The Cruise
Premise
The outbreak of Covid-19 has forced countries to embark on a sea change in attitudes towards disease, work, and safety. I had the opportunity to explore the significance and changing implications of cruise ship typologies for the Critical Historical Studies component of my degree at the Royal College of Art. The cruise transports people, and cargo from place to place, while providing opportunities for intensified versions of entertainment found on land. Compared to planes and trains, cruise ships are the slowest form of travel – travelers actively choose to isolate themselves to enjoy the slower pace of life on the water. One essay explores what it means to retire at sea, one paper explores the cultural implications of escape, one-piece looks at the harmful aspects of the culture, and one essay explores my relationship with the cruise. Oceans span countries - is separation natural? Why is the cruise so appealing to a certain group of people? What is our relationship with pleasure and how is this mediated through the cruise industry? Much of the discussion about Architecture surrounds large cultural institutions designed and critiqued by design experts. This portfolio of work attempts to challenge the reader to reconsider the familiar and explore how these large entertainment vessels are used and perceived by the public.
This dissertation was awarded a Merit.
Escapism, Cruises, Pop Culture, Tourism, Stimulation
What is my relationship with Cruise ships?
In March 2020, during the outbreak of Covid-19, I was working in New York when my renovation projects were put on indefinite hold. Like thousands of others, I was furloughed and let go. My leave coincided with the HKSAR government enacting the National Security Law. I stuffed my suitcases and hurried back to my birth home in Hong Kong.
There was a period when I fell into a dark depression. I think I felt so low because I was unsure about how the new draconian measure would affect me. I also tied my self-worth entirely to my professional and academic achievements - the experience of being let go shattered my confidence. I was struggling to grapple with the sense of indefinite uncertainty. I was floundering and making a difficult decision about emigrating. Moreover, I was also unsure about what that would mean for my professional and social future.
Despite these feelings, I am grateful to have spent a sliver of time back at home to reflect, think, and spend quality time with family. One task that I found particularly meaningful was scanning and digitizing generations of family photographs. Seeing these images served as a springboard into memories of other chapters of my life. I also found much comfort in ritualistic, repetitive tasks - it was easy to act mindfully, and its meditative nature was soothing. I realized how much time my family spent aboard cruise ships. I saw photos of when I played with my cousins on the deck, swam in the pools, visited tropical places, and had lavish dinners. My fondest memories include celebrating my grandfather's 70th birthday on a cruise that sailed around the Caribbean Islands. We also traveled around Asia, Alaska, and Myanmar by cruise and river boat. “Why did gong gong like the cruise so much?”, I asked my mother as I was pulling photos out of the binder. My mother reminded me that spending time on the cruise was “safe because you guys were very young…you lot couldn’t run away. It was also great way of seeing lots of places in an all-inclusive package! Your gong gong was very practical, he was a businessman, remember that!” Although everything she said was sensible, I could not help but think that this selected holiday type has more profound implications.
Bodies of water separate our geographical homes. We reunited on cruises that sailed between different continents. Hong Kong was handed over to the People's Republic of China on July 1st, 1997. There was a general atmosphere of uncertainty about the city's political future and its meaning to our daily existence. Because of the political environment, my grandfather and aunt on my mother's side left for Melbourne, Australia, and later, to Vancouver, Canada. My mother and father stayed in Hong Kong. Now, it was my turn to decide on whether to leave.
Cruises are large vessels that transport passengers. Some vessels travel to various ports of call, and some do not. These ships often have all-inclusive food and entertainment amenities with restaurants, spa and wellness facilities, theatres, and casinos. They also often have areas for kids, specialty venues, and family packages that emphasize the economic value of the vacation. They become a means of transporting passengers between locations. Still, due to the slow nature of travel and the plethora of entertainment options, they are seen as destinations in themselves. As of 2021, a contemporary cruise liner is most often operated by one of the following cruise conglomerates, Carnival Cruise Line, Princess Cruises, Star Cruises, Celebrity Cruises, and Norwegian Cruise Line, and Royal Caribbean International. During pre-pandemic times, the cruise industry's growth is attributed to the passenger’s “expansion of disposable income and increased interest in quality of life.”
After more than ten years of reflection, this sense of bliss might result from the cognitive bias of rosy retrospection. This phenomenon occurs when people tend to remember more pleasant experiences compared to unpleasant ones. Events are perceived more positively than they were in reality. This is essential, viewing the past with a rose-colored lens. It is beginning to occur to me that the cruise, as an architectural typology, is inherently absurd, unnatural, and potentially deadly. There was international media attention on the Diamond Princess. 712 out of the 3,711 crew and passengers were infected and by April, nine had died. “...[The cruise] represents the largest concentration of Coronavirus cases outside China, meriting its own category.” Images of the ship docked at various locations, live streams of passengers in their cabins, and videos of parties before the crisis circulated live during the tragedy. The immediacy of the footage contrasts with how the ship and its services were advertised. The distraught passengers and claustrophobic nature of the unkempt, germ-filled rooms looked dystopic.
There is currently a harsh contrast between my memories, public perception, and the realities of cruise tourism. This cognitive bias is not necessarily negative - it is a survival mechanism necessary for maintaining our well-being, but why is cruise travel still so appealing? Do cruise ships offer safety and security? Is it the opportunity to travel to multiple ports of call at an economical rate? Is there something more philosophical and phenomenological?
This project is a cathartic opportunity to reflect and reconnect with my familial roots and heritage. It is also an opportunity to reconcile my childhood feelings of fondness and my existing gut sense of uncertainty. Through different case studies and primary and secondary sources, the cruise can be used to explore various aspects of man's chapter through life. It can also scrutinize man's relationship with leisure whilst situated in the cultural and historical decade of 2020. The cruise has long perpetuated class, wealth, and racial divide in its design. The confined rooms and weak ventilation systems expose the vulnerability and weakness of this typology. The cruise industry took a nosedive due to these weaknesses and later worldwide lockdown restrictions. This crisis is concurrently happening amidst our racial reckoning - the murder of George Floyd in May 2020 and the steep rise in anti-Asian hate crimes.
The world is grappling with a sea change. The cruise is a human construct that frames the limbo between water v. ground, play v. death, and servant v. served. Its slow-moving nature and the plethora of amenities held space and time for us to reconnect as a family. The extent to which the cruise flourishes or flounders reflect the conditions of the current zeitgeist.
