In May 1844, an ad appeared in Britain’s Cheltenham Chronicle advertising a six-week tour aboard a retrofitted steam-powered freight liner called Tagus, with destinations including Athens, Constantinople, and Gibraltar.
Operated by the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company – now known as P&O – the voyage marked the birth of the cruise ship industry. By the turn of the 20th century, P&O was regularly ferrying well-heeled passengers on luxury vessels to the Mediterranean and around the British Empire to the likes of India, Australia, and Aotearoa. (The origin of the word “posh” is commonly believed to come from the acronym ‘port out, starboard home’, in reference to the cooler and more desirable side of the ship when travelling between England and India during the British Raj.)
Having also previously repurposed freight liners – often to maximise steerage numbers, especially when crossing the Atlantic – German shipping magnate Albert Ballin was invited to join the Hamburg-Amerikanische Packetfahrt-Actien-Gesellschaft (Hapag), or Hamburg-America Line, where he eventually oversaw the construction the world’s first purpose-built cruise ship: the Prinzessin Victoria Luise, a luxury vessel which launched in 1900. Named after Kaiser Wilhelm II’s daughter, the ship boasted 120 first-class cabins with room for 180 passengers, alongside a gymnasium, library, a dark room to develop film, and a smoking area that was strictly for the gentlemen only.
The golden age of ocean liners was underway, led by further iconic shipping companies such as the Cunard Line and the White Star Line, the latter responsible for oceangoing icons such as the RMS Olympic, and RMS Titanic. Six years before the Titanic met her grim fate, the Prinzessin Victoria Luise crashed into an uncharted ridge near Jamaica. Though the crew and 70 passengers were safely removed from the ship, the captain was so devastated by his error that he later returned to his cabin and took his own life with a pistol.
“I cannot account for his act except on the theory that his pride was crushed by the accident, and that he believed that only death would wipe out what he regarded as his disgrace,” remarked a Hapag executive at the time. A few days later, a New York Times article described Captain H Brunswig as “one of the best known and most reliable commanders in the company’s service”. The ship could not be salvaged from the reef, and eventually succumbed to the ocean following a major earthquake.
Two years after the sinking of the Titanic, the first world war broke out. Cruises were suspended and many liners were commissioned by navies to help with the war effort. The interwar period saw cruising rise in popularity again – though still predominantly for wealthy passengers aboard opulent boats such as the RMS Queen Mary – and after the second world war, cruising became more accessible to the middle class.
Ted Arison and Knut Kloster are credited with jumpstarting the modern era of cruising when they founded Norwegian Caribbean Line (now Norwegian Cruise Line) in 1966 and introduced the concept of the ‘no-frills’ cruise. Cruises were now being considered as holidays in of themselves, rather than a luxurious mode of travel. The following decade, The Love Boat TV show further popularised cruising, and soon companies such as Carnival Cruise Line also helped market cruises to a broader audience. The 80s and 90s heralded the arrival of megaships such as the Royal Caribbean’s Sovereign of the Seas.
The cruise industry has proven to be resilient and we are looking forward to next season.
Into the 21st century, and Royal Caribbean raised the bar once more with their Oasis-class vessels which can carry over 6,000 passengers and arrive with amenities like ice-skating rinks and rock-climbing walls. Today, Royal Caribbean continues to lead the way, their largest liner, the Icon of the Seas – also the largest in the world – is 20 decks high, 365 metres long, weighs 248,663 gross tonnes, and can carry 7,600 passengers and 2,350 crew (for comparison, that’s five times the size of Titanic, the largest ship of its day); and boasts its own water park replete with slides and a surf simulator. Next year will see the launch of sister ship, the Star of the Seas, which promises to be even bigger.
Here in New Zealand, the addition of a new multi-purpose berth in Napier means that the Hawke’s Bay hub is now capable of welcoming Royal Caribbean’s Oasis-class vessels. This summer, Hawke’s Bay also welcomed its 1,000th cruise ship visit thanks to the arrival of the Silver Muse.
“I’ve had a front row seat to history you could say – watching the increasing trend of cruise ships to Napier Port over the last 30 years,” says Tony des Landes a former port employee of over 50 years, and local maritime historian and regular cruise ambassador volunteer. “Not only is Napier Port facilitating the arrival of more cruise ships, the ships are also getting much bigger and in turn bringing with them a growing number of visitors to the region.”
He adds that the boom of the cruise industry in the last couple of seasons has been “spectacular”.
Further maritime milestone occurred this year by way of Whangārei welcoming its very first cruise ship, the MS Regatta, and Auckland welcoming two new operators, Disney and Virgin, for the first time with numbers now returning to pre-Covid levels.
“It has been an exciting and busy season,” says Avinash Murthy, Head of Marine & Cruise Operations at Ports of Auckland. “It was fantastic to see cruise operators like Disney Wonder call here for the first time, bringing a great fun family vibe to the city centre. The cruise industry has proven to be resilient and we are looking forward to next season.”
SETTING SAIL
New research from travel insurance provider AllClear reveals the most popular cruising destinations in different countries around the world. Caribbean cruises coming out on top with more than 2.8 million searches, followed by a Mediterranean cruise (2.1 million searches) and Alaskan cruise (1.8 million searches). In New Zealand, the most popular searches are Antarctic cruises.
Here’s the top 10 most popular cruise destinations worldwide:
1. Caribbean
2. Mediterranean
3. Alaska
4. Nile River
5. Antarctica
6. Seine River
7. Norwegian Fjords
8. Danube River
9. Mississippi River
10. Hawaii
