Spaces of Containment and Revenue Capture: ‘Super-Sized’ Cruise Ships as Mobile Tourism Enclaves

This paper explores the notion that cruise ships can be conceptualized as spaces of containment. The cruise ships that perhaps best exemplify containment are ‘super-sized’ cruise ships. In this paper, super-sized cruise ships are defined as vessels that can accommodate more than 2,000 tourists. These ships are built for the purpose of revenue capture. In fact, they could be viewed as travel destinations since they have become places where many tourists are inclined to spend their time and money. Tourists on board a super-sized cruise ship may also have the opportunity to spend time and money at a private island or beach operated by the cruise-ship company. There are several cruise-ship companies that have rented or purchased private islands and beaches in the Caribbean that serve as port destinations for cruise ships. These islands and beaches, similar to super-sized cruise ships, are spaces of containment. Tourists, it should be noted, are not the only individuals who experience containment. There are also cruise-ship employees to consider; cruise ships and private islands are contained and confined workplaces that operate in accordance with strict rules and restrictions. Perhaps the ultimate contained environment that is seaborne and built for pleasure travel is The World of ResidenSea, a recently constructed condominium cruise ship. That this ship represents an extreme mode of containment is discussed in this paper.