I never really grasped until this year that the cruise vacation industry was basically an attempt for steamship companies to avoid going out of business when plane travel took over the transatlantic-crossing business. Until then, cruises were for transportation. Apparently it was really hard at first for the companies to get people to sign up for a "cruise to nowhere," so that's why they started developing all the onboard entertainment and had to make it seem so luxe and fabulous to be on a giant boat for a week.