Author Topic: Isn't she beautiful!!! (a parade of ugly cruise ships!)  (Read 78794 times)

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Offline Chris

Re: Isn't she beautiful!!! (a parade of ugly cruise ships!)
« Reply #90 on: Oct 14, 2009, 02:54 PM »
QE2 docked next to Jewel when we were aboard in September 08. Jewel may be 'okay' on her own, but next to the beauty of QE2 she was simply a floating apartment block, complete the graffiti all over her bow.

The Grand Class ships and their subsequent offspring (Azura et.al) are absolute eyesores - regardless of how nice they may be inside.

Ships such as Oriana, Aurora, Enchantment of the Seas and the Disney twins show us that form and function can be built beautifully. There is no excuse for floating boxes. 
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Offline jdl

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Re: Isn't she beautiful!!! (a parade of ugly cruise ships!)
« Reply #91 on: Oct 15, 2009, 01:16 PM »
The Disney ships certainly look the best of the bunch at the moment, as for Carribean Princess words fail me -

This ship for me is the totally pants (northern english expression for rubbish) side of cruising -thousands of people on board, all they are really interseted in is eating, drinking and gambling to excess.  No part of their trip is about the experience of the sea or the ship.  That said, modern cruise lines have been very sucessful in increasing their passenger numbers of late, and, at the same time sucessful in creating mono box, mobile cash machines known only to them as 'ships' and these are a fantastic vehicle to empty their passengers pockets of money.

I'm sure for some people the 'token' class system on Cundard whereby your evening meal location is determined by your cabin is totally outdated and represents all the negative aspects of English society but they ar probably the same people that were dispondant with some of the smaller QE2 cabins as they weren't all exactly the same as the other cabins they stayed in on their monobox cruise ships......

Sorry Rant over, hopefully no one on here has taken offence!

jdl

Offline Jem

Re: Isn't she beautiful!!! (a parade of ugly cruise ships!)
« Reply #92 on: Oct 25, 2009, 10:38 PM »
A block of flats at sea. Actually looks like one of them prison ships.

Cheers.

Online Isabelle Prondzynski

Re: Isn't she beautiful!!! (a parade of ugly cruise ships!)
« Reply #93 on: Oct 25, 2009, 11:03 PM »
Looks remarkably similar to Queen Victoria to my ignorant eyes... that is, apart from the obvious difference in the funnel...

Offline luzparis

Re: Isn't she beautiful!!! (a parade of ugly cruise ships!)
« Reply #94 on: Oct 25, 2009, 11:06 PM »
isabel it's a same class of the QV or the future QE they have for every compagny some modifications !!

Offline Chris

Re: Isn't she beautiful!!! (a parade of ugly cruise ships!)
« Reply #95 on: Nov 01, 2009, 10:05 AM »
Oasis in the paper today:
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Offline highlander0108

Re: Isn't she beautiful!!! (a parade of ugly cruise ships!)
« Reply #96 on: Nov 01, 2009, 03:04 PM »
isabel it's a same class of the QV or the future QE they have for every compagny some modifications !!

I believe the stern is not going to have all those added cabins that make the stern even boxier that it was in earlier Vista designs.  With the slightly added length of the Cunard versions of the Vista class of ships, at least the Victoria has a more graceful "liner-like" stern profile.  I do use that word loosely.  :D I feel that Queen Victoria is the best looking of all the Vista class and derivitives that are in the Carnival fleet.

Ken
"There will never be another one like her" QE2's last Master Ian McNaught
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Offline luzparis

Re: Isn't she beautiful!!! (a parade of ugly cruise ships!)
« Reply #97 on: Nov 09, 2009, 09:05 PM »
when the lifeboats are most beautiful than the cruise ship the epic life boat have a very modern look
http://www.meretmarine.com/article.cfm?id=111099
eheh ;)
« Last Edit: Nov 09, 2009, 09:09 PM by luzparis »

Offline Mauretania1907

Re: Isn't she beautiful!!! (a parade of ugly cruise ships!)
« Reply #98 on: Nov 12, 2009, 05:52 AM »
I thought that blimp thingy was a BOIL on her backside (oops, stern) Ugliness of the Seas, here we come. I wonder if she (it) will come to NZ. ProbaBLY not, too big to fit in Waitemata Harbour

Offline highlander0108

Re: Isn't she beautiful!!! (a parade of ugly cruise ships!)
« Reply #99 on: Nov 15, 2009, 08:38 PM »
Recalling my naval architecture class of years ago, the ship must have a sufficient GM (Metacentric height) for stability and I believe that there are standards such as IMO in place for this.  Perhaps someone more familiar with this can chime in.  While she most assuridly looks extremely top heavy, locating heavy machinery down low and the width of the ship aid in maintaining sufficient stability and no ship owner can send an unstable ship to sea.  Stabilizers are also not a factor in determining stability, but are added for passenger comfort.  I do believe that the ship can withstand more severe rolling that its occupants can take.  Here's a link to better explain stability, metacentric height, etc. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metacentric_height

Regarding the Epic, it just looks plain ugly with those added decks, like they were added last minute to increase passenger berth counts without regard to appearance.  Actually, it doe remind me a bit of what NCL did to the Norway later in her life.  >:(

Ken

"There will never be another one like her" QE2's last Master Ian McNaught
My Blog:  http://qe2-prideoftheclyde.blogspot.com/

Online Isabelle Prondzynski

Re: Isn't she beautiful!!! (a parade of ugly cruise ships!)
« Reply #100 on: Dec 22, 2009, 01:12 PM »
This is the very first picture in Cruise Critic's QE2 gallery :

http://photos.cruisecritic.com/showphoto.php?photo=13705

Does this picture win first prize in this thread here? It must at the very least be a strong contender  ;D  !

Online Peter Mugridge

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Re: Isn't she beautiful!!! (a parade of ugly cruise ships!)
« Reply #101 on: Dec 22, 2009, 01:20 PM »
^^^^^

Ooh... err... has a flying saucer from Mars landed on the back of a giant squid?
"It is a capital mistake to allow any mechanical object to realise that you are in a hurry!"

Offline Mauretania1907

Re: Isn't she beautiful!!! (a parade of ugly cruise ships!)
« Reply #102 on: Dec 24, 2009, 08:37 AM »
O good grief, is THAT what {acofic Dawn looks like. This is NOT a sight for sore eyes. As for Undesire of the Seas, I LOVED the stern view with the caption 'does my bum look big in this' Oh, dear, your bum looks huge in anything. When do they build an entirely curcular ship and anchor it as a permanent island?.
Go to sea indeed. Bring back the Achille Lauro - she was a hag, but at least she was all ship!

And they have the nerve to call these monstrosities ships? I have no wish to go in a ship which turns its back to the sea. I love lounging on deck and watching the bow wave spurl out from the bow as the ship goes on.

Offline Stowaway2k

Re: Isn't she beautiful!!! (a parade of ugly cruise ships!)
« Reply #103 on: Dec 24, 2009, 12:33 PM »
I do agree that many new cruise ships are extremely fugly... but...

to play Devil's Advocate here, the cry of "it doesn't look like a ship" goes back more than a century.

When steam was starting to rapidly replace sail, many mariners were appalled that these new dirty smokey behemouths didn't even look like ships at all.

Commodore David Bone of the Anchor Line makes this point in his autobiography.  When sailing up the Clyde to Glasgow, he couldn't believe his eyes at all these unshiplike machines being built at all the shipyards.  Of course he was eventually won over.

Cunard was endlessly touting their big Atlantic greyhounds as being floating hotels, "passengers will hardly notice that they are on a ship at all."   French Line etc. did the same thing, and this was one of their big selling points of the Queen Mary.   
It didn't end with the Queen Elizabeth 2 either.  Purists at the time, and many Cunard regulars, hated her.  Cunard actively promoted her as a floating resort, a "Vacation Island".

So, it's an old story, and perhaps the ugly boxes crowding the cruise lanes now is a look at what's to come?

"Form follows function" is an old rule of design, and much of what we would consider necessities for a ship to look like a ship, are simply either archaic and obsolete, or no longer wanted by the cruise line customers of today.

When the Mauretania (I) was sent to the scrappers, one of her former captains said that the only thing wrong with her was the public's desire for private bathrooms.   And now it's balconies,verandahs, and jacuzzi suites.

But, still, there is no excuse for some of the horrors being unleashed on the oceans of the world.   :o

Offline Tyne Turbine

Re: Isn't she beautiful!!! (a parade of ugly cruise ships!)
« Reply #104 on: Dec 24, 2009, 08:53 PM »
I must admit that forty or so years ago sailing up the Clyde on the PS Caledonia I was appalled at a new vessel on the stocks being built to replace my beloved Queen Mary. A year later when I sailed upriver on the PS Waverley and that new liner now named Queen Elizabeth 2, berthed in the fitting out basin complete with funnel and lifeboats being fitted, my thoughts had not mellowed. Then fast-forward to more recent times and I think it is fair to say my views have changed significantly, I must admit that things started to improve with the application of the traditional colour scheme, and were confirmed by the fitting of the larger funnel, or at least that is my humble opinion.

Perhaps one day I might appreciate the looks of Queen Mary 2, in the meantime I will just enjoy the design of the Waverley and Saga Ruby.