What is a cruise? How a ship holiday works, from cabins to ports of call

Cruise meaning: a ship holiday that returns to where it started

Merriam-Webster defines the noun cruise as an act or instance of cruising, especially a tour by ship, and dates its first known use as a noun to 1696. In travel the word now almost always means a leisure voyage on a purpose-built passenger ship.

Wikipedia says cruise ships are large passenger ships used mainly for vacationing, and that, unlike ocean liners, they usually make round-trip voyages with stops at ports of call, where passengers can take shore excursions. It adds that modern cruise ships generally have less hull strength, speed and agility than liners, but more leisure amenities.

Some voyages are called cruises to nowhere. A note in the same article describes them as ships that depart from their home port and sail in a loop to and from the same port, without any other stops.

A short history of cruising, from 1833 to the megaship

Wikipedia traces the idea to early voyages for pleasure. A Sicilian vessel sailed from Naples in 1833 on a roughly three-month Mediterranean trip, P&O introduced passenger cruising in 1844 and is considered the world's oldest cruise line, and a cruise in 1891 is often cited as the first ever. A ship completed in 1900 was the first built exclusively for luxury cruising.

After the 1960s, jet aircraft took over ocean crossings and liner traffic declined, so ships were built or adapted for cruising. The television series The Love Boat, shown from 1977 to 1986, helped make cruising a mainstream holiday. From the late 1980s ships grew into megaships.

The result is a spectrum from small vessels with a few hundred passengers to floating resorts. Wikipedia describes recent vessels as balcony-laden floating condominiums, which is a fair summary of how the product has changed.

Cruise ship, ocean liner or ferry: what each is for

Wikivoyage groups long-distance vessel travel under several headings. Cruise ships are trips where the voyage and onboard amenities are a central part of the experience; ocean liners are large passenger ships used mainly for longer open-sea transport; and ferries are ships of various sizes that carry passengers, and in some cases vehicles, between ports on a schedule. Freighter travel and small craft are listed separately.

The distinction explains the booking logic. A ferry ticket buys a crossing; an ocean-liner ticket buys a long transit, with leisure on top; a cruise fare buys the whole package, including the cabin, the facilities and a route chosen for its ports. If your aim is only to get somewhere, a cruise is the wrong tool.

Ocean, river and round-trip: the main kinds of cruise

Wikipedia says most ships sail the Caribbean or the Mediterranean, with others operating in Alaska, the South Pacific and the Baltic Sea. These are ocean cruises on large vessels.

A river cruise is, in Wikipedia's definition, a voyage along inland waterways, often stopping at multiple ports. Because towns and cities often grew up along rivers, ships frequently dock in the centre of cities and towns. The article lists major cruising rivers, including the Danube, Rhine, Seine, Rhone, Volga, Moselle, Main and Douro in Europe, the Nile in Africa, the Mississippi in the Americas, and the Mekong and Yangtze in Asia.

Both kinds are sold as itineraries rather than stays. The practical difference is the route: ocean cruises move between ports on seas and oceans, while a river cruise follows a waterway and stops at the towns along it.

Inside the fare: cabin categories, included meals and common extras

Wikipedia mentions oceanview cabins, private balconies and veranda suites, and shows junior and luxury suites among the options. Its article on ship cabins notes that many lines now prefer to call passenger cabins staterooms or suites.

On what is included, Wikipedia says most mainstream lines include meals in main dining rooms and buffets, shows, and pool and gym access, while alcohol, soft drinks, Wi-Fi, specialty restaurants and photos cost extra and a daily gratuity is typically charged. Wikipedia says some luxury lines market all-inclusive fares; in one example the fare covers most alcohol, most shore excursions and gratuities, and fares may also include flights and a pre-cruise hotel night.

The upshot is that the headline fare rarely tells you the full cost of a week aboard. Ask what is included in the category you are booking before comparing lines. The meal basis aboard is closest to the full-board arrangement explained in what does full board mean, and countries with all-inclusive resorts covers the land-based equivalent.

How big is cruising? Passenger numbers and a hotel comparison

Wikipedia's cruise line article gives an estimated 14 million cruise tourists worldwide in 2005 and 34.5 million in 2024, and its cruise ship article says passenger counts have grown about seven-fold since 1990. As of November 2022 there were 302 cruise ships worldwide with a combined capacity of 664,602 passengers, and the average ship age in 2024 was 17.5 years.

For scale, Wikipedia's cruise line article says that in 2019 the total number of cabins on the world's cruise ships was less than 2 per cent of the world's hotel rooms.

Large ships have drawn criticism. Wikipedia says they have been linked with overtourism in Venice, Barcelona and Dubrovnik. If you are cruising in the Mediterranean, check how your port of call handles ship arrivals before planning a shore day.

Public health inspections: what the CDC programme covers

The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention runs a Vessel Sanitation Program. According to the CDC, it applies to ships that carry 13 or more passengers and have a foreign itinerary with US ports. It inspects ships' operations and adherence to public health standards in eight major areas, and it reviews ship design and construction plans.

The CDC page links to cruise ship inspection scores and reports, and says reports include violations and recommendations to address them. The page does not explain how the scores are calculated, so read the report, not just the number.

Nights before and after: hotels, day rooms and apartments around a cruise

Wikipedia's article on day rooms notes that cruise passengers often need a room on the day they disembark, because ships dock early in the morning. That leaves hours between leaving the ship and an evening flight. What is a microstay hotel explains how daytime rooms work.

Many embarkation cities have apartment-style stays for a night or two on either side of a voyage. Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Barcelona and Venice are all places where ships and visitors arrive in numbers. For a family travelling together, family apartments in Fort Lauderdale and apartments with a kitchen in Miami give more space than a single room. Check arrival logistics in aparthotel check-in and late arrival if your flight lands after hours.