monarch of the sea

[Alex Franke]

The worst was Carnival Cruise Lines. We were on a ship called the Ecstasy.

I've sailed on it and its sister ships many times. While it's certainly not for everyone (including me), some people just love it. If you like neon, loud slot machines, loud marble-lined passageways, and guys crushing beer cans on their heads, then this ship is probably perfect for you!

I was there in '89... Yeah, there was controversy about the "biggest", because they measured using two different methods, one being physical size, and the other being gross tonnage. Norway was longer, and "the twins" were heavier. Norway drafted more, as she had to lay off the harbor at St. Thomas, and ferry people back and forth to the landing. I think they put Norway out to pasture six or seven years ago. Sovereign was sold, I understand, back in November, and renamed "MS Sovereign".

Yeah, the Sovereign of the Seas held the "largest" title (~74k GT) until they added the two decks to the Norway, which took her from about about 70K to about 76K in 1990. The Monarch came out in 1991, and then the Majesty in 1992. And you're right -- the Norway was a lot longer -- over 1,000 ft, which was too long for the Panama Canal. (I heard that she was built "as long as the Eifel tower is high and as wide as L'arc de Triomphe" out of national pride, and that when the designer found out -- too late -- that she wouldn't fit through the canals, he took his own life. This could just be legend, though -- I really don't remember.)

Of course 76,000 tons is nothing compared to the 220,000 ( ) tons of the Oasis class coming out this year... These ships will take all the records, including the one for length and cost. And they'll have the Viking Crown Lounge, too.

And for those of you why are thinking, "222,000 tons is awfully heavy," it's really not as much as it sounds. Tons in passenger ships is a measure of enclosed volume, not actual weight. So with all the big open spaces and atria in ships now, a 222,000 ton ship probably still displaces less than 100,000 tons of water -- probably close to that of an aircraft carrier.

I remember those tender rides on the Norway. She actually carried her own tenders -- the "Little Norways" I think. One thing I especially liked about that ship though, is that it felt more like a ship than a floating hotel. You could stand at one end and look down a long hall and see hallway curve down toward the middle of the ship and then back up again toward the other end. I don't think they build ships like that anymore...

Larry, sounds like you can probably speak to that!

[SHADOWFOX]

The worst was Carnival Cruise Lines. We were on a ship called the Ecstasy. I told LOML, we were lucky not to be on her sister ship.......the Agony.

Steve

Steve,

You crack me up on this post. My stomach still hurts from laughing.

Kind regards,

[cabinetman]

I remember spending some time at a cocktail party on the Monarch while I was working in St. Thomas. That was back in the days when she and her twin sister, the Sovereign, were the biggest cruisers afloat. That was a long time ago... God, I'm a geezer...

I think you might have made a mistake about twins. They were really triplets. It was a long time ago, their names were Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria.
.

[LCHIEN]

And for those of you why are thinking, "222,000 tons is awfully heavy," it's really not as much as it sounds. Tons in passenger ships is a measure of enclosed volume, not actual weight. So with all the big open spaces and atria in ships now, a 222,000 ton ship probably still displaces less than 100,000 tons of water -- probably close to that of an aircraft carrier.

Ship sizes are displacement in tons and that means how much water they displace in tons. Basically its also the weight of the ship, because what it displaces is exactly what force is requires to float the weight of the ship in equilibrium.
A 220,000 ton ship displaces 220,000 tons of water (when fully loaded), not 100,000 tons of water.

from Wiki Displacement (Ship):
" A floating ship always displaces an amount of water of the same mass as the ship."[2]

[Alex Franke]

Ship sizes are displacement in tons and that means how much water they displace in tons. Basically its also the weight of the ship, because what it displaces is exactly what force is requires to float the weight of the ship in equilibrium.
A 220,000 ton ship displaces 220,000 tons of water (when fully loaded), not 100,000 tons of water.

That's the weight, which (at least in the cruise ship industry) is actually referred to as displacement. Displacement may be the measure of ship size for military or cargo ships, but it's not in the cruise industry -- at least not as of five or so years ago.

Tonnage (or Gross Tonnage / GT, Gross Registered Tonnage / GRT) is how cruise ship sizes are ranked, and it's a measure of enclosed volume. (The "registered" version excludes areas that can't produce revenue, like crew's quarters.) It was adopted in the 60's as a means of calculating port fees, safety requirements, registration fees, etc.

One other term is dead weight (DWT) which is its displacement at full (safe) capacity, less it's light weight. (And light weight is the displacement with nothing onboard -- no fuel, cargo, etc). You see DWT used a lot for cargo ships, because the amount of cargo they can carry is clearly the point of a cargo ship

I don't know about military ships, though -- I would guess they use displacement as a measure because they're not commercial.

Edit: I found a couple of references to show that I'm not completely off my rocker:
* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonnage - GT, GRT, displacement, DWT, light weight and others, including some historical perspective
* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passenger_ship - see "measures of size" and there's even a list of the largest passenger ships since 1819.

[gsmittle]

Fine. I'm sitting here having a snow day... Actually, it's above freezing now, but all night we had freezing rain.

Twisty, those girls are cute as buttons! You might have to do what my dad did when young men came to visit my sister: clean his 12-gauge shotgun in front of the gentleman. I don't recall any of her dates getting her home late.

g.

[LCHIEN]

That's the weight, which (at least in the cruise ship industry) is actually referred to as displacement. Displacement may be the measure of ship size for military or cargo ships, but it's not in the cruise industry -- at least not as of five or so years ago.

Tonnage (or Gross Tonnage / GT, Gross Registered Tonnage / GRT) is how cruise ship sizes are ranked, and it's a measure of enclosed volume. (The "registered" version excludes areas that can't produce revenue, like crew's quarters.) It was adopted in the 60's as a means of calculating port fees, safety requirements, registration fees, etc.

One other term is dead weight (DWT) which is its displacement at full (safe) capacity, less it's light weight. (And light weight is the displacement with nothing onboard -- no fuel, cargo, etc). You see DWT used a lot for cargo ships, because the amount of cargo they can carry is clearly the point of a cargo ship

I don't know about military ships, though -- I would guess they use displacement as a measure because they're not commercial.

Edit: I found a couple of references to show that I'm not completely off my rocker:
* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonnage - GT, GRT, displacement, DWT, light weight and others, including some historical perspective
* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passenger_ship - see "measures of size" and there's even a list of the largest passenger ships since 1819.

OK, I'm wrong, you're right.
Thanks for the link, I learned something.

[lrogers]

The GRT (gross registered tonnage) is a Voulime/cargo capcity measurement. It all goes back to the days when wine was shipped in BIG barrels called tonnes. If you had a 30 ton ship, it could carry 30 tonnes of wine!

Today, it's a very complicated and important calculation. The ship's owner is charge by the vessel's GRT for things like dry docking, pilot fees, and canal fees.

Alex, you are correct, the navy goes on displacement.

For the ship yard, both measurements are important. The grt is how we arrive at our docking fees and displacement to make sure we can lift it (we have floating dry docks).

We have two fees we chargew the ship owner, the haul day fee and the layday fee.
The haul day fee is for setting the blocks, bring the ship into/out of dock and hauling it out/refloating. The layday is a fee charged for eveyday the ship sits in the dry dock.