For many people, a leisure cruise can be other-worldly, even sacred experience (Belk
et al., 1989) – especially for cruise fans like those travelers who populate online cruise
communities. Cruisers often speak of a sense of awe upon seeing ships for the first time
or upon exploring ships’ interiors. Elements of the shipscape can enhance this sacred
experience, as well as other goals that cruisers bring to their journey (e.g. romance or
escape); yet, the shipscape can easily make the experience profane, such as when
unpleasant noises, smells, or motion interfere with experiential goals. Moreover,
because a cruise ship serves multiple purposes – home away from home,
entertainment center, attraction, social gathering space, dining venue, etc. – cruisers
pay attention to and derive personal meaning from shipscape clues in simple and
surprising ways. We examine this cruiser interaction with the shipscape next, first by
framing our findings in terms of cruisers’ consumption goals and then by examining
the different influences of the shipscape on cruisers’ hedonic experience