Cruise Ships: A Design Voyage

There has never been a time in history when large passenger ships have been built in greater numbers than the present. Cruise ships are one of the defining phenomena of our time, associated as they are with leisure, entertainment, conspicuous consumption and the many facets of globalisation. This book tells the story of cruise ship design and the development of the cruise industry from the late-Victorian era until the present day. The earliest cruises were overseas adventures on small yacht, like ships to the Mediterranean or to Norway's west coast. Subsequently, in the Edwardian era and between the two world wars, cruising developed from an activity for the wealthy into one increasingly accessible to the middle classes. By the 1960s, America had become the main cruise market to serve which the first purpose-built, mass-market Caribbean cruise ships were built. Since then, cruise ships have grown greatly in scale and facilities.