Has anyone got some technical (ie: factual) information on the stability of cruise ships or a web link to this sort of information?
At a glance I feel extremely nervous at the thought of boarding one of these ships for a cruise. I'm sure they have automatic stabilizers and fancy ballast movement systems but I'm more concerned about a ship in the ocean with no power and broadside to large swells and seas. Surely their AVS is very, very small.

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zilla said..
Has anyone got some technical (ie: factual) information on the stability of cruise ships or a web link to this sort of information?
At a glance I feel extremely nervous at the thought of boarding one of these ships for a cruise. I'm sure they have automatic stabilizers and fancy ballast movement systems but I'm more concerned about a ship in the ocean with no power and broadside to large swells and seas. Surely their AVS is very, very small.

It depends on what ship, company etc. All the relevant information is on their webpages. I have been doing one or two cruises a year for the last 8 years and have booked two more for this year. The automatic stabilizer systems work very well and you wont be spilling any drinks. The only time really rough weather effects them is when they pitch and you can notice this when your in the theatre. The theatre is always in the bow of the ships and it sometimes effects the performers, specially the dancers who will have different routines for rough days. Generally the ships are very stable and probably the least of your worries. When moving about keep your hands off the guardrails, don't touch the walls in lifts etc and generally ensure you keep your health.

Why are you worried about no power?

After the Carnival Splendor fire in the generator room (powered by electric Azipod drive) which resulted with the ship with no power and adrift, they changed the design and all Carnival ships now have 2 generator rooms, not sure about other lines but Carnival owns P & O, Princess and a few others and surely they would all have put in a second generator room after that incident.

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Ramona said..
I have been doing one or two cruises a year for the last 8 years and have booked two more for this year.

Wow. You are keen. Thanks for the health tips. I notice from time to time reports of gastro outbreaks on cruise ships.
I've never been on a cruise ship but my wife is enthusiastic about doing a cruise or two. Any recommendations on a couple of (small) cruise ships departing from Australia that we can start researching?

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Bedford81 said..
Why are you worried about no power?

Only because that would be the worst case scenario in terms of inherent stability. It appears to me that there is a lot of ship above the waterline compared to below the waterline. I know the heavy equipment, etc would be below the waterline and I'm sure they built the upper sections out of lightweight material, etc, etc but I'm still interested in the GZ curve, the AVS, etc for a cruise ship. I've spent an hour or so searching for "cruise ship stability" on the internet but to no avail. (Haven't tried a ship's web site yet though).

If the tanks were full id say theyd be alot of ballast there. As a rough guess about 3000 tonnes.

I think its reasonable to think about the stability of the block of flats cruise ships. Years back I had this discussion with a retired friend who worked on design of a big one dependent on stabilizers working. He thought if his ship lost power in big seas with high winds its huge windage would put the ship in big trouble because it would turn broadside to the seas and roll to who knows where.

Read this
onlyinamericablogging.blogspot.com/2012/01/why-mega-cruise-ships-are-unsafe.html

Then again if you lose power in an aircraft its worse!

I not a fan of the idea of being In close vicinity with 5000 people anyway!

The thing with these ships is that they have 24/7 engineers and lots of em. They also have really good weather reports. They wouldnt risk going in bad weather. Im sure it happens but rarely.

They do look top heavy .... some boffin must have done the calculations .... But sometimes Mother Nature has other ideas !

Would be my last choice as a holiday .... When I'm on holiday there is only one fat loud bastard around and that's me !

The Captain on our recent cruise gave really good weather and route updates. We were delayed leaving Dunedin for about 6hrs as 50kt winds were too much windage to safely navigate the channel. We also did a bit of a dog leg back across the Tasman.

Just came from Sun Pricess, She arrive early morning to Brisbane and leaving before midnight .
They had a third outbreak within a month. This last one was only 2 people not like previous hundredth.
Seems to me they sick of those outbreaks, today they delay departure and boarding and sprayed
and vipe absolutely whole boat, incluiding my instruments.
Sure they have heavy stuff under water line, but 10 levels above the waterline is hard to comprehend .
One thing would be more worrying , base design , structure and buil in fixtures are very very old.
Sure they have new portable instruments which I was calibrating, but overall all these old ships experiencing
heaps of problems. Going through passenger area is quite nice and I wouldn't mine to have go, but
rest of the ship, I don't wont to see.

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zilla said..

Ramona said..
I have been doing one or two cruises a year for the last 8 years and have booked two more for this year.

Wow. You are keen. Thanks for the health tips. I notice from time to time reports of gastro outbreaks on cruise ships.
I've never been on a cruise ship but my wife is enthusiastic about doing a cruise or two. Any recommendations on a couple of (small) cruise ships departing from Australia that we can start researching?

I prefer Royal Caribbean out of the companies for small ships and large. I would suggest starting with a 10 day cruise to the islands like this one. www.ozcruising.com.au/error/404

We have done this one twice on the Jewel, one of P&O's older ships that has been updated. Some special deals bring this trip down to $55 a day.

I bet these people weren't expecting their cruise ship to capsize

edition.cnn.com/2015/06/02/asia/china-yangtze-river-ship-sinking/index.html

And take a look at this video. Its hard as a layman to guess whether a bigger cruise ship which lost power would fair worse or better than this one. This one has a bow to take breaking waves, the ones that come into Sydney Harbour have a wall of windows. I wouldn't like to be on board this one, I think my Martzcraft would be safer.



Scary!

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Ramona said..

zilla said..

Ramona said..
I have been doing one or two cruises a year for the last 8 years and have booked two more for this year.

Wow. You are keen. Thanks for the health tips. I notice from time to time reports of gastro outbreaks on cruise ships.
I've never been on a cruise ship but my wife is enthusiastic about doing a cruise or two. Any recommendations on a couple of (small) cruise ships departing from Australia that we can start researching?

I prefer Royal Caribbean out of the companies for small ships and large. I would suggest starting with a 10 day cruise to the islands like this one. www.ozcruising.com.au/error/404

We have done this one twice on the Jewel, one of P&O's older ships that has been updated. Some special deals bring this trip down to $55 a day.

You have to keep an eye on a few cruises you are interested in and watch for a price drop, the last 3 we have been on were $55 a day with Carnival and P & O and just booked another on the Pacific Jewel at $62 a day, these are all oceanview cabins as we don't like interior cabins and were all 10 or 11 night cruises. Great value holiday.

I used this site years ago.....it was extremely good value, the range of choice great.

www.VacationsToGo.com/

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Trek said..
I bet these people weren't expecting their cruise ship to capsize

edition.cnn.com/2015/06/02/asia/china-yangtze-river-ship-sinking/index.html

And take a look at this video. Its hard as a layman to guess whether a bigger cruise ship which lost power would fair worse or better than this one. This one has a bow to take breaking waves, the ones that come into Sydney Harbour have a wall of windows. I wouldn't like to be on board this one, I think my Martzcraft would be safer.

Scary!

That video is of the Spanish cruise ship "Voyager". Waves took out the bridge windows, disabling the ship. Same thing happened to its sister ship.

Here's the report

www.bahamasmaritime.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Explorer-_-Voyager-Jan-2005.pdf

I wonder if all the food poisoning outbreaks might have something to do with the fact that they keep bringing out the same old food day after day until it is eaten. Saves them on food costs then.

I believe it's not the dodgy food but the closed cramped perfect incubator lifestyle. Pathogens just love it. Hence the warning about not touching the handholds. Similar story in any public area, never touch the banisters and then your face.... Unless of course you are purposefully trying to infect yourself leading to long-term inoculation.

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slammin said..
I believe it's not the dodgy food but the closed cramped perfect incubator lifestyle. Pathogens just love it. Hence the warning about not touching the handholds. Similar story in any public area, never touch the banisters and then your face.... Unless of course you are purposefully trying to infect yourself leading to long-term inoculation.

Exactly. There is an art in using the public heads on the ships. After you wash your hands use a paper towel to open the door or if it has a button use a knuckle on your finger.

Are there any discussion forums that ship-cruising (not yacht cruising like here on Seabreeze) people use.
That would be a good way for me to get educated on most aspects of "ship" cruising - straight from many horses mouths.

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zilla said..
Are there any discussion forums that ship-cruising (not yacht cruising like here on Seabreeze) people use.
That would be a good way for me to get educated on most aspects of "ship" cruising - straight from many horses mouths.

I reckon it would be on a website similar to this http://www.elder-one-stop.com/elderly-activities.html

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zilla said..
Are there any discussion forums that ship-cruising (not yacht cruising like here on Seabreeze) people use.
That would be a good way for me to get educated on most aspects of "ship" cruising - straight from many horses mouths.

Cruise critic forums