Are cruise ships bigger than ocean liners?

They may carry thousands of passengers in a single trip, and are some of the largest ships in the world by gross tonnage (GT), bigger than many cargo ships. Cruise ships started to exceed ocean liners in size and capacity in the mid-1990s; before then, few were more than 50,000 GT.



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Yes – Queen Mary 2 is much larger than Titanic. At 1,132ft long, she is 250ft longer than Titanic. In metric terms QM2 is 76.2 metres longer than Titanic.

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The Icon of the Seas, set to sail in the Caribbean in January, is five times the size of the Titanic. But it's unlikely to ever meet the same fate as the iconic ship, thanks to radar and iceberg monitoring. Royal Caribbean also says their cruise ships have enough lifeboats and rafts for everyone on board.

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The Wonder of the Seas is the world's largest cruise ship and weighs 236,857 Gross tonnes. It is owned by Royal Caribbean International and was delivered in January 2022.

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Thankfully, very few cruise ships have actually sunk in modern history. Even so, the Titanic's sinking impacted maritime law so much that there are more than enough lifeboats for all passengers and crew onboard any given sailing. Within the last 111 years, over 20 cruise ships and ocean liners have sunk.

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A rogue wave could sink a ship, although most modern cruise ships are big enough to withstand the majority of smaller rogue waves, though not without damage. Smaller ships are more at risk, but they are also more manoeuvrable so would stand a higher chance of being able to navigate out of the wave's path.

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U.S. law requires cruise ships to treat waste within about 3.5 miles of shore—but beyond that, there are no restrictions on dumping polluted sewage and graywater. Researchers have estimated that over a billion gallons of sludge made from excrement and food scraps are released into the ocean every year by cruise lines.

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Are cruise ships safe? Let's cut right to the chase: Yes, cruise ships are generally safe as long as you use common sense and remember that vessels are not impervious to accidents, illness or people who just don't know how to behave.

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In such cases, cruise lines have two options: head to a different port up or down the coast to disembark passengers or remain at sea until the ship's home port reopens.

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Not only do cruise ships avoid the path of a hurricane, they will chart a course with the optimal sea conditions to avoid the worst of any rough seas. Hurricane or not, there can be motion in the ocean, so no cruise is immune from waves.

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Only six of the 230 recorded attacks were against cruise ships. None have resulted in capture. A well-known incident occurred in 2005 when the Seabourn Spirit was fired at in a hijack attempt. The attempt was unsuccessful but is famous largely because of the footage of the event.

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ZipRecruiter reports that the annual pay for 2022 for cruise ship captains is $54,229 per year. It also reports that annual salaries can be as high as $100,000 to as low as $17,500. Such a great fluctuation in salary is reflective of the skill level, years of experience, location, and cruise line.

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Carnival is one world's largest cruise lines, but since it has existed, only one of its vessels has ever sunk, the Costa Concordia in 2012. Although Costa is an Italian cruise ship company, it is owned by Carnival Corporation.

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On many cruise ships the crew totals over 1,000 people and there are generally three or even four passengers to every crew member. It's a lot of bodies – from many different backgrounds – in a relatively small space.

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Modern cruise ships are, on average, 20% longer than the Titanic and twice as high. The average Royal Caribbean cruise ship is 325 meters long, 14 decks high and has a gross tonnage of 133,000. In comparison, the Titanic was only 269 meters long, 9 decks high, and had a gross tonnage of 46,000.

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