Cruise ship
From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A cruise ship (or cruise liner) is a large ship with sleeping cabins that takes people on holiday and vacation trips. Hundreds of thousands of people take cruises each year. Cruise ship vacations usually cost about $600 US per week per person, which includes meals in the ship's restaurant and accomodation in a small cabin.
Today's cruise ships are like floating hotels, with a complete "hospitality staff" (to serve food and help passengers in other ways), in addition to the usual ship's crew. The largest cruise ships have casinos, shops, a range of restaurants, several pools, and a running track. The most expensive cruises often have more crew and staff than passengers, which means that the cruise operators can offer many personal services.
Today, hundreds of cruise ships sail all over the world. Some carry over 3,000 passengers - these are among the largest ships ever built. For some places, such as Antarctica, cruise ships are one of the only way for tourists to visit.
[edit] History
Cruise ships began when people needed to cross the Atlantic Ocean, before airplanes. These ships were called ocean liners. To get more passengers, companies added beautiful rooms, expensive food, and entertainment such as musicians.
In the late 1800s century, the Hamburg-America company began doing regular winter cruises across the Atlantic. Other companies then did the same thing, and some companies built special ships that could be used in any season.
When large airplanes began moving people around the world in the 1960s, nearly all travelers switched from ships to planes; but some enjoyed the few days of relaxation, so while the ocean liner business was ruined, cruising voyages never stopped completely.
Later other cruises became popular, such as to the islands of the Caribbean, and through the Mediterranean. New ships were built as more and more people wanted to take these cruises. The 1970s American television (T.V.) show The Love Boat, which was set on a cruise ship, helped to popularize cruise ship vacations.
