Ocean Liner or Cruise Ship?

                        A lot of you have been pestering me to explain to you the difference between a Cruise Ship and an Ocean Liner.

                                    Really Donny? Just how many have pestered you?

                        Hmmm, let me think….actually, to be honest, I’ve only had a few queries about this subject.

                                    Just a few? Can’t you be a little more specific?

                        Well, now that I think of it……in reality, absolutely no one has been remotely interested in finding out this vital information.

                                    Really Don?…. No one?….So what you’re saying is that  not even ONE of us has hinted at this subject?

                        Well…. Ummm….. Yea,….but….. but….I can only assume that it is because you didn’t even know that there was a difference between the two! And now that I’ve told you that…..

Aren’t you even remotely interested in finding out?

                                    (sound of crickets chirping)

                        Well all righty then! The crickets want to know, so here we go! The rest of you may tag along if you’d like, but you’ll need to keep up ‘cuz crickets are pretty smart!

                        It may be easiest just to make the following  statement….

“All Ocean Liners can be Cruise Ships, but all Cruise Ships cannot be Ocean Liners.”

            Ok! That’s it class! Thanks for attending, see you next time!

                        Hey! Wait just a wave-soaked minute there! That’s all we get? No in depth, no one cares, mundane, analysis? What happens if we’re on ‘Jeopardy’ and this category comes up? We’ll all look like fools! Please don’t dismiss us just yet…. tell us more!

                        Well….OK…. If you insist….

                        Let’s take that last part first, ‘All Cruise Ships cannot be Ocean Liners.’ That is because that they are built differently and have a few other fundamental differences. For example…..

                                    First, the hull design on a Cruise Ship is designed for more tranquil seas and shallower waters. The top sides are a little different also. In most Liners you will find that the Bridge is located a bit further behind the bow while on a Cruise Ship the Bridge is located further forward, with very little distance between the bow and where the superstructure begins. This is because an Ocean Liner needs that Bridge further back and proportionally higher for when it encounters inclement weather, mostly in Trans-Atlantic crossings. Now let’s add in another significant difference and that is the thickness of the steel used in the making of the hull. Since a Liner needs to be able to withstand the rigors of constant ocean crossings, especially in the North Atlantic, the hull is made of steel that is an inch (or so) thick. A Cruise Ship, on the other hand, does not need to be built to those standards as they rarely experience that kind of use. So, their hulls are built with steel that is around ¾ of an inch thick. Plenty safe for an occasional “Re-Positioning Cruise” that would have the Cruise Ship move from Europe in the Summer to the Caribbean in the Winter, but this is only occasionally done, not the norm.

                                    Now, having said that, Cruise Ships are perfectly safe when it comes to being in a sizeable storm, there is nothing unsafe about them. It is just that an Ocean Liner is better designed to minimize the effects of that storm and keep up a headway that is significantly faster than a Cruise Ship.

                                    Let’s touch on that topic for a second. The designed cruising speed of a Cruise Ship is somewhere in the 19 to 21 knots range, whilst on an Ocean Liner, that cruising speed can be in excess of 30 knots. This is because an Ocean Liner is designed (and expected) to be able to maintain a tight schedule when it come to those Trans-Atlantic crossings.

                                    So that fact alone brings us to another important difference between the two, Power. The Ocean Liner has significantly larger (read powerful) engines to get her moving and then maintain those higher speeds. It doesn’t mean that an Ocean Liner can’t cruise at lower speeds, in fact, they accomplish this very nicely, when they are acting as “Cruise Ships.”

It’s just that when you need to ring the Engine Room for ‘Full Speed Ahead’, they can ‘pour on the coals’ (old term 😊…..there is no more coal on board, as a matter of fact, even the QE II was converted from steam turbines to a diesel-electric configuration back in 1987) and either maintain headway nicely because of her hull design or maneuver herself and quickly stay out of harm’s (a storm?) way.

Another hidden (below the waterline) fact is the draught of an Ocean Liner is significantly more than that of a Cruise Ship. The latter is designed to draw about 27’ of water and the former is closer to 34’. This is all part of the design as a ship that sits lower in the water is inherently more stable than one that sits higher. This also is one of the reasons for the higher power needs of a Liner.

Take a look at the four images below. The ship that we are presently on will be a good example as she is practically the same size as the QM2, so the renderings match up nicely.

Note where the small black arrows are pointing. These are their respective Bridge locations. Note the shorter distance between the bow and the Bridge on the Majestic as compared to the same area on the QM2. Also note the respective heights above the water that the lifeboats are located. On a Cruise Ship, in calmer waters, the lifeboats can be at a relatively lower level. On an Ocean Liner, with the possibility of higher seas, the lifeboats are stored at a higher level on the ship.

Just for fun I’ve added a few renderings of the QEII and the Queen Mary, both designed with the older traditional Ocean Liner parameters. This includes the staterooms being mostly below the superstructure and the other spaces, dining. etc. located above decks. There was no such thing as a Balcony Room. By the time the QM2 was designed in 2001, balconies were a ‘must’, so Cunard incorporated these and still managed to keep the classic ‘lines’ of a proper Ocean Liner intact.

Nowadays, when we speak of Ocean Liners, there is really only one purpose-built Ocean Liner left in service. She is Cunard’s Queen Mary 2. I say ‘purpose built’ because Cunard knew that the venerable older Queen Elizabeth II (QE2) was needing to be replaced, and they made the gutsy decision not to abandon the traditional Ocean Liner Trans-Atlantic Service and design and build a new ship that retained that history, its customs, and the functions of a traditional liner. They hired Stephen Payne, a British Naval Architect, to design a new ship from the keel up, to fulfill this particular need. (More on that later.)

I was fortunate enough to be on the QM2 in 2007 when she was only three years old. The Cruise embarked from NYC for an 11-Day Cruise to the Eastern Caribbean. Now, this was an example of an Ocean Liner being used as a Cruise Ship. Cunard’s Trans-Atlantic schedule runs only from April through December for all the right reasons…. When a Trans-Atlantic Crossing is nowadays primarily a voyage of pleasure rather than transportation, no one in their right mind would choose to undertake this during the North Atlantic ‘s stormy season.

Well, maybe most people……. 😊

Anyway, this Cruise was a bit more opulent than a normal Cruise only because it was on Cunard. This Line tries its best to hold on to some of the more traditional ways of traveling by ship. I remember looking at the Brochure the months before we embarked, lots of folks standing around in tuxedos and gowns. I felt like I was seeing stills from Downton Abbey, and this suited me just fine! Out I went and garnered a brand-new wardrobe vowing to myself that I was not going to come across as some country bumpkin that belonged down in the Engine Room! Brooks Brothers stock shot up for a week or so as I procured item after item and as Embarkation Day rolled around, I felt quite secure in my decisions.

                        Hah!

                        Did I ever get sucked in!

                        I think that Cunard and Brooks Brothers colluded in trying to foist a purported higher lifestyle scenario upon me. Upon boarding I found out that the vast majority of folks aboard were enrolled in the same Class as me, Brittania Class. Cunard is one of the few Lines that as a regular practice, employ a “Class”  version of Service.  The highest is the Queen’s Grille, then the Princess Grille, and finally, the Britannia Class. The previous two are mainly Suites and the like, the Britannia Class is the regular balcony-type stateroom and has their meals in the Brittania Dining Room.

                                    So…… was I a tad over dressed at times?

Not really, but I was one of the better dressed passengers as I found out that, even though there was classic British Service especially in the two Grille Classes, that regular folks like me and you can be aboard and not feel so hoity-toity!

                        That’s all well and good Donny, but what in the name of St. Snobby does that have to do with the difference between an Ocean Liner and a Cruise Ship?

I’m glad you asked that Sir Landlubber!

The answer is that the next difference is the Travelling Classes, definitely distinctive from a Cruise Ship, but as I found out (much to the future chagrin of Brooks Brothers) that if you would like to experience the wonders of a great ship, the Queen Mary 2, go ahead! Brittania Class is really no more expensive than a regular cabin on a regular Cruise Line and no one stood around in their Tuxedos and Ball Gowns!

Here’s a fun story about the QEII and the QM2.

Note the difference in the way that their respective names are written, and that reason is for a specific purpose. Back in 1967 when the Queen Elizabeth the Second was christened the honor obviously fell to the current Queen at the time, Elizabeth the Second. But here’s the rub….. the Ship was not specifically supposed to be named after her. It was just supposed to be a second ship named the Queen Elizabeth. But when the Queen swung the bottle of Champagne across the bow she said. “I christen thee Queen Elizabeth the Second” (her own name).  Now, no one really knows if this was done intentionally 😊 or was it just a slip-up but there is a definite difference (ask a Brit!) between the two and Cunard, (the savvy businesspeople that they are) decided not to call out the Queen on it and just subtly morphed the name to Queen Elizabeth the Second or the QEII.

            Fast-forward to 2004 and the launching of the Queen Mary 2. We all know that there is an existing Queen Mary, and she has been secured in Long Beach California since 1967. Recalling the slight mix-up (?) that occurred back in the day at the christening of the QEII, the officials made it perfectly clear that the name of the new ship was to be the Queen Mary 2, a huge difference than it being named the Queen Mary the Second.

                                    Hence the spelling difference!

But we still all affectionally dub them the QEII and the QM2…. Sounds the same, but……

Now for the last story of the day…. (I promise!)

            Earlier I mentioned that the QM2 was designed by the British Naval Architect, Stephen Payne. I was aboard the QEII in 2008 when she sailed her last Trans-Atlantic crossing before being permanently berthed in Dubai. Stephen Payne was fittingly aboard as a lecturer and relayed this story to us. Stepen was enamored with ocean liners ever since he was a young lad in the early/mid 1960’s. He had seen the Queen Mary, the S.S. United States, and had visited the QEII one time when she was in port in Southampton. Stepen was an avid watcher of the British children’s program, Blue Peter, which holds the distinction of being the longest running children’s program in the world. It started broadcasting in1958 and is still going strong. Blue Peter has a kind of news hour/information/how-to format obviously tailored for children. When the original ex-Queen Elizabeth burned in Hong Cong harbor in 1972, the Program ran a segment on her and concluded their broadcast with the statement that “there will be nothing like her ever built again.”

                        Ok, I think that you know where this is going….

Young Stephen took this personally, disagreed with the Program and with the help of one of his teachers, wrote a letter to Blue Peter dissenting with their opinion and not only would the world see another great liner built, but he, in fact, would be the one to design and build her. They wrote back congratulating him for his beliefs but cautioned him not to get his hopes up.

                        Thirty years later Stephen Payne was presented with an official apology from Blue Peter.

Today there is only one Ocean Liner left in service, Stephen Payne’s and Cunard’s  Queen Mary 2. Unlike liners of old, QM2 does not compete with aircraft for passengers – but maintains a mode of transport that appeals to people wishing to reconnect with a slower and classic pace of the past.

                   Tuxedos optional.

Well, that concludes today’s lesson. If you’ve gotten this far you are truly a patient and indulging person, and I thank you.

The crickets thank you too!