How Ocean Liners Could Return

what would it be like if ocean liners became a reliable means of Transit once again I know the first thought that comes to your mind is probably definitely not they are thing of the past airplanes are better end of discussion but I don't think that's the end of the discussion I have a few arguments to make about how ocean liners might actually return in the future but first here is the obligatory explanation about the differences between an ocean liner and a cruise ship for the people who are watching and don't know the difference and yes I need to explain this for the rest of the video to make sense for those new to this topic RMS Titanic was an ocean liner not a cruise ship the difference is that ocean liners were designed to get you from point A to point B and do it on a reliable schedule a cruise ship might take you from Florida to the Bahamas but if extreme weather rolls in the cruise line will do everything it can to either sail around the bad weather even if it means getting to the port much later than usual or they'll even cancel the trip to the port ocean liners did not have that kind of flexibility if you needed to get from New York to Southampton and a massive North Atlantic storm was in your way the ship needed to sail right through it this is why ocean liners were constructed differently the hull extended much higher above the water line than that of modern cruise ships to better withstand massive waves as a result they also put their lifeboats much higher up for protection ocean liners developed more Rob robust steel frames and maintain thicker steel plates all the way around the ship than cruise ships have this was so the ship could withstand the rigorous flexing when they crested huge swells ocean liners needed to get to their destinations as quickly as possible to compete with other lines so the ships would progressively be built faster through the decades ships like RMS Queen Mary and SS United States had a surfice speed of 29 knots which was just a regular speed they maintained across the ocean the the fastest cruise ships in the world would be quite lucky if they could reach 25 knots at Full Speed Queen Mary's top speed was almost 33 knots and SS United States was officially recorded to reach just over 38 knots you can also see a difference on the exterior of the ships ocean liners had longer boughs that were designed to cut through massive ocean swells whereas cruise ships have shorter boughs designed for riding over a wave at slower speed ocean liners have stepped Sterns designed for breaking up the impact of a wave that might slam into its aft end whereas a cruise ship will develop a Stern that best suits its passenger capacity I don't say all of this to make cruise ships seem weak I'm simply stating facts cruise ships were designed for leisure and entertainment while ocean liners were designed for getting people to a destination as fast as possible while a cruise ship might just survive the worst that the sea can throw at it an ocean line L ER will get through it with minimal disruption to its voyage and its passengers I doubt it's any mystery why ocean liners are not a significant transport industry anymore they were replaced by something much faster and statistically safer airliners the end of the 1960s also saw the end of the ocean liner industry though some stragglers remained offering pleasure cruises to popular destinations while storms raged on the North Atlantic it got to the point where by the late 1990s and early 2000s the only remaining ocean liner still doing transatlantic crossings on a regular schedule was kinard's Queen Elizabeth 2 also known as the QI 2 as the ship approached the end of its service life there would be a big question looming over the heads of kard and fans of ocean liners will there be another as it turns out there would be Kinard ended up putting in an order for a successor that they would call Queen Mary 2 and at the time of her maiden voyage in the year 2004 she was the largest fastest and most luxurious passenger ship on the ocean she took over the task of doing regularly scheduled transatlantic crossings and continued long after QE2 was retired in the year 2008 the year 2024 will see the luxurious Queen Mary 2 reach her 20-year Milestone and she's still a classy looking ship two decades after going into service most passenger ship only see an average of 20 years in service Queen Mary 2 as it so happens is the last remaining ocean liner still serving as a liner so as qm2 reaches the halfway point in her service life people are starting to wonder yet again will there be another not only do I think there will be another I'm starting to see ways that other cruise ship lines might want to jump on that proverbial ship before it sails first of all let's talk about air travel many of you have been on a plane before but for those who haven't yet let me explain a few pros and cons Pro you can practically fly anywhere in the world including over major oceans con you are stuffed into a metal tube with about 200 other people and hardly have any room to stretch out Pro if traveling a distance of 1,000 miles or more you get to your destination faster than any other Transportation method including the time it takes to get into the airport terminal and wait for takeoff con getting into the terminal particularly if you live in the United States is one of the most stressful and timeconsuming Transit obligations you'll ever do I'm out of Pros so we'll continue with cons con bad weather can either cancel your flight or even redirect it midair con food on airplanes is often terrible con people who are sensitive to altitude changes and whose ears don't pop easily like mine can be in pain throughout the whole Flight Con you can pay a hefty price and select the seat you most desire only for you to later be bumped to a worse seat and still expected to pay the same high price it's true it recently happened to a friend of mine con you may really despise the person you're forced to sit next to you for 1 to 16 hours con there's no room in the overhead compartment for your carry-on luggage con you breathe the same air everyone else immediately around you is breathing out that includes any other kinds of winds they release con you know what I could be listing these all day let me just put it this way there are a lot of reasons in this day and age why someone like me would rather chew off their own arm than pay for the worst transport experience of their life aboard a jet airliner oh and let me add that if the technology aboard the airplane were to malfunction catastrophically it could lead to the whole whole thing dropping out of the sky with no survivors however on a ship if technology fails catastrophically then the ship is set a drift at Sea where another ship can come to the rescue it might be a terrible experience like those who had to live on that cruise ship that became poop Central but you'll very likely Live to Tell the tale and be compensated for it so you might wonder why if it is so terrible the airline industry is growing so rapidly that brings me to my next point there is still a high demand to get around let's put it this way there is a huge amount of people that fly from LA to San Francisco and the amount is only growing but just as there are huge amounts of people booking those flights and driving up the cost of a ticket there are just as many people if not more who want to travel but do not see a decent way of getting there besides using an airplane this is why the highspeed rail industry is experiencing a boom that is a subject with its own controversies and issues but the point is that the idea of a high-speed train gives you the option to not take a plane if we're talking about crossing the North Atlantic to get from North America to Europe the most efficient way is by plane but as costs rise and the experience of flying worsens more and more people such as myself will be looking for an alternative I plan to take a tri Tri to the UK to film and Vlog lots of historic places there's a link below if you want to donate to help me book that trip a lot sooner just a Shameless plug for you but when I considered flying there I decided I just didn't want to in my honest opinion just my take on it flying to the UK is not something that would be my first choice that's how much I hate the experience of flying that's why I chose my Transit method to be aboard the Queen Mary too her regularly scheduled Crossings and luxury experience is something that appeals to me though I will admit the crossing is quite pricey the cheapest passenger cabin is only a little bit more expensive than airplane ticket and I get a week to relax on my way there the only thing is that not everyone has the luxury to spend a week at sea but let me put it this way the Queen Mary 2 was designed to cross the North Atlantic in 5 days but in recent years they've slowed her down to just about 7 to8 days the reason being that her passengers aren't in any rush to get across the ocean but if they were she could easily speed up if there was a high enough demand for Ocean Travel the industry would build ships that would go faster than Queen Mary 2 heck they might even build a ship that could match the high speeds that the SS United States was once capable of so now you might be wondering well Alex if people really preferred sailing on Queen Mary 2 to get across the Atlantic then why don't we see it it to which that brings me to my final point a transatlantic Crossing on Queen Mary 2 is so popular it's booked up almost a whole year in advance when I save up the money I need to take that Voyage I have to book The Voyage at least 9 months ahead of time because the ship is so darn popular there is a huge demand for people to take the transatlantic Crossing aboard the ship now it may not always be workingclass people but don't be fooled into thinking that all of Queen Mary 2's passengers are wealthy they aren't just look at all the travel vloggers who chose to take a Crossing aboard the ship they almost always say that the passengers are just regular people who saved up their money over time so it is possible to do it and in the old days of transatlantic travel there were tons of ships competing against each other which helped to maintain competitive prices and prevented them from ballooning out of control the original RMS Queen Mary got everyone across across the Atlantic in less than 4 days and a third class ticket was reasonable so when people ask me if kard will build another ocean liner to succeed qm2 not only do I think they will but I think they may do it even sooner than you'd expect I'd say within 10 years Queen Mary 2 may have a more modern running mate helping to keep up with the growing demand if you ask me what I think the transport industry will look like in 10 years I say Kinard might have two ocean liners moving people across the North Atlantic on regularly scheduled Crossings while other companies might have at least one ocean liner in their Fleet helping to move people across the most popular Transit routes of the world these ships may have a service speed of at least 28 knots if not more and will cater to people who can spare the time to get to their destination I'm not saying it will be a huge Return of the industry but I am saying there will be enough demand to support a small Renaissance of the ocean liner if you enjoyed this video be sure to give it a thumbs up and subscribe to the channel for more videos about the age of steam

Channel: Alex the Historian

Views: 63,476

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Id: T4qmwbk11gQ

Length: 12min 18sec (738 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 12 2024