CRUISE SHIPS have been around for more than 100 years (the first one reputedly built in 1900). But cruising then was nothing like it is today, and for the most part, cruise ships were nothing like the mega ships we cruise on these days (though I was pretty surprised to learn that the Titanic was capable of carrying 2500 passengers - approximately the same capacity as our ships of choice today).
THE FIRST "cruise ships" were mail delivery ships owned by the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company (P&O). They began selling "leisure" cruises on the delivery ships in 1844, with a trip from Southhampton, England, around the Mediterranean Sea (with stops presumably where the mail stops were). Over time, P&O expanded the leisure cruises, while a few other lines joined in the offering of leisure cruises.
IN THOSE days, there were also ocean liners, but most of them were primarily a means of trans-ocean travel. Before the advent of organized air travel in the 1960's, ocean liners were the primary means of such travel. These ocean liners (with only a very few exceptions) were not really much different in their setup than the famed Titanic. There were "classes" of passengers, from steerage to "first class." The primary purpose of these liners was transportation, and perhaps the most popular trip was between London and New York.
Prinzessin Victoria Luise
Cruising back then was nothing like it is today
THE FIRST "purpose-built" cruise ship (according to Encyclopedia Britannica), was Prinzessin Victoria Luise, launched in 1900. The Luise had 120 cabins (all "first class"). Prior to that time, the SS Ceylon, formerly an auxiliary steamer (meaning it had both sails and a steam engine), was repurposed by its London ship brokerage - owner, as a cruise ship, by replacing some of the cabins with public areas for dining and entertainment. The ship had a 2,000 passenger capacity. The target market for these early cruise ships was: "people who were rich but not rich enough to own their own leisure yachts" (Encyclopedia Britannica). I can identify with half of that market - I am certainly not "rich enough" to own my own luxury yacht! 😃
FOR A time, cruising was kind of up and down; largely affected by world events. The first, and perhaps most infamous such event occurred during WWI when the Cuinard-owned ocean liner, Lusitania, was sunk by a German U-boat near Liverpool, England, killing 1,200 passengers. Cruising declined during the war, but regained popularity following it. Another, rather interesting, development has been given credence for the rise of popularity of cruising during this period: Prohibition. While the U.S. remained "dry" for a period of 13 (long 😓) years, the cruise industry apparently added new meaning to the naval term (feet) "wet." Prohibition's . . . well . . . prohibition against alcohol consumption apparently only applied to the land and 3 nautical miles from shore. It is said that cruise lines began offering the earliest form of the "Booze Cruise," during this time, offering alcohol once outside the 3-mile limit.
PROHIBITION WAS also at least in part responsible for another phenomenon that developed in the cruise industry in the 1920s: "Flags of Convenience." Another way cruise ships got around the limitations of Prohibition was by registering their vessels in a country other than the U.S. While today, there are numerous other reasons to register in other countries, at the time, Prohibition may have been a primary reason. A very few nations have what is known as "Open Registry," meaning that a ship may be registered in that country even if not built there or owned by citizens of the country. This widely used practice today is known as "Flags of Convenience."
In the 1960s the airline industry changed everything
ANOTHER INTERESTING, and sadly despicable item of cruise history: The largest cruise ship operation in existence during the 1930's was owned and operated by the Nazi Party in the early 1930's. These "indoctrination cruises" were thinly disguised as a symbol of the Party's support for the German "everyman."
IN THE 1960s the airline industry changed everything. Ocean voyages, once a utility, now became more of an entertainment venue, though perhaps reserved for those who had means to afford them and the leisure of time (the fastest London-New York voyage was 4 days). Ocean liners, for the most part, were either being retired, or repurposed into cruise ships. Many new companies exclusively focused on cruises were founded in the 1960s and ’70s. These included Princess Cruises in 1965, Norwegian Cruise Line in 1966, Royal Caribbean Cruises in 1968, MSC in 1970, and Carnival Cruise Lines in 1972. The largest cruise ships now can hold up to 7,000 passengers and showcase entertainment venues like rock climbing walls, putt-putt golf, go-kart tracks, planetariums, surf simulators, and water parks, to name just a few.
Queen Elizabeth II
THE MODERN cruise ship industry probably started with the Cuinard Lines, owners of the famed "Queen Elizabeth," and later, The QE2 (still in service today), when they added entertainment aboard the ship, and did away with passenger classes, offering all the ships' amenities to all passengers aboard. It was only a short leap from there to passengers beginning to treat these trips like a short vacation.
HAVE YOU noticed that nearly every cruise ship is flagged in countries other than the U.S.? We saw above that Prohibition was a significant reason for this in the 1920s. But those days are long since bygone. So why would the practice of "flags of convenience" continue to be the de facto standard of the cruise industry today, even though several of the most popular and largest cruise lines are U.S. - based? The primary reason is that the small number of nations who allow "open-registry" of ships (meaning that ship can be built and owned outside the country of registry) also happen to be the countries with the most "liberal" laws pertaining to the cruise industry. Wage and Hour laws are much less stringent, to even non-existent. This means the company can pay lower wages and require more hours, with less leave time. It also happens that several of these countries have much more favorable tax climates, enabling the companies to pay lower taxes. And of course, since the ships are not U.S. based, U.S. contract and injury laws do not apply, often requiring an aggrieved passenger to conduct any legal action in the country of registry - or in the place contracted for in your passenger ticket contract.
Celebrity Reflection in its "Home-Flagged" port: Valletta, Malta
THERE ARE some impediments. The Passenger Vessel Services Act of 1886 (PVSA) often incorrectly referred to as "The Jones Act" (while similar in many respects, the Jones Act was enacted many years later - in 1920 - and addressed cargo, not passengers). The PVSA, requires 75% U.S. based ownership, and a majority of crew be U.S. citizens in order to be registered in the U.S. Non-U.S. flagged ships may not carry passengers from one U.S. port to another, subject to some narrow exceptions. One such exception is that it appears that going ashore to explore for the day or on excursions are an exception. The PVSA only considers passengers who board with the intent of staying aboard, and who disembark with the intent not to return to the ship. Fines for violation of these rules approach $1,000 per passenger. Another exception applies if the ship visits at least one "distant" port before returning to the U.S. "Distant" is defined by the U.S. government as not being in "North America." And most ports (with the exception of Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao) even though well south into the Caribbean are considered under the act to be part of "North America."
PROBABLY NO "social media" event was more helpful to the cruise line industry than the 1970's television show, The Love Boat, selling the notion that a cruise was a romantic getaway for couples and/or singles looking for love. Though I was too young at the time to be seriously "looking for love," I confess that I was a regular viewer. 😍 And this was long before my first cruise (which I have noted here, I was "lukewarm" about). Ships built in the late 1980s focused on passenger comforts, entertainment, and larger and larger size/capacity. Design had moved away from the "luxury liner" approach to a "hotel lobby-like" design around a multi-story atrium with glass elevators. Today's even more modern design have small "city-block" type design with shops, bars, and "fast-food" themed restaurants. Named the Pacific Princess, after Princess Cruise Lines' ship of the same name, The "Love Boat," while featuring the atrium-like design, is now 40 years behind us, and design features continue to evolve.
The Love Boat
OTHER THINGS have also evolved. Cabins on ocean liners were traditionally designed to maximize passenger capacity and were often different between classes. Today, cabins (more properly, "staterooms") often feature private balconies instead of ocean view. Some newer designs (notably Celebrity's Edge Series), feature an "infinity veranda" design in lieu of an outdoor balcony. These somewhat controversial (I think any change at least starts out "controversial") designs feature a large window, but the "veranda" is actually a bump-out in the room. There are those who think it makes the room feel better, and just as many who lament the loss of their private outdoor space. I think they may well be a design wave of the future, as they are more aerodynamic and easier to control from central parts of the ship. Time will tell.
Infinity Balcony on Celebrity Edge Series
DINING HAS always been a primary focus of both luxury liners and cruise ships. It still is, of course. Indeed, food quality and dining experience is often the largest separator of different cruise experiences. Originally, it was traditional that the ships would offer two dining services each day: for breakfast and for evening dinner. Over time, that evolved into breakfast being offered in limited dining rooms and in a full-on buffet, and dinner being served in dining rooms (and of course, for those who wished, in the buffet - more on that in a minute). When we started in the early 2000's, traditional ships had "set" dinners and times (usually 2 seatings). With these, you were assigned a dinner table - often with other passengers - and one of the two scheduled times, for the duration of the cruise. It was a nice tradition which I really enjoyed. It gave you the opportunity to get to know other people a little better, and for the wait staff to get to know and normally "bond" with you. But for reasons I will note below, as we moved away from that model, I appreciated the benefits of the newer approach more than I missed the traditional one.
"Normal" Stateroom Balcony
MOST OF the cruise lines gradually moved away from the "set" dining model, to a more flexible (for the passenger - I am sure not so much for the staff) approach, opening the dining rooms from for a several hour window, and letting the passengers choose their approach. It is usually possible to make reservations (even the same one every night with the same wait staff if that is your choice) or to just show up as in a restaurant. That occasionally means a short wait, but we have never experienced more than about 10 minutes. Among the many "positives" of the traditional "set dining" model were some negatives. The main issue for us was that the first sitting was too early and the second, too late. We are often off the ship on excursions during the day, and it became almost stressful to try to get back to the ship, get cleaned up for dinner, and have a relaxing evening, perhaps with a before dinner cocktail in one of the many venues aboard. The late setting, on the other had, usually meant trying to juggle seeing the shows with the seating and completion of the meal. And for me, perhaps even worse, finishing dinner quite late (often 9:00 or after), which doesn't work well for digestion and sleeping later for many of us. The "anytime" approach allows us, like Goldilocks, to choose our own dining schedule.
I MENTIONED the buffet. That has been a somewhat more recent phenomenon (probably during that 1960 - 1980's period. Before then, there were no buffets. Just a dining room (or perhaps rooms). As things evolved, specialty dining became a thing. But also, the 24-hour buffet became a thing. I had visited my share of all-you-can-eat buffets over the years, long before I ever stepped over the rail of a cruise ship. Generally, these all-you-can-eat extravaganzas are not noted for cuisine. Just for quantity and selection. And they have proven out, in my experience, often with overcooked meats that rival cardboard for their edibility, fatty, fried foods, overcooked pastas, and pasty deserts. O.k., I'll just say it: crappy food. 😒 I had always had that preconceived idea of Cruise Line buffets. Before I began to explore cruising seriously, my idea of a cruise was just that. All-you-can-eat buffets, and old style, beat up, wooden deck chairs. But the reality pleasantly surprised me. The food in the dining rooms is generally as good as I can get in a high-quality restaurant. But even in the buffets, the food surpassed my expectations. Don't misunderstand. It is still buffet food, for whatever that may mean from ship to ship. While I understand the desire sometimes to just lay back and chill and make a run through the buffet, I think cruisers do themselves a disservice by not taking full advantage of the very good dining opportunities aboard - and away - from the buffet.
HOWEVER, SINCE the pandemic of 2021, things have again changed. There are mixed thoughts on whether this is a good thing or a bad thing, but beginning in 2023, one of the things we are seeing is changes to the buffet. The "all-night" buffet has actually been a thing of the past (at least for the mid and above lines), for a while now. But now (at least on Princess and Celebrity, and I suspect many - if not all - other lines), they are not only limiting the times the buffet is open, but also limiting the varieties of food offered at any particular time. This is particularly true at night. I think there are a combination of factors at work here. First, as "any time" style dining has become the norm, and as the world has become more casual in general (see below), there are simply many less passengers eating their evening meal in the buffet. Second, as at least one line has specifically suggested, they are trying to focus on their food management more - especially the amount of wasted food. For various regulatory reasons, there are not very many outlets for excess, unconsumed food for a cruise ship. Buffets - by their very nature - often result in a lot of wasted food. I eat 99% of my breakfasts, and lunch when onboard fairly often in the buffet. I haven't found any lack of food and for those two meals, the choices continue to be pretty good.
In my experience the line between regular dining and "chic night" is pretty well blurred. And I think we will see that continue over time
AT THE same time, the world - and therefore, the world of cruising - has become much more casual. I began my (white collar) career in the mid-1980's. We wore suit and tie to work and work functions. Many social functions were "dress up." Some even formal. Traditionally, dress was one of the things that was part of the planning/packing for cruising. I commented on this back at the end of 2022, in Packing for a Cruise. Somewhat more formal dress than is considered appropriate today was traditionally expected in the dining rooms (though not so much in the buffet - part of the reason some do not dine in the dining rooms very often). That generally meant no jeans and for men, a button shirt (either golf or similar has been acceptable as long as I have been cruising). It also meant (and still does on most lines) long pants for men. And most cruise lines had a couple "formal" nights in which the dress expectation was elevated. This meant, at least, a coat and tie, and at best, formal attire. I admit that I am one of those who loves formal dress. I have owned my own tux for most of the years we have been cruising, and loved to dress in it, with a variety of ties and shirts. It just felt good. But it came at a price (see the reference to packing, above). Bringing formal attire, along with the regular stuff you will wear on a cruise, meant substantially more stuff, and probably larger luggage (especially for taller, bigger people). And formal attire probably means additional shoes, which (again, at least for us bigger folk) more weight and bulk. Today, cruise lines have moved away from "formal" (most are not even calling it "formal" anymore - Celebrity, for instance, now refers to it as "Chic Night"), to something more like "business casual." Which is kind of amorphous in and of itself. Back when I was working, "business casual" meant at the very least, nice slacks and shoes, socks, and a button up shirt. Maybe even a jacket. Today's workplace continues to become less casual, and as it does, the definition of "Business Casual" is a moving target. Today, we see "designer" jeans (again, susceptible of changing definition) and any kind of "collared shirt" as acceptable for men. Women can judge accordingly, but certainly jeans and a nice blouse or shirt is acceptable for most occasions. In my experience the line between regular dining and "chic night" is pretty well blurred. And I think we will see that continue over time.
Cruise Ship Stabilizer
THERE IS one other area where cruise ships have evolved through their history. Early ships were not designed for luxury cruising or vacations. They were working ships, which either took passengers on, or were later re-purposed into ocean liners or cruise ships. Early passenger accommodations were tradition, with staterooms being inside the hull, often without windows, and certainly no balconies. As the "floating hotel" concept emerged, shipbuilders began to build the staterooms above the hull, allowing for balconies and views. That, of course, also made these ships more top heavy than in the past. I have sat around the pool on a windy day and noted that there is an angle of heel to the ship. That large structure above the gunwhales also acts very much like a sail! Efficiency has also become important in order to manage fuel costs. That large, torpedo-like appendage seen on the bow of many of today's ships is designed, for example, to break the forces against the bow and allow more efficient "entry" of the bow. At the same time, passenger comfort is also something that has evolved. Newer ships now have stabilizer mechanisms to "smooth out the ride," so to speak, in rough seas. And of course, since highly publicized series of breakdowns occurred a few years back (particularly several Carnival Cruise ships), regulations require all newer ships now to have dependable auxiliary power.
CRUISE LINES continue to evolve their ship offerings, in terms of both luxury and modern accommodations, and size. There is a very noticeable difference, for example, between Celebrity's very classy and classic "Millenium" class ships and their newer, more modern and perhaps more luxurious "Edge" class. And there are a couple new players on the block; notably Virgin Cruises, which offers a modern, technologically, and edgy cruise experience. While it may not be for everyone (I am probably in that "no" category), it is designed to appeal to a certain demographic, and judging from comments online, it will be one of those "love it or hate it," things. Interestingly, size is a divergent issue. While it appears that Celebrity and Princess have basically limited their size (newer ships are either not or only marginally larger capacity), other lines - notably Royal Caribbean - continue to offer larger and larger "megaship" experiences. Royal's "Wonder of the Seas," offered in 2022, holds nearly 7,000 passengers, while the newest current Celebrity Ship, The Beyond, has held just over 3,000 passengers. It will be interesting to see where the industry goes in the next decade.
