It used to be that ocean-crossing vessels were the primary means to getting people from place to place at sea. Now they are hardly used and instead replaced with cruise ships. Just like the ocean-crossing vessel, the cruise ship takes its time going across the ocean. Since air travel is so much faster, crossing by water is used more for relaxation and enjoyment rather than as quick transportation.

To raise interest in the cruise ship as transportation, the ocean-going vessels would leisurely take people on southern cruises in the winter. The first of the trans-Atlantic ships to take people on southern cruises during the cold season on the North Atlantic was the Hamburg-America Line.

Another thing that got the cruise ship more attention was the television show, "The Love Boat." This T.V. show used the Pacific Princess ship from the Princess Cruise Line. With the popularity that "The Love Boat" brought, the cruise industry began to soar around the 1980s. The famous T.V. show demonstrated that even ordinary individuals could enjoy spending time on a cruise ship for a vacation. Now that the cruise ship was for more than the rich and famous, all types of cruises became available in order to meet the desires of all types of people. Between 2001 and 2006 there have been about eight or nine cruise ships added each year.

Some people would love to visit the Arctic and Antarctic and couldn't previously afford the means to do so. Now with the cruise ship being so accessible, people can enjoy trips to the Caribbean, to Alaska, and around Mexico.

A Relaxing Journey

Over time the popularity of the cruise ship causes the cruise industry to start using larger cruise ships. Now being on a cruise ship is like staying in a floating hotel considering most cruise ships can hold about 3000 passengers. This number doesn't even include the large staff needed to take care of the passengers and the cruise ship. When you really dish out the money, you can get on a cruise ship that has more crew members than passengers.

The thing that the cruise ship is known best for is its amazing cuisines that are served 24 hours a day. With so much food to serve, the cruise ship has to have the space to store and cook it. Sometime in a week long trip you'll find that more than ten tons of beef and almost 30,000 eggs are used in meals.

Although people think of the cruise ship as a place to vacation, the cruise ship has had many other uses as well. During the hurricanes in the Gulf Coast in 2005, cruise ships were called to house displaced victims. Three of the Princess Cruise Line ships were contracted by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to house hurricane victims temporarily. Cruise ships have also been used as a place for people to stay during the 2004 Olympics, since there weren't enough hotel rooms available.