Maritime transport or more generally waterborne transport, is the transport of people (passengers) or goods (cargo) via waterways. Freight transport by sea has been widely used throughout recorded history. The advent of aviation has diminished the importance of sea travel for passengers, though it is still popular for short trips and pleasure cruises. Transport by water is cheaper than transport by air or ground, but significantly slower for longer distances. Maritime transport accounts for roughly 80% of international trade, according to UNCTAD in 2020.
Ocean Countess was a cruise ship owned by Majestic International Cruises of Greece. She was completed in 1976 as Cunard Countess for Cunard Line and was a popular ship in the Caribbean cruise market for 20 years. After leaving Cunard service in 1996, she had a number of owners before being purchased by Majestic in 2004. She was retired in 2012 and scrapped in 2014 after a fire destroyed the ship.
MS Queen Victoria (QV) is a Vista-class cruise ship operated by the Cunard Line and is named after the former British monarch Queen Victoria. The vessel is of the same basic design as other Vista-class cruise ships, including Queen Elizabeth. At 90,049 gross tonnage (GT) she is the smallest of Cunard's ships in operation. Her facilities include seven restaurants, thirteen bars, three swimming pools, a ballroom, and a theatre.
Carnival Ecstasy was a Fantasy-class cruise ship operated by Carnival Cruise Line. Built by Kværner Masa-Yards at its Helsinki New Shipyard in Helsinki, Finland, she was floated out on January 6, 1991, and christened by television hostess, entertainer and long time Carnival spokesperson Kathie Lee Gifford. Her inaugural voyage began on April 2, 1991. During 2007, in common with all of her Fantasy-class sisters, she had the prefix Carnival added to her name. With the departure of the Carnival Fantasy in 2020, the Carnival Ecstasy became the oldest ship in the fleet until her retirement in October 2022. She was replaced by Carnival Spirit out of Mobile, Alabama in October 2023.
The MS Costa neoRomantica was a cruise ship completed for Costa Cruises in 1993 by Fincantieri in Italy as Costa Romantica, and a sister ship to Costa Classica. She was refurbished in 2003, renamed Costa neoRomantica in 2011, and from 2017 assigned to the Asian market. The ship was sold in 2020 to Celestyal Cruises as Celestyal Experience. She never operated for Celestyal and was sold again and renamed Antares Experience in September 2021, then beached for demolition at Gadani, Pakistan in December 2021.
Star Pride was the first of three German built cruise ships that were initially built for the Seabourn Cruise Line. She was known as Seabourn Pride and is now operated for Windstar Cruises and was the first of her class.
Aleksandr Suvorov is a Valerian Kuybyshev-class(92-016, OL400) Soviet/Russian river cruise ship, cruising in the Volga–Don basin. On 5 June 1983 Aleksandr Suvorov crashed into a girder of the Ulyanovsk railway bridge. The catastrophe led to 176 deaths yet the ship stayed afloat, was restored and still navigates. Her home port is currently Nizhny Novgorod.
HMS Beagle was a Bulldog class coastal survey vessel of the Royal Navy and was the ninth to bear the name.
Anton Chekhov-class motorship is a class of Russian river passenger ships. It is named after Anton Chekhov.
SS Stevens, a 473-foot (144 m), 14,893-ton ship, served as a floating dormitory from 1968 to 1975 for about 150 students of Stevens Institute of Technology, a technological university, in Hoboken, New Jersey. Permanently moored on the scenic Hudson River at the foot of the campus across from New York City, this first collegiate floating dormitory became one of the best-known college landmarks in the country.
A hotel barge is a barge that has been built or converted to serve as a hotel or other kind of lodging. Hotel barges are generally found on rivers and canals in Europe, and may be used for river cruises or permanently moored in one place.
MV Aurora is a cruise ship built in Germany in 1955. After several changes of ownership and name, as of 2024 she was moored in Stockton, California, United States, and was undergoing restoration until May 22 when she began to take on water and sink.
Bulgaria was a class 785/OL800 Russian river cruise ship which operated in the Volga-Don basin. On 10 July 2011, Bulgaria sank in the Kuybyshev Reservoir of the Volga River near Syukeyevo, Kamsko-Ustyinsky District, Tatarstan, Russia, with 201 passengers and crew aboard when sailing from the town of Bolgar to the regional capital, Kazan. The catastrophe led to 122 confirmed deaths.
MSC Preziosa is a Fantasia-class cruise ship owned and operated by MSC Cruises. She entered service in March 2013. She is an enhanced version of her first two class member ships, MSC Splendida and MSC Fantasia, and is identical to the previous MSC Divina. She debuted on 13 March as the fourth ship in the Fantasia class.
PS Emmylou is a paddle steamer operated by Murray River Paddlesteamers in Echuca, used for both day and overnight accommodation cruises.
The Feliks Dzerzhinskiy is a Valerian Kuybyshev-class Soviet/Russian river cruise ship, cruising in the Volga basin. The ship was built by Slovenské Lodenice at their shipyard in Komárno, Czechoslovakia, and entered service in 1978. She was named after the Soviet statesman Felix Dzerzhinsky alias Iron Felix. At 3,935 tonnes, Feliks Dzerzhinskiy is one of the world's biggest river cruise ships. Her sister ships are Valerian Kuybyshev, Mikhail Frunze, Fyodor Shalyapin, Sergey Kuchkin, Mstislav Rostropovich, Aleksandr Suvorov, Semyon Budyonnyy and Georgiy Zhukov. Feliks Dzerzhinskiy is currently operated by Vodohod, a Russian river cruise line. Her home port is currently Nizhny Novgorod.
The Zosima Shashkov is a Dmitriy Furmanov-class Soviet/Russian river cruise ship, cruising in the Volga – Neva basin between Russian old and new capitals: Moscow and Saint Petersburg. The ship was built by VEB Elbewerften Boizenburg/Roßlau at their shipyard in Boizenburg, East Germany, and entered service in 1986. She was refurbished in 2012. Zosima Shashkov is currently operated by Vodohod, a Russian river cruise line, and her home port is Nizhny Novgorod. The ship is named after the Bolshevik commissar and minister of the Sea and River Fleet of the USSR Zosima Alekseyevich Shashkov.
Maria Yermolova-class ships are passenger ships built in the Titovo Brodogradiliste shipyard in Kraljevica, Yugoslavia in the 1970s. The construction of the ships was also known as project 1454. The class was named after the lead ship of the project, the Maria Yermolova, built in 1974, named after Russian actress Maria Yermolova.
Queen of the Mississippi, now named American Heritage, is an overnight riverboat owned and operated by American Cruise Lines, currently operating on the Mississippi River. She entered service in spring 2015 and was built by Chesapeake Shipbuilding in Salisbury, Maryland for overnight river cruising within the continental United States. The vessel accommodates 150 passengers in her 84 staterooms. The vessel is a sister ship to American Pride, which originally carried the Queen of the Mississippi name from 2012 to 2015. There are some differences between the riverboats, like internal arrangement and cabins on the 5th deck. However, both riverboats feature all outward-facing accommodations with private baths, and many cabins also have private furnished balconies. Both Paddlewheels were completely revovated in 2022.
Soviet Union → 
Russia 
Austria