Monotony reigns with cruise ship names
— -- Quick, name the line about to launch a ship called the Eurodam.
If you've cruised at all, you surely know the answer: Holland America. The company is famous for names ending in "dam" — a century-old tradition that has made its vessels instantly recognizable.
Now how about the Independence of the Seas, which makes its debut in May?
That's right, Royal Caribbean. With the launch, the line will have a record 22 ships sailing with a name ending in its long-used "of the Seas" phrase.
Some lines are brilliant at coming up with memorable names. Others, well …
"I find it inexplicably weird that cruise lines can't be more creative," says industry watcher Carolyn Spencer Brown, editor of Cruisecritic.com.
The fast-growing cruise industry has launched dozens of ships in recent years, and dozens more are on order. That makes a catchy name all the more crucial to stand out from the crowd. But as the number of ships grows, finding a winner seems to be getting tougher.
As Spencer Brown points out, the latest crop of names is uninspiring at best. And some lines even are resorting to copying names already in use by others.
Royal Caribbean, for instance, recently launched Liberty of the Seas, just two years after rival Carnival launched its own ship named Liberty. Of course, maybe it was payback for Carnival's use of the name Legend on a new ship in 2002, seven years after the arrival of Royal Caribbean's Legend of the Seas.
In fact, Carnival is becoming somewhat of a serial copier. This summer, the line will launch the Carnival Splendor, echoing Royal Caribbean's Splendour of the Seas. Carnival's next ships also will ring familiar: Carnival Dream and Carnival Magic feature words already in use by Norwegian and Disney.
"Boy, does it get confusing," says Spencer Brown, ticking off other names used by multiple lines, such as Dawn, Jewel, Mariner, Navigator, Freedom, Crown and Pride.
Ship historian Peter Knego of maritimematters.com blames corporate branding campaigns for what he says is an era of blandness in ship names. Lines such as Carnival and Norwegian now emphasize their own brand name in ship titles, paired with the most generic, inoffensive words such as Dream or Dawn, he says.
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