Cruise ship simulator — azipods, the joystick and berthing a 260 m ship, in the browser

Nobody learns to put a 260 m ship alongside by reading about it. The pods answer slowly, the hull carries her way for minutes, and ten thousand square metres of white steel catch every breath of wind — things you only understand with the levers under your own hands. You do not need a classroom and a console for that any more: our simulator runs in a browser tab, and you can take the cruise ship's bridge now, in the real Gulf of Riga, on your phone too.

The boat

She is 260 m long, 32 m in the beam, draws 8.0 m and displaces about 46,000 t — twelve decks, lit end to end at night. Propulsion is diesel-electric through two azimuthing pods of about 14 MW each, turning all the way round; forward, three bow thrusters of 1.91 MW apiece, 850 kN in all. Her bridge stands 37 m above the water: the 3-D view takes in her stem over the console and the quay far below.

Her figures are measured in this simulator's own physics:

• Speed: 21 kn at NAV FULL, about 16.6 kn at FULL, 12.9 kn at HALF; 9.4 kn at FULL ASTERN.
• Stopping: a crash stop from NAV FULL takes about five of her lengths and just over five minutes. Engines stopped at speed, she runs on for miles.
• Turning: hard over at NAV FULL her advance is about 2.9 lengths and her tactical diameter about four.
• Joystick: both sliders one way and she walks sideways at just over 2 kn; opposed, she turns on the spot at about 45° a minute. The bow thrusters alone swing her at about 30° a minute at rest.
• Wind: stopped in a 30 kn beam wind she drifts at about 2 kn; on the joystick she can just hold herself against about 30 kn on the beam, and no more.

All of it is in her ▤ POSTER, the wheelhouse poster ships carry on the bridge: turning circles, crash and coast stops, the speed for every order, the wind the thrusters hold, windage. Pick the 183 m tanker in its list and compare.

What you learn on her

• The engine telegraph. ↑ ↓ one order at a time: DEAD SLOW, SLOW, HALF and FULL ahead and astern, STOP, NAV FULL for sea speed. SHIP · MAIN ENGINE shows rpm against the order and the rate of turn (ROT).
• Pods at sea. PODS SEA turns both pods together with the wheel (±35°); the telegraph sets their rpm. The swing builds slowly on a hull this size — meet it with opposite helm before she reaches the new course; MID AUTO (Shift+M) centres the helm when you let go.
• The joystick in harbour. Under 6 kn, JOYSTICK (key V): the lever is ahead/astern, the STERN slider (Z / C) pushes her stern sideways on the pods, the BOW slider (Q / E) works the three bow thrusters. Both the same way and she moves sideways; opposite and she pivots.
• Tugs. TUGS (key T): two tugs make fast forward and aft in about a minute, on the side you choose. ◀ ▶ pushes or pulls each end; pushing to pulling takes a tug half a minute. They work fully under 4 kn, less up to 7, and let go over 8 kn — the approach speed is yours to judge.
• Bank effect and the river. Near a bank her stern is sucked towards it and her bow pushed off: give the Daugava's banks and quay walls room. Up the river she reaches Riga; she fits only into the bigger basins.
• The landing. A ship's landing is judged by her sideways speed at the contact: 0.15 m/s or less is fine, faster is a HARD LANDING (−10), over 0.30 m/s is damage. FENDERS and her four lines — BOW LINE, FORE SPRING, AFT SPRING, STERN LINE — work as on every vessel.
• Signals and MOB. WHISTLE (key Y), the Rule 34 signals on buttons, FOG AUTO (Shift+Y) for her Rule 35 signal in fog; 🛟 MOB drops the bridge-wing lifebuoy with light and smoke, three prolonged blasts, and marks the position. ↶ 5 MIN BACK undoes a mistake with the same orders standing.

The sea is real

Free Mode starts in the Gulf of Riga off the Daugava mouth, built from OpenStreetMap coastline and seamarks and EMODnet depths. Past it the whole Baltic is yours, from the Estonian islands to the Danish straits, the major lighthouses lit at night. With the simulator subscription the Baltic comes in detail from Luleå to Kiel, and the ship ports — Helsinki, Tallinn Old City Harbour, Stockholm Stadsgården, Rostock Warnemünde, Gdynia, Visby — start her at their deep quays.

The wind is today's real forecast from MET Norway where you are; so are the sky, the cloud, the rain and the fog, with the real sun, moon and stars over you. The sea builds with the wind within a minute or so, and her high sides take it. The water moves: the Daugava runs at 0.2–0.4 kn through Riga most of the year and 1–1.5 kn in the April snowmelt, and offshore the wind drives the surface water. Tap WIND and SET a practice wind of your own, 0–50 kn with gusts and veering, when you want a 30 kn beam wind on the berth today.

The radar PPI with AIS overlay and ARPA-style CPA/TCPA, and the OpenSeaMap chart, are on her bridge. The traffic gives way as the Rules say — and there is always another cruise ship off Riga, an M/S on the radar; in the Daugava start she lies at the passenger terminal by the old town, 5 NM up.

Shared sea — other real people on the water

Logged in, SHARED SEA is on by default — one live sea for everyone at ×1 — and you can switch it off. The other triangles on your radar are other skippers' boats — a LATEKO beating out of the river, another cruise ship — and the Rules apply for real: a 260 m ship with a 50 ft cruising yacht crossing ahead teaches Rule 18 from either bridge. A practice wind stays yours only — the others see PRACTICE WIND by your name.

Classroom and the scenario builder — for schools, clubs and instructors

✎ SCENARIO BUILDER opens over the simulator: a chart and tabs beside it. The instructor sets the place (any Baltic harbour or any point on the chart), the OWN VESSEL — the cruise ship under her AIS name, UNDER WAY at a point you tap or MADE FAST at a berth — and TIME & WEATHER: dawn to night on any date, the wind with gusts and veering, visibility down to thick fog, rain or snow, the sea state. ⊕ VESSEL puts traffic on the chart, on a ROUTE, AT ANCHOR or MOORED; ▱ AREA and triggers close the fog or start a vessel when yours enters a box; ■ END gives a debrief. ⇗ MAKE A LINK packs the whole scenario into a link — nothing is stored on our server.

🎓 CLASSROOM → TEACH puts a class on one private sea: FREE SAILING with one vessel for all (a class of cruise ships leaving Tallinn), a SCENARIO, a DOCKING LESSON or a DRILL, with a set wind or the real one. OPEN THE CLASS gives a code and a link; up to 30 students join from any browser — a laptop, a Chromebook, an iPad. The INSTRUCTOR VIEW shows every ship with her track and CPA ring, injects 🌫 FOG, 🌬 WIND and ⚙ ENGINE FAILURE for one or all, and gives a ▤ SUMMARY per student. TEACH is for the subscriber or instructor; students run shared scenarios for free.

Where she fits

• ⚓ DOCKING in 107 real harbours, the Baltic ship ports among them: the harbour from straight above, FORCES drawing thruster and pod wash, the wind arrow and her DRIFT in metres a minute.
• Harbour Ready, Module 7 — Power and Ships: lessons 7.2–7.4 are the tanker and the cruise ship — the telegraph, the tugs (50 % a step), her pods (V: SEA or JOYSTICK) — scored out of 100 with up to three stars, a ▶ DEMO on every card and a ┄ GUIDE track to follow.
• The big ships' bridge: ZOOM opens the view to 140°. ◧ P WING, CONN, S WING ◨ (keys , / .) walk you out to a wing; LOOK AFT (key B) turns your eyes aft along her side to the waterline, again straight down over the quay's edge and the tug pushing there, again forward to her bow off the quay. The consoles are live: tap RADAR, ECDIS or CONNING to open ours; press and hold, then drag the telegraph, the pod levers, the joystick (Shift: turn on the spot) or the thruster lever — on the wing consoles too.
• ⛶ GLASS: the view fills the screen, a strip along the bottom reading heading, speed, rate of turn, pods, telegraph, thrusters, depth and wind; RADAR, CONNING and CHART open over it as panels.
• The ECDIS chart plotter unit (/ecdis-simulator): draw a route, CHECK ROUTE against the depths with her safety depth of 9.6 m, ▶ EXECUTE and see whether she makes it.
• 🎮 Game controller: a pad or a flight-sim stick in the JOYSTICK · DP layout; ⧉ SECOND SCREEN puts the view, the radar or the chart on another monitor.

Who it is for

Professional and leisure alike. The cadet before the first watch, the deck officer, the pilot, the tug, offshore or survey crew, the training centre that wants a situation every student can repeat — and, on the same sea, the leisure skipper who is curious how the working boats are handled and what the ship on the horizon can and cannot do. The vessel, the sea and the rules are the same for everyone; only the exercises are the professional's.

How to start

Free Mode is open to everyone — no account needed — with the 15 m motor yacht and the 50 ft cruiser LATEKO at up to TIME ×10. The cruise ship and every other vessel, the docking, sailing and ECDIS units, the scenario builder and Classroom TEACH come with the simulator subscription; students join shared scenarios free. SHARED SEA and the regatta need a free SkipperCheck login. Our main product is the VHF course (€199): the VHF certificate plus simulator practice is what we call "Charter Ready".

FAQ

Does it run on a Mac or a phone?

Yes — a browser page on Chrome, Edge or Safari, a Mac, an iPad or a phone, no install.

Is the wind real?

Yes: MET Norway's forecast for where you are, with the real sky. Tap WIND and SET for a practice wind of your own.

Can I sail with friends?

Yes. Logged in, SHARED SEA puts everyone on one sea at ×1 time; a 🎓 CLASSROOM code puts a group on a private sea of its own.

Can a school use it?

Yes. An instructor opens a class for up to 30 students from any browser, injects fog, wind and engine failures, and exports the summary. Students run shared scenarios for free.

Do I get a certificate?

The simulator gives practice; nothing is issued for it. The certificate comes from the VHF course.

Take her bridge: open the simulator with the cruise ship — or start from /boat-docking-simulator and /ecdis-simulator.

Related reading

• Ship bridge simulator — handle a 183 m tanker and a 260 m cruise ship from a live bridge, in the browser
• Tug simulator — towing, escort and push-pull with real towlines, in the browser
• Boat docking simulator — berthing practice in 107 real harbours, in the browser
• Tanker simulator — ship handling on a 183 m product tanker, in the browser
• ASD tug simulator — harbour towage, azimuth drives and the towline, in the browser
• Pilot boat simulator — pilot transfers at sea, in the browser
• All articles · Open the simulator

Boat types are described generically; SkipperCheck is not affiliated with any boat builder or class association.