[Pompeyfan]

I know absolutely nothing about ship design other than the fact the former passenger liners and I assume cargo liners were designed to cope with heavy seas. I say this because the designer of QM2, S.M Payne said in a letter to Ships Monthly a few years ago that QM2 was designed to be at home in the hostile North Atlantic saying that the boxy design of modern day cruise ships with their boxy characteristics making them totally unsuitable for the winter North Atlantic route which explains why they are not employed on it. But on first sight, QM2 looks a bit boxy to me. In fact, I think she rolled like mad on her maiden voyage. But like I said, I know nothing about design, and just quoting what S. M. Payne said. He wa responding to a letter complaining about the design of QM2 returning to styles of yesteryear rather than sticking to modern beauties(the letter writer words not mine)such as Explorer of the Seas. Mr Payne went onto say magical words to my ears that QM2 was not only designed for the trans-Atlantic but was the first true liner for 34 years since QE2. He told the writer than Explorer of the Sea was a cruise ship, not a tran-Atlantic liner.

Whether any of this has anything to do with ship design as posted by Fred, I am not too sure. But it could well explain some of it?. David