Britannia may have ruled the waves 100 years ago, but from a cruising perspective there’s no doubt who the biggest player is in the early 21st century.

In 2007 an incredible 11.3 million Americans took to the oceans by way of a cruise ship. That’s like the entire populations of Belgium and Glasgow stepping off dry land and putting to sea.

To be fair, in cruising terms Britain is still a superpower, coming a creditable second in the global league table. But with a mere 1.3 million cruisers in our population, we’ve a lot of catching up to do.

Ahead of the Germans and French

However, we can draw comfort from knowing that we remain ahead of the Germans, Italians and Spanish who lie in third, fourth and fifth place, not to mention the Canadians, French and Japanese who rank seventh, eighth and tenth.

While the United States is in the ascendancy today, history shows that positions of dominance don’t last. If we step back more than 1,000 years, for instance, we can see the greatest cruisers of the day were the Vikings.

Historians, of course, will tell you they were on military missions. Missions that involved stopping every so often to attack and plunder coastal communities. But I beg to differ. In my view they were just over enthusiastic Scandinavians looking to have a good time on a cruise.

Important lessons

Although their voyages took place in the dark ages, those first millennium cruisers could teach us some important lessons. And in some ways you could argue their holiday experiences were superior to ours.

For a start their cruise ships – often known as longboats – were entirely powered by green technology. Even in such primitive times, it seems, they were thinking about the planet.

Furthermore, when it came to stepping ashore those mead-swigging holidaymakers had far more options than we have today. While modern ships are forced to dock at major ports, our Nordic friends could beach their vessels almost anywhere along a coastline.

More adventurous and rewarding

In addition, few would disagree that when the Vikings set foot on land their shore excursions tended to be more adventurous and financially rewarding than ours. Like their modern counterparts they would return to the ship laden with goods, but these would all be obtained at unbeatable prices. Also known as free.

OK, their longboats may have lacked spas or classy restaurants, but as they sailed on the open seas on an open deck they undoubtedly felt closer to nature. Among other things this meant all meals were served alfresco and their cabins had much higher ceilings than anything you would see on a modern liner.

As for their gym, I’m told you won’t find a vessel on the seven seas today with a more authentic rowing simulator.

Intrepid Norsemen

Best of all they didn’t have to worry if a piece of land got in their way during a voyage. Our intrepid Norsemen would simply lift their boat out of the sea and carry it to the next stretch of water. Try doing that with the Emerald Princess (113,000 tonnes), the Ventura (116,000 tonnes) or the Freedom of the Seas (154,000 tonnes).

Surprisingly enough, those early sea cruises covered just as much distance as many of today’s. Besides the obvious places like Iceland and the British Isles, the Vikings also ventured as far afield as Russia, Turkey and Israel.

Today those lovable, axe-wielding seafarers have long vanished from our planet, but you can still celebrate their voyages. There are many cruise holidays that allow you to follow in the wake of their longboats. And here are just four (which also include some free spending money):

• 7 Night Norwegian Fjords Cruise
• 7 Night Western Europe Cruise
• 16 Night Mediterranean Cruise
• 14 Night Baltic Cruise

More Azura Cruises…

Solution to my riddle

Last week I posed a riddle with a nautical theme and promised I’d give you the answer today.

You may recall it concerned my friend Lockie Hughes who runs a cruise holiday business. Lockie’s business is open only one day a year, a fact he mentions upfront on his website.

The puzzling aspect is that despite this, people ring him every day of the week, right around the clock. My question was: what is the one day of the year when Lockie’s business is open.

Well, the answer is 24 July. One thing I failed to mention about Lockie is that he’s an idiot. Why? Because the wording on his website is ludicrously ambiguous. It reads as follows: “Please note, we only offer a 24/7 service.”

Congratulations if you worked it out.

Bruce Beckett

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