Cruise Vacation

A cruise ship or a cruise liner is a passenger ship used for pleasure voyages, where the voyage itself and the ship's amenities are considered an essential part of the experience. Cruising has become a major part of the tourism industry, with millions of passengers each year as of 2006. 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. Smaller markets such as the Asia-Pacific region are generally serviced by older tonnage displaced by new ships introduced into the high growth areas.



Cruise ships operate on a mostly set roundabout courses, returning with their passengers to their originating port. In contrast, ocean liners do "line voyages" in open seas, are strongly built to withstand the rigors of transoceanic voyages, and typically ferry passengers from one point to another, rather than on round trips. Some liners also engage in longer trips which may not lead back to the same port for many months.



Early years
The first vessel built exclusively for this purpose was the Prinzessin Victoria Luise, commissioned by Albert Ballin, general manager of Hamburg-America Line. The ship was completed in 1900.The practice as known today grew gradually out of the transatlantic crossing tradition, which, despite the best efforts of engineers and sailors into the mid-20th century, rarely took less than about four days. In the competition for passengers, ocean liners added many luxuries — most famously seen in the Titanic, but also available in other ships — such as fine dining, well-appointed staterooms, and so forth.In the late 19th century, Albert Ballin, director of the Hamburg-America Line, was the first to make a regular practice of sending 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.

Jet age
With the advent of large passenger jet aircraft in the 1960s, the vast majority of intercontinental travellers switched from ships to planes. There are some however, who enjoy the few days of luxury and enforced idleness that a liner voyage affords, so a small niche market has remained for transatlantic voyages. Excluding this exception, the ocean liner transport business crashed. Cruising voyages however gained in popularity; slowly at first but at an increased rate from the 1980s onwards. Initially the fledgling industry was serviced primarily by redundant liners, and even the first purpose built cruise ships were relatively small. However, after the success of the SS Norway (previously the SS France, re-launched in 1980) as the Caribbean's first "super-ship", the size of these vessels has risen dramatically to become the largest passenger ships ever built.
Pacific Princess off the U.S. West Coast.
Norwegian Sun, one of many cruise ships sailing to Alaska from Vancouver, Canada.

Modern days
The 1970s television show The Love Boat, featuring Princess Cruises' since-sold ship Pacific Princess, did much to raise awareness of cruises as a vacation option for ordinary people in the United States. Initially this growth was centered around the Caribbean, Alaska and Mexico, but now encompasses all areas of the globe. As of 2004, several hundred cruise ships, some carrying over 3,000 passengers and measuring over 100,000 gross tons, ply routes all over the world. For certain destinations such as the Arctic and Antarctica, cruise ships are very nearly the only way to visit, a fact that is the primary attraction for many tourists.

Organization
Present-day 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.As with any vessel, adequate provisioning is crucial, especially on a cruise ship serving several thousand meals at each seating. Passengers and crew on the Royal Caribbean International ship Mariner of the Seas consume 20,000 pounds (over 9,000kg's / nine tonnes) of beef, 28,000 eggs, 8,000 gallons (over 30,000 litres) of ice cream, and 18,000 slices of pizza in a week.Many older cruise ships have had multiple owners over their lifetimes. Since each cruise line has its own livery and often a naming theme (for instance, ships of the Holland America Line have names ending in "-dam", e.g. MS Statendam, and Royal Caribbean's ships' names all end with "of the Seas"), e.g. MS Freedom of the Seas, it is usual for the transfer of ownership to entail a refitting and a name change. Some ships have had a dozen or more identities.Cruise ships and former liners often find employment in applications other than those for which they were built. A shortage of hotel accommodation for the 2004 Summer Olympics led to a plan to moor a number of cruise ships in Athens to provide tourist accommodation. On September 1, 2005, FEMA contracted three Carnival Cruise Lines vessels to house Hurricane Katrina evacuees.