cruise ship list

[Genesis]

I was thinking about this thread over dinner tonight, and realized that I've been in some truly nasty conditions in my Hatt.

Get caught by a wall cloud sometime, for instance. 8-10s on top of whatever was there before, hurricane-force winds, foam blown off the top of the crests, etc.

The people who's only experience "boating" is on a cruise ship would all be having coronaries!

During my last cruise over this spring, I found that the "dampened" motion was QUITE disconcerting with headseas when I was in the forward buffet (pretty much as far forward on that ship as you could go as a passenger) - it had a nasty-quick motion to it that actually managed to get me a bit green! On the other hand in beam seas the rolling motion was VERY pleasant - I loved it.

I guess its a matter of what you're used to. A guy I ran into in the elevator one morning said he was puking the previous night from the beam seas and rolling. I thought "huh" - it wasn't even enough to roll a marble off the table in the stateroom, and certainly not enough to put a drink, set down on the nightstand, at risk.

 

[Karl]

For whatever it's worth, the Crown Princess, which is the ship with this latest problem, carries a maximum of 3,100 passengers and is the newest ship (2006) for Princess Cruise Lines. Royal Caribbean is going to have the largest cruise ship yet to be built, to be completed in 2009, which will carry 5,400 passengers and is 100,000 tons heavier than the Crown Princess. By comparison, the Queen Mary II accomodates 2,600 passengers. All this doesn't include approximately 1,500 to 2,000 crew members.

An article in today's Sun Sentinel says that since the cruise lines are not required to report these incidents to the Coast Guard, no records are kept and there are possibly more incidents then we know of. Also, that on these ships the auto pilot does more than just steer the boat, today they control much more including direction, speed and pitch of the props.

 

[67hat34c]

I herd that it has happened before. also it was not 45 degree list as the first reports indicated, 15degrees is now being reported. this would make more since with reports of steering problem. hard over could cause 15 degree list. also understand ship was on auto pilot , auto pilot issue was cause of other ships with same problem. Either way this thing is way top heavy and that is certainly a factor.

 

[spartonboat1]

Jeez O' Peet (only in Michigan phrase), that cruise ship (Norway vis a vis cruise ship photos) is garish compared to the lines of the liner...almost downright ugly...yeesh. To hold the CG down, maybe they use that new "modern" technique of welding aluminum superstructure to a ferrous hull; and I wondered where my pop cans went after they hit the crusher at Meijer's (another Michiganism).

 

[spartonboat1]

Oops, reply #2. The new Coast Guard Cutter "Mackinaw" is a "modern" ship and fully computerized. The old ship made do for 60 years! I had a full tour of the new ship the first day she was at her new port in Cheboygan, MI. I spoke with one of the engineering officers regarding the computer control systems, etc.

First of all, if you think there are religious wars in the world, there are such wars in the computer community. In my case, I was not impressed that the latest Windows Operating System runs the entire ship, even though she has triple redundency. Your PC yes, enterprise/mission critical..hmmmm. I wonder how those computer systems will hold up the first time she works for 5 straight days in sub-zero weather banging away and breaking 5' ice on the Great Lakes and the XO drops a mass quantity of very hot coffee on the controls!? (I'm told only 3' ice is ever expected- heck, the old Mackinaw could run at full cruise into 3' ice, but I digress). We've had very light winters of late, but the weeks below zero will return along with thick ice!

Also, the entire man-machine interface I observed (now termed person-machine interface?) or MMI was very confusing, i.e. the control panel, plus she is equipped with the prior mentioned Azipods (two that I am aware of). The Azipods are in effect massive I/O's that can face in any direction of 360 degrees. Before you request "forward" or "reverse", you'd better ensure which way those I-Pods (oops, Azipods) are facing!

At any rate, while on a maiden tour of the Great Lakes and maneuvering in port, she ran head-on into a breakwall ($30K damage to wall), leaving a major "dent" in the stbd. bow plates (hope the ice doesn't windrow 12 feet high in the future, like it has in the past). The incident resulted in the new Captain being relieved- unfortunate. I strongly believe that the very confusing suite of controls cause the incident...not intuitive at all, IMHO. I would have graded those controls out with a "C-" in an engineering class.

So in closing, I have little confidence in the computerized control systems of those cruise ships, based on my 15 years in developing enterprise size computerized systems. Modern design and testing of computerized systems leaves much to be desired, vs. relay logic, IMHO. I can cite several cases of very large outages or system failures of metropolitan or multi-state proportions that were the result of "only" one or two lines of computer code. P.s., those issues were blithely reported to the public as "technical outages" that were "rectified". I am less forgiving!

Gripe, gripe...but, My2CW...

 

[jim rosenthal]

Ang, I didn't know you were an ocean liner fan...my all-time favorite is the 'United States'- I have one of those lithographs that they used to give first-class passengers at the end of the voyage, or so I'm told. I used to see her when she was at the Norfolk terminal years ago. I still hope that someone will save her- I think she belongs to Carnivale now. I think most of the people rich enough to do it arent' interested. If you are ever in the Tidewater Virginia area, there is a great exhibit at the Mariner's Museum on the building of the 'United States'. She is a great ship.

 

[Angela]

Likewise, I have the Norway hanging in one of my guest staterooms - the one that is developing into the "nautical" themed stateroom. And I also have an actual photo that I took and framed...somewhere...haven't hung it yet.

There are a few neat ocean liner photos here: http://www.ruderhaus.de/frames.htm

And a lot of really ugly boats. Look at Radisson Diamond...just when you thought a ship couldn't get any uglier. Heck, I can't tell which end is which!

I would very much enjoy a visit to the Mariner's Museum if I get up that way.

Ang

 

[SKYCHENEY]

Hee, hee, hee, spartonboat. I'm probably one of the few that fully understands your "Michiganisms". Let's add a few more. It's pop, not soda. And kitty-corner, not caddy-corner. And U.P. does not mean up. Have you also noticed the funny looks you get from non-Michiganders when you point to a spot on your hand to show them where you are from?

 

[yachtsmanbill]

Ya hey der ya old hoser.Hows about stoppin' out on da highway for a couple
a pasties, eh? ws

 

[Angela]

Ahhh, yes...I understand the Michiganisms fully....although, I'm "from Ohio", I bleed maize and blue, and I miss Meijer dearly! Yes, it is "pop," and I can show you "on my hand" where I launched my 17' runabout to go salmon fishing several times in October, many times during the middle of the night in the wind and freezing cold (now, that was something to soil your pants over, but I was too niave back then to know any better!).

Admittedly, I haven't heard "Jeez O' Peet" since around 1999 when I left Ohio!

Thanks for the memories!

Ang

 

[Pascal]

another good site...
http://www.greatoceanliners.net/index2.html

angela, I saw this picture before, it's incredible how these new ships are like .. hmm... the carvers of ships.

the Norway is still afloat, the latest I read was that a pollution report had been submitted to an Indian court and they're awaiting green light to beach her and tear her apart. sad. unless a last minute effort by dubai investors is succesful, but they can' come to an agreement on price with the indian owners...

http://www.maritimematters.com/norway.html

about the incident, it seems like many injuries were caused by furniture sliding around... even TVs and gym equipment... that were not secured. these things are really floating hotels, not ships

 

[Karl]

The latest from the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel:

"The sudden lurch of the Crown Princess cruise ship last week that sent 94 passengers to the hospital was caused by a bridge officer's mistake, Princess Cruises said Tuesday.

Los Angeles-based Princess didn't specify the mistake, or add much detail, saying the incident is still under investigation by regulators.

But in an open letter to passengers posted on the line's Web site, Princess President Alan Buckelew said human error was the cause of the incident. "The appropriate personnel changes have been made," the letter said."

 

[Genesis]

Translation: "The captain has been sacked."

 

[Karl]

When one of the passengers was interviewed on TV, she said that when the captain came on the loud speaker system to talk to the passengers just after the incident, his voice was very shaky and he could hardly speak. However, there was no report on the status of his underwear.

 

[Traveler 45C]

I read in the paper this morn' that the Capt was still in command of the vessel.