Luxury Liner Tycoon is a typical tycoon game where the player manages a cruise ship. As usual with these type of games a new game starts with an empty ship and the player uses the space to construct a hopefully profitable business. He has 74 rooms and shops, e.g. cabins, bars or restaurants, and about 80 decorative items at his disposal. The constructing itself works with a drag & drop interface. After hiring employees and setting the cruise route the player sets sail and can watch his visitors walking around the ship and using the environment.

A lot of time is spent in various statistics screens to watch the balance and find out which of the customer's complaints need fixing. The game features three playing modes: Free Cruise, Career (multiple cruises) and Captain's Challenge. The latter consists of missions where the circumstances, e.g. time and budget, are set and the player needs to reach certain goals. Sometimes the building options are restricted too.