sure that the future readers will have a reasonable understanding of what these figures represent.
Response 5: Thanks for your careful review. We have checked the figures and tables again.
Point 6: The conclusions section could be expanded. I suggest clearly summarizing the outcomes of this research and expanding the future research needs using bullet points.
Response 6: We have revised the conclusion section.
“In general, this study provides insights into case studies of regional cruise shipping networks. Future research can draw lessons from the analysis method of route structure, port function differentiation and shipping network hierarchy in this study and apply it to other regions. However, Rrelevant research conclusions must be combined with re-gional characteristics to strengthen the particularity analysis when referring to other regions or scales. The particularity of the spatial structure, patterns, and laws of cruise shipping networks in different development stages and regions still requires further research.”
Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
This is an interesting paper that aims to provide a logical process of analysing regional cruise routes, taking the Caribbean as a case study area. Overall the paper is well written and clear, however I do have a few comments I wish to make to improve the understanding of a reader not familiar with the subject and/or area.
Please note that I do not feel able to comment on the formulae presented in section 2.2. This section could be made clearer by explicitly stating what each of the terms refers to, however, this may be my limitation rather than the authors.
General Comments
Page 2, the authors provide a very comprehensive yet succinct summary of work to date which is helpful to place the research into context and why it is needed.
My main comment is that for any port or location (country/ city) mentioned in the paper, a map should be provided to show their locations in relation to each other. Some people will not know the Caribbean at all.
The last paragraph of the paper could be made stronger explaining the potential use internationally- following the logical method, other regions could also be analysed.
Specific Comments
Page 2, it states "In the regional cruise tourism market, certain preconditionsmust be met for a port . . . .[10]'. Does reference cited in [10] explain these preconditions? It would be good to provide a summary for the reader.
Page 2, 2nd full para, there is a typo "In general, previous studies were mostly focussed on the global . . ."
Section 2.1, you refer to a website being used for the data collection, please include the date for clarity. (I note below you say data collected in Dec 2021, does this include from the website?).
Please format Table 2 like the other tables (3 and 4) which are easier to read with the additional row separation lines
Author Response
Response to Reviewer 2 Comments
Point 1: My main comment is that for any port or location (country/ city) mentioned in the paper, a map should be provided to show their locations in relation to each other. Some people will not know the Caribbean at all.
Response 1: We added a map to show the basic information of the Caribbean.
Point 2: The last paragraph of the paper could be made stronger explaining the potential use internationally- following the logical method, other regions could also be analysed.
Response 2: We have revised the conclusion section.
“In general, this study provides insights into case studies of regional cruise shipping networks. Future research can draw lessons from the analysis method of route structure, port function differentiation and shipping network hierarchy in this study and apply it to other regions. However, Rrelevant research conclusions must be combined with re-gional characteristics to strengthen the particularity analysis when referring to other regions or scales. The particularity of the spatial structure, patterns, and laws of cruise shipping networks in different development stages and regions still requires further research.”
Point 3: Specific Comments.
Page 2, it states "In the regional cruise tourism market, certain preconditions must be met for a port . . . .[10]'. Does reference cited in [10] explain these preconditions? It would be good to provide a summary for the reader.
Page 2, 2nd full para, there is a typo "In general, previous studies were mostly focussed on the global . . ."
Section 2.1, you refer to a website being used for the data collection, please include the date for clarity. (I note below you say data collected in Dec 2021, does this include from the website?).
Please format Table 2 like the other tables (3 and 4) which are easier to read with the additional row separation lines.
Response 3: Thanks for your careful review. We have carefully modified these. Please see the revised manuscript for details.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
The authors have adequately addressed my original concerns regarding the manuscript. The quality and presentation of the manuscript have been improved.
I have just one minor suggestion to check the correctness of references. I think there is confusion with the first and last author names in the references (especially, newly added references). For example, reference [31] should have the following author names:
Li, Z., Wang, X., Li, X. and Yuen, K.F., 2022. Post COVID-19: Health crisis management for the cruise industry. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 71, p.102792. Please check other references as well.
Author Response
Thanks for your comments. There are some mistakes about the references and I have corrected it. See the revised manuscript for more details. Thanks again for your careful review.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.docx
