Wednesday, April 10, 2024

How Cruise Ships Work Part 3: The Bridge and the Engine Room

engine room of a cruise ship

To put it in perspective, those who enter the room are required to wear hearing protection. The decibel range for the engine of a standard cruise ship exceeds 173 decibels. This is extremely loud and within a range that can damage hearing in seconds. Thanks to proper insulation and sound-reducing features, it won’t sound that loud. We outline what is contained in the cruise ship engine room, what it does, and how much noise and vibration is generated in this area.

AIDA's LNG-powered cruise ships

Diesel engines are the most traditional type of cruise ship engine. Older cruise ships may still use a diesel reciprocating engine to generate enough power to move them. Power is supplied to the ship through a transmission going to a propeller shaft. Without a cruise ship engine, these vessels would be nothing more than a floating hotel.

engine room of a cruise ship

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Two men die in incident in engine room during Caribbean cruise - DutchNews.nl

Two men die in incident in engine room during Caribbean cruise.

Posted: Mon, 25 Mar 2024 07:00:00 GMT [source]

These interpretations enable us to determine where an object lies, and in some cases even what its contours look like. In the shipping industry, radars are used for monitoring traffic in ports and coastal regions, for collision protection, for collecting weather data, and for navigation. All this machinery is overseen by the Engine Control Room, which contains lights, screens, alarms, and switches where every piece of equipment can be monitored to ensure the cruise ship runs smoothly. Generators power all the vital functions to run a ship, like emergency lights, communications, and navigation systems. If the generator fails, then there are also backup batteries that can be used for short periods of time. However, guests don’t have to be concerned if their cabins are in this area.

Norwegian Cruise Line Kicks off European Season With New Options

In this sense, the hull provides the stability required to allow such a massive vessel to float on the water. The hull also needs to safeguard the ship and prevent it from sinking. As we will discuss in greater detail, within the hull itself, you will also find various compartments that can contain essential equipment needed to keep the ship functioning efficiently and safely.

Safety Alert

It also improves maneuverability, reduces fuel consumption and bad emissions. The new modular technology allows efficient and cost-effective custom-made systems to be built up from various existing and standard parts - mooring winches, anchor cable lifters, warping heads. Some of the lines (including Celebrity and Cunard) have suffered vessel breakdowns due to pod-bearing failures. Lots of voyages had to be canceled, extensive dry-docking periods were required for pod bearings to be replaced, and NCL didn't want to take the risk.

Cruise Ship Engine Room (Everything You Want to Know)

For illustration, if the QE2 is moving at 28.5 knots, this will use approximately 380 tons of fuel per day. The QE2 was launched on September 20, 1967 as a steam powered cruise ship. Twenty years later she was converted to electric diesel to prolong her sea life. The engine room still looks the same as it did before the conversion.

Where Are Engines Located?

All ships have installed ABB's "Intelligent Maneuvering Interface" and the "OCTOPUS" software optimizing fuel consumption and energy management. All these ships were constructed by the German shipbuilder MV Werften. Currently, almost 2/3 of all large-sized cruise vessels, icebreaking ships, and high ice-class cargo ships are with Azipod propulsion. The next photo shows Celebrity's Solstice-class ship propulsion (the 4 aft azipods, and the underwater hull shape). The cruise ship engine power is responsible for driving propellers, and the other possibility is producing electricity that is used subsequently to drive propellers.

When the captain defines a position where the ship needs to remain for a while without anchoring, the system automatically maintains the ship in position by using the bow and stern thrusters. Not all cruise ports have facilities to enable shore-to-ship energy. But many larger cruise ports have dockside electrical hookups that allow cruise ships to shut off their engines and run on the city’s electrical grid. The technology reduces harmful emissions by up to 95% while ships are docked. Despite their advantages, gas propulsion is not widely used in the cruise industry. Gas-powered ships are faster, but most cruise ships don’t travel faster than knots.

What a Cruise Ship Engine Room Looks Like

Almost all vessels will be upgraded with new hybrid powerplants that combine LNG-engines and batteries. ABB Azipod propulsion systems have a major impact on the vessel's operating efficiency - reducing energy consumption and bad emissions by up to 20%. Cruise ship engines also create vibrations under operation and those vibrations are going to be felt within the immediate area, including adjacent cabins.

From the present day of the cruise to the back at the beginning of the twenties, transoceanic traveling was at its high point. In the past, the only means of transportation was boat transport. This is where crews demonstrate how to safely use life jackets and outline a designated meeting point in the event of an emergency. Be sure you know where your life jacket is in your cabin in the event you should ever require one. The number of engines range from five to six, and the power rating for each one is between 9-15 megawatts. I did this tour on the Miracle September 17 this year and loved it!

This way the skipper could observe both wheels, while moving freely between the two and giving out commands. The side extensions are called bridge wings and often have a glass flooring for better visibility. Aside from housing generators and engines, pumps and heat exchangers are located here to cool the engine and stabilize motors and fins, in addition to the bow thruster system. Since equipment depends on electricity, modern ships contain backup generators on the outside of the main engine room in the event of a fire. Newer cruise ships have a large gap between the cruise ship engine room and passenger cabins to minimize noise and vibrations. Cruise ships have several redundant systems to ensure the safety and security of passengers.

This design maximizes the cargo carrying capacity of the vessel and situates the prime mover close to the propeller, minimizing equipment cost and problems posed from long shaft lines. On some ships, the engine room may be situated mid-ship, such as on vessels built from 1900 to the 1960s, or forward and even high, such as on diesel-electric vessels. It is unlike airplane propellers, as they required tremendous high speed to give the forward motion required for the airplanes, while cruise ship propellers didn’t need to turn fast. Cruise ships only depend on torque, RPM, brute power, or high speed. The bridge on the ship is where the ship captain and its crew member control the ship and manage the cruise ship’s direction and speed. From the narrow nautical origin, the raised platform “bridged” the two sides of the large vessel, allowing the captain to access both sides while commanding the crew.

The biggest ships like Royal Caribbean’s Oasis-class ships have six engines and most other cruise ships have four. The main switchboard of the ECR is used to distribute the generated electricity to where it is needed on board. Cruise Hive was established back in 2008 and among the earliest blogs in the industry. Since the start, it's been our aim to provide the latest cruise news covering all the major cruise lines. We make sure cruisers are fully prepared for their cruise vacation with tips on ships and ports.Millions of travelers rely on Cruise Hive in the United States, Europe, Australia, and around the world. The largest ships, like the Oasis class from Royal Caribbean, contain six engines.

The smaller generators allow cruise ships to shut off the main engines in port, reducing pollution. Modern diesel-powered cruise ships have between four to six medium-speed (500 revolutions per minute) engines. Each engine can generate upwards of 25,000 horsepower or nearly 18.5 megawatts. The engine room is usually located near the bottom, at the rear or aft end of the vessel, and comprises few compartments.

Crew members can enjoy breaks and catch up on sleep in these areas. Some ships will also feature separate mess and canteens for crew members in the lower regions of the ship. Like just about any type of large vessel, a cruise ship hull will feature numerous different compartments and spaces. As you will learn, each plays an essential role in allowing the ship to function safely.

Modern, larger cruise ships use two or three stroke, low speed, crosshead, or medium speed engines. Engines operating at higher speeds tend to be found on smaller vessels. Determining the type of engine that is installed on a new cruise ship involves examining the engine’s size. The electrical power created by the engines drives this big azipod motor which turns the propellers, and pulls the ship forward. Basically think of how a jet engine pushes air across a plane wing — that's how an azipod and propeller pushes water across the rudder and drive/steer the ship.

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