Would you call this a ship?

This is crazy, but interesting at the same time.

I think overall, it is more of a platform barge than anything.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/07/26/travel/no-land-no-problem-gibraltar/?iref=obnetwork

Gibraltar now has the world's second floating hotel. A huge houseboat.

I am not sure I would be comfortable swimming anywhere near Gibraltar, they power the boat with an underwater electric cable ....

Environmental disaster waiting to happen? Or, brilliant engineering and wonderful hotel?

 

Makes sense, in a sense...

Considering that it will be permanently moored to the dock, I am wondering why did they decide to give it a shape of a ship and not make a towed barge. Having to comply with sea-going ships regulations and requirements has certainly eaten up a lots of useful space which could have been used for passenger rooms and entertainment areas, besides putting a lots of constraints on the general styling.

considering the amount of money at stake, I guess the various options have been very carefully examined and rated during the design phase, among which the barge-type platform. Would be curious to read about rationale which has led to this choice of the vessel-type.

 

Well it's different, fits the location ...

 

They never sailed it, so why not go with a barge? Maybe a barge undercarriage and made to look like a ship just for looks?

 

I can't tell if it complies with all of the regulations and requirements of a ship.

It's certainly beautiful and charming to have it look like a yacht, and though it's not the most space-efficient it probably means it's a lot easier to market it as a high-end hotel.

 

Underwater electric cable is used a lot of places, not just Gibraltar. Some of the time they're carrying much more power than one hotel's worth. With things like offshore wind power, OTEC, etc. possibly on the horizon, how did you figure we'd use transport the power?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Submarine_power_cable

 

I suspect it was easier to get permission to moor it in the harbor as a ship, than it would have been to get it authorized as a floating building that was co-opting space intended for ships....