My rental in Europe was an Audit A4 with this feature and of course a DSG (automatic). In the process of parking, which is always a tight fit in most places there, shifting between D and R was a constant reminder of this wonderful feature.  Never again!

Yeah right! At least on some cars. But I’ve only had it on my current car, so I hate them, because my experience is n=1.

in Powerful cars and V8s, it can be the difference of a quarter tank, especially in city settings.

If they’re committing outright fraud with stuff like forged signatures, how have the cops not done anything?

Displacement is based on mass. Draft is based on geometry. 

Believe it or not, that $1,700 maybe breaks even on the fuel/food/supplies bill.

If what I read was correct, a large cruise ship burns about 80,000 gallons of diesel per day. Seems pretty wasteful and destructive for a boat ride.

One would be remiss to not add that these monstrosities are an environmental catastrophe. The shipping industry is bad enough- and yet a necessity in most cases- but knowing that these things are belching out torched bunker fuel for the sake of funsies of the passengers is downright depressing

From the way it sounds, they feel they get more value for their money. Whenever people come back I only hear them rave at how much food (note, they don’t say it’s good) they had. 

At $1,700/pp you could have a nice vacation in the Bahamas. but if you like cruises, go for it. My kids want to go on one, I haven’t dropped the bomb yet, but I will never be on one. So, they are going to have to wait a decade or two for their cruise.

Right there with you. From an engineering perspective a massive ship like this is awesome to behold. But you couldn’t convince me to take a trip on that boat with the thousands of other people who should probably have spent a week in Vegas or an all inclusive resort instead. These floating shopping malls are not my…

How big can these fucking things get? This thing is over 250,000 tons. Or two and a half Gerald Ford class carriers. Or 6 Titanics.
 
And despite what the article claims these ships do not do well in rough weather. They are indeed VERY top heavy and if caught in a tropical storm or hurricane will rock badly. And if the…

Agree but isn’t that overkill? A few simple torpedos would do the trick and — Oh, wait. NOW I see what you’re saying...

Come sail the Gigaton of the Seas — a ship so big that you’ll never need to look at the water!

You have hit it on the head. Why in the world would you want to go to a (floating) hotel and not be able to leave? High population density does not promote rest and relaxation.

The carbon impact of a cruise ship is massive. Many, many times the amount per person on an airplane. The average is 650 pounds+/- per day per person. And there are plenty of other ecological impacts, from sewage runoff to bilge pumping to destroying coral reefs to soot to dealing with their garbage.

According to Google, large cruise ships generate about 3,000kg of CO2 per person for a 7 day voyage. A international flight seems to be roughly 150g/km.

False.  Every plane I’ve been on has a water slide. It’s just the cheap airlines save them for “emergencies” 

More like Icon of Disease, amirite?

I mean That cruise ship, hell yea I’d go on that! I have a small carbon footprint in general, so I can use my carbon credits on this. Next Disney would make a cruise ship called the Star Destroyer and will encompass the size of Rhode Island.