This page introduces you to ships that were built as oceanliners, or were designed as oceanliners but used as a cruiseship throughout their carreer. These ships are the last examples of a way of transport that revolutionized the world in the mid nineteenth century. Steamships replaced the sailingships in a rather short term, although sailingships were still operated well into the beginning of the twentieth century on the North Atlantic routes. Also, the first steamships were carrieing sails with them and this was even still the case with steamships built in the 1880's, some 40 years after the first transatlantic steamships were introduced.

But steam was the new way and it made our world much smaller, a change that is still happening now in every kind of way, like the introduction of the internet in the mid 1990's. Trading became much more efficient and also, people started to think globally instead of just regionally.

Without steamships, our world would be much different than it is today. Their introduction and importance is sometimes overlooked in todays world, where passengerships are just used for the sake of holidaymakers. But especially in the twentieth century, untill the late 1960's they were the link between every part of the world. Without the great liners, America would never have been the country it is now. Also, the first and second worldwar would have been very different, maybe even in outcome, when these big ships were not there to transport hundreds of thousands American, Canadian and Australian soldiers to free Europe from the German occupation. It would have taken many more years to strenghten the European fronts when just small sailingships could be used.

Possibly, this part of Castles of the Seas will become smaller in the near future because the ships of this time are being taken out of service in a rapid succession. The ships here are all older ships, with the Queen Mary 2 as an exception. I added this new oceanliner in this section, because she differs from the modern giant cruiseliners in her design. She resembles the old liners more than the new cruiseships and she is also still used in the purpose wherefor the old liners were build.

On the picture, two generations of oceanliner are pictured together in Rotterdam at the 30th of may 2010 in the port of Rotterdam. To the right is the 1959-built Rotterdam, now moored as a hotel and educational center and to the left in the distance at the cruiseterminal is the 2003-built Queen Mary 2. It was a unique opportunity to see these two great ships together, representing both a totally different moment in liner-history.