By Hilke Segbers
New York - Just the idea of a trip across the Atlantic Ocean by ship has aroused wanderlust in people for centuries.
At the beginning of the 19th century, hundreds of thousands of immigrants departed from European ports on ships bound for the new world. Today passengers still are taking the long journey by ship but not out of duress or a desire for adventure. They are doing it as recreation.
In recent years transatlantic cruises have become more popular for two reasons: The comfort level and entertainment on board ships is better than ever before and the new Queen Mary 2, owned by the British shipping company Cunard. The QM2 is more than 370 metres in length can carry up to 2 620 passengers who are looked after by a crew of 1 253. Its size and newness have helped spark a wave of interest in transatlantic travel not seen in years.
The transatlantic cruise ships take the same routes ships took during the decades that brought millions of European immigrants to the United States. There are three classic routes. The northern route is the Titanic route from Southampton, England, to New York along the southern coast of Greenland. The Titanic's run-in with an iceberg in that region sealed the fate of the pride of the White Star Line in 1912. This route is the shortest, taking an average of seven days.
The middle route goes from Madeira or Tenerife and sometimes from the Grand Canary Islands straight across the Atlantic to the Caribbean or South America. This is the route Columbus chose in 1492.
Sailing ships favour this route to the West because of trade winds.
The southern route is from cape to cape: South Africa's Cape of Good Hope to Cape Horn in Chile.
The Queen Mary 2 travels the classic northern route from Southampton to New York. The number of bookings from people in Germany, Switzerland and Austria doubled last year compared with the year before, said Cunard spokesperson Ingo Thiel in Hamburg.
The US cruise line Royal Caribbean International offers one of the best selections of transatlantic cruises. The company offers 14-day cruises from Barcelona to Miami; from Southampton to Tampa, Florida; from Venice to Galveston, Texas; from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to Harwick, England; and from Dover, England, to New York.
Passengers amuse themselves on these relatively long cruises in any number of ways, including ice skating, boxing and climbing walls, said Olaf Amm, spokesperson for Royal Caribbean International in Germany.
The Astor, a cruise ship owned by Transocean Tours in Bremen, Germany, will retrace the tracks of immigrants on a 10-day cruise beginning on July 24 from Bremerhaven, Germany, the port where countless numbers of immigrants once boarded ships bound for New York.
During the 10-day journey, Wolfgang Grams, leader of the immigrant institute at the University of Oldenburg, will give lectures. This summer on August 5 the Astor will dock at Ellis Island in New York, once the main point of entry for most European immigrants to the US. It is now a national monument and home to an immigration museum.
The Aidaaura, a cruise ship operated by Aida Cruises in Rostock, Germany, sails at the end of November from Mallorca to the Domincan Republic.
Late autumn is the classic time for transatlantic crossings, particularly for ships that transition from the Mediterranean to the Caribbean.
The Hanseatic, operated by Hapag-Lloyd sails in the autumn from Dakar, Senegal, to Bridgetown, Barbados. Other autumn journeys include a Tenerife-Bridgetown cruise on the Deutschland, operated by the Deilmann cruise ship company in Neustadt/Holstein and a Genoa-Rio de Janeiro cruise on the Armonia, operated by the Italian cruise ship company MSC.
The sailing ship Sea Cloud operated by the Hamburg-based cruise ship company, Sea Cloud Cruises, will travel from Las Palmas to Bridgetown. This year's trip is nearly booked out, said Antje Borstel of Hamburg. All the ships making the late year crossing return in the spring.
While other cruises offer excursions on land, the transatlantic cruises are mostly days at sea. And this is where cruise enthusiasts part ways. For many the thought of no land in sight for days is a horror. Others are enticed by the continuity and the fact that there are no port calls, no harbour night clubs and no museums. There's time to have tea and the guests don't return from their trips ashore too tired to enjoy the midnight buffet.
"There are clear crossing lovers - passengers who make the journey because it's slow and it offers a true feeling of being at sea," said Negar Etminan, spokesman for Hapag-Lloyd cruise lines in Hamburg.
"The passengers who book crossings consciously opt for that and especially enjoy their days at sea," said Aida Cruise spokesperson Hansjoerg Kunze. Borstel of Sea Cloud added that many people on board just want some peace and quiet.
The days, however, can be very long. The cruise ship is just a dot surrounded by nothing but ocean, and things that pass for exciting are sometimes nothing more than a school of flying fish. Not every guest is enthralled by the level of solitude.
"I have seen groaning spouses on the first few days of a cruise who had been talked into taking the trip by their partner," said Thiel.
"But they calm down after a while. The cruise ship operators do their best to make sure the trip isn't boring by providing entertainment. There are language courses, art and culture workshops, and courses in yoga, Pilate's, dance and fitness," said Negar Etminan of Hapag-Lloyd.
Other cruise lines offer computer courses, and nearly all ships have casinos, discos and golf simulators. Some of the classic cruise lines offer more traditional entertainment such as tea dances, shuffleboard and bingo. There is plenty of food. At least five meals a day is the standard. Many cruise ship lines offer food around the clock.
"You can't do more than that," Thiel said. - Sapa-dpa