Luxury at sea:from the start of the cruise

On January 22, 1891, the steamer "Augusta Victoria" set off from Cuxhaven on a pleasure trip to the Mediterranean. The tour will later go down in history as the first cruise.

On January 22, 1891, a distinguished company set sail from Cuxhaven on board the "Augusta Victoria". The travelers do not want to cross the Atlantic by ship, as was usual at the time. Rather, they are taking part in a sea voyage that is solely for their pleasure. The passengers have to bring a lot of time and money with them because they have a two-month journey ahead of them:via Southampton and Gibraltar, through the Mediterranean to Syria and Egypt, back via Malta and Lisbon to the German coast. The tour later went down in history as the first luxury cruise.

A program against the winter doldrums

The organizer of the trip is the respected shipping company "Hamburg-American Packetfahrt-Actien-Gesellschaft" or Hapag for short. Its director, Albert Ballin, worries about the capacity utilization of his passenger ships, which operate successfully on the North American route. In winter, however, business regularly collapses. Only a few emigrants, who make up a large part of the passengers, leave their homeland in the cold season.

Ballin came up with the idea of ​​advertising an "educational and pleasure trip" to warmer regions on his ship "Augusta Victoria", which was only two years old. The 174 places are quickly booked.

Pure luxury reigns supreme on board the 145-meter-long "Augusta Victoria":the cabins are spacious, first-class chefs provide the catering and an entertainment program ensures that there is no chance of boredom. A total of 245 employees belong to the crew. Ballin himself, who is considered a charming conversationalist, doesn't miss the premiere.

Cruises with shore excursions to the pyramids

The trip not only meets the expectations of well-heeled guests on board. On 13 organized excursions they collect impressions of the exotic Mediterranean countries. Ballin even organizes a tour to Cairo and the Pyramids from Alexandria Port. The "Augusta Victoria" with its three mighty chimneys causes a stir in all ports. With 7,661 gross register tons, she is the largest passenger ship that has ever passed through the Strait of Gibraltar.

Ballin's test, which was initially viewed with skepticism, becomes a complete success and another mainstay of Hapag. It doesn't bother that the "Augusta Victoria" left the shipyard in Stettin with a "birth defect":It was supposed to bear the name of the wife of the German Emperor Wilhelm II, but her name was Auguste Viktoria.

100 years later, cruises are booming - and creating problems

Hapag will soon be using other ships for cruises to the North Cape and the Caribbean, which was then called the West Indies. In addition to commercial and passenger shipping across the Atlantic, another line of business was established. Other shipping companies are following suit. Pleasure trips at sea are developing into an important part of the tourism industry and are experiencing a real boom around 100 years later - and becoming a highly competitive segment on the travel market.

Crusaders Compared

The "Augusta Victoria" in comparison with the currently largest cruise ship in the world, the "Symphony of the Seas" of the US shipping company Royal Caribbean (as of May 2021):

Year of construction:1888 - 2015 to 2018
Length:145 meters - 362 meters
Breadth:17 meters - 66 meters
Speed:19 knots - 22 knots
Passengers:240 - 6,680

Soon there will be the right ship for every customer and every wallet. But there are also problems:environmentalists repeatedly criticize the cruise industry for the enormous amounts of climate-damaging emissions emitted by the cruise liners. The industry also has no real strategy for future pollutant reduction.

125 years of cruise brings new logo and new name

To commemorate its roots, the cruise operator, which has been called Hapag-Lloyd since its merger with Norddeutscher Lloyd in 1970, included the year 1891 in its logo to mark the 125th anniversary of the first cruise in 2016. And to emphasize the international orientation, the company Hapag-Lloyd Cruises was quickly renamed Hapag-Lloyd Cruises. Today, the traditional cruise line belongs to the joint venture TUI Cruises. Royal Caribbean and TUI AG from Hanover each have a 50 percent share.

Hapag-Lloyd Cruises focuses on expedition cruises

The fleet of Hapag-Lloyd Cruises currently includes the MS "Europa" and the "Europa 2" - as in the days of director Ballin, the guests would always find fresh flowers in their cabins, the company promises. And with the "Hanseatic nature" and the "Hanseatic inspiration" two ships of the so-called expedition class are at the start, which lure their guests with exploration adventures from the Arctic to the Amazon. In the summer of 2021, the "Hanseatic spirit" should complete the fleet. According to the company, the entire fleet has been running without heavy fuel oil since 2010 and instead uses 100 percent less polluting marine gas oil.

"Augusta Victoria" meets an abrupt end as a warship

The "Augusta Victoria" sailed the seas as a passenger ship until 1904. In the meantime, however, the shipping companies are relying on larger ships and so Hapag sold the crusader, renamed "Auguste Victoria" in 1897, to the Russian army in 1904. Rebuilt, she takes part in the Russo-Japanese War under the name "Kuban". In 1907 the ship returned to Stettin and was scrapped - less than 20 years later. A named successor had already been launched for the Hapag shipping company in 1905:the "Empress Auguste Victoria". When it was put into service, the express steamer was the largest ship in the world, and it was also used on the North America route, but not just for travellers. Incidentally, the first ship built exclusively for cruises was launched by Blohm + Voss in 1900 as the "Princess Victoria Luise".