Cruise ships.....

Are todays cruise ships getting too big (and too ugly) for their own good...?



Facts and figures
*She has 30 lifeboats.
*She is about 229 ft. longer, about 108,000 GT larger, and can accommodate 2,147 more passengers than RMS Titanic.
*Her operating costs are $1 million per day.
*She has 75,000 lightbulbs and 4,700 works of art, and uses 35,000 kg of ice daily.
*The largest suite, the Presidential Suite, is 113 square meters, sleeps 14 people and has five flat panel TVs, a private whirlpool, a wet bar, and a Yamaha GC1 baby-grand piano.
*Rooms for the maiden voyage were priced from $1,900 to $22,000 for the week.
*She consumes approximately 28,000 pounds (12,800 kg) of fuel per hour.
*She is one of the few ships with 4 bow thrusters on each side with 8 bow thrusters in total.
*The amount of fuel she consumes in one hour could refill a 13 gallon tank in a car at one tank a week for over six years.

Provisions
During a typical week long cruise, the Freedom of the Seas goes through the following amount of food:

*234,000 appetizers; 105,000 meals and 300,680 desserts
*20,000 lbs. of beef, including 69,000 steaks
*12,000 lbs. of chicken
*4,000 lbs. of seafood; 2,500 lbs. of salmon and 1,400 lbs. of lobster
*65,000 lbs. of fresh vegetables and 35,000 lbs. of fresh fruits
*5,800 lbs. of cheese
*28,000 fresh eggs
*18,000 slices of pizza
*8,000 gallons of ice cream
*1,500 lbs. of coffee and 1,500 gallons of milk
*11,500 cans of soda; 19,200 bottles and cans of beer and 2,900 bottles of wine

Lovely boat! I've been very fortunate in my life to go on more cruises that I can count. I can't think of a better vacation, personally.

Here is was will get you........at 108,000 tons, that's the AVERAGE now. There are a couple that are between 140,000 and 155,000 tons.

they are getting rather big

My old man worked on the original Oriana for a while.

Me and Edna Mae have had the pleaseure of taking two Carribean cruises,
one to the eastern and one to the western Carribean. Both times we got
the smaller of the cruise ships, and we think they are better than the biggies.
Edna Mae hit the jackpot on the same machine twice ! Paid for the cruise.

Some of them are really big, and the ports can't take them pier-side. They
have to anchor out, and bring the passengers in with small boats, which
(as any sailor will tell you) is a pain.

Charles

you couldn't pay me get on one of these......i saw titanic

Largest ship will have Central Park area
By ADRIAN SAINZ, AP Business Writer
Tue Apr 15, 3:55 PM ET



MIAMI - Central Park is moving to the ocean — sort of.

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. said Tuesday that an area resembling New York's Central Park will be featured in the center of its Project Genesis ship when it is delivered in late 2009 as the world's largest cruise vessel.

Spanning the length of a football field, Central Park will include lush foliage, quiet walkways, restaurants, boutiques, an art gallery and a moving bar, the world's No. 2 cruise operator said Tuesday.

The area also will feature concerts and street performances, providing the feeling of an outdoor space on a 225,000-gross ton cruise ship that will carry 5,400 passengers and sail from Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale. A gross ton is a standard measurement of carrying capacity that is equivalent to about 100 cubic feet.

The Central Park design is one of seven "neighborhoods" to be featured on Project Genesis, and it is the first major architectural detail to be divulged after several years of planning and secrecy. More details will be disclosed as the ship gets closer to launch, said Adam Goldstein, president of Royal Caribbean International.

"I have spent the last two years keeping this a secret even from my immediate family," Goldstein told The Associated Press in a phone interview ahead of a news conference in New York. "Our level of excitement is equaled only by our fidelity to keep it a secret until now."

Project Genesis is an ambitious undertaking by Miami-based Royal Caribbean, the world's second-largest cruise company behind Miami-based Carnival Corp. With a view of the sky, Central Park will be lined with 254 balcony staterooms and feature five eateries and two bars. One of the bars, called the Rising Tide, will ascend and descend three levels.

Project Genesis will exceed the size of Freedom of the Seas and Liberty of the Seas, which currently hold the title of the world's largest cruise ship at 160,000 gross tons each. A third Freedom Class ship, the Independence of the Seas, is set to launch in May.

Project Genesis and a sister ship are set to be launched by the end of 2010. Each Project Genesis ship will cost more than $1 billion to build at Aker Yards in Turku, Finland. Details on when bookings will start and how much a trip will cost have not been released.

Despite the ship's size, Royal Caribbean worked on ways to keep fuel costs manageable once the vessel is launched, Goldstein said. The industry has adopted several practices to control fuel costs, such as applying different hull paint to reduce drag in the water and using lighting that helps reduce onboard energy costs.

About 12.6 million passengers took cruises in 2007 with 10.3 million of those coming from North America. The industry expects an increase in worldwide cruise passengers this year to 12.8 million people — as lines plan to add eight new ships in 2008 and more than 35 new vessels in the next four years.

I have some original menus from the maiden voyage of the Andrea Doria.

These massive ships are prime targets for terrorists.

I like the odds of being on a ship like that:
Suppose 8% of the guests are single women within acceptable parameters (attractive, fun, drunk, between 28 - 45 years old)
10% of those will think I'm within acceptable parameters.

There'll be a hundred ladies that i have a chance with!

sign me up!

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I would love to take a cruise on a ship Like the Titanic. So luxurious and old school. She was lovely, today they are ugly.

Henk said:

I would love to take a cruise on a ship Like the Titanic. So luxurious and old school. She was lovely, today they are ugly.

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Amen to that ! They were built with comfort being paramount.

Charles

You couldn't get me to take a cruise at gunpoint!

Way too boring.

TO

I remember when the QE2 was launched from St. Nazaire, where she was built. During my visit there was a news article about the fire control systems getting it's kinks out. It reminded me of how the Normandie capsized in New York harbor after a fire broke out on the ship. All the water poured onto the ship to extinguish the flame caused the ship to become so top heavy she listed and capsized.

I've always wondered if today's cruise liners share the same inherent risk?

After being in two major car accidents, one motorcycle accident, and one jet liner that went off the runway I will never, ever set foot on a Cruise Ship or a Passenger Train!!!!

Torpedo los !!!

Once I was on a Airbus A-320 South African Airways back in the early nineties that kept on losing power while going down the runway preparing to take off. That sh*t was scary as hell and some people got off the plane, but I stayed.

It did not stop me from flying again.

I dunno, getting away from it all is more my style. Up in the mountains, with a stream (trout in it too, of course), birds singing and the only noise being the wind through the trees sounds way more relaxing than being crammed into a ship with 5,000 other people.

evangilder said:

I dunno, getting away from it all is more my style. Up in the mountains, with a stream (trout in it too, of course), birds singing and the only noise being the wind through the trees sounds way more relaxing than being crammed into a ship with 5,000 other people.

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Amen brother. A cruise ship would be like being in a mega hotel and they lock the doors. Eff that.

evangilder said:

I dunno, getting away from it all is more my style. Up in the mountains, with a stream (trout in it too, of course), birds singing and the only noise being the wind through the trees sounds way more relaxing than being crammed into a ship with 5,000 other people.

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Couldn't agree more....8)

evangilder said:

I dunno, getting away from it all is more my style. Up in the mountains, with a stream (trout in it too, of course), birds singing and the only noise being the wind through the trees sounds way more relaxing than being crammed into a ship with 5,000 other people.

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Eric, you just described a "cruise" on an aircraft carrier except you left off 500 people. UGH!!!!!!

Weird thing about life at sea...for some dumb, unexplainable reason I miss being at sea. I kind of feel like Capt Jack Sparrow in his last scene in the first "Pirates" movie where he's at the helm of the Pearl and he says "Now show me that horizon." Here in Minnesota I feel landlocked. Weird huh?

I love the sea, but up to a certain point, the coast here at the southern parts of SA is very rough some times.