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All text and photographs (unless stated otherwise) ©  Paul Timmerman

In the years from 1970, the cruise industry has developed itself into an important holiday product.

The major players in the market, Carnival Cruises, Celebrity Cruises, Costa Cruises, Holland America Line, MSC Cruises,  Norwegian Cruise Lines, Princess Cruises and Royal Caribbean Int.) have introduced a vast fleet of mega cruise ships. Together these companies offer a total of over 325.000 berths (maximum capacity of their ships, subsidiaries of these companies excluded)!

At the start NCL's  and RCCL's respective ships were financed by Norwegian shipowners with plenty of spare cash to invest. Both started out with three ships each, all newbuildings, which had a very modern appearance at the time. They had high superstructures, engines and funnel aft and shortened bows giving them an arrowhead or wedge like appearance. These ships were employed in the Caribbean, and dominated the market during the seventies. Royal Viking Lines and Cunard followed with vessels of the same type.   

Chandris Cruises, Royal Cruise Line and Costa Crociere pioneered the so called fly-cruises, where passengers are flown to their ships to join them there. Royal Cruise Line’s Golden Odyssey was designed with a passenger load exactly matching the capacity of a Boeing 747!

                                                                Royal Cruise Lines' Golden Odyssey

For those passengers looking for something different from the large cruise liners carrying 2000 passengers or more, several niche operators have started to attract travellers. Expedition cruises to remote places on ice-strengthened ships or even ice-breakers, cruises on sail ships with full rigging (computer controlled but who cares), and cruises – mostly of longer duration—on 5 star plus ultra de luxe vessels. There are plenty of choices in today's cruise industry.

Niche cruising:  soft expedition cruises with HAPAG Lloyd's Bremen

                                 Niche cruising: the small Hebridean Princess makes destination oriented cruises

In 2005 for example, 16 million people have taken a cruise, and the cruise industry is still growing, especially In  European countries (UK, Germany, Spain). Until 2012 ca. 45 vessels are on order, a staggering number of new ships adding appr. 100.000 berths to the world’s cruise fleet. Almost all new vessels will be constructed in Europe, Italian Fincantieri, German Meyer Werft, French Chantiers de l' Atlantique and Finnish Kvaerner Masa Yards (these last two have merged recently to become Aker Yards) being the most important players in today's cruise ship construction.

As far as size of cruise ships is concerned, since the former French Liner France has been rebuilt into the cruise ship Norway in 1979, the era of the mega cruise ship has begun.  

She proved to be an instant success, although she measured 76049 GRT and 315 m in length! At the time it was believed that the ideal size for a cruise ship was appr. 30 000 GRT.

                                                     Norway (NCL) after the addition of two top decks

Royal Caribbean reacted with the introduction of the Sovereign of the Seas (1988), Monarch of the Seas (1991) and Majesty of the Seas (1992), ships offering appr. 2300 berths each measuring 73.000 GRT.

For many years the Queen Elizabeth 2 and the Norway have ranked number 1 and 2 in size of the world´s cruise fleet in size, today QE2 even can´t be found in the top 25 of passenger capacity or tonnage! (Norway has been taken out of service after a boiler explosion in 2003).

In the battle of owning the largest vessel, the introduction of the Carnival Destiny, the first passenger liner of over 100.000 GRT, was nothing short of spectacular. However, then Grand Princess (108.000 GRT), later Voyager of the Seas (137.000 GRT) surpassing her easily in gross tonnage were introduced.

In januari 2004, Cunard Line´s Queen Mary 2 departed on her maiden voyage. She measures an incredible 142.000 GRT and is also the longest liner ever built: 345 m, but in May 2006 Freedom ofthe Seas (158.00 GRT and accommodating  up to almost 4.400 passengers) was delivered thus securing the lead in the race for the largest cruise vessel in the world.

However, the race for the longest and largest cruise ship continues. RCCL has finalised it's newest "project Genesis", resulting in ordering a vessel for delivery in 2009 measuring an incredible 220.000 GRT, with a length of 360 m. and a capacity for 5.400 passengers.

Where it will end is anybody´s guess........

Because of new SOLAS (meaning Saftey Of Lives A Sea)  regulations in 1997 (and in 2010 these rules will become even more strict), many older ships have found their way to the breakers. Companies trying to keep these ships in active service have fallen on hard times, as high investments are needed to let them comply with the new safety rules (like installing sprinkler systems etc.). Classic ships are often fuel hungry and very expensive to run as they don´t profit from economies of scale. They need more crew members per passenger.  Only a handful of ship owners like Louis Cruise Lines, Imperial Majesty Cruise Line and Majestic International still own these vessels. They are mostly operating in the short cruise trade, offering trips of 2, 3 or 4 days. Once well known shipping companies like Regal Cruises, Premier Cruises, Commodore Cruises, Royal Olympic Cruises and Empress Cruises operated these older ships. They have all gone bankrupt.......

Introducing new, large ships has more advantages than economies of scale, as it permits shipping lines to offer spectacular facilities on their ships like large show rooms with state of the art light and sound equipment, shopping malls, ice skating rings and rock climbing walls on the back of the ships funnel, everything is possible on ships of these dimensions. More restaurants on board have led to the introduction of new dining concepts where passengers are free to choose where and with whom they want to dine.

Entertainment on board has developed from shows performed by talented crew members on the former Greek an Russian ships in the 1970´s to full scale Hollywood and Vegas production shows on today's mega liners.

Last but not least, cabins (nowadays called staterooms) with balconies, internet-access, the latest movies on television (the old fashioned cinema on board is all but gone) and even butler service or 24 hr. room service have been introduced on the new breed of cruise ships.

'Cruising is a vacation for elderly people with plenty of money and time to spend' . The cruise industry has done everything to get rid of this image. Formal nights and gala dinners with accompanying dress codes are no more, except on the vessels in the 6 star, de luxe segment. Elaborate youth programs for kids in different age groups make sure that children have a great time on board too. The average age on board has dropped considerably to around 40 on some cruises.

After the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11th, the number of cruise passengers drastically decreased, as most cruise travellers are Americans. Luckily, the situation has returned to normal, and with today' s growth rates plus the fact that there are many untapped markets (e.g. Europe and Asia) the future seems brighter than ever.......

                 Introduced as Olympia Voyager by Royal Olympia Cruises, together with her sister the fastest cruise ships in the world, today sailing as Grand Voyager for new owners Iberojet

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