In the middle of the 1980's, several reasons caused a boom in passengers for the modern cruiselines. First, the old ships were replaced by purpose-build cruiseships that were more suitable for their role. Different from the rebuilt earlier ships, they could offer the cruisepassenger more relaxation and more activities. Lido decks were extended and at this time, it seemed the cruisecompanies recognized that modern cruisepassengers required other needs than traditional line-voyage passengers. 

Also, plans were put out for bigger ships, starting with the modernization of the old France of 1960. This formerly inside orientated ocean liner became the outside orientated cruiseship Norway for the Norwegian Caribbean Line and she started her sailings in 1980 in the Caribbean. At that time, she was more than double the size of every other cruiseship then in service. Other lines simply had to add new and bigger ships also to compete with this. This new boom was thus started by Norwegian Caribbean Lines, but swiftly followed by the new Carnival Cruise Line when they ordered a series of eight 70.000-ton cruiseships in the middle of the 1980's. Princess Cruises, the cruisedivision of P&O Lines, ordered also a big ship in 1982, their first Royal Princess. She was built in a totally different manner than ships before her, with her cabins on the highest decks and the public rooms below. 

Changes now were following rapidly throughout the industry, because every company had to act to stay in the race. New ships adopted the Royal Princess-layout and this became the new standard. This caused the older ships to become really outdated and thus more ships had to be replaced and a snowballeffect came into being.

Thus, the 1980's were a very important period and the foundations of our modern cruisefleet were laid down. In these pages, I will show some of the first new giants that were built and launched in the 1980's, the forerunners of the real magaships we see today.