Ships I want to love it, and I think it's posisble, but...

[Bartizan]

Beluga fans, help me out here. I am trying to love this beautiful behemoth but some things have me perplexed about it.

Fuel tank size versus FSD range versus Fuel Scoop availability. What in the world is going on here? I get a massive tank, crazy short FSD range considering the intended purpose of the ship and gimped on scoop? Please tell me I am missing something here and just being dumb about it. It's a gorgeous ship, the view from the bridge is stunning. I REALLY want to make this into a deep space explore vessel, but I am having trouble making the math work.

Ran a few passenger missions with it...it performed ok...bit of a lumbering mess when interdicted, but all in all, it did its job. On the topic of interdiction...I can't attempt to protect my passengers by deploying an escort fighter? That seems weird to me.

Excuse the spelling in my title. :/

 

[Kayin]

So here's the thing about the Beluga. It's not supposed to be THE passenger ship. It's supposed to be THE passenger ship OF LUXURY.

Compare it to modern day cruise ships. A modern day cruise ship can't really defend itself against a single pirate boat, although it can employ tactics to deter or escape the pirate... or just have rowdy passengers.
http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=2485
http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=3204
http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=5093

Cruise ships also don't really travel that far and aren't exactly pioneers of fuel efficiency. They're not supposed to. They take a lot of passengers on a vacation around a tourist hotspot and back in time for work on Monday.

If you want to take a trip to Antarctica for the purposes of exploration, you're going to take something a little more practical. I see the equivalent of these to be an Asp Explorer tricked out with some passenger cabins.
http://www.polarcruises.com/antarctica/ships/expedition-ships

Now, there are luxury expedition ships, but even these wane in comparison to a proper cruise ship. I see the equivalent of this to be a fully tricked out Anaconda.
http://www.polarcruises.com/antarctica/ships/luxury-expedition-ships

-K