lpetrich
Contributor
Has anyone here traveled aboard one?
Early in my childhood, long ago, I traveled aboard the ocean liner SS France across the Atlantic Ocean from NYC to London. I don't remember any of it, but my mother does.
The SS France was an ocean liner, and strictly speaking not quite a cruise ship. But it was eventually sold and renamed SS Norway, and it served as a cruise ship in the Caribbean and sometimes elsewhere.
Ocean liner vs. cruise ship.
An ocean liner is a ship designed for everyday travel across an ocean, and they are often built for speed. Ocean liners often had different classes of passenger accommodation, from the cheap and cramped to expensive and luxurious. Ocean liners went out of service with the rise of transcontinental air travel, and there is now only one ocean liner in service: the Queen Mary 2.
Cruise ships are for leisure travel, and they are often designed for low draft (depth beneath the water), so they can visit more ports. They have much less class distinction, and they usually go to touristy places like the Caribbean and high-latitude places like Alaska, Scandinavia, and Antarctica.
There is some crossover. Present-day and recent ocean liners offer experiences much like what cruise ships offer, and cruise ships sometimes travel across oceans in "repositioning" trips. Trips like between the Caribbean in winter and Scandinavia in summer.
The more luxurious accommodations of past ocean liners also seem rather like what cruise ships offer.
Ocean Liners vs Cruise Ships | Chris Frame's Cunard Page: Cunard Line History, Facts, News
Queen Mary 2 Luxury Cruise Ship - Explore with Cunard
Early in my childhood, long ago, I traveled aboard the ocean liner SS France across the Atlantic Ocean from NYC to London. I don't remember any of it, but my mother does.
The SS France was an ocean liner, and strictly speaking not quite a cruise ship. But it was eventually sold and renamed SS Norway, and it served as a cruise ship in the Caribbean and sometimes elsewhere.
Ocean liner vs. cruise ship.
An ocean liner is a ship designed for everyday travel across an ocean, and they are often built for speed. Ocean liners often had different classes of passenger accommodation, from the cheap and cramped to expensive and luxurious. Ocean liners went out of service with the rise of transcontinental air travel, and there is now only one ocean liner in service: the Queen Mary 2.
Cruise ships are for leisure travel, and they are often designed for low draft (depth beneath the water), so they can visit more ports. They have much less class distinction, and they usually go to touristy places like the Caribbean and high-latitude places like Alaska, Scandinavia, and Antarctica.
There is some crossover. Present-day and recent ocean liners offer experiences much like what cruise ships offer, and cruise ships sometimes travel across oceans in "repositioning" trips. Trips like between the Caribbean in winter and Scandinavia in summer.
The more luxurious accommodations of past ocean liners also seem rather like what cruise ships offer.
Ocean Liners vs Cruise Ships | Chris Frame's Cunard Page: Cunard Line History, Facts, News
Queen Mary 2 Luxury Cruise Ship - Explore with Cunard