Abstract: Since the end of 20th century, the growth rate of cruise tourism has been far more than the overall growth rate of the global tourism industry, and has a broad space for development in the future. The rapid development of cruise tourism has brought many environmental problems. Based on the literatures, this paper summaries foreign research progress. Currently, international research is focusing: cruise tourism and marine ecological damage, cruise tourism and marine pollution, carbon emissions of cruise tourism, economic benefits and environmental costs to the destinations, industry self-regulation and international legal, and full process control on environmental impact. At last, this paper argues that China should pay more attention to environmental impact of cruise tourism.