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Engineering of Cruise Ship Sample Essay

Introduction

A cruise ship, designed for carrying passengers, plays a crucial role in pleasure voyages. These ships have strong and luxurious amenities that make passenger’s experience during the voyage interesting (Sarna, 2010). These ships operate within different regions of the world over different destinations. Unlike other ships, their purpose is not their main role during their voyage. They operate at routes aimed returning their passengers to their originating ports of call within their specified regions of operations (Sarna, 2010). However, as the ships are operating, there are period when they do not follow a specific operation schedule and they carry out a nowhere voyages.

These voyages last for a maximum of three days without any specific ports of call. This is the difference between cruise ships and ocean liners (ships with their main role as transportation of passengers within different ports of call). Despite some ocean ships being as luxurious as cruise ships, they do not take part in cruising due to their high fuel consumption and as well cannot enter some shallow ports. Therefore, in order to fit for cruising, cruise ships have their special design that enables them preferable over ocean liners. There are different cruise ships in the world. Some of the common examples of cruise ships are Royal Caribbean Oasis of the Seas and Celebrity Silhouette. The paper is a system engineering design of Celebrity Silhouette as an example of a cruise ship.

History of Celebrity Silhouette

This is the fourth ship among the Solstice class of ships. Other ships designed under this class are Celebrity Equinox, Celebrity Eclipse, Celebrity Solstice and lastly Celebrity Reflection. Its launching was on 2011 after Celebrity Eclipse in 2010. The ship is among the largest cruise ships in Germany (Sarna, 2010).

Design process of the ship

The owner of the ship is Celebrity Cruises and its designer was Meyer Werft at Papen burg. During its design process, the overall cost of the ship was $750 million. This is among the most luxurious ships used for cruising in the world (Sarna, 2010). The ship has a total tonnage (mass) of 122, 000GT. apparently; the ship has a carrying capacity of 2886 passengers and 1500 crewmembers. Its overall length of the ship is 319.12 m and has its beam length as 121ft (equivalent to 36.88m) and draught is 8.22m. Its design optimization was through computer calculations and model tank tests.

The design development was through close cooperation between the designer and the owner. Similar with other cruises in the Solstice class, the cruise ship has 90% of its staterooms with balconies giving their passengers an outside view. It has three main type of staterooms; Penthouse Suite that has a 1291 square feet and a 389 Sq feet veranda. The other statehouse is the Royal Suite having a 590 sq. feet stateroom and 158 square feet veranda (Sarna, 2010).

Lastly, the ship has the Celebrity Suite with 394 square feet stateroom and 105 square feet veranda. More so, 85% of the ship’s staterooms have verandas. In addition to the staterooms, the cruise ship has 17 cabins more than Celebrity Eclipse. Other design features of the ship include Lawn club. The Lawn Club comprises of the natural lawn and the Corning Museum of glass. It is through this museum that passengers have opportunities of having a demonstration of different arts such as glass blowing.

In addition to the museum, the cruise ship has grill and restaurants. The ship is more beautiful and elaborate in comparison with previous sisters having a yacht-type design and colorful identification marks of the fleet. Its stylish design in combination with the generous space design makes it a success in comparison with other ships. These are some of the features incorporated during the design process of the ship (Sarna, 2010).

Shipyard setup and construction

As stated earlier, the ship setup was at Papen burg (Sarna, 2010). The construction process of the ship began after placing the first block of the ship of size of 16m by 36.8m by 8m and weighing 430 tons using an eight hundred ton crane. Preparation of these blocks begin before actual construction of the cruise ship. Fitting of the blocks next to the construction dock began where their moving and welding into the ship begins. While at the shipyard, its building operation was according to the building block principle where there is cutting of the blocks from already cut silver sections (Stern, 2013). In its construction process, 70 blocks weighing 800 tons were used.

This ship is eco-friendly and it has its components built using energy efficient components. Some of the energy efficient components of the ship include photovoltaic systems, some optimized hydrodynamics, underwater covering and as well some energy-saving lighting systems. It is through these special components within the ship that makes it energy saving as compared to its previous sister ships. The overall energy saving of this cruise ship is 30% in comparison with other ships. In its construction, the ship features real grass as part of its club installation covering an area of 2000 square meters.

After its assembling, there was keel laying when the ship floated out in its new element and final touches done on the interior in the fitting-out quay in the shipyard. The last procedure done on the ship while at the shipyard was river conveyance from the shipyard to North Sea. Attainment of safety onboard of the cruise ship is through state-of-the-art stage technology. More so, the ship construction with interactive communication systems and as well complex alarms and safety systems are other interior design features that promote onboard safety of the cruise ship (Stern, 2013).

Engine and propulsion

The cruise ship has a novel propulsion concept in its engine. It has two gas turbines with an additional steam turbine that generates power of driving the ship. In addition, the steam generator provides energy that supports other on board activities in the hotel and as well Club Lawn. This ship is of its own kind since it has a reduction in the level of exhaust levels making it part of the Green Ship. The ship has a maximum speed of 25knots (46.3km/h). All the electrical power onboard of the cruise ship originates from four MAN 14V48/60CR engines.

Each engine has a supply of one MAN TCA77 turbocharger and each has a capability of generating an output of 16.8MW. After combination of all the four engines, the ship has a supply of 67MW. The vessel of the cruise ship has a diesel electric system. This implies that the engine does not have a direct link with the propeller shaft. Electric power provided drives two ABB propulsions azipods.

These propulsions have the ability of turning any horizontal direction through 360 degrees. This makes them a preference in the cruise ship since they give the navigation bridge a high degree of maneuvering flexibility. The engines have an online connection with MAN PrimeServ’s Online Service. This provides an optimum operating and maintenance of the cruise ship. Through this service, the cruise ship has a remote operational support and as well flexible evaluation data for the engine operation (Stern, 2013).

Staterooms and their amenities

As stated earlier, the cruise ship has three staterooms (Penthouse Suite, Celebrity Suite and Royal Suite). These staterooms not only have a difference in their design and amenities but also in their costs. The Penthouse Suite have floor-to-ceiling sliding glass doors. Their living rooms are separate from the dining rooms. Amenities in these staterooms include; baby grand piano, queen sleeper sofa, full bar, sound system with a luxurious 52” LCD television. These features makes them to be fully guest rooms. Apparently, they have whirlpool and lounge seating along their veranda. In their bedrooms, these statehouses have a suite feature of a 52” LCD TV with vanity and walking closets. These features makes them a preference for luxurious board in the cruise ships as compared to other staterooms.

Celebrity Suite is the other statehouse in the cruise ship. They have a spacious bedroom equipped with two beds. These beds have a special feature since they can be converted to a queen-size. Similarly, as with the Penthouse Suite, they have walk-in-closets with a dual access to bath (having a shower and a washbasin). In addition, the suite has a veranda equipped with a seating lounge. The suite has its sections furnished with queen sleeper sofa and a miniature refrigerator. These are additional features unavailable in the Penthouse Suite.

The last stateroom in the cruise ship is the Royal Suite. Similar with the other staterooms, Royal Suite has a separation between the living room and the dining room. The bedroom on the other hand is spacious with a queen-size bed. These bedrooms have equipment such as LCD TVs and walk-in-closets. Their bathrooms have a whirlpool separated with the shower stall (Stern, 2013).

Celebrity Silhouette facilities

The cruise offers more luxurious and pampering experiences to its passengers during their voyage. The Lawn Club Grill is a special restaurant within the ship. This restaurant acts as a replace to the Corning Glass Museum available in the other three Solstice-class of ships. It is through this Lawn Club that guests can select and participate in grilling their own meat with the Celebrity’s chefs. More so, the club offers cooked to order meat. Apparently, with the Porch, a restaurant with a capacity of 48 people, serves guests with fresh and fast foods for breakfast and lunch. Whilst in the ship, there is a staunching Art Studio used for arts demonstration.

The Alcoves is another important feature in the ship that offers private retreat to guests in the ship. It is Wi-Fi equipped and offers the guests a relaxing point during the voyage. The Hideaway and Cellar Masters are other amazing facilities within the ship that give the guests their luxurious experiences during their voyages. For entertainment, the cruise ship has two dance clubs, as well teen center, and children’s playroom for family facilities (Stern, 2013).

Reliability features in its operation

The navigation, maneuvering and automated subsystems of the ship are all powerful with an integrated control solution aiming at achieving ultimate in its operation reliability and as well safety (Sarna, 2010). Communication systems, process controllers, power suppliers and workstations are redundant in their operation aiming at ensuring maximum and reliable operation of the ship. Redundant components include network switches and process controllers.

Their location is in the fire zones aiming at adding the confidence within the ship in case of an emergency in the ship. The cruise ship has a reliable data flow (Stern, 2013). High-speed data communications guarantees the reliability. The ship uses the ‘dual star’ configuration principle in its data exchange. This network configuration in the ship allows data exchange between the machinery, safety and bridge system of the ship. This offers a higher degree of interoperability as compared to its sisters (Solstice class ships) (Stern, 2013).

Bridge

The cruise ship has a K-Bridge that allows the flow own-ship data (including internal heading, speed, its position and as well its drift). Data calculated in the bridge has its distribution to other subsystems within the ship and avoids inconsistent presentation of the ship. The bridge has an integrated navigation system that utilizes a dual redundant controller. In addition, it has interface units that collect data from the sensors such as gyros, speed logs, weather sensors and as well the position sensors.

In the bridge, there is processing of the data and alarms given in cases where there is occurrence of inconsistence within the ship. The k-bridge of the ship has a link with the k-thrust thus giving the ship an integrated navigation and maneuvering of the ship. More so, together with the k-pos, k-chief and k-thrust, the ship has a full-integrated cruise vessel management. This makes it possible for tracing the ship in case of its inconsistence in the voyage.

K-Pos and K-Thrust

The K-pos joystick and the dynamic position of the ship are two important features in the cruise ship (Stern, 2013). They have a design of suiting the operational requirement of the Celebrity Silhouette. They play the role of keeping the cruise ship in the specified and desired position during its navigation voyage. It is through these systems that the ship is able to anchor in its designated ports. In order to attain an electronic anchor of the ship, it has a GreenDP function.

This is in the K-pos of the ship and plays a role in reducing fuel consumption and emissions. More so, it reduces thrusters’ wear of the cruise ship. On the other hand, the K-Thrust of the cruise ship provides manual remote control of the main electric propulsion and as well the steering gears. Both the K-Pos and K-Thrust play the roles of maneuvering in the cruise ship. These include; auto piloting, speed piloting and as well track piloting (Stern, 2013).

Control systems in the ship

The ship has a Helmsman steering wheel. This plays a role of combining design and functionality of the cruise ship during its operations. Apparently, for engine, rudder and tunnel configurations, the ship has a thruster control levers. These are levers and control units within the ship. Joystick on the other hand is another important control system in the ship. It controls the along ship and sideways speed of the cruise ship and as well its rotation during its voyage. Lastly, the ship has a polar joystick that gives a more precise handling tailored for longer vessels. It controls both the angle and thrust force of the cruise ship.

Track control system

This is another important integrated system in the cruise ship. In the redundant controller of the ship, there is integration of the autopilot. Its operation is from the operator stations within the ship. The autopilot has an automatic track-keeping mode that aids in tracking the position and performance of the cruise ship. More so, it is through the autopilot control system of the cruise ship that it has the ability of maintaining it maneuvering speed and an ease in maneuvering through confined waters (Stern, 2013).

K-Chief

This is an automated machinery in the ship. Its functions have a relation with other integrated automated systems in the cruise ships. It provides a full control of all the machinery of the ship. On the other hand, the K-Chief controls and monitors the power generation and distribution in the engines. In the staterooms, it has an air conditioner control system designed for providing clean air to the passengers and crews in the ship. More so, in energy saving, the K-Chief control system keeps the levels of Carbon (IV) Oxide at acceptable levels (Showker, 2010).

Hull

The cruise ship has two independent hulls that decouples sound and vibrations from the engines towards the passengers. This facilitates a smooth and silent voyage in the ship. It has a large design in order to accommodate the large propeller of the ship (Stern, 2013).

References

Showker, K. (2010). The Unofficial Guide to Cruises. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons.
Stern, S. B. (2013). Stern's guide to the cruise vacation. S.l.: Xlibris Corporation.
Fodor's Travel Publications, Inc. (2008). The complete guide to European cruises. New York, NY: Fodor's Travel.
Sarna, H., & Hannafin, M. (2010). Frommer's cruises & ports of call. Hoboken, N.J: Wiley.
Seatrade cruise review. (1997). Colchester, UK: Seatrade House.