Cruise ship

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Not to be confused with ocean liner or cruiser.
"Sea cruise" redirects here. For the song, see Sea Cruise.

Majesty of the Seas in Nassau, Bahamas

Cruise ships are large passenger ships used mainly for vacationing. Unlike ocean

liners, which are used for transport, they typically embark on round-trip voyages to
various ports-of-call, where passengers may go on tours known as "shore excursions."
On "cruises to nowhere" or "nowhere voyages", cruise ships make two- to three-night
round trips without visiting any ports of call.[1]
Modern cruise ships, while sacrificing some qualities of seaworthiness, have added
amenities to cater to water tourists, with recent vessels being described as "balcony-
laden floating condominiums".[2]

Cruise ships in Tallinn Passenger Port at Tallinn, Estonia – a popular tourist-destination

Cruising has become a major part of the tourism industry, with an estimated market of

$29.4 billion per year, and over 19 million passengers carried worldwide annually as of
2011.[3] The industry's rapid growth has seen nine or more newly built ships catering to
a North American clientele added every year since 2001, as well as others
servicing European clientele.[citation needed]
 As of 2020, the world's largest passenger ship is Royal Caribbean's Symphony of the
Seas.[4][5]

Contents

 1History

o 1.1Origins

o 1.2From luxury ocean liners to "megaship" cruising

 2Operators and cruise lines

 3Organization

o 3.1Dining

o 3.2Other on-board facilities

o 3.3Crew

o 3.4Business model

o 3.5Ship naming

o 3.6Cruise ship utilization

 4Regional industries

o 4.1Caribbean cruising industry

o 4.2Alaskan cruising industry

 5Shipyards

 6Safety and security

o 6.1Piracy

o 6.2Crime on-board

o 6.3Overboard drownings

o 6.4Stability

o 6.5Disease
  6.5.1Norovirus

 6.5.2Legionnaires' disease

 6.5.3Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC)

 6.5.42019–20 coronavirus outbreak

 7Environmental impact

 8See also

 9References

o 9.1Bibliography

 10Further reading

 11External links

History[edit]
Origins[edit]

RMS  Strathaird, a P&O cruise ship of the early 20th century. The company began offering luxury cruise
services in 1844.

P&O first introduced passenger cruising services in 1844, advertising sea tours to

destinations such as Gibraltar, Malta and Athens, sailing from Southampton. The
forerunner of modern cruise holidays, these voyages were the first of their kind, and
P&O Cruises has been recognised as the world's oldest cruise line.[6] The company later
introduced round trips to destinations such as Alexandria and Constantinople. It
underwent a period of rapid expansion in the latter half of the 19th century,
commissioning larger and more luxurious ships to serve the steadily expanding market.
Notable ships of the era include the SS Ravenna built in 1880, which became the first
ship to be built with a total steel superstructure, and the SS Valetta built in 1889, which
was the first ship to use electric lights.
Some sources[which?] mention Francesco I, flying the flag of the Kingdom of the Two
Sicilies (Italy), as the first cruise ship. She was built in 1831 and sailed from Naples in
early June 1833, preceded by an advertising campaign. The cruise ship was boarded by
nobles, authorities, and royal princes from all over Europe. In just over three months,
the ship sailed
to Taormina, Catania, Syracuse, Malta, Corfu, Patras, Delphi, Zante, Athens, Smyrna,
Constantinople, delighting passengers with excursions and guided tours, dancing, card
tables on the deck and parties on board. However, it was restricted to the aristocracy of
Europe and was not a commercial endeavour.

Prinzessin Victoria Luise was the first purpose-built cruise ship.

The cruise of the German ship Augusta Victoria in the Mediterranean and the Near East
from 22 January to 22 March 1891, with 241 passengers including Albert Ballin and
wife,[7] popularized the cruise to a wider market. [8] Christian Wilhelm Allers published an
illustrated account of it as Backschisch (Baksheesh).
The first vessel built exclusively for luxury cruising, was Prinzessin Victoria
Luise of Germany, designed by Albert Ballin, general manager of Hamburg-America
Line. The ship was completed in 1900.[9]
The practice of luxury cruising made steady inroads on the more established market
for transatlantic crossings. In the competition for passengers, ocean liners added
luxuries – Titanic being the most famous example – such as fine dining, luxury services,
and staterooms with finer appointments.[citation needed] In the late 19th century, Albert Ballin,
director of the Hamburg-America Line, was the first to send his transatlantic ships out
on long southern cruises during the worst of the winter season of the North Atlantic.
Other companies followed suit. Some of them built specialized ships designed for easy
transformation between summer crossings and winter cruising. [10]
In 1897, there were three luxury liners for transportation, for the Europe to North
America trip. These were European-owned. In 1906, the number had increased to
seven. The British Inman Line owned City of Paris,[11] the Cunard
Line had Compania and Lucania.[12] The White Star Line owned Majestic[13] and Teutonic.
[14]
 La Lorraine and La Savoie were owned by the French Compagnie Générale
Transatlantique.[15]
From luxury ocean liners to "megaship" cruising[edit]
With the advent of large passenger jet aircraft in the 1960s, intercontinental travelers
switched from ships to planes sending the ocean liner trade into a terminal decline.
Certain characteristics of older ocean liners made them unsuitable for cruising duties,
such as high fuel consumption, deep draught preventing them from entering shallow
ports, and cabins (often windowless) designed to maximize passenger numbers rather
than comfort.

Queen Elizabeth 2 was reinvented as a luxury ocean liner following the advent of the jet airliner.

Ocean liner services aimed at passengers ceased in 1986, with the notable exception of
transatlantic crossings operated by the British shipping company Cunard Line, catering
to a niche market of those who appreciated the several days at sea. In an attempt to
shift the focus of the market from passenger travel to cruising with entertainment value,
Cunard Line pioneered the luxury cruise transatlantic service on board the Queen
Elizabeth 2 ocean liner. International celebrities were hired to perform cabaret acts
onboard and the crossing was advertised as a vacation in itself.
Queen Elizabeth 2 also inaugurated "one-class cruising" where all passengers received
the same quality berthing and facilities. This revitalized the market as the appeal of
luxury cruising began to catch on, on both sides of the Atlantic. The 1970s television
series Love Boat helped to popularize the concept as a romantic opportunity for
couples.[16] Another ship to make this transition was SS  Norway, originally the ocean
liner SS France and later converted to cruising duties as the Caribbean's first "super-
ship".

Sovereign of the Seas was the first "megaship" (in service 1988)

Contemporary cruise ships built in the late 1980s and later, such as Sovereign-class
which broke the size record held for decades by Norway, showed characteristics of size
and strength once reserved for ocean liners – some have undertaken regular scheduled
transatlantic crossings.[17] The Sovereign-class ships were the first "megaships" to be
built for the mass cruising market, they also were the first series of cruise ships to
include a multi-story atrium with glass elevators. They also had a single deck devoted
entirely to cabins with private balconies instead of oceanview cabins. Other cruise lines
soon launched ships with similar attributes, such as the Fantasy-class, leading up to
the Panamax-type Vista-class, designed such that two-thirds of the oceanview
staterooms have verandas. As the veranda suites were particularly lucrative for cruise
lines, something which was lacking in older ocean liners, recent cruise ships have been
designed to maximize such amenities and have been described as "balcony-laden
floating condominiums".

Oasis of the Seas (in service 2009)

Until 1975–1980, cruises offered shuffleboard, deck chairs, "drinks with umbrellas and
little else for a few hundred passengers". After 1980, they offered increasing amenities.
As of 2010, city-sized ships have dozens of amenities. [18]
There have been nine or more new cruise ships added every year since 2001, including
the 11 members of the Vista-class, and all at 100,000 GT or greater. The only
comparable ocean liner to be completed in recent years has been Cunard Line's Queen
Mary 2 in 2004. Following the retirement of her running mate Queen Elizabeth 2 in
November 2008, Queen Mary 2 is the only liner operating on transatlantic routes,
though she also sees significant service on cruise routes. [19]
Oasis of the Seas with a 6-deck high outdoor area

Queen Mary 2 was for a time the largest passenger ship before being surpassed
by Royal Caribbean International's Freedom-class vessels in 2006. The Freedom-class
ships were in turn overtaken by RCI's own Oasis-class vessels which entered service in
2009 and 2010.[20] A distinctive feature of Oasis-class ships is the split "open-atrium"
structure, made possible by the hull's extraordinary width, with the 6-deck high "Central
Park" and "Boardwalk" outdoor areas running down the middle of the ship and verandas
on all decks.
In two short decades (1988–2009), the largest class cruise ships have grown a third
longer (268 m to 360 m), almost doubled their widths (32.2 m to 60.5 m), doubled the
total passengers (2,744 to 5,400), and tripled in volume (73,000 GT to 225,000 GT).
Also, the "megaships" went from a single deck with verandas to all decks with verandas.
[21]

Operators and cruise lines[edit]

Celebrity Solstice in Port Melbourne, Australia

Operators of cruise ships are known as cruise lines, which are companies that market
cruises to the public.[22] Cruise lines have a dual character; they are partly in the
transportation business, and partly in the leisure entertainment business, a duality that
carries down into the ships themselves, which have both a crew headed by the ship's
captain, and a hospitality staff headed by the equivalent of a hotel manager. Among
cruise lines, some are direct descendants of the traditional passenger shipping lines
(such as Cunard), while others were founded from the 1960s specifically for cruising.
Historically, the cruise ship business has been volatile. The ships are large capital
investments with high operating costs. A persistent decrease in bookings can put a
company in financial jeopardy. Cruise lines have sold, renovated, or renamed their
ships to keep up with travel trends. Cruise lines operate their ships almost constantly. If
the maintenance is unscheduled, it can result, potentially, in thousands of dissatisfied
customers.[23]
A wave of failures and consolidations in the 1990s led to many cruise lines being bought
by much larger holding companies and continue to operate as "brands" or subsidiaries
of the holding company. Brands continue to be maintained partly because of the
expectation of repeat customer loyalty, and also to offer different levels of quality and
service. For instance, Carnival Corporation & plc owns both Carnival Cruise Line,
whose former image were vessels that had a reputation as "party ships" for younger
travelers, but have become large, modern, yet still profitable, and Holland America Line,
whose ships cultivate an image of classic elegance. In 2004, Carnival had merged
Cunard's headquarters with that of Princess Cruises in Santa Clarita, California so that
administrative, financial and technology services could be combined, ending Cunard's
history where it had operated as a standalone company (subsidiary) regardless of
parent ownership.[24] However, Cunard did regain some independence in 2009 when its
headquarters were moved to Carnival House in Southampton.[25]
The common practice in the cruise industry in listing cruise ship transfers [26] and
orders[27] is to list the smaller operating company, not the larger holding corporation, as
the recipient cruise line of the sale, transfer, or new order. In other words, Carnival
Cruise Line and Holland America Line. for example, are the cruise lines from this
common industry practice point of view; whereas Carnival Corporation & plc and Royal
Caribbean Cruises Ltd., for example, can be considered holding corporations of cruise
lines. This industry practice of using the smaller operating company, not the larger
holding corporation, is also followed in the list of cruise lines and in member-based
reviews of cruise lines.[28]
Some cruise lines have specialties; for example, Saga Cruises only allows passengers
over 50 years old aboard their ships, and Star Clippers and formerly Windjammer
Barefoot Cruises and Windstar Cruises only operate tall ships. Regent Seven Seas
Cruises operates medium-sized vessels—smaller than the "megaships" of Carnival and
Royal Caribbean—designed such that virtually all of their suites are balconies. Several
specialty lines offer "expedition cruising" or only operate small ships, visiting certain
destinations such as the Arctic and Antarctica, or the Galápagos Islands. John W.
Brown, which formerly operated as part of the United States Merchant
Marine during World War II before being converted to a museum ship, still gets
underway several times a year for six-hour "Living History Cruises" that take the ship
through Baltimore Harbor, down the Patapsco River, and into the Chesapeake Bay, and
she is also the largest cruise ship operating under the American flag on the United
States East Coast.[29]
Currently the three largest cruise line holding companies and operators in the world
are Carnival Corporation & plc, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. and Norwegian Cruise
Line Holdings.
As an industry, the total number of cabins on all of the world's cruise ships amount to
less than 2% of the world's hotel rooms. [30]

Organization[edit]

Disney Magic

AIDAdiva in Izmir

Cruise ships are organized much like floating hotels, with a complete hospitality staff in
addition to the usual ship's crew. It is not uncommon for the most luxurious ships to
have more crew and staff than passengers.[31]
Dining[edit]
Island Princess in Cabo San Lucas

Serenade of the Seas docking at the Port of Ponce, Puerto Rico at dawn

Dining on almost all cruise ships is included in the cruise price.

Traditionally, the ships' restaurants organize two dinner services per day, early dining
and late dining, and passengers are allocated a set dining time for the entire cruise; a
recent trend is to allow diners to dine whenever they want. Having two dinner times
allows the ship to have enough time and space to accommodate all of their guests.
Having two different dinner services can cause some conflicts with some of the ship's
events (such as shows and performances) for the late diners, but this problem is usually
fixed by having a shorter version of the event take place before late dinner. Cunard
Line ships maintain the class tradition of ocean liners and have separate dining rooms
for different types of suites, while Celebrity Cruises and Princess Cruises have a
standard dining room and "upgrade" specialty restaurants that require pre-booking and
cover charges. Many cruises schedule one or more "formal dining" nights. Guests dress
"formally", however that is defined for the ship, often suits and ties or even tuxedos for
men, and formal dresses for women. The menu is more upscale than usual.
Besides the dining room, modern cruise ships often contain one or more casual buffet-
style eateries, which may be open 24 hours and with menus that vary throughout the
day to provide meals ranging from breakfast to late-night snacks. In recent years, cruise
lines have started to include a diverse range of ethnically themed restaurants aboard
eac