Hello,
I'm new here but I've lurked for many a day. I'm learning a lot about cruises. I've never been on one, but I find them very interesting, so much so that I'm trying to incorporate an ocean liner into my next manuscript.
I just wanted to know if any of you fine folks have recommended resources or leads on info about cruises and ship leisure in the past. Ancient or fairly recent. I also would like to know if you have information about ships with on-board food sources like a green house. Random interesting books or websites welcome. I write Fantasy, but I'd like to have it rooted in fact.
Maybe there is a specific detail that I absolutely, positively must get correct?
The Queen Mary sits as a hotel in Long Beach California. It is believed to be a haunted the ship and has a very interesting history. I could see that ship as the basis of a book. BTW the hotel will do a Shipwreck 2009 event this Halloween. In fact; in my head the start of a story comes when someone attends this event and gets transported through it's history. The person has to solve the murder that occurred in room B 340 in order to be returned to the present. Just a thought. Anyway here is a site on the ship's history and hauntings. http://gocalifornia.about.com/cs/los...aryhistory.htm http://gocalifornia.about.com/cs/los...aryhaunted.htm Here is an interesting video from youtube.
__________________ One part age; three parts liquor!
Freedom of the Seas 2012
Carnival Splendor 2010
Carnival Freedom 2008
Carnival Elation 2007
Celebrity Infinity 2006
Carnival Ecstasy 2005
Carnival Paradise 2004
Star Princess 2003
Viking Serenade 1994
You can find all kinds of information about ships on the Internet. In this day and age it is a shame that the very concept of ships gets minimalized in our society.
Since you are a writer I want to impart this concept on yoube cause it will inspire you and your readers.
The role that ships have played in human history is like the Star Trek's Enterprise. They enabled the first explorers to see new worlds they didn't even know exist. Eventually they led to the settlement of those new worlds as the first pioneers sought out better lives.
Most importantly (and far too few people really understand this) ships were vital to bringing humanity into civilization. Most people have no idea how big a role international trade in goods played in civilizations as early 2000 BC. Greek and Phoenician ships full of goods from Britain and Spain have been recovered as far away as Turkey. Trade goods from India and China were commonplace throughout the civilized world even during Old Testiment times. Ships and sailors made all this possible.
The Romans conquered the world because of their sea power. The science behind ship navigation led to some of the biggest advancements in human knowledge including clocks being invented to aid navigators calculate a ship's position.
The role water vessels played in all history is incredible. Before America had railroads we had riverboats. The Erie Canal was considered an major advancement towards the industrialization of our nation's economy. The Panama Canal was the biggest engineering achievement ever when it was completed. All of these things were related to ships. It is only in the last 50 years that humanity does NOT think of ships as a basic necessity of life on a daily basis.
As far as outlandish ship designs go, I suggest you look up the Freedom Ship. This ship was never built and the plans for it are now over 10 years old. But it is definitely and idea of the future possiblities. There is a lot of documentation on it including this youtibe video:
__________________
I am the editor, but I also speculate, ask questions and play devil's advocate. I reserve the right to change my mind.
I will be reading (and re-reading) all this. A lot of it is relevant to what I had in mind, and now I have a good start of where I can go for more research.
Thank you for your generous supply of information.
P.S. My jaw dropped when I watched the Freedom Ship fly-by
P.P.S. I'll check back again if anyone else has any input
Writer creating a cruise ship here
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