A
passenger ship is a
merchant ship whose primary function is to carry passengers. The category does not include
cargo vessels which have accommodations for limited numbers of passengers, such as the ubiquitous twelve-passenger freighters once common on the seas in which the transport of passengers is secondary to the carriage of freight. The type does however include many classes of ships designed to transport substantial numbers of passengers as well as freight. Indeed, until recently virtually all
ocean liners were able to transport mail, package freight and express, and other cargo in addition to passenger luggage, and were equipped with
cargo holds and derricks, kingposts, or other cargo-handling gear for that purpose. Only in more recent ocean liners and in virtually all
cruise ships has this cargo capacity been eliminated.