The cruise ship industry reached a stunning peak of 55 billion in economic activity
in the United States alone in 2015 - but there’s a lot you might not know about them.
Here are some of the most interesting facts
about these massive liners - including why they’re registered in Libera of all places!
Well, we know one thing about cruise ships - they’re big! How big, exactly? The largest cruise
ships, Royal Caribbean’s Oasis class, are more like floating cities than they are standard ships.
Not only do many people find them overwhelming - not surprising, with more than 2,700 roms,
twenty restaurants, and even an indoor park - but you’d better pack your walking shoes.
The biggest ship is almost twelve hundred feet long, longer than the largest aircraft
carrier ever built and more than twice the size of the Washington Monument.
But surely these aren’t the largest ships ever made, right? Everyone knows THAT one was bigger.
There is no more famous ship out there than the Titanic. For a ship that sank more than a hundred
years ago, the Titanic still captures people’s attention - winning Oscars and being the subject
of museums around the country. There have even been replicas of the ship’s final meals served.
But for all that, the ship is kind of a shrimp in modern terms. It could hold
less than half the guests of an Oasis-class, and the modern ships are five-times as roomy.
That’s probably because unlike the Titanic, no one is in the belly of the ship in third-class.
But no matter what cruise ship you’re on, you’ll probably notice some similarities.
Even if you’re cruising after Labor Day, you’ll probably be sailing on a white ship.
That’s because just about every cruise ship is painted white, but that’s not just an
aesthetic choice. Cruise ships spend a lot of their time in the open sea, where the sun
is strong with no shelter to be found. White paint reflects sun rather than absorbing it,
which helps keep the ship cool and the passengers comfortable. But it’s not just the ship trying
to be nice - this saves them a lot of money by letting them cut down on air conditioning costs.
One thing’s for sure - these mega-liners take a lot of energy to get moving.
Exactly how much fuel does a cruise ship use? That depends on the size of the ship,
with the largest ships using more as it takes a lot of energy to haul thousands of people
across the ocean. But the largest ships can use as much as two hundred and fifty tons of fuel a day,
with even normal-sized ships using around a hundred and fifty. That means that cruise
ships are burning gallons of fuel every mile they travel - a far cry from your car,
where a gallon can get you a good distance. You wouldn’t want to fill one of these up at the pump.
And all that fuel has to go somewhere…
It’s one of the most iconic sights of cruise ships - those massive smokestacks belching smoke and
fumes into the atmosphere from the engine below. Hey, we said one of the best sights, not the best
smell. In the old days, those less-efficient ships needed up to four smokestacks to get rid of the
fumes effectively, but today’s cleaner-burning ships can usually get by with just one.
Which raises the question - why do they still have at least two on most ships?
Turns out people like seeing those smokestacks, and some can actually be useful for attractions.
Speaking of those lower decks, there’s a whole world down there.
Have you ever wondered where all those cruise ship workers live? The ship is full to capacity
with paying guests, but the hundreds or thousands of workers seem to be wherever you need them. It
turns out that there’s a whole second living space in the cruise ship that most visitors will never
see. It’s filled with small cabins designed a little like military barracks, and the crew
gets access to many of the facilities of the ship during off hours. But they shouldn’t be looking
for a nice view - on most ships, these crew dorms are actually built below the water level.
Speaking of views, one cruise company has turned to technology.
It’s one of the biggest compromises people make when they’re trying to
save money - booking an interior cabin. You get all the amenities of the cruise - but
not that nice ocean view when you wake up, just a solid wall. Not on Royal Caribbean,
which has started experimenting with virtual balconies. Even interior cabins will get a
wall with a visual transmitted directly from their side of the ship, giving you a real-time
view of the ocean. But if you’re looking for that refreshing ocean breeze, you’re still out of luck.
And on a cruise ship, you’ll be covering a lot of ground.
Cruise ships move fast, but not compared to most forms of transportation. They’re geared
to be more leisurely, moving about twenty-three miles an hour in normal conditions. That’s fast
enough to get where they’re going, but not fast enough to disrupt people’s sleep or activities.
But that doesn’t stop them from traveling over eighty-four thousand miles in a year.
How far is that? That’s roughly a third of the way to the moon - or
around the earth a stunning three and a half times every turn around the sun.
But they were docked in place for a long time.
Few industries were hit harder than the cruise industry by the global pandemic
and shutdown - especially since some of the worst initial outbreaks happened on board.
So what were these countless ships doing during the shutdown? For many of them,
they were put to work as mobile hospitals for cities with their hospitals at capacity.
Others were just kept running with a skeleton crew, but it wasn’t the first time cruise ships
became refuge shelters in an emergency - during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina,
cruise ships became shelters for the countless people displaced by the disaster.
But as for where they dock, that’s a more complicated question.
If you look into the history of your favorite American cruise line,
you might find something surprising - it’s not registered in America.
One of the most common places for cruise ships to register is Liberia - for a number of economic
reasons. To register a ship with a nation - and fly their flag - a company has to pay them a
fee to join their ship registry. And Liberia has one of the cheapest ship registries in the world
depending on the type of ship, making it a popular choice. Combined with the country’s
good relations with the United States and their comparably low tax rates and labor costs, it’s
become a favorite location - so don’t be surprised when your next cruise is flying the Liberian flag.
Cruise ship designers are taking care of a lot of
little details - including some of the less than savory ones.
Thousands of people on a cruise ship - that’s a lot of flushing toilets. So where does all
that...stuff go? The ship doesn’t start stinking after a few days at sea, which is a good thing,
but that’s because of a complex process that starts every time you flush. The toilets use
a suction system that minimizes the need for water, and the waste is then sucked down into the
treatment plant. It’s filtered, aerated to speed up biodegradation, and sterilized using UV lights,
and only then is it eventually released into the ocean. The cruise companies test
to make sure it’s safe to release - although many environmentalists are still worried.
And that brings us to what sends people running to the bathroom - all that food!
Keeping people fed on a large cruise ship is a challenging job,
and the hungry cruisers go through an incredible amount of food a day.
Chefs on a cruise ship can go through fifteen hundred pounds of flour a day baking bread,
and over 2,500 eggs. That’s a lot of hardworking chickens, but it’s also a lot more believable when
you realize that the breakfast buffet is open every day. And the ships are hoping people fill
up - breakfast food is much cheaper to prepare than the more meat-heavy meals later in the day.
But all that all-you-can-eat food can be a little deceiving.
Starting your day with a breakfast buffet and returning to graze throughout the day
is a ship tradition, but let the buyer beware - even if your meals are all-inclusive. Cruise ship
buffets are often restocked only by need, which means food can be sitting out there for a while.
The worst you’ll likely encounter at the breakfast buffet is dry eggs and crunchy bacon,
but for more high-end buffets, there can be reason to caution.
That buffet sushi on a cruise ship might just send you running back to that suction toilet…
And if you’ve got more adventurous tastes, the odds are there’s something for you - for a cost.
Even if your cruise ship includes meals, expect to be tempted by upcharge experiences.
Some low-cost cruises will put most of their restaurants behind that velvet rope - meaning
customers will find their low-cost cruise is suddenly becoming high-cost.
Others will have a few elite dining experiences like high-end steakhouses.
But many modern cruises add some unique and even bizarre dining experiences, such as an
Alice in Wonderland-themed molecular cuisine price fixe dinner, or a multi-course chocolate tasting
menu. One high-end cruise line even offers a full traditional Afternoon Tea ceremony.
And you might see some familiar faces on the branding.
Who designs the menus on cruise ships? Every ship has a culinary team planning the menus,
but some cruise lines have decided to head elsewhere for inspiration - the kings of
the culinary world, and of the small screen. Celebrity chefs have gotten themselves some
plum gigs curating the cuisine of major cruise lines. Health-conscious British chef Jamie Oliver
runs multiple restaurants for Royal Caribbean, restaurateur Thomas Keller oversees the dining
program for the high-end Seabourne cruises, and if you’re looking to take a cruise to Flavortown,
you probably can’t take two steps without seeing a Guy Fieri restaurant on Carnival ships.
And then it’s time to work off all that food with some activities.
You can basically do anything on large cruises these days, with just about every ship having
pools, casinos, theaters, live music, gyms, and spas. But some ships have added some truly
bizarre activities. Royal Caribbean allows guests to go skydiving - on ground level,
thanks to a wind tunnel that serves as a skydiving simulator. Their biggest ships
also have a wave pool where people can take surfing lessons without the risk of getting
stung by a jellyfish. For culture lovers, Holland America ships often have an on-ship art museum,
while Cunard’s Queen Mary 2 has a planetarium if the night sky isn’t quite exciting enough. And for
those adrenaline junkies, head to MSC cruises, which have a Formula One race car simulator.
But for those who want more unique thrills, the option is available - for a cost.
The theme of most cruise ships is...well, cruise ship. But for dedicated fans, it’s possible to
organize cruise sailings booked entirely by fans of a specific topic, with activities
themed to those fans. There have been some truly bizarre themed cruises over the years. A yearly
cruise filled entirely with Zumba fans sets sail from Miami, in what was probably the sweatiest
sailing ever. A cruise catering to conspiracy theorists sets sail from Seattle, leading to a
whole lot of arguments over whether the ship was being watched by the government or by aliens.
And for something a little fluffier, a popular Miami cruise named the Meow Meow cruise celebrates
the cats everyone loves, with one ironic twist - cats aren’t actually allowed on board.
But have you ever considered a cruise to...nowhere?
It’s the ultimate dilemma - you want to take a cruise, but there’s no money for one of those
high-end voyages. If someone is looking to take an extended sailing for cheap, they can take a
repositioning cruise - a sailing designed to get the ship to another port for the cruise season.
This comes with all the perks of a normal cruise on board, including the same accommodations,
meals, and activities, but there are a few key drawbacks. First, this sailing is all business,
so there won’t be any ports of call. The bigger issue is that this sailing ends at
a different port than it starts, so it’s up to the passengers to find their own way home. But
for those with some frequent flyer miles to use or those looking to start a vacation abroad,
repositioning cruises can be where they find big bargains.
And hey, there might be another cruise going in the reverse direction!
For more on another dark note in the history of cruise ships, check out “Ship Disaster 6
Times Deadlier Than the Titanic You Didn’t Know About” or watch this video instead.