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Cruise Ship Runs Aground

It must be an optical illusion but, in the photos, to me the ship doesn't look as big as it really is. I have seen a sister ship up close and it's huge.

Brian
 
"Carnival Corp, the ship's parent company, said it estimated the impact on its 2012 earnings for loss of use alone to be around $90 million. Its share price was down around 16 percent on the London market." -- AP

I hate to sound like a vulture, but this could be a stock-buying opportunity.
 
A retired couple from Minnesota among the missing ....so sad.
 
Just this past weekend I was on a cruise on the MSC Poesia in the Bahamas for "Holy Ship" and we ran aground when we hit a sand bar while I was sleeping. We partied on the beach for hours with DJ Fatboy Slim and Tommy Lee from Motley Crue while a bunch of tugboats tried towing the cruise ship, it took them more than 14 hours to get it off the sand bar. We had a blast while watching it.

http://gcaptain.com/holy-ship-runs-fatboy-slim-weezer/?37218
 
Cruise Critic Member Shares Her Story

Here's a first-hand account of this horrible event:



Six years ago we were on a Celebrity cruise and at dinner time on the 4th day of the cruise, there was a very loud grinding sound. Everyone was quiet for a moment and then we carried on with dinner. We found out the next morning that a major mechanical part had failed and we would have to return to Fort Lauderdale. We limped back, got there a day early, and weren't allowed to leave the ship. It was a horrible cruise and we were given a $50 on board credit for our inconvenience. We were safe though and that's what is important. I didn't cruise for 5 years after that. I can only imagine how terrified the passengers were.

We'll be on the Grand Princess January 28th for a one-week eastern Caribbean cruise. I'll be paying closer attention to the safety drill, where the Emergency exits and stairs are, etc.

Having trouble with the hyper-link. Sorry about that. I'm obviously doing something wrong!
 
We were on the Mariner of the Seas when this tragedy took place. The Mariner of the Seas crew was even more upset about it than us passengers. There were lots of prayers for the Costa crew and Costa passengers that night. I suppose our embarkation and departure delay due to the fog in Galveston looks pretty trivial in comparison.
 
dreamin said:
Here's a first-hand account of this horrible event:



Six years ago we were on a Celebrity cruise and at dinner time on the 4th day of the cruise, there was a very loud grinding sound. Everyone was quiet for a moment and then we carried on with dinner. We found out the next morning that a major mechanical part had failed and we would have to return to Fort Lauderdale. We limped back, got there a day early, and weren't allowed to leave the ship. It was a horrible cruise and we were given a $50 on board credit for our inconvenience. We were safe though and that's what is important. I didn't cruise for 5 years after that. I can only imagine how terrified the passengers were.

We'll be on the Grand Princess January 28th for a one-week eastern Caribbean cruise. I'll be paying closer attention to the safety drill, where the Emergency exits and stairs are, etc.

Having trouble with the hyper-link. Sorry about that. I'm obviously doing something wrong!
Click to expand...


Here's the link posted by Dreamin:
[URL="http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=4715"]People Falling Everywhere:Cruise Critic Member Shares Her Story Escaping From Stricken Cruise Ship


Richard
 
Liz Wolf-Spada said:
I heard on the news that the captain is now saying he fell and tripped into a lifeboat.LOL
Liz
Click to expand...

How convenient the boat just happened to be there when he tripped. :rolleyes:

Has he explained why he refused to get back on board, even after being order to do so?
 
Luanne said:
How convenient the boat just happened to be there when he tripped. :rolleyes:

Has he explained why he refused to get back on board, even after being order to do so?
Click to expand...

I was going to say the same thing.
 
Hopefully he is punished to the fullest extent of the law.
 
So really it is gravity's fault. That makes total sense.

H
 
am1 said:
Hopefully he is punished to the fullest extent of the law.
Click to expand...

I read earlier today that Carnival has fired him and disallowed him legal representation. He seems to be on his own. Whatever the punishment, it won't bring back the dead, upright the Concordia, undue the damage done to the cruise industry, and restore the faith in all the cruise lines.

Look for even deeper discounts to lure people back to cruising.

We can hope that a half million gallons of diesel fuel can be safely pumped off before the tanks rupture and that the ship can be cut up and removed from the reef upon which it rests.

The Mediterranian is fairly smooth, but storms could cause the wreck to break up and settle into deeper water, making a bad situation worse.

Jim
 
I heard on one of the news channels tonight that some feel he actually saved lives by bringing it close to shore after the damage, vs leaving it in deeper water after the hit, where more lives would have been lost.

Not expressing any empathy for this guy, just another viewpoint I caught. And I have no idea how much time after the hit before he and his top dogs bailed.
 
muranojo said:
I heard on one of the news channels tonight that some feel he actually saved lives by bringing it close to shore after the damage, vs leaving it in deeper water after the hit, where more lives would have been lost.

Not expressing any empathy for this guy, just another viewpoint I caught. And I have no idea how much time after the hit before he and his top dogs bailed.
Click to expand...

Given that it took over 2 hours to evacuate the 4000+ people on the ship, that's probably very true. Seems like the ship would have sunk in about 30-45 min from the estimates I read. Maybe faster once it capsized. I am sure thousands would have died. That said, it was his fault that it happened in the first place.

Plus I hear that crews were loading people on the lifeboats well before the abandon ship command was given. Seems like the captain was in total denial while savvy crew/passengers saw water rushing into the ship and wanted OUT. What a jerk! He told people that it was only a minor electrical problem. Jeez. :rolleyes: :mad:

DH asked me tonight: why aren't these billion dollar ships microchipped, like our dogs? How is it that Costa/Carnival central didn't see the ship go way off course 2-3 hours before the accident??? Who was asleep at shoreside central command? You would think someone is watching at all times, right? I guess not! Maybe they will now!

Katherine
 
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SDKath said:
Given that it took over 2 hours to evacuate the 4000+ people on the ship, that's probably very true. Seems like the ship would have sunk in about 30-45 min from the estimates I read. Maybe faster once it capsized. I am sure thousands would have died. That said, it was his fault that it happened in the first place.

Plus I hear that crews were loading people on the lifeboats well before the abandon ship command was given. Seems like the captain was in total denial while savvy crew/passengers saw water rushing into the ship and wanted OUT. What a jerk! He told people that it was only a minor electrical problem. Jeez. :rolleyes: :mad:

DH asked me tonight: why aren't these billion dollar ships microchipped, like our dogs? How is it that Costa/Carnival central didn't see the ship go way off course 2-3 hours before the accident??? Who was asleep at shoreside central command? You would think someone is watching at all times, right? I guess not! Maybe they will now!

Katherine
Click to expand...

I guess there are people who enjoy tracking cruise ship routes for fun. Saw one of them on the news the other night and it seems that this wasn't the first time this ship went that close to that island and the rocks.

As for the "suits" at Costa HQ watching I doubt it. With Hurricane Irene heading for NYC last summer, people that were scheduled to leave on those ships getting info on the ship's schedule was tough. And this included HAL, RCCL, NCL and Princess. Cruise Critic was buzzing with HAL planning on riding it out at the dock.
 
How the crew helped

The crew members were far more courageous than their captain. Handicapped people have been wondering what would happen to them in such a case, and here is what happened to some of them, how they were helped.

You know that the last live person rescued was the chief purser (ie, hotel manager), right? He assisted people until he got hurt. He was evacuated by helicopter with a leg broken in a compound fracture. He couldn't walk on it.

Fern
 
I'm in Barcelona now and was supposed to be on the Concordia on Monday. Obviously I'm not going on that cruise. I guess it's a blessing in disguise that we didn't book this week. At least Barcelona is a lovely city so all is not lost.
 
There was a family of survivors on Dr. Phil yesterday - they said that they saw absolutely no officers at any time and guessed that they "fell" into the same lifeboat as he captain. In the paper today it said that the Captain failed to notify the cruise line of the gash - just said he had a "problem". This does somewhat explain their failure to have anyone that could help ashore OR at the Rome hotel.
 
Top Down Command

Where I work the power structure has been tightened so that only a few people are in the decision making process. It is a tight circle and a few are well rewarded with premier assignments with the majority doing the thankless tasks with little input into decision making. Needless to say morale is low and getting lower by the year. Many of our top people have either left or are planning their escape.
As long as the customers are given a view that charms them and they are happy, then all is well. They may be getting a shoddy product but they must be kept happy. Those that work to keep the product at a high level are mostly hampered because quality takes effort. Out comes are the goal but the processes towards achievement are being shortchanged. The worst aspect is that feedback from the bottom up is not sought nor encouraged. This sounds like the process used on this ship. Ultimately the company must prove that it did due diligence in supervising their top staff which I doubt was happening. I hope that they will be held to account for their actions
The mentality I see at my work, this cruise ship and many other areas is rampant. Thank god for the other 99 percent. JMHO
 
chriskre said:
I'm in Barcelona now and was supposed to be on the Concordia on Monday. Obviously I'm not going on that cruise. I guess it's a blessing in disguise that we didn't book this week. At least Barcelona is a lovely city so all is not lost.
Click to expand...

Christine, definitely a blessing in disguise...(hugs)

Did you decide to cancel the cruise or did the cruise line?

I hope you have a wonderful time in Barcelona.
 
chriskre said:
I'm in Barcelona now and was supposed to be on the Concordia on Monday. Obviously I'm not going on that cruise. I guess it's a blessing in disguise that we didn't book this week. At least Barcelona is a lovely city so all is not lost.
Click to expand...

Barca is a great city. We spent some couple of weeks there and up and down the Costa Brava. If you haven't seen it well, check out www.runnerbeantours.com for free (donation) walking tours. There has been much written in TUG threads about Barca.

Glad you are safe. Hope Costa/Carnival compensate you for the loss of your vacation. Many thousands of people will be affected by this avoidable tragedy. It will be interesting to see how it all works out.

Jim
 
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luvsvacation22 said:
Christine, definitely a blessing in disguise...(hugs)

Did you decide to cancel the cruise or did the cruise line?

I hope you have a wonderful time in Barcelona.
Click to expand...

I believe the cruise line offered compensation to those on future cruises that had to be canceled.
 
Yes the cruise line refunded us and gave us a 30% off a future Costa cruise. Unfortunately they would not reimburse the hotel or airfare since we bought it on our own despite purchasing the trip insurance so we decided to do a plan B and just go to Spain anyway.

I'm here in Barcelona and we're doing 5 days here and then moving to Madrid for 4 days. We used FF tickets to get here so it was easy to change our return flight. I guess I need to be grateful that I wasn't on last weeks sailing. I'm loving Barcelona so far so am glad that we decided to come anyway and not scrap the trip completely.

We are staying at Citadines which is a TS right on the Rambla. We rented it from the website directly since it would have been an impossible exchange. It's a great location for this city. We're making the best of it.
 
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