"Cruise ship Fiasco"

[Sumpter250]

How many cruises is a ship like that good for? How many years do they stay in service? How many ticketed passengers per trip? It is all on a cost vs. risk analysis. Dave

Don't know the answer to that, but, the first ship I served in was commissioned, in the first year of my life, and I spent three years in her, with lots of time off the Virginia Capes, and one six month deployment to the Mediterranean. Rode out some pretty severe storms in her too.
She was decommissioned and sold to Brazil, serving in their Navy for several years before she reached an age where she could not be economically repaired, and was then ( January 16, 1999 at 13:50 hours ) used as a bombing target. She rests in about 1250 fathoms, in the Atlantic, somewhere off the South American coast, not too far from Rio de Janeiro. She was 55 years old. She had served in WWII ( Pacific ), Korea,the Cuban blockade, and Viet Nam.