"Today’s cruise ships are several times as big as the Titanic.
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Cruise ships are freaking big. They’re the biggest passenger vessels humans have ever built. In size and appearance, they look nothing like almost any other boat. So how did they get that way?
The predecessor of today’s cruise ships was the ocean liner: big, beautiful ships that sailed across the Atlantic. But ocean liners had a totally different purpose from cruise ships: They were for transportation. Everything about them was designed to facilitate an ocean voyage from one continent to another.
But air travel changed that. Planes eliminated the main reason to take a ship somewhere, and ocean liner business plummeted. So the industry pivoted and began selling a ship as the destination itself. The cruise ship was born. But the ocean liners, built for a voyage, weren’t ideal for the purposes of a cruise, and over the next few decades, the cruise ship began its evolution. And it has culminated in the behemoths we see today..."
1 Comment
newtboysays...Interesting history.
My parents, already divorced, travelled on the ridiculously opulent QE2 in the late 80’s…(I thought it was its last Atlantic crossing but google says no.)
I’ve been on one cruise, on https://seadream.com/, which at the time accommodated 100 passengers and the same number of crew. It spoiled me for these giant ships. Crowds, buffets, kids, only major ports…ugh. The personal service, 5 star food and drinks, tiny unknown ports of call on exotic Virgin islands with no crowds, and only older respectful passengers was perfect…we were the second youngest couple there at 50. I highly recommend it despite the price.
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