Traveling by ship-what does it mean?

Ship is a vehicle that carries goods and people across the seas, oceans, rivers or canals. Ship and boat have been used by human since ancient time. Although most of inter-continental trips have been replaced by jet planes, there as still significant number of people who like to travel by ships especially the cruise ones. Cruise ships are similar to passenger ships in many aspects but offer more pleasure activities and round-trip itinerary which most passenger ships do not provide. So, what does it mean to travel by ship?

KM Doloronda

Longer trip duration
Because ship is slower than airplane, traveling by ship to certain destination will take longer time than by airplane. For example, for reaching Numfor island in the Geelvink bay of New Guinea, a ferry boat needs around 5 hours whereas a single propelled airplane needs only 20 minutes.
More Activities
To cater for the needs of passengers during a sea voyage from one harbor to another, operators of cruise ships have to build facilities and arrange activities that passengers can enjoy on board. Passengers will not feel bored because they can watch dolphins, sea scapes in the middle of the sea and watch latest movies or even swim and drink with other passengers.
More Goods and Passengers
The capacity of a big passenger ship or cruise ship can reach up to 5000 people or even more whereas the carrying capacity of the largest airplane is around 500 people. In other words, if we travel by ship, we will see more people on board and be able to carry more luggages. The largest cruise ships in the world such as the Oasis of the Seas and the Allure of the Seas can be considered as floating towns because inside the cruise ships we can find a lot of facilities that most small towns need to serve their inhabitants such as hospitals, recreational areas (cinemas, gaming, swimming pools, theatres, etc.), sport and fitness centers, shopping centers, restaurants and even libraries.
More Wastes and Threats to Marine Environment
Ships that carry large number of passengers will definitely produce more wastes both organic and inorganic. They have to be properly handled to prevent them from harming the environment especially the coral reefs that are homes to large number of marine animals. In addition to installing wastes processing machines on board cruise and passenger ships, the passengers have to be informed to not not throwing wastes into the sea. They must dispose their wastes in garbage bins that have been provided on every deck of the ships.
Safety of Life At Sea
I already said that a ship can carry thousands of people across deep sea. The weather at sea is always changing. Today's ship has been equipped with radars, GPS devices and telecommunication equipment that will help him traveling at sea to its desired destination. Big waves often cause a cruise ship to roll on tranverse direction. This makes a lot of people suffer from sea sick. To handle people with this temporary sickness, ship operator hire doctors or health works who will work in the clinic helping passengers dealing with their health problems.
Faster Ship with Better Stability
Naval architects now have been able to design ships and boats that can travel faster across the seas with improved stability. Innovations on the hull forms have led shipbuilding industry to twin hull boats called catamaran or three hulls (trimaran) or even pentamaran. Twin hull boat with small waterplane areas called swath is now seen as a great marine vehicle that can carry large number of passengers with relatively better stability than conventional monohul boat with the same passenger carrying capacity. by Charles Roring
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