Here in S Florida, there's a lot of cruise ship activity as many ocean liners are homeported here, a convenient base for quick vacation trips to Caribbean ports. I'm no naval architect, but I'm concerned with some trends in ship design that I believe are very ill-considered.

Cruise ships are getting bigger, much bigger, and they're packing more and more passengers onto them. The trend is to larger vessels, but also more space-efficient ones that can carry more passengers and larger crews to service them: boxes on the water. Accomodations are also being upgraded, with less passenger cabins in the hull and more loaded onto towering superstructures. These posh staterooms usually feature large balconies with sliding glass doors, a potential weak point. Ships are taller and broader and blunt-ended, not a hull shape ideal for dealing with high winds and steep seas. I am concerned about the seaworthiness of these vessels. Larger ships with more passengers and shorter cruises also means the passengers have less of an opportunity to learn their way around the vessel.

The old cruise liners we are are familiar with were based on designs that could make the North Atlantic run at high speed and complete safety, they were very seaworthy vessels designed to routinely cross some of the stormiest waters on the planet. The Caribbean cruise trade sails normally placid waters where the major weather hazard is the hurricane. Ships today rely on high speed, electronics, and the ability to run or quickly take shelter in multiple ports to protect them, in other words, they are probably neglecting the safety factors needed to deal with the sea when your luck runs out and you get caught in nasty weather. Not only are these ships top-heavy, with too much freeboard and windage topside, they are also very shallow-drafted and flat-bottomed so they can visit as many ports as possible. Rather than the sharp entry and deep keels which can handle a storm, they rely on stabilizers (controllable lateral fins poking out of the hull which compensate for the steep rolls which are terrifying to passengers but which are nonetheless perfectly normal and healthy behavior for a proper hull in a seaway. A mechanical failure of these devices at the wrong time could be disastrous; indeed, a few months ago a ship rolled over severely in very good weather, with numerous injuries and interior damage. Although this incident was quickly passed over by the press, I suspect a stabilizer malfunction played a role.

There are other factors which may aggravate the purely architectural concerns I have about these ships. The vessels are usually registered in foreign countries, often small and obscure ones, and answereable to the inspection, safety and labor regulations of those countries. Their crews are a polyglot collection from all over the world, often with European officers, Asian deck hands, and South American domestic help. Even the best skipper would have his hands full training these crews for emergencies. In addition, to be as cost-effective as they can, these ships go around the clock. Not just at sea, but they spend as little time in port as possible, often simultaneously loading supplies and passengers while the passengers from the previous cruise are disembarking. They often leave the same day they arrive, for months on end.

So far, I believe the cruise industry is safe, and I wouldn't hesitate recommending anyone taking a cruise. I did a few years ago and I had a terriifc time. But I also believe the concerns I mentioned above are setting trends that eventually could lead to trouble. Even under the best of circumstances, a well-founded vessel with a seasoned crew can unexpectedly run into terrible trouble. It's a lesson the sea occasionally feels the need to teach us, again and again.