Welcome to CruisePage.com's Maritime Q & A page, where you can find the answers to many common and some not-so-common questions about cruise ships and other maritime related matters.

Many of the questions and answers listed on this page were originally topics of discussion in Cruise Talk our online forum covering a wide variety of cruise-related subjects.

If you have a cruise or maritime-related question that you would like answered, we encourage you to stop by Cruise Talk to see if one of our many contributors might have an answer.

Question:   How is the weight of a ship determined and what is gross tonnage?
(courtesy of daveandzeen)

Answer:   It has been said that the measurement of tonnage is as much an art as a science. As soon as a new regulation is brought out myriad Naval Architects, Engineers, Designers, et al, immediately see how they can get around it to their (more...)

Question:   Can someone with technical smarts fill me in on the following questions about the pods being used by cruise ships today for propulsion... (courtesy of Cambodge)

Answer:   1) There are four suppliers, two of them dominate the market, with two more seeking orders: ABB Azipod is supplying vessels at KMY, Fincantieri and Meyer Werft; competitor Mermaid (a joint venture between Cegelec and Alstom) has secured orders for ships being built at (more...)

Question:   I've noticed that some of the older ships in service today seem to be operating with fewer lifeboats than they had originally. Why is that? (courtesy of Joe at TravelPage.com)

Answer:   OK Joe....lifeboats today are superfluous and even somewhat dangerous.. Originally they were designed to be able to be sailed hundreds of miles to the nearest land and to (more...)

Question:   I've been browsing around, mostly looking into cruising by freighter, and keep coming across The Jones Act which appears to prohibit ships taking passengers between US ports unless the ships are US-flagged.... Can someone perhaps explain The Jones Act in plain words (as opposed to legalese!)?
(courtesy of Steve Read)

Answer:   OK...there are actually TWO pieces of legislation involved. The First and main one is the The Passenger Vessel Services Act and the second the Jones Act. (more...)

Question:   In a recent man-overboard situation, the Carnival Destiny was said to have made an abrupt right turn followed by a Williamson Turn.

Can someone diagram or describe (or both) a "Williamson Turn" please. During the past multi-decades I have been a passenger aboard many troopships, and they usually practiced recovery of "man overboard" at least once a voyage. But the term "Williamson Turn" is alien to me. It appeared to me they simply practiced the "classical naval manouver!"

Details?
(courtesy of Robert Ryan)

Answer:   Different man-overboard manoeuvres may be required, depending upon the situation prevailing and the type of ship involved. There are three basic situations... (more...)

Question:  How heavy do the anchors have to be to keep a 100,000 ton cruise ship in place? How heavy are QM2's anchors? (courtesy of Tom Anthony)

Answer:   Its a common misconception that the anchors are what holds the ship in place. In actual fact, the anchor is merely to keep the end of the cable stationary and... (more...)

Question:  What are the major changes to the SOLAS regulations that will be put into effect in 2010? I'd imagine the changes must be significant, as they are forcing some of the older ships into retirement. Also, when were the last major updates to the SOLAS regulations? (courtesy of Rego007)