Cruise Ships

A cruise ship or cruise liner is a passenger ship used for pleasure voyages, when the voyage itself, the ship's amenities, and sometimes the different destinations along the way (i.e., ports of call), are part of the experience. Transportation is not the only purpose of cruising, particularly on cruises that return passengers to their originating port (known as "closed-loop cruises"). On "cruises to nowhere" or "nowhere voyages", the ship makes 2–3 night round trips without any ports of call.
In contrast, dedicated transport oriented ocean liners do "line voyages" and typically transport passengers from one point to another, rather than on round trips. Traditionally, a liner for the transoceanic trade will be built to a higher standard than a typical cruise ship, including higher freeboard and stronger plating to withstand rough seas and adverse conditions encountered in the open ocean, such as the North Atlantic. Ocean liners also usually have larger capacities for fuel, food, and other stores for consumption on long voyages, compared to dedicated cruise ships, but few are still in existence, such as the preserved liners and Queen Mary 2, which makes scheduled North Atlantic voyages.

Although often luxurious, ocean liners had characteristics that made them unsuitable for cruising, such as high fuel consumption, deep draughts that prevented their entering shallow ports, enclosed weatherproof decks that were not appropriate for tropical weather, and cabins designed to maximize passenger numbers rather than comfort (such as a high proportion of windowless suites). The gradual evolution of passenger ship design from ocean liners to cruise ships has seen passenger cabins shifted from inside the hull to the superstructure with private verandas. The modern cruise ships, while sacrificing some qualities of seaworthiness, have added amenities to cater to water tourists, and recent vessels have been described as "balcony-laden floating condominiums".

 The distinction between ocean liners and cruise ships has blurred, particularly with respect to deployment, although differences in construction remain. Larger cruise ships have also engaged in longer trips, such as transoceanic voyages which may not return to the same port for months (longer round trips). Some former ocean liners operate as cruise ships, such as Marco Polo, although this number is diminishing. The only dedicated transatlantic ocean liner in operation as a liner of December 2013 is Queen Mary 2 of the Cunard Line. She also has the amenities of contemporary cruise ships and sees significant service on cruises.

History

uring the latter part of the 19th century, the world developed an appetite for travel. Trave­ling by sea was nothing ne­w, but it wasn't exactly speedy. Thomas Newcomen changed that in 1712 when he invented the steam engine, a revolutionary way to harness kinetic energy and convert it to power. As the steam engine evolved, so did its uses, until in 1819 the first American ship aided by a steam engine crossed the Atlantic. The S.S. Savannah left from the U.S. city bearing its name on May 22, 1819, and arrived in Liverpool, England, 29 days later. While the Savannah only used its steam engine for approximately 85 hours (roughly 12 percent of the trip), the voyage made history, and the era of the steamship began.

The passenger ship industry flourished in the late 1800s and early 1900s, courtesy of the steam engine and of the growing number of American immigrants crowding ocean liners. Trans-Atlantic passage was still primarily one way, although affluent passengers traveled back and forth between England and New York for business or holiday.

Ambitious British shipping company White Star Lines began aggressively building the first fleet of ocean liners in 1849 and would revolutionize trans-Atlantic passage over the next 60 years. White Star set records in size and grandeur, building, among others, three large ships dubbed Olympic Class liners. The Olympic, Britannic and Titanic broke the mold of traditional ocean liners, and their speed and interior features made other ships look obsolete. But ocean travel was on the verge of changing.
The popularity of trans-Atlantic sea passage gradually declined with the arrival of the airplane. People could fly to more destinations in a fraction of the time it took on an ocean liner, so shipping companies changed their business model to focus on tourism instead of passenger transportation. In 1900, the American-Hamburg Company built the first ship specifically designed for cruises. The Prinzessin Victoria Luise measured 406 feet (124 meters) long by 52 feet (16 meters) wide, and was 4,409 gross tons. (In nautical terms a ton, typically called a gross register ton or gross ton, does not measure weight; it represents 100 cubic feet of internal capacity.)

During the early 1930s, Nazi leader Adolf Hitler boosted the fledgling cruise industry by offering holiday packages to German workers as part of a state-sponsored effort to unite the nation. Hitler eventually commissioned several new ships for service, making the Nazi Party early pioneers of the cruise ship industry.
Since the early days, cruise ships have shared one universal goal: Don't sink! Learn how they try to avoid that fate on the next page.