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Selling popular luxury: romance, escapism, and Caribbean feelings in the luxurization of the early 1990s Baltic Sea cruise ferry experience
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DOI：10.1080/15022250.2026.2624116.png)
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Abstract
En 中文
This article explores the launching of the supersized cruise ferries Silja Serenade (1990) and Silja Symphony (1991) as an early example of an experiential approach to luxury in the Nordic context. It analyzes how the marketing of the two sister ships entailed a renegotiation of luxury in the cruise ferry context of the Baltic Sea in the early 1990s. The concept of popular luxury is introduced to explain how the cruise experience was promoted as luxurious without losing its original mass appeal. The luxury ferry cruise experience was constructed by blending modernity and comfort with the traditional aura of cruising. Through the concept of “a true luxury cruise” and the exoticization of similarities with cruising in the tropics, the marketing conveyed a promise of romance, escapism, and Caribbean feelings. In the article, we argue that popular luxury in the Baltic Sea ferry industry signified a luxurization of an already popular phenomenon and involved an increasing focus on individualism, self-realization and pursuit of experiential luxury. Popular luxury thus becomes a valuable lens for understanding a more fundamental shift in the tourism culture of the Nordic countries during the late twentieth century.
Keywords:
New luxury
cruise marketing
ferry traffic
baltic sea
nordic tourism culture
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