Mainly used for vacationing, cruise ships are considered the largest passenger ships. The cruise ships typically embark on a round trip voyage to a range of various ports of calls in which the passengers usually go on a tour commonly known as the shore excursions. On cruise ships such as the “nowhere voyages” or the “cruises to nowhere” make about two to three different night round trips without visiting any portal calls. The recent modern cruise ships have tended to possess less hull strength, agility, and speed than the ocean liners. However, various amenities have been added to these cruise ships to cater to the water tourists and recent vessels, commonly described as the “balcony ladened floating condominiums.
As per the reports based upon December 2018, a total of 314 cruise ships are operating throughout the entire world, along with a combined capacity of about 5,37,000 passengers. In the tourism industry, over the past few years, cruising has become an essential part with an estimated market value of about $29.4 billion per year, and about more than 19 million passengers have traveled throughout the whole world annually as of the year 2011. Since the year 2001, with a new add-on of built ships to the clientele of North America, the industry has seen rapid growth in its business. As of 2022, the Royal Caribbean’s wonder of the seas is considered the largest passenger ship in the entire world.
Interesting facts about Cruise Ships
The length of the world’s largest cruise ship is as twice the length of the Washington monument – the Royal Caribbean’s wonder of the seas is considered as the world’s largest passenger ship ever, is composed of about 18 decks along with 22 dining venues, 2,759 staterooms along with a park consisting more than 20,700 plants of different varieties and about 24 swimming pools. The cruise also has robot bartenders, ice-skating rink, a water slide of about 92 feet tall, along with a ninth-floor zip line. The total length of the ship is about 1,188 feet long, which equals the length of almost four football fields and twice the length of the Washington Monument.
On average, the cruise ships sail around the world about three times a year – typically, the commercial cruise ship covers almost 84,007 miles in a year. This means that the cruise ships sail around the entire world about three and half times on average.
According to the Cruise Critics, the average speed of cruise ships is about 20 knots, the average speed with which cruise travel is about 20 knots, equivalent to 23 miles in an hour. The ship’s speed depends upon a variety of factors starting from the conditions of the sea to the capabilities of the ships’ engines.
The building of a titanic replica – Clive Palmer, an Australian millionaire, has announced plans to build the replica of the infamous cruise ship, titanic. As per the reports of CNN, the ship would be ready to depart by the end of the year 2022.
The infamous cruise, Titanic was just a fraction of the size of various modern-day cruise ships – as compared to various modern-day ships, the Titanic falls short in various ways, starting from its accommodations to its size.
The private ship of Church of Scientology – a Caribbean-based ship with a length of about 440 feet, the Freewinds serves as a religious retreat that ministers most of the advanced level of spiritual counseling for the Church of Scientology. This ship has been operating since the year 1988.
Usage of cruise ships in various rescue operations – often, the cruise ships are used for rescue operations. The ship sometimes will receive a distress call and would plot a course of time to complete the rescue mission.
Certain cruises are specifically designed for its permanent residents – one of the luxury ocean liners called “the world” offers about165 of its passengers a permanent residency. The residents boarding this cruise will get the chance of sailing to nearly every corner of the globe while reveling in the fact of not having to live anymore in a landlocked house ever again.
Ironically the safety equipment once took down an entire cruise ship – after the infamous tragic incident of the Titanic, various ships started to add more safety equipment on board. But ironically, this onboarding of large-scale safety equipment led to another disaster by taking down the entire ship, SS Eastland. This ship was sailing through the Great lakes in 1915 with about 2,570 passengers and was loaded with extra rafts, life jackets, and lifeboats. But the weight of this extra safety equipment led to the ship’s rollover and capsizing, leading to the death of about 844 passengers.
The crew members usually sleep in the lowest level of the cruise – according to the reports released by the Cruise Bulletin, typically, the crew members live on the B deck, which forms the lowest level of the ship and is found just below the waterline.
Certain cruise ships have a topless sunbathing deck for their passengers – generally, most cruise lines do not allow topless sunbathing. Still, certain European ships, such as the Hapag Lloyd’s Europa, offer their passengers a designated topless sunbathing deck.
The majority of the ships take their departure from Florida than any other state – the city of Miami has been globally recognized as the cruising capital of the entire world. Still, Florida boasts up to 4 different ports in Tampa, Jacksonville, Port Canaveral, and Fort Lauderdale.
The cruise cabins are generally constructed away from the ship – the cruise staterooms are usually built in an offsite facility to provide ample room for their construction. These staterooms are then transported to their respective shipyards and later added.
Various cruise ships typically spend more than 100 days sailing across the sea – in the recent period, several cruise lines have started to offer multiple months for cruising. The Ultimate World Cruise by the Viking Ocean Cruises has promised to take their guests on a sail up to 59 different countries in about 245 days approximately. The total cost of this adventure is up to $100,000.
The first-ever cruise ship set its sail in the year 1900 – in the summers of the year 1900, a German passenger ship from the Hamburg America Line called the “Prinzessin Victoria Luise” was the first-ever official cruise ship to set its sail. The size of this cruise was much more similar to a modern liner private yacht.
The anchors of the cruise ships weigh as much as about four elephants – most of the cruise ships avoid dropping their anchors whenever possible as the dropping of these anchors tends to destroy the underwater ecosystem. Also, most of the ships can stay in one place without the help of anchors but still, in certain ships, these anchors still exist. The anchors of the cruise ships can weigh up to 20,500 pounds which is equivalent to about four elephants.
Also Read This => Facts About Jet AirCrafts