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客船（passenger vessel）
是指用于运送旅客及其携带行李的船舶。对兼运少量货物的客船也称客货船。由于客船多为定期定航线航行，又称客班船。在《国际海上人命安全公约》（SOLAS公约）中规定，凡载客超过12人的船舶应视为客船。客船的外形如图所示。其特点是具有良好的航海性能，安全设备与生活设施完善，上层建筑高大，船速较高，一般在20kn（节，海里/小时）左右。有的短途客船采用水翼艇（hydrofoil craft）和气垫船（hover craft）,船速一般在40kn左右。
Passenger ships - They transport people. Passenger ships are divided into several categories:
Liners - Liners sail on one and same route (be it through rivers, seas or oceans) according to a timetable. Ocean liners used to be the most popular from this type. They usually had 1,500-2,000 seats for passengers and reached 30-35 knots of speed. A common element of architecture was the steps-like superstructure. Ship design included spacious saloons, sports halls, swimming pools and many other facilities. Nowadays, liners are no longer used and are replaced by ferries.
The history of transoceanic liners is marked by success and failure. At the very beginning the competition of who would build the largest ship, sailing at the highest possible speed and providing greatest amenities was rather keen. The attempts were not futile. To name a few of those gigantic luxurious liners - Queen Elizabeth II (2,000 passenger seats, 906 crew members; own telephone exchange), France (2046 passenger seats, 1112 crew members), United States (perhaps the fastest liner of all times; No accidents have happened during her "life"!). Ship companies were satisfied because their investment in super liners had been successful. But the years after 1950 fell short of their expectations. Air transport entered a phase of rapid development and began to "steal" the passengers. Just look at the figures - in 1947, 70% of the passengers chose to travel by sea whereas in 1972 this percentage was only 0,8%. Liners were gone.
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Passenger Ship ©Maik Ebel | Cruise ships - Their purpose is to take tourists to journeys. As a matter of fact, cruise ships are liners with size and load draft allowing them to enter almost every port (When the companies building giant ocean liners went bankrupt, most of the ships did not go to the junk but were adapted to tourist voyages. Such is the case with the liner "France" which became the cruise ship "Norway", organizing excursions in the Caribbean Sea). Cruise ships are usually white-painted multi-decked vessels sailing at an average speed of 20-22 knots. Ramps at the stern make boarding of passengers easier. Also, machinery noise is brought to minimum for the convenience of passengers. Restaurants, bars, casinos, discos, swimming pools, fitness centers and shops make cruise ships look like a real resort complex. The most frequent places of visits are Alaska, Mexico, Hawaii Island, the Mediterranean, West Europe, Japan. Cruise ships can also be tall ships or icebreakers, the latter organizing winter trips through ice.
Passenger coastwise vessels - not large inland-going ships which sail close to the coast between two or more ports; Their seats for passengers vary from 40 to 600. Into this category fall two other types of ships - the hydrofoil (average speed 60-80 km/h) and the hovercraft. The latter transfers passengers between two points at a speed of 40-70 knots.
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Power Yacht-Public | Yachts - crafts, propelled either by sail or by power, used for recreation. Power yachts are also referred to as cabin cruisers. The introduction of steam and later - internal combustion in yachts, led to an increase in their size and amenities. Large yachts began to stand up even to luxurious passenger ships. Today, modern yachts are built smaller and cheaper. But as a whole, yachting remains quite costly.
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