Capsised Italian Liner...

[sandyRoe]

Looking at the photographs of it lying on its side there seems to have been a lot of decks and not much draught. Could this design make these ships unstable?

[daisya]

Well I've always said these type of ships are top heavy, seems they could be liable to capsize because they look that way. I don't think they are very stable myself and certainly wouldn't want to travel on them especially as they are building them that way more and more nowadays.

[RATTER15]

Well im sure the members of AB will know all about the design faults of a multi million £ cruise liner. Lol

[Buenchico]

The stability of any modern ship will have been thoroughly tested by computer software. With 17 decks and an 8.5m draught it would take one hell of a wave to knock something that size over!
http://upload.wikimed...Costa_Concordia_2.JPG

However any ship with a ruddy great hole below the waterline is likely to suffer a rapid loss of stability.

[ChuckFickens]

They are incredibly stable as long as they keep moving. They have little hydrofoils on either side of the hull that act like wings and dynamically balance the ship if it's moving, you can see them clearly in this pic...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/...world-europe-16560050

Also.... the apparent height and draught of it doesn't really let you know where the centre of gravity is, all the heavy stuff tends to be kept low down, the upper super structure is made from light weight materials.

[jno]

Ideally for real sea travel you need something like the QM2, which has a very different profile - slimmer, decks don't go right out to the sides of the ship

http://www.haveanices.../2010/04/IMAGE224.jpg

Compare that with the profile of a cruise liner

http://www.cruiseline...-tge-seas-mid-aft.jpg

So for crossing the Atlantic the QM2 is best. But the usual thinking is that in the calmer waters of the Med (in summer) and Caribbean (in winter), you can cram as many passengers in as possible. You could get away with it, I suppose, if you don't hit rocks and start to list, but once you do I suspect you'll tip over much more quickly.

[daisya]

Certainly in my opinion the QM2 looks more stable, but of course all ships designs are tested for safety. I just feel that the top heavy ones will go over quicker than the type that the QM2 is, agree with jno on what he says about that.

[Ann]

Nothing I've ever seen or heard about cruise liners would make me want to go on one! (if I had the money, that is :) )

[RATTER15]

I went on a 3 day cruise, it bored the t!ts off me, I felt totally cut off from the world, I would never even go on a free round the world trip, not my kind of holiday and certainly not my kind of entertainment!

The safety would never be a consideration to be honest.