Hi everyone, I’m Chris Frame and welcome back to my channel.
The Queen Mary 2 is often heralded as the only ocean liner in active service. Entering service
in 2004 the ship was the first true transatlantic express liner built since QE2 entered service in
1969. At 345 metres long and 149,500 gross tons QM2 is the longest, tallest, widest,
largest and most expensive ocean liner ever built, when referring to the ship as an ocean liner I’m
often asked the question: “what's the difference between an ocean liner and a cruise ship?”
a fair question given the confusion caused by the terms often being incorrectly interchanged
when referring to the world's vast fleet of cruise ships. This question becomes even more
difficult to answer when you consider that QM2 (and the QE2 before her) were dual purpose liners
designed to perform the roles of both cruise ships and ocean liners
the vast majority of ships offering cruise voyages today are cruise ships designed to undertake
pleasure voyages largely in coastal waters - for example a Miami to Miami voyage taking in the
Bahamas or even world cruises are taking many ports and where the cruise ship hugs the coast
where possible ocean liners on the other hand are passenger ships that are designed to regularly
undertake a line voyage sailing between point a and point b across an expanse of open ocean,
perhaps the most iconic of these routes is the transatlantic crossing between North America and
Europe, made famous by the great ocean liners of the Cunard line, White Star line the United States
Lines, Norddeutscher Lloyd and Hamburg-Amerika Line, this stretch of water led to the birth of
the modern ocean liner driven by innovations to help shipping companies link Europe and America,
however there have been hundreds of line voyage routes during the era of the ocean liner
linking countries across the globe, these include many of the famous routes
such as Union Castle's Britain to South Africa service, P&O’s voyages linking Europe to India,
China and Australia as well as inter-Asia voyages and regular trans-pacific crossings;
to name just a few of the line voyages that existed. The first purpose-built ocean liner
was the S.S. Great Western of 1838, designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel the ship was to be the
first vessel able to cross the Atlantic using steam power for the majority of the journey,
there had been steamship crossings in the Atlantic prior to Great Western
however these ships only utilized their steam engine for short bursts and relied on auxiliary
sails and wind power for the majority of their journey - but Brunel’s design was novel - large
and efficient enough to provide improved buoyancy compared to earlier steamship designs
this coupled with improvements in engine technology enabled the Great Western to
undertake the majority of her voyages under power - setting her apart from the earlier steamships
unfortunately the Great Western's triumphant entry into service was challenged when a rival
firm chartered the 700 tonnes steamer Sirius and completed a transatlantic crossing ahead
of Great Western's maiden voyage, yet the Great Western (which departed four days after Sirius)
came to within a day of overtaking its rival helping to prove that Brunel’s purpose-built
ocean liner was the more advanced of the two vessels so what makes an ocean liner
ocean liners are designed to undertake long-duration deep ocean voyages to a
strict timetable as with modern air travel in the era of the ocean liner passengers expected
to depart and arrive on time while government mail and freight contracts held shipping lines
accountable to strict timetables - this meant that ocean liners had to be capable of sailing through
all weather conditions from flat calm to force 12. Lost time due to bad weather had to be made up
meaning powerful engines were employed while the early ocean liners were paddle steamers,
by the 1880s screw propellers had become the norm, by the 1900s turbines started
to eclipse reciprocating engines in powering ocean liners while modern ships like QM2 are
powered by diesel engines and gas turbines, so with that in mind what are some of the
ocean liner characteristics that can help you identify an ocean liner from a cruise ship:
[Music]
The Bow: On ocean liners, the area from the forward tip of the hull to the superstructure
is noticeably larger than that on a cruise ship. Ocean liner bows are designed to ensure
the superstructure is protected from the waves experienced in open ocean while some designs such
as the French lines Normandie, and Cunard’s Queen Mary 2 take this a step further and also employ
a breakwater to help deflect waves away from the superstructure and protect the ship [Music]
Ocean liners are very strong with steel noticeably thicker than that used on board cruise ships
this is to ensure the ship is strong enough to withstand the heavy seas that it will experience
in open ocean year after year a good example is the Queen Mary 2 which has steel plates between
28 and 30 millimetres thick far greater than the 20 to 23 millimetre thickness found on a typical
cruise ship [Music] nearly all ocean liners from the 1800s onwards had the navigational bridge on
or close to the topmost deck - this is to ensure not only a good view of the
long bow but also to protect the navigation equipment and bridge offices from the weather
we can see this design trait on modern liners such as QE2 and Queen Mary 2.
In contrast cruise ships often have several decks of passenger accommodation or forward-facing
lounges atop their bridge which can be an easy way to differentiate the two designs [Music]
Ocean liners are subject to heavy seas particularly during rough winter crossings,
as such the boat deck is usually near the top of the vessel superstructure
to protect the boats from high seas while this is a common trait amongst designs, there have
been some noticeable exceptions Queen Mary 2, for example appears to have her boat deck of midships
however it is important to note that the sheer size of the ship means that her boat
deck is approximately as high above the water line as QE2’s meaning her boats are safe. Some
ocean liners such as Oriana and Canberra had their boats lower in the hull while these ships
were not designed for the regular crossings of the characteristically rough Atlantic,
they were expected to operate line voyages to Australia regardless of the weather,
their boat decks included slanted supports with the boats held on davits within the hull
to ensure their safety during voyages you'll also notice that many cruise ships have their
lifeboats located within the hull this is to allow for large unobstructed balcony cabins to be built
in the superstructure with balcony cabins becoming a very important aspect of the cruise experience.
Ocean liners are designed to undertake a scheduled timely voyage as such ocean liners require more
speed than cruise ships, which are usually designed to meander at a more leisurely pace,
from port to port since the 1970s, many liners were converted to undertake cruising yet they
remained faster than their modern counterparts the fastest ocean liner of all time was the ss United
States which entered service in 1952, she still holds a record for the fastest westbound
transatlantic crossing with an average speed of 34.51 knots achieved during that crossing,
today Queen Mary 2 is the fastest passenger ship in service, QE2 was even faster able to achieve
32.5 knots and regularly sailed at 30 knots during cruises which allowed the ship to take
in more ports and still maintain her cruising schedule, speed isn't as important for cruise
ships in fact Cunard’s current Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth both have top speeds of
23.7 knots which is comparable to the Lucania and Campania, Cunard liners built in 1882,
It is also important to note that there are a few ocean liners still in service
these are ships that meet all of the above criteria and were designed for lion voyages
though today they perform cruising roles these include the Marco Polo, and the Astoria
both of which are popular with shipping enthusiasts.
Since the advent of the jet the need for full-time ocean liners has diminished
as a result some lines created dual purpose liner’s dual-purpose liners are those that
were designed to undertake both functions, this includes Rotterdam, Oceanic, QE2 and Queen Mary 2.
These ships in every respect to ocean liners, but they've also had cruising elements included into
their design this means they can operate line voyages, when the demand is high
and yet easily pivot to cruising to allow them to remain profitable year round,
I hope you found this video interesting if you did please give it a thumbs up or leave a comment
if you like this kind of content please subscribe and don't forget to hit the notification bell
so you don't miss future videos, if you're interested in more ocean liner content check out
my photographic tour of the QE2, the most used and longest serving express liner of all time
or if you are more interested in cruising news check out my cruise news playlist
thanks again for watching and until the next time we are able to cruise I hope to ‘sea’ you on board
[Music]