This thesis investigates aspects related to participation in maritime cruises for emerging consumers belonging to the so called new Brazilian middle class. The theoretical framework of the study is linked to the theoretical trend called CCT - Consumer Culture Theory, anchoring particularly in the conceptual model proposed by McCracken (1986) on the transfer of meaning from the culturally constituted world to the consumer and the consumer metaphors proposed by Holt (1995). It started with the understanding that consumption is essentially symbolic, since consumers assign meanings to goods and services that go beyond the purely utilitarian aspect. It sought to identify the nature of the meanings assigned to cruises by emerging consumers, as well as elements of the process by which meanings are transferred from the culturally constituted world to the consumer. Thus, an interpretive approach was adopted, in which what is at stake is not the objective aspects of consumption, but the subjectivity inherent to the consumer s perception regarding the researched phenomenon. The research was developed through a systematic combination between theory and field, following the abductive approach proposed by Dubois and Gadde (2002). The three empirical studies that comprise this thesis are: (i) content analysis of advertisements from companies offering cruises; (ii) focus groups with emerging consumers who had not yet participated in a cruise; and (iii) participant observation in a cruise targeted at this consumer segment. Through these three studies, it sought to identify the symbolic nature of cruises to emerging consumers with regard to the association of such cruises to the meanings attached to products through the advertising of cruise organizer companies, as well as those meanings attributed to the cruise by the consumers themselves. In the first study 60 ads published by cruise companies were analyzed using quantitative and qualitative content analysis. These ads were published in the semester preceding the 2011/2012 cruise season. In the second study, four focus groups were conducted, with the purpose of understanding the symbolic content present in the imagination of this group, as consumers participating had not yet experienced of this type of consumption, although they intended to do so. Finally, the participant observation was carried out in two cruises. The first participant observation was covert, meaning that the researcher experienced the cruise with the participants without revealing her identity, which led to the realization of in-depth interviews after the cruise; the second participant observation was overt, the researcher revealed her purpose during the cruise, and in-depth interviews were conducted during the trip. The methods allowed for the identification of both the meanings conveyed by the advertisement of companies that offer cruises, and those that consumers associate to the consumption of this type of leisure. Results indicate that advertisements do not appear as the main element in the process of meaning transference for these consumers; word of mouth is the more important and credible information dissemination path, as well as the images present in the collective imagination. Besides confirming the metaphors of consumption proposed by Holt, the study identified new metaphors, in particular that of consumption as achievement, where emerging consumers use consumption of maritime cruises as a way to demonstrate to themselves and to others, their social advancement.