Definition: Cruise ships

Category: PRODCOM

The characteristics that mark cruise ships out from other market sectors are the complexity of the product (arguably, along with major warships, these are the most complex products produced by any industry) and the standard of finish required. The size of ships has been increasing over time and the Queen Mary II, currently under construction in France, will be the largest passenger ship ever built at around 140,000 GT. To put this into perspective the Titanic had a GT of around 30,000 tons and a typical modern cruise ship has a GT of around 75,000 tons. The construction has a cycle time measured in years, rather than in months as is the case for bulk ship types, and much of the work involved in construction is related to fitting of public spaces aboard the ship and the complex systems for running the vessel. http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/ramon/coded_files/CGT_first_marine_int_ltd.pdf