Ocean Travel and Cruising: A Cultural Analysis

Citation

Lee‐Ross, D. (2007), "Ocean Travel and Cruising: A Cultural Analysis", International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Vol. 19 No. 1, pp. 92-93. https://doi.org/10.1108/09596110710724206

The style and tone of this book are entertaining, interesting and novel. In a generic sense cruising is described using contextual economic and demographic information. Advertising, identifying and marketing cruises are also similarly featured. However, the most compelling quality is how the reader is given the opportunity to consider the experience of cruising from a number of alternative and complimentary perspectives. The use of economics, semiotics, sociology and psychology in such a compact format would seem somewhat daunting to the uninitiated. However, each concept is deftly introduced at the beginning of each appropriate chapter. The narrative is flowing, easy to read and if anything would encourage anyone with a passing interest in these overarching disciplines to study them even further. The accessibility of the text is further enhanced by the author's consistent meditation on his observations. The reader is often asked to suspend their disbelief of various propositions and hypotheses offered no matter how extreme they appear to be. The researcher therefore manages to instil an interest and fascination for what would otherwise be mundane day‐to‐day cruise ship events. This novel cultural approach is compelling when so effortlessly applied to the cruise experience.

There are certain topics which the book does not cover and/or cover adequately. These include sustainability, on‐board safety and the significant issue of working conditions and cultures thereof. However, to say that this book would become improved by their inclusion would be somewhat churlish. It is entertaining, informative and would be appropriate as accompanying reading for many undergraduate tourism subjects and perhaps for applied sociology and psychology courses.