From thestreet.com: 

QM2 ocean liner or luxury barge?

Cruise-boat operator Carnival (CCL:NYSE) said earlier in the week it has agreed to pay a French ship maker $760 million to build the Queen Mary 2. 

Operated under Carnival's Cunard Line, the QM2 will be

the "first new ocean liner constructed in more than three decades," Carnival says.

Huh? Could it really be that the cruise operators haven't built an ocean-going boat (shipping types hate it when you call their toys "boats") in 30 years?

Turns out that as with so many things, it's a matter of semantics. A

spokesman for Cunard explains that there's a big difference between a "coastal-cruising ship" and an "ocean liner."

The former, like the 2-year-old Grand Princess operated by P&O

Princess Cruises (POC:NYSE ADR) , may weigh 109,000 tons, carry 2,600 passengers, and make two Atlantic crossings a year, according to a Princess spokeswoman. But, says Cunard's man, it's really "an amusement park and hotel" fitted on top of a barge. In contrast, an ocean liner -- like the 31-

year-old Queen Elizabeth 2 -- starts with a super-strong hull and streamlined design made for fast ocean crossings. "And then we fit a hotel into that machine."

I'm glad we got that cleared up.