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First organizing cruise travel is claimed by Peninsula and Oriental
Steam Navigation Company in 1844. The line, know as P&O, ran ships from
Britain to Spain and Portugal to Malay and China. Later P&O organized
trips to Malta,Constantinople, Greece and Egypt. The first American-origin
cruise was probably the 1867 voyage of the paddle wheel steamer, Quaker City,
from New York to Holy Land, Egypt and Greece.
We know a good deal about his
cruise because the adverstiment caught the attention of Mark Twain, who was
among 150 "select companions" who sailed from New York and return six months
later. The idea that one could visit a number of different places in relative
ease and safety. Twain called that experience "picnic on a gigantic scale" in
his book "The Innocents Abroad". The current popularity of cruise travel can
probably be traced to those original ideas, that cruise travel is relatively
hassle free because you pack and unpack once, it's safe, and you can make new
friends.
Quaker City
As commerce between Europe and North America developed in the
1900s, increasing numbers of people took transatlantic voyages. While the elite
traveled in the grand style in first class accommodations on luxurious ocean
liners, for others second and third class shipboard conditions were miserable.
The rough seas of North Atlantic, combined with top-heavy vessels prone to
pitching and rolling, caused many to fear or experience seasickness. For those
travelers the voyage lived up to their worst fears , and they hated every
minute of it, for sure.
In 1840 Samuel Cunard inaugurated regular passenger transatlantic
service which become famous Cunard Line. German empire joined to market in 1897
with ships Hamburg-America's Deuthland and Kron-prinz Wilhelm.
In those days vessels were small by today's standards, averaging only 15,000 to
20,000 gross tons. Typically they held around 2,000 passengers (700 first
class) and they were not very comfortable. As answer to German competitors
Cunard in 1906 launched innovative, steam turbine powered, Lusitania and
Mauretania (30,000 gross tons each).
The White Star Line company made further progress by building three
new, 40,000 tons ships in 1911, named Olympic, Titanic and Britannic.
The Titanic sailed from Southampton on April 10,1912 with
2228 passengers and crew. Only 705 people survived the voyage after the ship
struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic on the night of April 15 and sank. That
is, for sure, saddest day in the history of passenger shipping.
In later period cruise ship developing is disrupted by two world
wars, but still some famous vessels are known from that period: German
Hamburg-America's Imperator and Vaterland (later renamed to Leviathan),
French Line's Normandie, Italian Line's Rex and Conte di
Savola, Canadian Pacific's Empress of Britain and Empress of
Australia and Cunard's Franconia and famous Queen Mary
and Queen Elisabeth.
Queen Mary
First modern cruise line is established in 1960s by businessman
from Florida, Ted Arison who offered cruises from Miami to Caribbean with two
ships Sunward and Starward under the name of Norwegian
Caribbean Lines (NCL). Concept was so successful and market started to grow
fast. This quickly attracted competition. In 1967 group Norwegain and American
investors started up a new future giant Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines (RCCL),
which soon launched modern fleet of vessels destined for year-round Caribbean
sailings from Miami.
In 1970's Carnival and Crystal Cruises joined to market and industry growth become phenomenal. From mere half a million passengers in 1970 to over 5 million in 1995.
Thousands of people who hadn't the foggiest idea of what cruise ship was,who never seen an ocean before and who never left urban or rural communities, are now finding themselves on sea.
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