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Where it all started -

It's suggested that Italy was the likely location of the first leisure excursion in a boat, a voyage we would today call a cruise. Departing Naples (pictured) in June 1833 and carrying European nobility, the vessel toured the Mediterranean before arriving in Constantinople.

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P&O founded -

P&O—the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company—was founded in 1837. P&O Cruises was founded in 1977 as a subsidiary of the company. P&O first introduced passenger-cruising services in 1844 to distinguish it with the oldest heritage of any cruise line in the world.

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SS Augusta Victoria -

On January 2, 1891, the German vessel SS Augusta Victoria embarked on a voyage to the Mediterranean and the Near East, a cruise that helped promote this burgeoning leisure product to a wider public.

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P&O expands -

P&O, meanwhile, underwent a period of rapid expansion in the latter half of the 19th century, introducing round trips to more exotic locations, for example Alexandria and Constantinople. This type of product was the forerunner of the modern cruise vacations.

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Prinzessin Victoria Luise -

Prinzessin Victoria Luise was the first purpose-built, non-private excursion ship, constructed for the Hamburg-America Line (HAPAG). She departed Hamburg on her maiden voyage on January 5, 1901, bound for the West Indies via New York.

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SS La Bretagne -

As the idea of cruising caught on, shipping companies began commissioning larger and more luxurious vessels, primarily for the highly competitive transatlantic route. Pictured is the opulent dining hall of the French vessel SS La Gretagne, owned by Compagnie Générale Transatlantique, which was launched on September 9, 1885.

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Discerning clientele -

Journeys that were once considered purely functional were being marketed as now being for pleasure. But the prohibitive cost of a voyage meant that a cruise liner vacation remained a privilege of the wealthy.

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Cunard -

The early 20th century saw the likes of Cunard, White Star, and HAPAG becoming the big names in cruising.

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RMS Britannia -

The Britannia class was the Cunard Line's initial fleet of wooden paddlers that established the first year-round scheduled Atlantic steamship service in 1840. Pictured is RMS Britannia.

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RMS Campania -

Launched in September 1892, Cunard's RMS Campania was the largest and fastest passenger liner afloat when she entered service in 1893. She won the coveted Blue Riband for a less-than-six-day dash across the Atlantic Ocean.

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RMS Carpathia -

Another Cunard transatlantic passenger steamship, RMS Carpathia found fame for different reasons. This is the vessel that sailed to the assistance of the stricken RMS Titanic in April 1912, with the crew rescuing 705 survivors from the sunken ship's lifeboats.

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RMS Titanic -

On April 15, 1912, the British passenger liner RMS Titanic struck an iceberg and sank in the North Atlantic Ocean during her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York City. More than 1,500 people died in the tragedy. Operated by White Star, the loss of the Titanic remains the deadliest peacetime sinking of a superliner or cruise ship.

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More ports of call -

The loss of the Titanic did little to dent the public's faith in the burgeoning cruise ship industry. Besides faster transatlantic crossings, passenger liner companies were expanding port of call choice. The Norwegian-American-owned Red Star Line, for example, listed its main ports of call as Antwerp in Belgium, Liverpool and Southampton in the United Kingdom, and New York City and Philadelphia in the United States.

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Luxurious facilities -

With longer routes came more highly-refined passenger facilities. The first à la carte restaurants appeared on passenger vessels around 1910.

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Leisure amenities -

Gilt-edged ballrooms catered to those wishing to dance away the night. For the more sporty, the first top deck swimming pools made their debut around the same time.

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The Great War -

This palatial parlor room was typical of the sumptuous interiors afforded to passengers in the early 20th century. WWI, however, saw many cruise liners requisitioned by naval authorities involved in the conflict.

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First World War -

During the First World War, passenger vessels were used as troop carriers or hospital ships, such as RMS Asturias, pictured here in 1914 departing Le Havre in France. Asturias survived being torpedoed and returned to its original function throughout the 1920s. Other vessels weren't so lucky: Norwegian-owned Fred. Olsen Line alone lost 23 ships in the Great War.

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RMS Lusitania -

The most high-profile sinking of a passenger liner during the First World War was that of the Cunard liner RMS Lusitania. On May 7, 1915, the vessel was hit by a single torpedo, fired from the German submarine U-20. It took less than 20 minutes for the Atlantic to claim the ship, with just 761 people surviving out of the 1,266 passengers and 696 crew aboard, with 123 of the casualties being American citizens. Lusitania had not been drafted into the war effort and was following its regular route between Liverpool and New York City. The casualties were all civilians. Its loss contributed to the American entry into the conflict two years later.

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Between the wars -

Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, cruise line companies continued to prosper, with destinations more global and defined as "pleasure cruises"—a clear indicator that more and more people were recognizing a cruise as an affordable leisure option.

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RMS Laconia -

In November 1922, the Cunard-operated RMS Laconia began an around-the-world cruise—the first continuous circumnavigation of the world by a passenger liner, a voyage later dubbed the first world cruise. It marked a triumph for the company, and a milestone in the history of the cruise industry. But 20 years later, Laconia would be involved in one of the most controversial events of the Second World War.

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The Laconia incident -

Drawn into service as a troopship during the Second World War, RMS Laconia was torpedoed and sunk by U-156, a German U-boat, off the coast of West Africa on September 12, 1942. The German vessel immediately commenced recovery operations, an intent broadcast over an open radio channel and picked up by other U-boats and Allied aircraft. After picking up survivors, U-156 set sail to rendezvous with Vichy French ships and transfer the rescued mariners. Soon afterwards, however, the U-boat was attacked by a B-24 Liberator bomber, its aircrew aware of the survivors collected on the foredeck but ordered anyway to bomb the submarine. The B-24 killed dozens of Laconia's survivors, and the event changed the general attitude of Germany's naval personnel towards rescuing stranded Allied seamen.

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The Golden Age -

The 1950s are generally regarded as the Golden Age of cruising. And the appeal of taking to water on a luxury ocean-going liner was not lost on the celebrities of the day. Pictured is the SS United States, flagship of the United States Lines, entering New York Harbor on June 23, 1952.

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Alfred Hitchcock -

Alfred Hitchcock and film star Jane Wyman (one-time wife of future president Ronald Reagan) are photographed aboard the Cunard liner RMS Queen Mary in 1950 as it leaves Southampton for New York. The Queen Mary is today permanently moored in Long Beach, California, as a floating hotel.

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Doris Day -

Doris Day, pictured in 1955, is all smiles as she arrives in Southampton, England, on board Cunard's RMS Queen Elizabeth.

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Harry Belafonte -

Harry Belafonte, his wife Julie, and their young son David pose for the press at Southampton in 1959 after arriving from New York aboard the RMS Queen Mary.

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Cruising into the '60s -

Despite stiff competition from airlines, the cruise industry continued to flourish throughout the 1960s. Many of the modern cruise lines were founded during this period, including Princess Cruises in 1965, Norwegian Cruise Line in 1966, Royal Caribbean in 1968, and MSC in 1970. Pictured is the SS Oriana, operated by the Orient Steam Navigation Company, departing Circular Quay in Sydney Harbor on January 6, 1961 to commence a 10-day Pacific cruise.

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Full ahead through the '70s, '80s, and '90s -

By the 1970s and 1980s, cruise ship vacations were no longer the sole preserve of the wealthy. And in the wake of this boom in holidays on the high seas came more cruise ships lines: Carnival in 1972; Celebrity Cruises in 1989; and Silversea in 1994. 

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Cunard Queens -

In 2015, Cunard's three Queens met on the River Mersey in Liverpool to celebrate the company's 175th anniversary—MS Queen Mary 2, MS Queen Victoria, and MS Queen Elizabeth.

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Wonder of the Seas -

Currently, the largest cruise ship in the world is Wonder of the Seas (pictured in May 2022 leaving Marseilles). This vast floating hotel can accommodate 6,988 passengers. Operated by Royal Caribbean International, the vessel is longer than the largest military ships ever built, the US Nimitz-class aircraft carriers.

Sources: (Cruise Market Watch) (Cruise Dialysis) (Smithsonian Magazine) (History) (The Maritime Executive) (Forbes)

See also: 10,000 eggs a day and other crazy cruise ship food stats

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