"Tramp" generally refers to a ship that does not follow a set schedule. A tramp goes to where the cargo is to take it to anywhere the shippers or consignees want it to go.

The opposite of a tramp operation is a "liner" service. A liner service, today, is likely to be a company operating container ships on a set route with regular calls at a certain set of ports. If you were to get on a container ship today, you would probably not get to see all that much besides the ocean, the ship and for a day a week a container terminal. In New York Harbor, the container ships arrive at the sea buoy about 4:00, dock around 7:00 and begin loading and unloading at 8:00. In all likelihood, that ship will be on its way to another port within 24 hours.

And the container terminals are not in the scenic places. Few port operations are today.

A repositioning cruise is simply that. The ship is used in one area for a while, such making cruises from the Seattle-Vancouver area tio Alaska during the summer. At the end of the season, the ship is repositioned to service a different area. A ship might service the Caribbean from November to May and leave during hurricane season, so that it can service the Alaska cruise trade from June to October.

OBG, and any one who takes a cruise, read you ticket contract. These things are enforced STRICTLY. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnival_Cruise_Lines,_Inc._v._Shute

Dan, thanks for this info.

Nurit

The problem with cell phones is that they were constantly trying to lock on to a cell as you flew over... You would often be in range of several cells, so that ground stations couldn't route to your phone. You were essentially overpowering several cells.

They did research on putting a 'cell' on a plane and having the plane's radio link to a ground station. That would work much better.

Definitely no interference for the plane tho.

Not the case. GSM phones are remarkably noisy and can and do interfere with all kinds of electronics with their "buzz-bidy-buzz-bidy-buzz-buzz" that can be picked up by all kinds of radios and other electronic devices.

All in all, limiting electronic devices to only be used whilst in cruise is still probably a safe bet.

Yeah, the MythBusters pretty much demonstrated that radio signals from mobile phones can influence navigational equipment… particularly the tracking of VOR stations and/or ILS signals. Their experiment showed a CDI swinging pretty wildly when the radio signals were turned on and off, I believe to the point of going back to its default position when no VOR signal is being tracked. Somehow, I think having the ILS start going wonky when you are coming in on an autopilot landing can be problematic, especially if the pilot is not prepared to take manual control immediately.

These experiments were done in a Faraday cage to exclude all external radio signals, and all the avionics wiring was completely unshielded. I do not remember how they produced the VOR signal inside the Faraday cage, but it worked somehow. They were not able to replicate the results in an actual aircraft, which has shielded avionics (and had to remain on the ground due to FAA regulations).

So, it is generally regarded that using a mobile phone while in flight won’t cause too much trouble, but the FAA seems to want to play it safe anyway. Probably a good idea as there actually may have been an aircraft crash where a cellphone signal played a role: Crossair Flight 498: Alternative Theory.

Of course, the ban on cellphones is in flux right now, and changes may be on the horizon: Mobile Phones on Aircraft.