The Cruise Ship Phenomenon In North America: looking back at a forward-looking industry. . - book review

Cruise Travel, Jan-Feb, 2002 by Theodore W. Scull

The Cruise Ship Phenomenon In North America By Brian J. Cudahy (Centerville, MD: Cornell Maritime Press,[c] 2001); 384 pages; $36.95.

Sailing out of Miami one March afternoon, you see a half-dozen other cruise ships of various shapes and sizes, sporting different colors and funnel markings. One vessel has some of her lifeboats lowered halfway, and others are sitting in the water. The next ship in line has a pair of swept-wing funnels, and her shape is sleek and graceful compared to the boxy nature of the others lining the long pier. In the distance there is a building marked "Royal Caribbean Cruise Ltd.," and you wonder if that is where you phoned to get some information and where your travel agent followed up to get you a cabin on this ship. Up on the mast you see flags--the Stars & Stripes plus several others--but this ship does not seem to be American, at least as far as the crew is concerned. More observations and questions come to mind over the course of your weeklong cruise, about how this whole floating city works, where the vessel was built, and where she goes for a tune-up.

You are seeing firsthand the amazing cruise ship phenomenon of today. If forecasters would have predicted this now typical end-of-the-week Port of Miami scene 30-odd years ago, people would've said they were off their rockers. No other mode of conveyance has undergone such growth and radical change in design during this same period. Back in the mid 1960s, there were two guys named Knut Kloster and Ted Arison who started out working together, then had their differences, but each ended up operating one of the world's two largest cruise lines, where the existence of one benefits the other.

Brian J. Cudahy's The Cruise Ship Phenomenon In North America is the at-home introductory college course--Understanding the Growth of the Cruise Industry 101-102. It is equally beneficial to first-time ocean voyagers and for those who have run away to sea many times but never really scratched beneath the teak decks or thought much about what goes on behind the scenes.

The book will not help you choose a cruise or differentiate between the standards of one line versus the next, but it will put you in the know about the history of a corporation named Carnival that had a very rocky beginning, with one second-hand ship that both broke down and ran aground, but then rose to operate the largest and most diverse passenger fleet in the world.

Cudahy begins his story with the birth of a ship originally designed to make trans-Atlantic crossings in the summer and cruises in the winter, but before she takes to the water, her ocean transportation role is axed. The ship in question is Home Lines' Oceanic, a phenomenon in her time for size, speed, racy good looks, innovative design, and popularity. The year was 1965, the same year an elderly steamer named the Yarmouth Castle, equipped with passenger accommodations and amenities that would seem antediluvian today, set out from Miami, caught fire and burned, resulting in 90 lives lost.

The tragedy brought a sea change to the industry, and the author describes how the rust-bucket fleet of old liners was retired and a few visionaries came into the picture with the concept of building brand-new ships that would appeal to a large number of North Americans.

The thumbnail histories of the major and some of the minor lines make very good reading. One fledgling company starts with a chartered ship owned by a Canadian railway and ends up driving the industry into the big times when its Pacific Princess becomes the star of the television series "The Love Boat." Another firm had been the largest carrier of passengers between the U.S. and Europe, then along came the flying machine, and its business plummeted precepitously until--you guessed it--the venerable Cunard Line, dating back to 1840, reinvented itself as a cruise company. When it faltered again, it was snapped up by Carnival Corp. in 1998, who then ordered the world's largest ocean liner, the Queen Mary 2, for the grand old line.

The book ends with chapters on the cruise industry's shoreside operations, shipbuilding, regulatory agencies that make your cruise safer, and two useful appendices of "Cruise Ship Fleet Rosters" and where the ships sail. There are 127 black and white illustrations peppered throughout.

The Cruise Ship Phenomenon is a good read, before, during, or after your next cruise, and once the contents are ingested, you will feel ever so knowledgeable, until you realize there's a whole lot more to learn about the ingredients of your restful vacation.

Cudahy, well respected as a transportation writer on the topics of trains, public transit, and ferries, has done his homework in the cruiseship field and has produced a valuable resource that can only add to your enjoyment of taking a cruise.