Cruise secrets: Passengers used to have to do this shocking activity on cruise ships

“There’s water pouring down the stairs” exclaimed one early passenger to an officer. “We only worry, madam”, he replied, “when it’s coming up the stairs.”

These days passengers expect to unpack all their belongings in sizeable rooms – but this didn’t use to be the case.

“There were no wardrobes – passengers had to live out of their trunks – no bathroom and a dining saloon so cramped that people had to climb over the backs of long benches to get to their seats,” wrote Charles Dickens of his 1842 voyage.

Nowadays cruise lines pride themselves on an impressive array of entertainment options, from Cirque de Soleil performances to entire on-deck waterparks.

There was no such choice in the early days of transatlantic cruising, however.