Wil's Rant

I've read about this kind of thing for some time now. Pirates attacking freighters off the coast of Asia. What I could never figure out was how exactly one would go about boarding a cruise ship at sea under full steam? I could see helicopters or some other such method out of the movies, but from a boat? Admittedly, I know nothing about these ships and how the are equipped, not to mention how to sail one, but I would think trying to pirate one would be quite difficult. Perhaps I'm wrong?