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The publication of a photo of a modern cruise ship often provokes outrage from the more traditionally minded members. I feel that ships are working ladies and the job they are required to perform changes over time and as a result the appearance of the ships also changes. In the past liners were designed to carry (by order of volume) express freight and mail, emigrants and premium fare passengers. Today they only carry leisure trade passengers, who will not tolerate the primitive on board living conditions of the past. This inevitably changes the external appearance of the ships.
The critical comparative between passenger ships is net tonnage. Gross registered tonnage (GRT) is the measurement of the internal volume of a ship on the basis of 100 cubic feet being equal to 1 ton. Net tonnage is GRT less the space occupied by machinery, bunkers, crew accommodation and store rooms.
The Cunard Line Aquitania was 45,647 GRT, 21,998 tons net. She could carry a maximum of 3,263 passengers, two thirds of them emigrants. These figures provide an average of only 6.74 tons per passenger. As a result she had a low and sleek profile. Most of her passengers were crammed into lower deck dormitories.
When the Queen Mary was built her GRT was 81,235 tons and her net tonnage was 34,120. Her initial passenger capacity was 2139, producing 15.95 tons per passenger. After WW II her passenger capacity was reduced to 1,995, improving her net tonnage per passenger figure to 17.10 tons.
When Queen Elizabeth 2 was introduced her GRT was 65,863 and her net tonnage 38,244. She could carry 2005 passengers, giving 19.07 tons per passenger. After many rebuilds and reduction in passenger numbers, this figure is now 20.63 tons per passenger.
The Queen Mary 2 is 148,258 GRT and 98,720 net. Her maximum passenger load is 3,090, giving 31.95 tons per passenger. That is twice as much space per passenger than was provided in Queen Mary when she entered service and almost five times that available in Aquitania.
Of the original 2,139 passengers on Queen Mary, 711 were in the highest grade accommodation and she set new standards by providing 90% of them with a porthole. After the last major rebuild of Queen Elizabeth 2, 69% of all passengers have an outside cabin and a handful in the penthouse suites have balconies. The Queen Mary 2 provides 78% of its passengers with outside cabins and 73% with balconies. The modern demand is for balconies.
I have a greatest admiration for the classic liners of the early 20th Century but I suggest that their modern day sisters are equally worth our admiration.
Fred
The critical comparative between passenger ships is net tonnage. Gross registered tonnage (GRT) is the measurement of the internal volume of a ship on the basis of 100 cubic feet being equal to 1 ton. Net tonnage is GRT less the space occupied by machinery, bunkers, crew accommodation and store rooms.
The Cunard Line Aquitania was 45,647 GRT, 21,998 tons net. She could carry a maximum of 3,263 passengers, two thirds of them emigrants. These figures provide an average of only 6.74 tons per passenger. As a result she had a low and sleek profile. Most of her passengers were crammed into lower deck dormitories.
When the Queen Mary was built her GRT was 81,235 tons and her net tonnage was 34,120. Her initial passenger capacity was 2139, producing 15.95 tons per passenger. After WW II her passenger capacity was reduced to 1,995, improving her net tonnage per passenger figure to 17.10 tons.
When Queen Elizabeth 2 was introduced her GRT was 65,863 and her net tonnage 38,244. She could carry 2005 passengers, giving 19.07 tons per passenger. After many rebuilds and reduction in passenger numbers, this figure is now 20.63 tons per passenger.
The Queen Mary 2 is 148,258 GRT and 98,720 net. Her maximum passenger load is 3,090, giving 31.95 tons per passenger. That is twice as much space per passenger than was provided in Queen Mary when she entered service and almost five times that available in Aquitania.
Of the original 2,139 passengers on Queen Mary, 711 were in the highest grade accommodation and she set new standards by providing 90% of them with a porthole. After the last major rebuild of Queen Elizabeth 2, 69% of all passengers have an outside cabin and a handful in the penthouse suites have balconies. The Queen Mary 2 provides 78% of its passengers with outside cabins and 73% with balconies. The modern demand is for balconies.
I have a greatest admiration for the classic liners of the early 20th Century but I suggest that their modern day sisters are equally worth our admiration.
Fred