The world's largest cruise ship is Royal Caribbean International’s “Harmony of the Seas” (226,963 tons, 362 meters long, 66 m wide), and can carry up to 6,000 passengers and 2,300 crew-members.
Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company is the first company to build steel SS Ravena ship in 1881, and the first company to launch the SS Valetta ship with electric lighting in 1889.
Cruise ships are large passenger ships used mainly for vacationing. Unlike ocean liners,
which are used for transport, they typically embark on round-trip voyages to various ports-of-call, where passengers may go on tours known as "shore excursions." On "cruises to nowhere" or "nowhere voyages", cruise ships make two- to three-night round trips without visiting any ports of call.
As of 2020, the world's largest passenger ship is Royal Caribbean's Symphony of the Seas. Besides the dining room, modern cruise ships often contain one or more
casual buffet-style eateries, which may be open 24 hours and with menus that vary throughout the day to provide meals ranging from breakfast to late-night snacks. Ships often also feature numerous bars, lounges and nightclubs, casino, shops, spa, fitness center, library, theatre with Broadway-style shows, cinema, indoor and/or outdoor swimming pool with water slides, hot tub,
pool tables, and ping pong tables for passenger entertainment.
For cruise passengers, their average age is around 50, 85% are college/university graduates, and around 60% are married and work full time.
Allure of the Seas is the most expensive cruise ship ($1.4B) in operation in the world. It is the world’s largest passenger ship when it launched in November 2009. Built at the STX Europe Turku shipyard
in Finland, this 1,187 feet long vessel measures 215 feet in width with a gross registered tonnage of 225,282 tones, 18 total decks, including a two-deck dance hall, an ice skating rink, 25 dining options and a theatre with 1,380 seating capacity. The ship can accommodate a total of 6,780 guests and 2,200 crew members.
Three years after the Titanic was crashed into an iceberg on April 15, 1912, killing over 1,500 people, the Lusitania, a British luxury liner, was sunk by a German submarine on May 7, 1915, killing 1,195 people.
SS Great Western, an oak-hulled paddle-wheel steamship built in 1838, was the first steamship purpose-built for crossing the Atlantic
She was the largest steamship for one year, until the British and American's British Queen went into service in 1939.
SS Savannah, an American hybridsailing ship/sidewheel steamer built in 1818,
was the first steamship that used a combination of steam and wind power to cross the Atlantic Ocean. She left the port of Savannah, Georgia, on May 22, 1819, arriving in Liverpool,
England, on June 20, 1819. For this 29-day trip only a fraction of the distance was covered with the ship under steam power, the rest was sailed by wind power.
MV Doña Paz, which was built in 1963 by Onomichi Zosen of Onomichi, Hiroshima, Japan, and a Philippine-registered passenger ferry, was sunk after colliding with the MT Vector on December 20, 1987, killing 4,341 people.
SS Kiangya, a Chinese passenger steamship
that blew up, probably after hitting a mine(probably left by the Japanese navy) on the Huangpu River fifty miles north of Shanghai on 4 December 1948, killing over 4,000 people.
SS Mont-Blanc, a freighter built in Middlesbrough, England in 1899, was
exploded in Halifax Harbor, Nova Scotia after colliding with with the Norwegian ship, SS Imo on 6 December 1917, killing over 2,000 people and injuring 9,000 more.
MV Le Joola, a Senegalese government-owned ferry, capsized off the coast of The Gambia on September 26, 2002,
killing at least 1,863 people.
Tek Singa, a large three-mastedChinese ocean-going junk, ran aground on a reef and was sunk on February 6, 1822, in
Belvidere Shoals, South China Sea, killing estimated 1,600 people.
Ottoman frigate Ertuğrul, a Ottoman Navy war ship, launched in 1863, carrying 533 sailors, was lost in a severe storm off Kushimoto, Japan, on 18 September 1890.
SS Princess Alice, built in 1865, was sunk on 3 September 1878 in a collision on the River Thames with the collier Bywell Castle off Tripcock Point, killing over 650 people.
MV Princess of the Stars, a ferry - built in 1984 by Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. Aio, Japan - carrying over 800 people, sank in Typhoon Fengshen off the coast of San Fernando, Romblon, in the Philippines, killing 747.
SS Camorta, which was caught in a cyclone while crossing the Baragua Flats, was sunk in the Irrawaddy Delta on 6 May 1902 with the loss of all 655 passengers and 82 crew members.
More than 19 million people worldwide took a cruise in 2011.
Today's cruise ship capacity can range from 30,000 tons to over 220,000 tons.
The Titanic (882 feet 9 inches long, 92 feet wide, 46,328 tons capacity) is a passenger liner that struck an iceberg in the north Atlantic Ocean on her maiden voyage from Southampton,
England, to New York City, US, and sank on 15 April 1912, resulting in the deaths of 1,517 people, one of the deadliest peacetime maritime disasters in history.
Each year more than 10 million people take a cruise, of which 80% of cruises were made in North America.
There are over 2000 ports in the world that cruise ships can visit.
About 50% passengers of major world cruise lines begin their trips from
Miami,
Port Canaveral, and
Fort Lauderdale, which are located in Florida.
Caribbean is the most destination for cruise ships
About 90% of cruise tickets are sold through travel agencies.
The cruise ship capacity can range from 30,000 tons to over 220,000 tons.
The most popular cruise port is St Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. There can be up to 10 ships visiting in a single day during the high season.
The North American cruise industry generated 329,943 jobs that contributed a $15.2 billion wage impact on the U.S. economy in 2010.
Carnival Cruise Line, the largest cruise line in the world, operates 23 ships under the Carnival Brand, and also owns 11 other cruise brands, including Princess, Holland America and Costa.
The Allure of the Seas by Royal Caribbean is the largest cruise ship in the world (1,187 feet long, 225,000 gross tons) and can hold up to 6,296 passengers.
Carnival Cruise Line, which was built in 2002 (110,000 tons, 953 feet length), has 1,487 staterooms, 556 private balcony staterooms, 13 decks, and can hold up to 1,150 crew members and 2,974 passengers.
Azamara Quest, which entered service since 11/2000 as Renaissance R7 (30,000 tons, 593 feet length, 95 feet wide) and sailed as Azamara Quest since 10/2007, can carry about 710 passengers (double occupancy) plus 410 crew members.
