A lot of shipping enthousiasts complain about modern cruiseliners because of their immense sizes, their ugly lines and them not being a ship at all. They do not seem to recall the time of the ocean liners and they are build just to make money. They are inside orientated, just like the old liners, but very different from what you would expect from a cruiseship where the outdoor activities are considered very important for the passengers.

I do understand all these complaints and sometimes I can even agree. But I cannot agree with people who are failing to see the alternative that is there. In our time, there are so many cruises you can choose from and also the ships are more varied than ever before. If you compare Navigator of the Seas to Sea Cloud II you can maybe understand my point. The Seabourn Cruise Line, that is sailing with highrated yaughtlike cruiseships differs so many from the Hurtig Ruten, the Norwegian ferry company that sails in the Norwegian fjords. If you are willing to see these differences and not only look to those impersonal giants that are built nowadays, you will agree that cruising had never been so diverse. There are some beautifull ships build in our time, like the Sea Cloud II mentionned before or the classic Deutschland, that resembles the German liners of the 1920's.

Also, ship exteriours and interiours have been changing ever since the beginning of the first steamlines across the Atlantic. When you can compare the paddlewheel driven Britannia, built by Cunard Line in 1840, to Umbria of 1884, Mauretania of 1907 and Queen Mary of 1936 you'll see that changes were enormous. Now we look back at the transatlantic age it is easy to say that ships were much more beautiful then, but we forget sometimes that in their own time, these ships were also not always popular by introduction. A few years ago I spoke with an old man from Rotterdam and he told me he just hated the Rotterdam of 1958 and he was by no means going to see her when she would come back. He just compared her with Nieuw Amsterdam of 1938. Rotterdam has no funnells!

In the section of the new smallternatives I will show some smaller and very nice ships built in modern times that can give an alternative if you are looking for something else.