OnTheJourney

A few more, especially since DGHOC referred to the broken display cases on the lounge upper level. That pic is simply a screen shot from a video.

I may have posted this somewhere along the way but if so I don't remember and hence apologize in advance for likely repeating. With the 5th year anniversary coming up tomorrow, however, I thought I'd share some personal recollections. The local newspaper interviewed Joan and I (I'm sure the same happened for others). I am still admittedly nearly brought to tears in watching her read her journal entries.

Understated even, especially speaking for those - like myself - who were airlifted and transferred to hotels. The treatment we got was 'first class' for sure. And, the amazing effort by the CHC for doing nearly 18 hours of transporting pax during such difficult circumstances can't get enough credit. The assessment report of Sept. '21 presented the very detailed level of response and how many agencies, etc. had to be notified and quickly mobilized into action. As always, a terrific post on your part to continue to help explain things mentioned in the report. There is far too much "blame culture" still prevalent in all walks of life. Glad to hear the Marine industry has moved beyond that.

Goes without saying I suppose that all cruise lines run the numbers on which itineraries are popular and which aren't, and then adjust accordingly. Still wish Viking came into either Baltimore or Bayonne. That'd be so awesome for us since both are in fairly easy driving distance.

Wow! I had not remembered that. What an introduction to cruising!!! I was on the lower deck listening to glass shatter and watching people ride the chairs. The staff member told everyone to "move back to here..gonna get worse", but hardly anyone listened to him and instead some people were still up at the windows taking pics and video (not a great idea in retrospect) Again, wow! I have a picture (taken from a picture I came across online) of all those glass cases with the ships laying over and millions of glass pieces all over. Good you weren't injured by all that was going on up there! I will never forget the sound of all the glasses and dishware, etc. smashing. Probably some of what I heard was from upstairs where you were. Outside of the actual seriousness of the situation, that's almost humorous. Like a scene out of a 'Three Stooges' episode. I left the lounge once stuff started falling out of the ceiling and then headed down to the theater where Joan was. She had been watching the movie that was being shown that afternoon. We heard these loud booming noises every so often - likely the anchors (?) or else just the waves pounding the hull. At one point I said to her something to the effect of "I think we're in trouble here and will probably have to declare an emergency". Immediately after that we heard the general alarm sound. Ah yes...5 years tomorrow. Glad we're all here to talk about it.

Oh my...open mouth and insert foot....sorry for going on a bit of a rant about litigation, etc. in today's society!!! Didn't mean to step on anyone's toes 🤭

Wouldn't it be nice if most things operated that way, as opposed to living in our highly litigious and condemnatory society where the emphasis is often on determining culpability (and subsequent rewards) rather than exploring all the facts solely to arrive at a workable, productive solution to avoid future situations - whatever they might be - for the benefit of everyone. This is not to imply that those who truly are deserving (of financial or whatever other legal reward) as a result of injury or hardship, etc. shouldn't get it, but some of the jury decisions handed down are insane. My Dad used to be fond of saying that many times people don't want to be held responsible for their own actions anymore, but rather it's always someone else's fault.

Thanks! I would have assumed there was a cruise immediately following. Well, we sure were. Viking went way above and beyond, I thought. Never expected a revised Chairman's cruise to show up following the cancellation of the first plan. Well said! Extremely complex set of findings to sort through and unravel, to say the least.

Interesting...haven't gotten that far yet in the report!! Thanks so much, as has already been mentioned by others, for taking the time to read and weigh in on all this. Us "survivors" greatly appreciate it!!! 😉

One thing that has always wondered me is - how much of a factor, relative to the sailing decisions made both before and after leaving Tromso, was needing to get to Tilbury by our scheduled disembarkation date? Ours was, if I'm correct, the final Northern Lights journey for the season, or was there a return trip to Bergen? Or another cruise for that matter out of Tilbury? Any sort of itinerary delay can quickly become a significant issue (as DW and I experienced on the Viking Mississippi cruise).

Looks like a great itinerary!

Andy, glad to see that you're going to be cruising again! This HAL itinerary by any chance? https://www.hollandamerica.com/en/us/find-a-cruise/s5n22b/o511 We only went with them once - for an Alaska trip, but they have a roundtrip Vancouver itinerary (Alaska) that I'd like to do sometime.

The one thing that will always bother me about the entire incident is that at no time were the pax informed of the impending situation, i.e. the weather forecast, what if any plans existed to deal with it, e.g. change in itinerary or not, and right up until the general alarm went and we were all told to go to muster stations, there was no communication - to the best of my memory - as to what was going on. Others on this thread (who were there) have a similar recollection. So there was no way to prepare - emotionally at least - for the situation. That made it more difficult. I guess the presumption was that - as has been stated - the ship SHOULD have, in normal operating conditions anyway, have been able to make it through safely. But even with that said, might have been good to tell everyone to report back to their staterooms awaiting further notice or at least inform us ahead of time (since the storm was forecasted days in advance) of what we could expect in the way of high seas and strong winds. I don't recall that anything was said. Instead, you still had people sitting in the lounge while stuff started falling out of the ceiling, loads of glass items smashing, lounge chairs sliding from one end to the other (with people in them) All of a sudden, a bit later, we were in an emergency situation and informed about the evac plans. I've mentioned before on this thread that another cruise we were on (actually the next one after the Sky) also encountered a (less severe) weather situation and the captain held a presentation in the theater to inform us of what was going on as well as the various itinerary changes, etc. that were being considered. It was most impressive and got us to thinking about the contrast between that level of communication and how I remember it on the Sky. All that said, I totally agree that following the general alarm the crew did an outstanding job for both those who were evacuated and stayed onboard. And, I can't say enough about how well things were handled ashore for the evacuees. This was the weather report as listed on the room tv for 3/23/19. And yet the ship was rockin' and rollin' the evening before already.

And, TH responded similarly during his presentation onboard the Mars, where he admitted to "human error" as the chief cause of the event.

Of course, and yet far less of a risk than driving your car. Safer to fly than drive, and safer to cruise than fly, statistically speaking.

I don't believe this is a fully justifiable decision, but totally yours to make. It was undeniably a truly unfortunate set of circumstances (ala the "swiss cheese" model that Andy refers to). Probably safer sailing with Viking than flying with Boeing at the present time.

Yes. The final report has just been issued. It has been posted on the most recent page of the Viking Sky Survivors thread.

I have no idea what it even stands for, but didn't want to appear stupid enough to ask!

Agreed! Even moreso relative to any evac scenarios (such as ours) that preclude the use of the lifeboats. Evac by helicopter is inherently dangerous but especially in the conditions we were in. Judging from the (many) pictures I looked at, I estimated that the ascent from deck 8 to the chopper was about 100 ft. Throw in some twisting and turning yet (yikes!). I was certain that my camera case would probably drop off into the ocean. Joan said a few prayers on the way up, while I was also saying a few for her while watching from below. Scariest moment of my life up until this past Christmas Eve with Joan's hospital / 911 event. The first part of the quoted statement is, shall we say, pretty much a 'no brainer' that pertains to operating any vessel! Andy, I'll be anxiously awaiting your weigh-in on the report, as well as a few other expert mariners here.

Thanks so much for posting this! Long-awaited for sure. I see it is pretty lengthy and so saved it as a pdf (since I'll file it away for keeping along with the interim report). Should hopefully generate some interesting discussion. 5th anniversary coming up on Saturday!!!

LOL...you got it. Least they could do on Labadee was offer something special for suite guests. But, they know that people on cruises (where Labadee is on the itinerary) will still book suites regardless of whether RCL offers a different buffet and private beach area for them or not. I have no idea what happens on Cococay. Only ever been there once. It was exceedingly windy so we were only there a few hours.

Of course. It always comes down to $$

Sorry to hear that. Been a good many years since we were there. CC is certainly a beautiful (and large) facility, but we liked the smaller, less 'Disneyesque' feel that Labadee used to have. Oh well, like my Mom is always fond of saying, "nothing stays the same".

You don't need to be Pinnacle. It used to be for suite guests. They did away with it quite a few years ago already, at least I believe I'm right about that. It was simply a special area on Labadee reserved for suites. Everybody got a buffet lunch, but BBC got much better food. Used to enjoy going snorkeling there also.

I'll take the old "Barefoot Beach Club" (used to be for suite guests) on Labadee over Coco Cay anytime. Used to be a great buffet. We weren't impressed with what they put out on CC. Next time after spending some time on the beach we'll go back to the ship for lunch.