SS Freedom of Seas

Cruising is about taking vacation on a cruise. What is cruise anyway? Cruise is refer to ship, sail, powerboat, boat that use to sea voyages for few days or more. Cruise could be reminding you to an actor of many popular movies Tom Cruise. But it is not about him.

The history of Cruising began when Joshua Slocum circumnavigated the world between 1895 and 1898.  He is a retired sea captain with a dream to make trips around the world. He rebuilt his Spray, the name of his 37-foot sloop and sailed her single-handed around the world.

Slocum dream continues by other traveler and now growth to individuals, families, or groups who want to unwind and relax in a different way. It’s become popular now. People make cruising possible for everyone and make it more comfortable. Cruising has become a major part of the tourism industry, with millions of passengers each year. Not only America Cruises Line, but there are many other cruises Line around the world.

Hamburg America Cruise Line is the first cruise line in this industry. Their general manager (Albert Ballin) design the first American cruise ship for cruising, Prinzessin Victoria Luise­­­ Cruis ship, that is build completely in 1900.

Cruising grew very fast after that and many new Cruise Lines, Cruise Liners, and Cruise Ships show up. Initially only small liners built cruise ships and only some ocean liners convert their passenger ship to be cruise ship. But it was dramatically changed after the success of the SS Norway (originally the ocean liner SS France, which was converted to a cruise ship) as the Caribbean’s first “super-ship”. Titanic is an example of the most famous cruise ship. Cruise Liners add many luxuries in cruise to win the competition with other Cruise Lines such as fine dining and well-appointed staterooms.

Currently the largest cruise ships capacity are the Freedom class American Cruise Ships (MS Freedom of the Seas, MS Liberty of the Seas and MS Independence of the Seas. A fourth ship is expected by 2011). These are owned and operated by Royal Caribbean International.