Cruising; Past & Present

Cruising; Past & Present

Jena E. McIntosh

ENG/147

November 10, 1994

Carrie Bailey

Cruising; Past & Present

Every day, millions of passengers set out on the open ocean for a cruise thinking that it is all just one big party and that is, basically, what cruising is today and taking you to different places as well. What they don't realize is that cruising was not always what it is today. It was once a timeless, elegant form of travel and was primarily used as a form of transportation. While we all like to have fun, we should remember cruising's history and what it was back in the day. Passengers today enjoy the "party atmosphere" of taking a cruise however; it was once a timeless, sophisticated form of travel and transportation primarily for the high society.

Let's take a walk back in time shall we? Back in the early days, I'm talking early 1900's; cruising was a form of transportation, not the party ships that set sail today. There were many magnificent ships that were built to take passengers across the ocean but, there is one class of ships in particular that I want to mention, the Olympic-Class Ocean Liners. Olympic-Class Ocean Liners were a trio of beautifully constructed Ocean Liners by Harland and Wolff shipyard for the White Star line in the early 20th century. They include; RMS Olympic, RMS Titanic and RMS Britannic (“Olympic Class Ocean Liner,” 2014). The most famous, of course, was the RMS Titanic.

Ah, the RMS Titanic! In the movie, Titanic (1997), she was referred to as "the ship of dreams" and that she was. She, along with her sister ships, were built to ferry the wealthy passengers and immigrants seeking a new start on life. With all the safety measures she supposedly had for her time, she was supposed to be unsinkable. Well, we all know that was not the case. On her Maiden Voyage, a transatlantic crossing from Southampton, England to New York, she hits an iceberg. Out of 2,200 souls on board, including crew members,...