Cunard Line

To talk about Cunard Line we have to go all the way back in the cruising history, more precisely into 1840 were the British and North American Royal Mail Steam-Packet Company was founded. For most of the next 30 years they held the Blue Riband for the fastest Atlantic voyage. However, in the 1870s they fell behind its rivals, the White Star Line and the Inman Line. To meet this competition, in 1879 the firm was reorganized as the Cunard Steamship Company, Ltd, to raise capital. Traveling forward a few decades and some wars later, in 1934 Cunard merged with the then ailing White Star line to form Cunard-White Star Line. Cunard owned two-thirds of the new company but purchased White Star’s share in 1947. The name then reverted to the Cunard Line in 1950, as stands as it today.

Upon the end of the Second World War, Cunard regained its position as the largest Atlantic passenger line and by the mid-1950s, it operated 12 ships to the United States and Canada from England. After 1958, transatlantic passenger ships became increasingly unprofitable because of the introduction of jet airliners but the company held its ground strong until 1998 when Cunard was acquired by the Carnival Corporation.

Up to this day, Cunard is the only shipping company to operate a scheduled passenger service between Europe and North America. Meaning that on a normal six months contract, a fellow crew member can expect to cross the Atlantic around 22 times, one every seven days. Other itineraries include San Francisco to Japan or Australia and round trips around Australia.