Luxury Cruise Ship
Frequency: Moderately low to low. Cruise ships will be completely inaccessible to all survivors that elect to dwell within the nation's interior and far from any large port where these sorts of vessels typically dock. Individuals or groups located within more temperate American port locations such as the Florida coast, San Diego and a few other such cities will be best poised to both access and make use of a luxury liner. Heavily traveled port locations in non-American cities will vary on a county by country basis but will be similar to experiences here in that they will be relatively scarce.
Inherent Survivor Hazards: Cruise ships are designed with easy living in mind and typically aim to cater to the travelers' desires for the finer things in life. As such, these ships are relatively devoid of any extraordinary hazards to survivors. One of the only manners in which a vessel will pose a danger to human life would be if a person were to somehow end up overboard while the boat was traveling and not moored. Most survivors on deck will be untrained on man overboard procedures thereby leaving someone in the water likely to end up subjected to drowning, zhark attack or simple abandonment (depending on how far the boat is from land at the time).
Inherent Zombie Hazards: Much in the same way that there are not many impediments to the living on a cruise ship, a zombie's ghoulish existence will be relatively unchallenged by the vessel's structure once boarding the boat. Survivors should be able to find a few fire axes, flare guns and possibly an actual firearm that could be used against an unexpected shamblor. The great challenge to the undead regarding cruise ships is merely getting aboard. Once a ship has left its moorings and no longer has an access ladder extended to land or a pier, any land-based zombies will have lost their primary means of getting onto the vessel. The sheer size of cruise ships only allows them to dock in relatively deep waters, far deeper than would allow even an ocean floor dwelling zombie access to the boats' sheer hull.
General Tactics: A luxury cruise liner is essentially an expansive multi-story building that just happens to be able to float. As such, the initial room-to-room sweep of the premises should be conducted in the same sort of cautious and complete fashion that one would use when searching a land-based building. Special care should be exerted whenever searching the lower levels of the craft where luggage and supplies are stored as well as any sort of machine rooms since they are typically cluttered and cramped. The initial sweep is really the only time one could end up finding one of the undead on board of such a ship, especially if a substantial watch is posted to prevent one from boarding the ship while still moored.*
One of the largest benefits to utilizing such location as shelter is the ability to effectively control the overall access to the ship. Unexpected visitors, living or undead, are extremely unlikely. Once in motion and on open water, boarding a liner becomes rather difficult. Other survivors who have been able to commandeer a helicopter maybe able to land on the ship's deck, but access from swimmers and those piloting small boats will have little chance of getting onboard. Survivors in charge of security should always be alert and on the lookout for the possibility of rogue pirates or other undesirable marauders wishing to plunder the ship's stores or commandeer it for their own purposes.
Once secured, a large boat is basically beyond reproach as a short-term refuge for the living. Beyond the simple fact that this is a form of shelter that is also extremely mobile and relatively easy to defend against intrusion, there are traditionally sizable stores of food (both perishable and non-perishable) on hand. Unlike many terrestrial perishable food storage systems that are completely dependant on the persistence of functional utility grids, those in place on large ocean liners have to be powered through self-sufficient means. This means that survivors on board are not limited simply to canned and processed foods. It is difficult to place an absolute measurement on the value this alone can have on survival group morale. These food supplies should be sizeable, especially since they are designed to feed a much larger number of passengers than will likely be on board in a survival-based situation.
Occupants would be foolish to believe that a ship at sea is a completely safe locale. While food supplies will be large, the ship's fuel reserves will be far from unlimited and refueling options will be far and few between. zd.o researchers firmly believe that one of the best uses of a functional cruise ship is to let is transport a group of survivors to an isolated Caribbean island (or one located in another tropical clime) while reserving enough fuel to be able to reach the mainland again. This gives the survivors the ability to live for as long as possible in one of the safest possible locales while also retaining the convenience and utility of mobility. This sort of survival scheme displays a need for fuel conservation and a semblance of advance planning in regards to island selection. Great care should be exercised when selecting an island it should be close enough to allow for a feasible journey, and distant enough to escape the brainthirst of wanderors.
Safety Rating: 9 out of 10. For short term occupancy, the only thing that detracts from the score of this locale is the uncertain nature of large scale machinery. If a survivor is able to board a cruise ship still staffed by those knowledgeable about how to properly pilot the craft, the short-term rating would climb to a 10 out of 10. Regardless of who is behind the wheel, use of a cruise ship as a long-term base without a steady supply of fuel would result in a score of 3 out of 10 at best. While a ship stranded in the middle of the ocean would still be completely safe from the undead, it would ultimately become a floating coffin for all aboard with starvation, insanity and mob-imposed cannibalism being the best possible outcomes.
* This reviewer does realize that it would be possible for one of the former living crew occupants of the craft to later become a zombie if they were to perish after the ship had set sail. The statement that zombies would be extremely rare to find on board after the initial sweep was written with this knowledge in mind. The reviewer presupposes that any competent survivor wishing to remain a breather will make a concerted effort to quarantine the near dead and then to "assist" them in the transition to a restful and final death when such an appropriate time comes.
