The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Executive Office of Health and Human Services
Department of Mental Health
25 Staniford Street
Boston, Massachusetts 02114-2575
MAURA T. HEALEY
Governor
(617) 626-8000
KIMBERLEY DRISCOLL www.mass.gov/dmh
Lieutenant Governor
KATHLEEN E. WALSH
Secretary
BROOKE DOYLE
Commissioner
February 23, 2024
Mr. Michael D. Hurley, Senate Clerk Mr. Steven T. James
Office of the Clerk of the Senate Office of the Clerk of the House of
24 Beacon St., Room 335 Representatives
Boston, MA 02133 24 Beacon St., Room 145
Boston, MA 02133
Chair Michael J. Rodrigues Chair Aaron Michlewitz
Senate Committee on Ways and Means House Committee on Ways and Means
24 Beacon St., Room 212 24 Beacon St., Room 243
Boston, MA 02133 Boston, MA 02133
Chair John C. Velis Chair Adrian C. Madaro
Joint Committee on Mental Health, Joint Committee on Mental Health, Substance
Substance Use and Recovery Use and Recovery
24 Beacon St., Room 513 24 Beacon St., Room 33
Boston, MA 02133 Boston, MA 02133
Chair John C. Velis Chair Gerald J. Cassidy
Joint Committee on Veterans and Federal Joint Committee Veterans and Federal Affairs
Affairs 24 Beacon St., Room 171
24 Beacon St., Room 513 Boston, MA 02133
Boston, MA 02133
Dear Clerk Hurley, Clerk James, Chairs Rodrigues and Michlewitz, Chair Velis and Madaro, Chair
Cassidy:
Subject to Section 2 of Chapter 28 of the Acts of 2023, the Department of Mental Health is pleased to
submit a report on behalf of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) outlining the feasibility of
converting a decommissioned ship or other water-based vessel into a floating hospital for mental health,
substance use treatment, and recovery services.
Special thanks to the Secretary of the Navy for endorsing this project and to the MIT’s Naval Construc-
tion & Marine Engineering Program for their collaboration and research in producing this investigative
report.
This project was modeled after Boston Medical Center’s Brockton Behavioral Health Center Clinical Sta-
bilization Services and can be used as a basis for both in-patient and out-patient treatment.
Thanks to their partnership, this study was completed at no cost to the Commonwealth.
Sincerely,
Brooke Doyle, M.Ed., LMHC
Commissioner
cc: Kate Walsh, Secretary, EOHHS
Feasibility Study
Cruise Ship Conversion
An investigation into the utility and
feasability of converting a cruise ship into
a mental health and rehabilitation facility
Project Team: Emily Curran
Adam Pressel
Rafail Athanasopoulos
Course: 2.704
February 5, 2024
Contents
1 Project Overview 1
1.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 Study Objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.3 Customer Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.4 Major Assumptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.5 Information Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.6 Process Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2 Design Approach 10
2.1 Design Philosophy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.2 Design Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.3 Design Decision Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2.3.1 Defining Medical Compliance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2.3.2 Utilization of Existing Arrangements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2.3.3 Utilization of Installed Systems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.3.4 Port and Pier Location. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
3 Concept Exploration & Selection 16
3.1 Baseline Ship Variant Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
3.2 Concept Exploration Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
3.3 Arrangement and System-level Evaluation and Selection . . . . . . . . 17
3.3.1 Ship Selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
3.3.2 Identifying Necessary Modifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
3.4 Concept Variants Description, Evaluation, and Selection . . . . . . . . 26
3.5 Preferred Concept . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
4 Concept Definition & Feasibility/Performance Analyses 29
4.1 Design Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
4.1.1 Ship Geometry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
4.1.2 Arrangement Modifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
4.1.3 Structural Arrangement & Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
4.1.4 Patient Room Modifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
4.1.5 General Modifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
4.1.6 Patient Support Capacity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
4.1.7 Power and Propulsion Plant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
4.1.8 Auxiliary Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
4.1.9 Weight Estimation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
4.1.10 Design Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
4.2 Feasibility & Performance Analyses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
4.2.1 Weight Distribution and Load . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
4.2.2 Reserve Buoyancy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
4.2.3 Strength . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
4.2.4 Stability Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
4.2.5 Power and Resistance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
4.3 Cost . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
i
 4.3.1 Acquisition Cost . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
4.3.2 Engineering Cost . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
4.3.3 Refurbishment and Conversion Cost . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
4.3.4 Operations and Support Cost . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
4.3.5 Total Life Cycle Cost . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
4.4 Technical Feasibility and Risk Assessment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
4.4.1 Feasibility Assessment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
4.4.2 Outstanding Risk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
5 Conclusions & Recommendations 57
5.1 Summary of Final Concept Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
5.2 Areas for Further Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
5.3 Recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
A Project Study Guide 62
B List of Acronyms 75
C Design Parameters 76
D Guidelines for Design and Construction of Hospitals 77
E Hull Selection Information 79
F Boston Harbor Information 80
G East Coast Harbor Information 82
H Initial Ship Data 86
I Final Ship Data 95
J Detailed Ship Renovation Data 104
K Historical Cruise Ship Renovation Data 110
References 111
ii
List of Figures
1 Scrapped cruise ships at a ship breaking yard in Aliaga, Turkey. [4] . . 1
2 Facility design parameters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
3 Flynn Cruiseport berth arrangement [6]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
4 North Jetty Pier (highlighted in red) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
5 Grand Celebration moored at North Jetty Pier, 2018. . . . . . . . . . . 15
6 Celestyal Crystal [14] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
7 Celestyal Crystal [15] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
8 Passengers vs. Gross Tonnage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
9 Estimated Purchase Cost vs. Gross Tonnage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
10 Initial representative model of Crystal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
11 Approximate Longitudinal Support Structure Locations (Shown on Deck
3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
12 Approximate Representation of the Crystal’s Exhaust Stacks (Shown on
Deck 3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
13 Actual and Estimated Location of Elevator Shafts (Shown on Deck 3) . 22
14 Guest Entertainment Spaces for Renovation (Shown on Deck 8) . . . . 23
15 Outdoor spaces available for renovation shown from starboard side . . . 24
16 Outdoor spaces available for renovation (Shown on Decks 5-8) . . . . . 24
17 Outdoor spaces available for renovation (Shown on Decks 5-9) . . . . . 25
18 Main Entry Locations (Shown on Deck 2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
19 Perspective view, including design waterline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
20 Profile view (center of flotation & buoyancy annotated) . . . . . . . . . 30
21 Body plan view . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
22 Original Deck 02 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
23 Deck 02 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
24 Original Deck 03 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
25 Deck 03 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
26 Original Deck 04 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
27 Deck 04 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
28 Original Deck 05 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
29 Deck 05 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
30 Original Deck 06 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
31 Deck 06 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
32 Original Deck 07 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
33 Deck 07 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
34 Original Deck 08 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
35 Deck 08 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
36 Original Deck 09 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
37 2D Arrangement Plan for Deck 09 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
38 Deck 10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
39 Example Crystal guest room . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
40 Example Crystal guest room storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
41 Example Crystal guest room bathroom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
42 Example converted patient room - top view . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
iii
43 Updated patient room - perspective view . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
44 Updated patient room - front view . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
45 Example cruise ship enclosed brow [20] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
46 Example cruise ship enclosed brow [21] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
47 Patient Unit Breakdown by Deck with Facilities Space Noted . . . . . . 44
48 Initial righting arm curve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
49 Final righting arm curve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
50 Power and Resistance Table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
51 Power vs Speed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
52 Complete Acquisition and Conversion Cost Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . 50
53 Projected cost analysis - evaluated against historic values . . . . . . . . 50
54 Commercial ship operational costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
55 North Jetty Pier Lease Agreement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
iv
List of Tables
1 Celestyal Crystal ship specifications [14] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2 Initial passenger cabins available for patient rooms . . . . . . . . . . . 20
3 Estimated cruise ship staff breakdown [17] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
4 Estimated clinical staff for dayshift [12] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
5 Preferred facility design key attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
6 Typical form coefficients [19]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
7 Total patient capacity - evaluated by deck . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
8 Estim