Expedition cruising puts seakeeping in spotlight

摘要

Many years ago, a senior technical officer of Carnival group, the world's largest cruise shipping company, said in a presentation that naval architects often do not have experience of harsh conditions at sea. As a result, designers often underestimate the forces that a cruise ship has to face. The rapid development of expedition cruising has put this issue firmly back on the table. There are about 30 expedition cruise ships on order at the moment. They range in size from roughly 7,000 to 30,000gt. In addition, ships aiming for the top end of the market tend to be much smaller than the 150,000gt plus contemporary market giants. Ships of this type currently on order have a gross tonnage of about 50,000, while some ultra-luxury cruise yachts have a tonnage roughly half of this. A key difference between these ships and vessels of the expedition type is that they do not sail to regions with frequently challenging sea conditions, such as high latitudes north and south.