Cruise Ships

Some of the largest cruise ships and ocean liners can carry more than 3,000 people.

Cruise Ships and Ocean Liners
By Leo

Cruise ships and ocean liners are similar, but different. Ocean liners are made to transport people across the ocean. Cruise ships are made to go from one port to another, making stops along the way. Ocean liners are designed for speed and rough weather so people can get where they want to go. Cruise ships are designed for luxurious rides and comfort for the passengers.

In the late eighteen hundreds, ocean liners were introduced. They were a lot more efficient than the old wooden vessels. By the early nineteen hundreds ocean liners were very popular. That’s because jet planes weren’t invented yet, so people couldn’t fly over the ocean. Once jets were invented, people didn’t use ocean liners as much. Most of the old ocean liners have been destroyed or used for scrap metal.

One of the most famous ocean liners in history was the Titanic. The Titanic was the largest, most luxurious ship ever built at the time. It was thought to be unsinkable, but after running into an iceberg on April 14^th, 1912, about 400 miles off of Newfoundland, Canada, the Titanic went down killing most of its passengers.

The Queen Mary 2 (QM2) is the first true ocean liner to be built in thirty-five years. It is the largest, widest, tallest and most expensive ocean liner ever to be built. It travels at approximately 30 knots (about 34.5 miles per hour). Her maiden voyage was in January of 2004.

Today, cruise ships and oceans liners are like huge floating hotels. On board you can find such things as swimming pools, shops, restaurants, casinos, movie theaters, spas, arcades, playrooms for kids, and more. Cruise ships and ocean liners also have cabins for the passengers.

The top part of the ship is called the superstructure and is where the bridge is. The bridge is where the ship’s captain works. The superstructure also holds a navigation room and officer cabins. Unlike a hotel, the crew, or workers on these ships, have places to stay, because they can’t drive home after work. The crew includes cooks, cleaners, waiters, entertainers and more.

Cruise ships are an interesting form of transportation because the ride itself is more important than the destination.

Citations

Books

Butterfield, Moria. Look Inside Cross-Sections Ships. New York: Dorling Kindersly Publishing, Inc, 1994.

Cooper, Jason. Cruise Ships. Vero Beach: The Rourke Corporation, Inc, 1999.

Online Sources

“The Grave of the Titanic.” Gulf of Maine Research Institute. February 2, 2005 <http://octopus.gma.org/space1/titanic.html>.

Lightbody, Rob. “The Queen Mary 2” Rob Lightbody’s Website. January 30, 2005 <http://www.roblightbody.com/liners/gmz/index.htm>.

“Ocean Liners vs. Cruise Ships.” The Oregonian. January 3, 2005 <http://www.oragonlive.com/travel/oragonian/index.ssf?/travel/oregonian/040201oceanliner.html>.

Images

Copyrighted clip art and photographs from "Microsoft Office Online" <http://office.microsoft.com/clipart/default.aspx?lc=en-us&cag=1> (October-March, 2004-2005). Clip art only available to licensed users for non-commercial purposes.