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Crossing & Cruising: From the Golden Era of Ocean Liners to the Luxury Cruise Ships of Today
The Only Way to Cross, John Maxtone-Graham's classic history of the great transatlantic liners, was published twenty years ago, followed in 1985 by Liners to the Sun, his colorful sequel about life aboard cruise ships. Now, with Crossing & Cruising, he completes his definitive survey of passenger-ship travel, showing how the elegant "crossings" of the past gave way to the extravagant cruises of today.
From the steerage ordeal of emigrants bound for New York to the "huddled masses" who sail on seven-day cruises, Maxtone-Graham ranges back and forth over the years, re-creating the grandeur of a lost era and detailing the corporate maneuvers of the 1980s. Here are the ships and their the stellar career of Aquitania, the great four-stacker that survived three million sea miles and two world wars; the art deco luxe of Normandie, French dream liner of the 193Os; and the rebirth of fabled France as Norway, closing the circle on an immortal ship that once crossed but now cruises. Here, too, are the marvels and problems of contemporary the sleek lines of customized ships, the crews that man them, and the corporate high jinks that drive the industry to seek ever larger markets.
More than just vivid social history, Crossing & Cruising cultures what it was really like on board then and now - the sophisticated ambience of Cunard and White Star, the crowded squalor belowdecks, and the Formica and glass of today's liners. Rich in detail, broad in scope, Crossing & Cruising is a voyage in itself, evoking salt air, cabin lore, deckchair wisdom, shipyard savvy, and marketing guile. Sail as a fellow passenger with an entertaining guide who knows his ships well and loves them all.
From the steerage ordeal of emigrants bound for New York to the "huddled masses" who sail on seven-day cruises, Maxtone-Graham ranges back and forth over the years, re-creating the grandeur of a lost era and detailing the corporate maneuvers of the 1980s. Here are the ships and their the stellar career of Aquitania, the great four-stacker that survived three million sea miles and two world wars; the art deco luxe of Normandie, French dream liner of the 193Os; and the rebirth of fabled France as Norway, closing the circle on an immortal ship that once crossed but now cruises. Here, too, are the marvels and problems of contemporary the sleek lines of customized ships, the crews that man them, and the corporate high jinks that drive the industry to seek ever larger markets.
More than just vivid social history, Crossing & Cruising cultures what it was really like on board then and now - the sophisticated ambience of Cunard and White Star, the crowded squalor belowdecks, and the Formica and glass of today's liners. Rich in detail, broad in scope, Crossing & Cruising is a voyage in itself, evoking salt air, cabin lore, deckchair wisdom, shipyard savvy, and marketing guile. Sail as a fellow passenger with an entertaining guide who knows his ships well and loves them all.
- GenresHistory
311 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1992
23 people want to read
About the author
John Maxtone-Graham
33 books15 followersJohn Maxtone-Graham has written numerous works, including The Only Way to Cross—“the bible of the ship buffs"—Normandie, and France/Norway. He spends six months lecturing aboard ships. Ashore, he lives in New York City.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
February 1, 2015
Imagine having a job traveling around the world on cruise ships and ocean liners and then writing about the experience. Surely that’s dying and going to heaven — assuming each ship has a well-stocked library, of course. That’s basically what Maxtone-Graham does. I had the good fortune last fall to stay at a small hotel next to Miami Dade Community College for the Miami Book Fair. The college is located a stone’s throw from the Port of Miami, where the cruise ships dock. What glorious ships. A cruise around the harbor brought us close to seven of them that happened to be in port that weekend. Astonishingly, the newer ships, one of which was the largest in the world, dwarfed the S.S. Norway, formerly the France, a liner built several decades ago and at the time the largest and most prestigious.. Carnival Lines really created the cruise industry in 1972 when it purchased an older Canadian Pacific liner and converted it to Caribbean travel. Soon, for reasons Maxtone-Graham delineates, the company was immensely profitable and was buying and building all sorts of new ships. One amusing anecdote from Japan reveals that country’s rigid and paranoiac trade laws. The S.S. Vaal was in dry-dock being converted to the Festivale. From its previous trip it had seven tons of first-rate Argentinean beef aboard that Carnival offered to donate to the local poor. Japan’s strict import restrictions forbad the entry of any foreign beef into the country, so that was out. They were unable to dump it into the harbor because that might be polluting, so the company was forced to seal it up in large steel canisters and then dump it into the ocean for the sharks once the retrofit was completed.
All the early conversions were of W.N.A. ships (built for the Winter in the North Atlantic) and were extremely well built, with reliable engines. They will last decades more. The newer vessels all have a much boxier look that has a tendency to catch the wind. One ship plucked out several bollards from the Miami pier there was so much wind pressure. Carnival’s director has a background in ship building and engineering, so he can speak the language of the ship builders — a handy ability. The mini cruise ship is making a resurgence although the newer ones resemble a scaled down version of their larger sisters rather than the yachtlike appearance of the original Polaris Stella. They cater to a more affluent and academic crowd that requires less external stimulation and entertainment. Originally these smaller ships thrived in the Mediterranean cruise business, until the 1985 hijacking of the Achille Lauro cast such a pall over the business that they couldn’t give cabins away. The larger Caribbean ships spend almost as much time in port as at sea, providing a continual opportunity for passengers to shop.
The Normandie, despite her short life – she burned at a New York pier in 1942 – remains the ship with the most mystique, perhaps because she never lived to the end of her days. Her design was clearly beautiful: three (one fake) rakish funnels seemingly planted on the ship unlike previous ship designs that had rigid funnels held in place with ungraceful guy wires and swept back bridges (although they were later replaced when they proved unpractical). She had no sister ship; indeed, the concept was foreign to French shipbuilders and no equivalent phrase existed in the French language. Each Frenchbuilt liner was unique. She had long, graceful staircases that connected multi-level dining rooms with enormous multi-decked ceilings that created a ballroom effect for the black- or white-tuxedoed passengers. (I would have eaten in my cabin – the thought of having to dress for dinner is positively loathsome.)
We have detailed descriptions of the Normandie from a series of preserved letters sent by Everett Moore to his family. He apparently did not socialize with the other passengers, much to the author’s consternation, but to my complete understanding. After all, why would anyone ever want to stand around over coffee or whatever, making small talk, when one can sit in the library overlooking the ocean with a stack of books.
One of Maxwell’s most interesting chapters relates his experiences accompanying the delivery of some new ships to their new owners. In one case, he and his wife were the sole passengers on a huge new cruise ship. What a deal!
All the early conversions were of W.N.A. ships (built for the Winter in the North Atlantic) and were extremely well built, with reliable engines. They will last decades more. The newer vessels all have a much boxier look that has a tendency to catch the wind. One ship plucked out several bollards from the Miami pier there was so much wind pressure. Carnival’s director has a background in ship building and engineering, so he can speak the language of the ship builders — a handy ability. The mini cruise ship is making a resurgence although the newer ones resemble a scaled down version of their larger sisters rather than the yachtlike appearance of the original Polaris Stella. They cater to a more affluent and academic crowd that requires less external stimulation and entertainment. Originally these smaller ships thrived in the Mediterranean cruise business, until the 1985 hijacking of the Achille Lauro cast such a pall over the business that they couldn’t give cabins away. The larger Caribbean ships spend almost as much time in port as at sea, providing a continual opportunity for passengers to shop.
The Normandie, despite her short life – she burned at a New York pier in 1942 – remains the ship with the most mystique, perhaps because she never lived to the end of her days. Her design was clearly beautiful: three (one fake) rakish funnels seemingly planted on the ship unlike previous ship designs that had rigid funnels held in place with ungraceful guy wires and swept back bridges (although they were later replaced when they proved unpractical). She had no sister ship; indeed, the concept was foreign to French shipbuilders and no equivalent phrase existed in the French language. Each Frenchbuilt liner was unique. She had long, graceful staircases that connected multi-level dining rooms with enormous multi-decked ceilings that created a ballroom effect for the black- or white-tuxedoed passengers. (I would have eaten in my cabin – the thought of having to dress for dinner is positively loathsome.)
We have detailed descriptions of the Normandie from a series of preserved letters sent by Everett Moore to his family. He apparently did not socialize with the other passengers, much to the author’s consternation, but to my complete understanding. After all, why would anyone ever want to stand around over coffee or whatever, making small talk, when one can sit in the library overlooking the ocean with a stack of books.
One of Maxwell’s most interesting chapters relates his experiences accompanying the delivery of some new ships to their new owners. In one case, he and his wife were the sole passengers on a huge new cruise ship. What a deal!
June 17, 2023
A mix of the first two books in the series this one takes one chapter from the old luxury liners and the next for modern (for 30 years ago) cruise liners finishing off with the France/Norway a ship that combines both. From learning about decontamination of immigrants before they were allowed to board ships in the early 1900s, to maiden voyages of brand new cruise ships. We learn of the start of Carnival cruise lines from old Canadian Pacific ships which is where they got their funnel logo from to Dave money. We follow the glamorous Normandie through her short career and imagine a what if scenario in which she lived out a full career. People tend to romanticize ships like Titanic when in reality it would've been just another ship like her sister Olympic. Probably beloved by those who sailed on her but mostly forgotten by history. The Normandie however was special and might've ended up similar to the Queen Mary. It's nice to imagine. Ending with the ship that ties it all together felt like a good way to end the book and bring this delightful trilogy of travel in a bygone age to an end.
June 24, 2020
The author really has a passion for ships and onboard life-and it shows. He transplants you to being on the ship. And although this book is nearly 30 years old at this point, as opposed to the book seeming obsolete-that makes the authors observations even more amusing. The author spoke about a cruise on the Carnival Fantasy (a new ship when written), and the author is amused how folks new to cruising find a waiter dropping a tray entertaining-and how one person even filmed it. In the age of cell phone cameras-how many would film it today? 30, 40, 100 folks each time in happened? And the author seems dismayed that ships need to keep schedules full, as new cruisers can't handle long, relaxing days at sea with nothing to do. What would he think of go-carts, movie screens, ice skating rinks, etc.
The only criticism is the author's language is just a little too rich many times-I kept having to refer to a dictionary, and often times even the dictionary didn't have the words he was using.
The only criticism is the author's language is just a little too rich many times-I kept having to refer to a dictionary, and often times even the dictionary didn't have the words he was using.
August 10, 2024
“The downside is that cruise ships are a preview of all expensive retirement homes. We’re overpampered but patronized. We’re treated as if we had lost our intellect. We’re supposed to scream with joy over childish games. And there are all sorts of traps out there to separate us from our money” (33).
“Quite simply, Farcus wants passengers ‘to have a good time, whether’—and this is important—‘participants or observers.’ He tries to create interiors that serve as ‘entertainments, the type of entertainment where you are not sitting in the cinema watching the entertainment on the screen, you are totally involved. You’re at the same time part of the show and part of the audience’” (42).
“Loudspeakers brayed relentlessly all week long, whether pitches for personalized cruise videotapes or songs howled by the Gazebo’s guitarist, whether the shrieks for shapeliest leg competition out on deck or the hysterics of a drag competition among beefy male passengers in the Universe Lounge. Obtrusive noise seems to generate additional noise. Perhaps Carnival’s Legion Hall hugger-mugger is no more than a Pavlovian response to the company’s relentless loudspeaker levels” (52).
“Megaships are in vogue because the demand for cabin space has mandated a principle called economy of scale. In words of one syllable, it costs cruise lines less to book a horde in one huge hull than to split the same horde in half on two small hulls. At stake is the expensive duplication of salaried posts as well as the cost of fuel. Every vessel requires a captain, a staff captain, a first officer, navigating officers, a chief engineer, assistant engineers, a cruise director, a chief steward, a projectionist, a master-at-arms, and so on—an essential crew list regardless how many passengers are carried” (109).
“It saddens me to think that with today’s enormous seagoing music halls, so little fresh or original work is performed.
My profound apologies to the boys and girls of the chorus and their hardworking choreographers: You and your talented colleagues, at sea all over the world, sing and dance your hearts out, putting in killing hours to such indifferent ends. The fault likes not with you—you are merely doing your job and doing it well—but back at company headquarters, at the top of the entertainment chain. There every company’s resident impresarios are hunkered down for a relentless chorus-line war with their rivals, a war that has escalated, Vietnam-like, out of control
Ammunition for this unwinnable war is restricted to more and more ambitious (and more and more identical) production shows. On board almost every ship of every line, cruise after cruise, numbingly derivative numbers are proudly unveiled, each a forgettable facsimile of dozens more that have gone before” (203).
“Of course, we are all to blame. Late-twentieth century America suffers two irresistible and unrelated indulgences—ceaseless litigation and chronic overamplification. The microphone and its attendant amplifier and speaker rule every phase of present-day entertainment […] The entire world is drowning in overamplification. When Washington’s Union Station was recently restored into a kind of station-mall, there was an opening celebration complete with amplified musicians. As an avalanche of sound thundered cruelly between those unyielding marble walls, conversation anywhere was impossible” (268).
“Quite simply, Farcus wants passengers ‘to have a good time, whether’—and this is important—‘participants or observers.’ He tries to create interiors that serve as ‘entertainments, the type of entertainment where you are not sitting in the cinema watching the entertainment on the screen, you are totally involved. You’re at the same time part of the show and part of the audience’” (42).
“Loudspeakers brayed relentlessly all week long, whether pitches for personalized cruise videotapes or songs howled by the Gazebo’s guitarist, whether the shrieks for shapeliest leg competition out on deck or the hysterics of a drag competition among beefy male passengers in the Universe Lounge. Obtrusive noise seems to generate additional noise. Perhaps Carnival’s Legion Hall hugger-mugger is no more than a Pavlovian response to the company’s relentless loudspeaker levels” (52).
“Megaships are in vogue because the demand for cabin space has mandated a principle called economy of scale. In words of one syllable, it costs cruise lines less to book a horde in one huge hull than to split the same horde in half on two small hulls. At stake is the expensive duplication of salaried posts as well as the cost of fuel. Every vessel requires a captain, a staff captain, a first officer, navigating officers, a chief engineer, assistant engineers, a cruise director, a chief steward, a projectionist, a master-at-arms, and so on—an essential crew list regardless how many passengers are carried” (109).
“It saddens me to think that with today’s enormous seagoing music halls, so little fresh or original work is performed.
My profound apologies to the boys and girls of the chorus and their hardworking choreographers: You and your talented colleagues, at sea all over the world, sing and dance your hearts out, putting in killing hours to such indifferent ends. The fault likes not with you—you are merely doing your job and doing it well—but back at company headquarters, at the top of the entertainment chain. There every company’s resident impresarios are hunkered down for a relentless chorus-line war with their rivals, a war that has escalated, Vietnam-like, out of control
Ammunition for this unwinnable war is restricted to more and more ambitious (and more and more identical) production shows. On board almost every ship of every line, cruise after cruise, numbingly derivative numbers are proudly unveiled, each a forgettable facsimile of dozens more that have gone before” (203).
“Of course, we are all to blame. Late-twentieth century America suffers two irresistible and unrelated indulgences—ceaseless litigation and chronic overamplification. The microphone and its attendant amplifier and speaker rule every phase of present-day entertainment […] The entire world is drowning in overamplification. When Washington’s Union Station was recently restored into a kind of station-mall, there was an opening celebration complete with amplified musicians. As an avalanche of sound thundered cruelly between those unyielding marble walls, conversation anywhere was impossible” (268).
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews