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Philadelphia Cruises
A
cruise ship or cruise liner is a passenger ship used for pleasure
voyages, where the voyage itself and the ship's amenities
are part of the experience. Cruising has become a major part
of the tourism industry, with millions of passengers each
year. The industry's rapid growth has seen nine or more newly
built ships catering to a North American clientele added every
year since 2001, as well as others servicing European clientele.
Smaller markets such as the Asia-Pacific region are generally
serviced by older tonnage displaced by new ships introduced
into the high growth areas.
Cruise
ships operate mostly on routes that return passengers to their
originating port. In contrast, ocean liners do "line
voyages" and typically transport passengers from one
point to another, rather than on round trips. Some liners
also engage in longer trips which may not lead back to the
same port for many months.
A river
cruise ship has similar amenities, however is shorter, narrower,
and has a shallower draft, allowing it to travel inland waterways.
History
Early
years
The first
vessel built exclusively for this purpose was the Prinzessin
Victoria Luise, commissioned by Albert Ballin, general manager
of Hamburg-America Line. The ship was completed in 1900.
The practice
of cruising grew gradually out of the transatlantic crossing
tradition, which never took less than four days. In the competition
for passengers, ocean liners added many luxuries — the
Titanic being the most famous example — such as fine
dining and well-appointed staterooms.
In the
late 19th century, Albert Ballin, director of the Hamburg-America
Line, was the first to send his transatlantic ships out on
long southern cruises during the worst of the winter season
of the North Atlantic. Other companies followed suit. Some
of them built specialized ships designed for easy transformation
between summer crossings and winter cruising.
Jet
age
With
the advent of large passenger jet aircraft in the 1960s, intercontinental
travellers largely switched from ships to planes, sending
the ocean liner trade into a slow decline. Ocean liner services
aimed at passengers ceased in 1986, with the notable exception
of transatlatic crossings operated by the Cunard Line, catering
to the niche market who enjoy the few days of luxury and enforced
idleness that a liner voyage affords. In comparison to liner
crossings, cruising voyages gained popularity; slowly at first
but at an increased rate from the 1980s onwards. Initially
the fledgling industry was serviced primarily by small redundant
liners, and even the first purpose built cruise ships were
small. This changed after the success of the SS Norway (originally
the ocean liner SS France, re-launched in 1980) as the Caribbean's
first "super-ship". Since then the size of cruise
ships has risen dramatically to become the largest passenger
ships ever built.
Modern
days
The 1970s
television show The Love Boat, featuring Princess Cruises'
since-sold ship Pacific Princess, did much to raise awareness
of cruises as a vacation option for ordinary people in the
United States. Initially this growth was centered around the
Caribbean, Alaska and Mexico, but now encompasses all areas
of the globe. Today, several hundred cruise ships, some carrying
over 3,000 passengers and measuring over 120,000 gross tons,
ply routes worldwide. For certain destinations such as the
Arctic and Antarctica, cruise ships are very nearly the only
way to visit.
Organization
Cruise
ships are organized much like floating hotels, with a complete
hospitality staff in addition to the usual ship's crew. It
is not uncommon for the most luxurious ships to have more
crew and staff than passengers.
As with
any vessel, adequate provisioning is crucial, especially on
a cruise ship serving several thousand meals at each seating.
Passengers and crew on the Royal Caribbean International ship
Mariner of the Seas consume 20,000 pounds (9,000 kg) of beef,
28,000 eggs, 8,000 gallons (30,000 L) of ice cream, and 18,000
slices of pizza in a week.[citation needed]
Many
older cruise ships have had multiple owners. Since each cruise
line has its own livery and often a naming theme (for instance,
ships of the Holland America Line have names ending in "-dam",
e.g. MS Statendam, and Royal Caribbean's ships' names all
end with "of the Seas", e.g. MS Freedom of the Seas),
it is usual for the transfer of ownership to entail a refitting
and a name change. Some ships have had a dozen or more identities.
Cruise
ships and former liners often find employment in applications
other than those for which they were built. A shortage of
hotel accommodation for the 2004 Summer Olympics led to a
plan to moor a number of cruise ships in Athens to provide
tourist accommodation. On September 1, 2005, FEMA contracted
three Carnival Cruise Lines vessels to house Hurricane Katrina
evacuees.[2]
Inland
Waterway cruise ships
Although similar luxury is available on inland waterway cruise
ships, there are differences. The ships are much smaller,
perhaps carrying 20-240 people. The size of such ships allows
for movement through locks. For instance the Moonlight Lady
a ship of Vermont Discovery Cruises travels through the locks
of the Chamblay Canal, allowing for international inland waterway
travel between the United States and Canada. There is more
opportunity to visit ashore, and it is possible to leave the
boat and catch it again later using alternative transportation.
Inland waterway cruises are more common than ocean cruises,
and many more destinations are available.
Regional
industries
The Moonlight Lady Inland Waterway Cruise BoatThe number of
cruise tourists worldwide in 2005 was estimated at some 14
million. The main region for cruising was North America (70%
of cruises), where the Caribbean islands were the most popular
destinations. Next was Continental Europe (13%). Most European
routes were in the Mediterranean Sea but an increasing number
of cruises are in the Baltic Sea.[4]
Caribbean
Cruising Industry
The first
journeys across the Caribbean Sea were made by Amerindian
canoeists who “settled the island chains, paddling north
from the river systems of the Orinoco and the Amazon”.[5]
This resulted in the fight for control of the Caribbean, particularly
for the Caribbean Sea between the European powers. The sea
became an economic highway for “slavers, traders, buccaneers,
and fishermen”.[5] It also became a passageway for “escaped
slaves, indentured labourers and settlers, and later still
a watery flight path for emigrants and boat people”.[5]
Near
9,000 passengers in three ships visiting St. Thomas, US Virgin
IslandsThe Caribbean cruising industry is a large and growing
market, and currently the most popular. Cruising has grown
from “an estimated 900,850 passengers in 1983 to 2.3
million passengers in 1993”.[5] Cruise lines operating
in the Caribbean include Royal Caribbean International, Princess
Cruises, Carnival Cruise Line, Celebrity Cruises, Disney Cruise
Line, Holland America, P&O, Cunard, and Norwegian Cruise
Line. There are also smaller cruise lines that cater to a
more intimate feeling among their guests. The biggest cruise
line companies are Royal Caribbean, Princess Cruises, and
Carnival Cruise Line.
Many
of the American cruise lines in the Caribbean depart from
ports in the United States, “nearly one-third of the
cruises sailed out of Miami”.[5] Other cruise ships
depart from Fort Lauderdale ("Port Everglades")
New York, Tampa, Galveston, and San Juan. Many UK cruise lines
base their ships out of Barbados for the Caribbean season,
operating direct charter flights out of the UK and avoiding
the sometimes lengthy delays at US immigration.
Cruises
sailing in the Caribbean travel on itineraries depending on
the port of departure and the length of the cruise. The busiest
port of call is the Bahamas with “1.8 million cruise-ship
arrivals in 1994”.[5] This is because its distance from
Florida, is very convenient for short and long cruises. The
next most popular ports of call were “the US Virgin
Islands (1.2 million), St. Maarten (718,553), Puerto Rico
(680,195), the Cayman Islands (599,387), and Jamaica (595,036)”.[5]
Other ports of call include: Belize City, Costa Maya, Cozumel,
Antigua, Aruba, Grand Turk and Key West. St Thomas in the
US Virgin Islands is particularly popular with US passengers
because they get a second Duty Free allowance to use on goods
purchased there.
The majority
of the major cruise lines also stop at their own "Private
Island," more truthfully, a private section of a Caribbean
island. These private resorts are reserved exclusively for
passengers of the respective cruise line using the location,
and frequently offer unique features such as an Aqua Park,
kayaking, snorkeling, parasailing, music, or private reservable
cabanas.[6] [7]
Shipyards
The market
for cruise ships is dominated by three European companies:
Aker
Yards of Norway with two shipyards:
Aker Finnyards (the former Kvaerner Masa-Yards/Wärtsilä,
Valmet and Rauma Shipyards) in Finland.
Aker Yards France (Chantiers de l'Atlantique) in France.
Fincantieri of Italy.
Meyer Werft of Germany.
A large number of cruise ships have been built by other shipyards,
but no other individual yard has reached the large numbers
of built ships achieved by the three above. A handful of old
ocean liners also remain in service as cruise ships. Despite
the dominance of United States-based cruise ship operators
and American clients in the industry, only one ship built
in the United States, the SS The Emerald, is still sailing.[citation
needed]
Infections
on cruise ships
Norovirus
Norovirus
infections continue to be a problem on cruise ships. In 2002,
there were 25 reported outbreaks, with 2,648 passengers becoming
ill from the virus.[8] There have been a number of voyages
where hundreds of passengers have become ill.[9][10][11][12]
Outbreak investigations by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention have shown that transmission among cruise ship
passengers is almost wholly person-to-person; water supplies
have never been implicated.
Legionella
Other
pathogens which are known to be a problem on board cruise
ships include Legionella, the bacteria which causes Legionnaires'
disease. Legionella can colonise the domestic water systems
and whirlpool spas as well as cooling systems used on board.
Legionella, and in particular the most virulent strain, Legionella
pneumophila serogroup 1, can cause infections when inhaled
as an aerosol or aspirated. Infections are more common amongst
the over 50s, with smokers and others with pre-existing respiratory
disease being particularly vulnerable. The demographic most
commonly using cruise ships can be particularly vulnerable.
A number of cases of Legionnaires' disease have been associated
with cruise ships.[13][14][15]
Environmental
impact
Cruise ships generate a number of waste streams that can result
in discharges to the marine environment, including sewage,
graywater, hazardous wastes, oily bilge water, ballast water,
and solid waste. They also emit air pollutants to the air
and water. These wastes, if not properly treated and disposed
of, can be a significant source of pathogens, nutrients, and
toxic substances with the potential to threaten human health
and damage aquatic life. Cruise ships represent a small —
although highly visible — portion of the entire international
shipping industry, and such waste streams are not unique to
cruise ships. However, particular types of wastes, such as
sewage, graywater, and solid waste, may be of greater concern
for cruise ships relative to other seagoing vessels, because
of the large numbers of passengers and crew that cruise ships
carry and the large volumes of wastes that they produce. Further,
because cruise ships tend to concentrate their activities
in specific coastal areas and visit the same ports repeatedly,
their cumulative impact on a local scale could be significant,
as can impacts of individual large-volume releases (either
accidental or intentional).[16]
References
^ The
ocean-going stretch limo - New Zealand Herald, Friday 16 February
2007
^ $236 Million Cruise Ship Deal Criticized Washington Post,
2005-09-28
^ Vermont Discovery Cruises- Marie Lathey Company News Section.
^ Cruise Baltic Status Report, 2007, pp. 11, <http://www.cruisebaltic.com/media(636,1033)/Cruise_Baltic_status_report_Jan_07.pdf>
^ a b c d e f g Pattullo, Polly (1996-01-01). Last Resorts:
The Cost of Tourism in the Caribbean. Monthly Review Press,
156-158. ISBN 978-0853459774.
^ Labadee, Haiti. Royal Caribbean International (2007-11-12).
^ Princess Cays, Bahamas - Princess Cruises, Monday 12 November
2007
^ Sea Sick — Infection Outbreaks Challenge the Cruise
Ship Experience. Water Quality and Health Council.
^ BBC news Nov 2006 - Virus-hit cruise ship ends voyage.
^ BBC news Jan 2007 - Vomiting virus sweeps through QE2
^ BBC news Nov 2003 - Bug-hit P & O liner Aurora heads
for Gibraltar
^ BBC news Feb 2003 - 250 taken ill on P&O cruise
^ Cruise-Ship-Associated Legionnaires Disease, November 2003-May
2004
^ http://www.ewgli.org/data/monthly_reports/2006/mr_dec06.pdf
^ BBC NEWS | UK | Legionnaires' fear on cruise ship
^ Copeland, Claudia. "Cruise Ship Pollution: Background,
Laws and Regulations, and Key Issues" (Order Code RL32450).
Congressional Research Service (Updated February 6, 2008).
This article incorporates text from this source, which is
in the public domain.
Source
of Article:
Wikipedia.
(2008). List of Tallest Buildings in Philadelphia.
Retrieved May 31, 2008 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_buildings_in_Philadelphia
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