The modern day cruise ship voyage has its origins in the long journeys taken across the Atlantic, which were always at least four days. In the race to attract more well-heeled travellers, these liners began to offer levels of on-board luxury that could only be matched by the finest five star hotels. In the late 1800s, Albert Ballin was the first to send transatlantic liners on long cruises round the Southern hemisphere, in order to offer wealthy customers a respite from the cold Northern winters. Over time, the dedicated ocean liner evolved into a hybrid vehicle that could be converted into a cruise ship for the winter cruising season. The first ship to be designed specifically with this dual use in mind was known as the Prinzessin Victoria Luise, which was designed by Albert Ballin, the general manager of a company called Hamburg-America Line, and completed in 1900. Jet age When the jumbo jet became a reality in the 1960s, cutting transatlantic crossing times from a minimum of four days to a matter of hours, the writing was on the wall for the transatlantic ocean liner industry. By the 1980s, there was only one transatlantic ocean liner operator still in existence, and this catered exclusively for the very rich who wanted to enjoy a slower, more comfortable journey across the Atlantic. All those ocean liners didn’t go to waste, though – the redundant ships were mostly converted into cruise ships, a market that was set to grow exponentially over the following decades. Although these refurbished former ocean liners were small compared to today’s mega-cruisers, the success of the giant SS Norway(originally the ocean liner SS France), which is thought of as being the first Caribbean super-ship, triggered a large number of imitators, and nowadays some the largest passenger ships ever to have been built are cruise ships. Cruising goes mainstream The 70s TV series The Love Boat, which was set on Princess Cruises’ Pacific Princess vessel, which has since been sold to another operator, acted like a giant advert for the cruise ship industry in the US, and today cruises attract hundreds of thousands of passengers from all over the world. At present, the largest passenger cruise ships belong to Royal Caribbean International, who both own and operate the Freedom class of ships including the MS Liberty of the Seas, MS Freedom of the Seas, and MS Independence of the Seas. A fourth Freedom class vessel is expected to be built by 2011. The Freedom Class vessels are all over 1,100 feet long, 209 feet high, and weigh in at around 160,000 tons each. Their forthcoming Oasis class vessels promise to be even bigger, at 1,180 feet long, sitting 65m high above the water level, and weighing in at 220,000 tons each. That’s a lot of boat!
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The modern day cruise ship voyage has its origins in the long journeys taken across the Atlantic, which were always at least four days. In the race to attract more well-heeled travellers, these liners began to offer levels of on-board luxury that could only be matched by the finest five star hotels. In the late 1800s, Albert Ballin was the first to send transatlantic liners on long cruises round the Southern hemisphere, in order to offer wealthy customers a respite from the cold Northern ...
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