Cruise Ship!

What better way to see Europe than on a cruise? With so many amazing cities and sites to explore cruising this region provides an easy way to navigate and visit several in just a matter of days (or simply relax onboard the ship if you want to skip the sightseeing). And, with the variety of sailings available you can pretty much find a cruise to that will take you to the port cities you want to visit. “Must-see” ports of call are plentiful in Europe so it’s difficult to narrow down just a few.... volumes could be written about Amsterdam and its Dutch architecture, Venice and its famed gondolas, Barcelona and the tree-lined La Rambla or St. Petersburg and the Hermitage Museum. But the sailings and ports below should give you a good head-start in your planning.

A cruise ship is a passenger ship used for pleasure voyages, where the voyage itself and the amenities of the ship 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 rapid growth of the industry has seen nine or more new-build ships catering to a North American clientele added every year since 2001.

Cruise Ship tradition

The practice 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 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 which were made for easy transformation between summer crossings and winter cruising.

Cruise Ship problems

With the advent of large passenger jet aircraft in the 1960s, the vast majority of inter-continental travellers switched from ships to planes. There were some, however, who actually enjoyed the few days of enforced idleness, so while the ocean liner transport business crashed, the cruising voyages never stopped altogether.

Pacific Princess in Sydney HarbourLater other cruises were introduced, such as to the islands of the Caribbean, and through the Mediterranean, and new ships were built to accommodate the growing demand.

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.

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 Antarctica, cruise ships are very nearly the only way for tourists to visit.

Cruise Ship Present-day

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/staff than passengers.

As with any vessel, adequate provisioning is crucial, especially on a cruise ship serving several thousand meals each at seating. The amount of food and beverages consumed by a cruise ship on an average 7-day voyage is staggering. Passengers and crew on the Royal Caribbean International ship Mariner of the Seas consume 20,000 pounds of beef, 28,000 eggs, 8,000 gallons 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; or Royal Caribbean's ships all ending in "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.

Because of a shortage of hotel accommodation there was a plan to moor a number of cruise ships in Athens to provide tourist accommodation for the duration of the 2004 Summer Olympics.

Cruise Ship days following Hurricane Katrina

On September 1, 2005, a few days following Hurricane Katrina washing through New Orleans, FEMA contracted for three Carnival Cruise Lines vessels to house hurricane evacuees. The six-month contract cost $236 million. The contract was widely criticized because the vessels were never fully utilized, and Carnival received more money than it would have earned by using the ships in their normal rotation. Carnival did not have the same fuel, entertainment, staffing, and other expenses which would have incurred had the ships been on their normal routes, but the line also did not receive revenues from on-board gambling, alcoholic beverages, and other sales of products and services which would have been generated had the vessels been engaged in cruising.