Traveling with Cruise Ship or Private Yacht?

by Charles Roring

Cruise ship and private yacht, although different in size, are constructed for the same purpose. They are ship and boat that will carry their passengers to enjoy the beautiful scenery of the ocean and islands around the world.

Cruise ships, because they are mostly bigger in size, cannot travel like tramp. They are cruise lines. Cruise lines or shipping companies such as Holland America, Carnival and Silja have ships that travel along definite routes in pre-planned schedules. So, if you buy a ticket to Carribean islands, you cannot, in the middle of the sea, ask the captain to change the voyage route to the Pacific islands. Cruise ships are large and luxurious floating hotels with many facilities enjoyed by thousands of people on board. There are restaurants, gambling floors or casinos, movies, massage and spa treatment center and of course dance hall.

Different from cruise ship, private yacht is build to cater for wealthy customers. Some even buy their own yachts. Due to its size, although it is luxurious, yacht does not have the facilities that a cruise ship has. For larger yacht, there are some cabins to accommodate guests on board.

Most cruise ships are mono or displacement hulls whereas for yachts they can be displacement or catamaran hulls. Yacht owners who prefer to travel across the sea in higher speed will prefer to order or have their yachts built in catamaran style.

Yacht is more flexible in terms of its voyage. It can go anywhere according to the order of the owner or the customers who rent it. The travel range of cruise ship is longer than yacht due to its fuel tank capacity. In addition, if you plan to cross Atlantic or Pacific oceans, then I suggest that you take cruise ship. It is more stable and safe (read my other article on this issue Stability of Cruise Ship). But if you plan to have more private time with your loved ones traveling around the beautiful islands of the Carribean and the Hawaiian, then the better choice will be to rent a private yacht. So, the choice is yours. Happy traveling. Also read: The interior of passenger ship and cruise ship and Cruise ship and passenger ship;

The interior of passenger ship and cruise ship

by Charles Roring

In my previous article about the Cruise Ship and Passenger Ship, I mentioned that both ships are built for transporting people but their purpose of service is different. For passenger ships, the faster they reach their destinations the better their services will be. For cruise ships, the more the passengers spend their time aboard the ships the better will be the service of the ships and the higher the profit ship owners can get. These differences in purpose of service determine the interior of the ships.

the above is the interior of cruise ship Norwegian Epic

In passenger ships, cabins for accommodating passengers are grouped into several classes of passengers. They are Class 1, Class 2, Class 3, Class 4 and Class Economy. The facilities in Class 1 will definitely be different from facilities provided for economy class passengers. Class 1 passengers have their own private bed rooms equipped with a television set, and wash rooms whereas the economy class passengers sleep in large halls similar to school dormitories or military barracks where some 50 to 100 passengers sleep in one large room.

For cruise ships, naval architects prefer to design the cabins with smaller range of classes. A cruise ship may only have VIP and First Class. Every cabin is designed to accommodate two passengers. It means that the ships are designed for couples who like to enjoy their ocean travel in their own private rooms that sometimes overlooking the blue ocean. Rooms and facilities in cruise ships are usually more spacious. Some ships even have casino or gambling floors and golf floors.

the above is the picture of cruise ship Norwegian epic

For short distance travels across a straight or gulf, naval architects prefer to design small ships that are fast. The choice for this requirement will be catamaran or swath ships that have higher speed with water jet or highly skew propellers as their propulsion systems. The use of highly skew propellers greatly reduces the vibration which is the main issue in passenger ship design.

the interior of Iris catamaran passenger ferry with capacity of 240 passengers

Besides designing lavish and comfortable interior for ship cabins, the material choice for passenger and cruise ships are chosen from the ones that are strong, light weight and most importantly fire resistant. Port and starboard side cabins of cruise ships may have walls that are fully made of glasses to enable the passengers to enjoy the beautiful scenery of the islands or the blue ocean as the ships go by.

Although the facilities and cabins of passenger and cruise ships are different, the life-saving equipments for these ships are the same. When accidents happen, each crew and passenger will have his own life jacket. The capacity of life boats and life rafts are usually double the number of passengers aboard to ensure that all passengers can survive at sea. Also read: Stability of Cruise Ship; The effect of turbulence on propeller and safety of cruise ship; and Ship Displacement and Capacity Limitation

Cruise ship and passenger ship

by Charles Roring

Cruise and passenger ships are ships that transport people from one port to another. Although these ships look similar, they have different purposes. Cruise ships usually emphasize their services on cruising experience for passengers aboard with various facilities such as restaurants, movies, sun-deck, swimming pool, sport centers, message and spa rooms. Cruise ships, to some extent are the same as hotels. In other words, cruise ships are floating hotels for sea or ocean travelers. Therefore, many cruise ships sell round-trip tickets and have sea or ocean voyages that are longer than passenger ships.

Between 1800s and early 1900s, passenger ships are transport oriented ocean liners that bring passengers and goods from European ports to American ports. Millions of migrants moved from Europe to America using passenger ships. One of them is the unfortunate RMS Titanic. During that time, the faster the voyage the better the service of the ships and the higher would be the profits they could get due to the reduced operational cost for every trip.

Indonesia's state owned shipping line, PELNI, operate dozens of German made passenger ships to serve the ever growing Indonesian passengers.

With the advent of large passenger airplanes in 1960s, travelers switched from ships to planes. For transatlantic service, the passenger ships ceased their operation in 1986 whereas in many other parts of the world such as in Indonesian islands, the Philipine islands, and the Pacific islands, passenger ships still play very significant role in transporting people and goods. Indonesian government, through its state owned passenger liner - PELNI, has even bought more passenger ships from Germany to meet the increasing number of people moving from one island to another.

Passengers and porters in Manokwari of Papua were waiting for the just arrived Indonesia's PELNI's passenger ship, MV Nggapulu. The ship can carry 3,000 passengers. The ship was built in Germany.

Indonesia as the largest archipelago in the world has around 17,000 big and small islands. Indonesia needs thousands of ships and boats to support the mobility of its people and economic activities of the country. Therefore, more passenger ships are needed in this country. The potential market for passenger ships and RORO or ferries in Indonesia is huge compared to cruise ships due to the purchasing power parity of the people. The same situation can also be seen in the Philipines where people need more passenger ships. Yet both countries have potential market for cruise ships operation especially for middle to upper class citizens.

While the market for cruise ship in Asia is still small, the market for North America and Europe is growing fast with high competition. Cruise ships operators such as Holland America lines, Royal Carribean International, and Carnival Cruise Lines are launching new ships to meet the increasing number of tourists who prefer to spend their precious time on various recreational activities both on board of these luxurious floating hotels and on exotic resorts in private islands of the Carribean sea.

With the improving economic growth in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, and the Philipines and other ASEAN countries, the potential market for cruise ships in this region will attract cruise line operators to invest billions of US dollars and Euros in building new cruise ships. It is now a matter of time for us to see hundreds of luxurious passenger liners and cruise ships operating along the seas of South East Asia. Governments of ASEAN countries need to be approached by investors to open their market for the development of ocean tourism and traveling industry through a number of deregulation in tourism sectors in the region. Also read: Stability of Cruise Ship and The effect of turbulence on propeller and safety of cruise ship

Stability of Cruise Ship

by Charles Roring

Cruise or passenger ships are sophisticated floating structures that are constructed to transport people from one place to another. Today's modern passenger ships are equipped with advanced navigational equipments that will help the ships' crews handle the ship safely.

In addition, cruise ships or passenger ships now have more decks which make them taller. An example of such ship is Carnival Destiny. This beautiful ship is built by Fincantieri Cantieri Navali in Italy and classified to Lloyd's Register, one of the best and the most experienced classification societies in the world. Besides having 16 decks, the luxurious cruise ship has a swimming pool at the top or sun deck. From the stability perspective, the mass of water in the swimming pool raises the center of gravity of the ship.

In addition, the taller the superstructures, the higher will be the center of gravity. Ships that have higher vertical center of gravity (VCG) will have smaller righting lever, GZ. Such condition is dangerous for traveling around the ocean. To have lower VCG or higher metacentric height (GM), ship designer will balance the passenger ship with ballast tanks that are filled with sea water.

In addition, ship designer will use lighter materials such as composite materials, aluminum, plastics and wood, for higher decks so that increase of height of CG will not jeopardize the ship's righting lever (GZ). Ship with larger GZ will be more stable compared to ship with smaller GZ. The ship will be unstable if the metacentric height is zero or negative.

Source: K.J. Rawson and E.C. Tupper, Basic Ship Theory 1, page 105

Besides, stabilizing the ship with ballast water, naval architects will usually design passenger ships that are installed with stabilizer fins. These fins will reduce the rolling period of the cruise or passenger ships to an acceptable range which is between 7-8 seconds. With this arrangement, the ship will be stable and safe to travel across the ocean around the world. Also read: The effect of turbulence on propeller and safety of cruise ship and Ship Displacement and Capacity Limitation

The effect of turbulence on propeller and safety of cruise ship

by Charles Roring

Naval architects or ship designers when designing a marine vehicle will always have to design the propulsion system according to the designed speed stipulated or required by ship owner. The most common form of propelling device in ships or boats is propeller.

When designing the propeller, one of the propulsion factors which they have to determine is the blade area ratio which is the ratio of the blades' area compared to a disc area with the same radius as the propeller blades. The developed area ratio (DAR) of a propeller is determined from cavitation chart, commonly Burril chart, obtained from experiments of a number of propeller series conducted by various cavitation tunnels around the world. Cavitation occurs when the flow of fluid, or sea water, is not steady. In other words, when there is turbulence, cavitation will occur in ship's propeller.

Now the question is will it be harmful to passenger? My answer is No. If there is turbulence in the propeller of airplane, my answer will be different. Turbulence which causes the cavitation of propellers in ships is not dangerous for passenger ships but will be very dangerous to airplanes. The safety of passengers in cruise ships will not be jeopardized if there is turbulence or cavitation in the propellers.

The effect of cavitation is the loss of lifting force on propeller blades. If this term is confusing then the simple explanation for the occurrence of turbulence and cavitation is the loss of thrust that is required both in ships and airplanes. The loss of thrust is the same as the loss of speed. Ships will remain afloat whereas for airplanes, they will fall. This is the most common cause of plane crash. In bad weather, the flow of the fluid is not steady. It is not good both for ships and airplanes.

Cavitation causes erosion on blade surface of the propellers. It also increases the rpm of propeller which in turn, will cause vibration, and overheating in the main engine. The most common solution which naval architects do to minimize the cavitation of the propeller is increasing the blade area ratio. Also read: Ship Displacement and Capacity Limitation and Traveling with ship; Propeller Rake and Blade Thickness Diameter Ratio

The Management Principles of the Toyota Way

by Charles Roring

All of us know what Toyota is. It is a giant automaker from Japan. This company was a small company in the rural areas of Nagoya during 1950s. Now with around 240,000 employees, Toyota Motor serves millions of car owners around the world.

Gemba is a Japanese term for "the actual place," while "kaizen" is the Japanese terminology for continuous improvement. So the phrase "gemba kaizen" means continuous improvements at the actual place. The main theme of Toyota Way management principles is the elimination of wastes along the production line of Toyota automaker to create the highest added value of the products to satisfy customers.

According The Toyota Way, a book which was written by Jeffrey Liker, Toyota has developed and standardized its management principles since 1950s when the Japanese were trying to recover from the ruins of Word War II.

After reading the book, I can conclude that the fourteen management principles can be applied to any business. Everybody who has not read the book might think that the Kaizen is only effective for automakers or manufacturing companies. But the principles such as grow leaders who thoroughly understand the work, live the philosophy and teach it to others are applicable to all companies.

When Toyota was still a small company it had to face many challenges during its operation, from the lack of capital to the competition with other world class automakers.

It is amazing to see that Toyota now is a world leader in car industry producing the best quality cars for all market segments.

Toyota tremendous achievements are reached through the application of Toyota Production System (TPS). Toyota emerges as the best and the most efficient automaker in the world. The Toyota Way inspires many companies to streamline their operations. Also read: Car Manufacturers Develop Air Bag for Pedestrian and Traveling with ship

Implementing Kaizen and Hansei in Retail Business

by Charles Roring in Manokwari of West Papua of Indonesia

I am reading a book entitled The Toyota Way these days. This book is written by Jeffrey K. Liker, Ph.D. The book is about how to understand fourteen management principles which has been used by Toyota, the best automaker in the world, and how to implement them in our own business.

Actually, I have been aware of Gemba Kaizen management system which is a program offered by a management institution through a correspondence course.

Kaizen is a Japanese word for incremental or continuous improvement whereas Hansei means reflection. When I run my bookstore, I feel that I need to make many improvements in my business. I think that this retail industry is totally different from the manufacturing industry such as an automaker like Toyota.

We all know that Toyota produces the best selling cars in the world but thinking or applying their management system to our retail system might be a different approach.

In fact, after reading the book, I am surprised that Kaizen and Hansei can also be applied to any kind of business including service enterprise. There are always rooms for improvements. For instance, when I stand in the middle of my bookstore watching the display of the books, how the shelves are arranged and how the books are sold, I know that there are still many things that I need to do to improve my service to customers.

One of the most important things the Toyota Way teaches to its readers is the elimination of wastes in all segments of the producing or servicing processes. These wastes include unnecessary movement of workers, defects in products, overstock, unnecessary transport, that do not directly contribute to adding values to the products or services we are about to deliver to our customers or consumers.

How these wastes are eliminated. The answer is through the implementation of hansei and kaizen. Hansei means that we have to identify the wastes first. To be able to identify the wastes, we have to monitor the manufacturing process, or the servicing process at the place where it happens. After identifying the wastes, the next step is implementing Kaizen. Improvements after being implemented have to be maintained. This means that we will not create or let the wastes to happen again.

In retail business, we sometimes order things that are really not requested by our customers. To minimize the occurrence of excess inventory, we need to provide order forms or wish list where customers can place their orders. Retail manager must use this list to order merchandise from manufacturer. If we can apply this process into our retail process then we can minimize or prevent the occurrence of excess inventory and at the same time increase profit to a maximum value.

I have applied this method for more than year now and the result is amazing. I am able to triple the monthly profit of the bookstore by just providing order form of wish list near the cashier table. Customers cannot find the books that they are looking for, they can write the titles; authors, and if possible the publishers of the books. We then order the books from our partner discount bookstore. When they have arrived in our bookstore, we will call or send sms to our customers. We only need one to three days to sell all the books which have just arrived in our inventory. Improvements must be done at the place of the process (gemba).

I have seen that Hansei and Kaizen really work when I apply them in my bookstore. I recommend this book to all of you, business owners around the world to read the book and adopt the management principles of the Toyota Way and the Toyota Production System, of course with some adjustments, into our business. Also read: Ship Displacement and Capacity Limitation; Traveling with ship