OnTheJourney

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.

Are you on the cruise that recently left out of Ft. Lauderdale? Friend of mine is on that. Doing the ABC islands?

Yeah that does sound great. Like I said, not looking forward to the crowds in the finger lakes area. See what happens with the weather. If it's looking to be overcast or even partially cloudy, I might opt to keep my reservation on Keuka Lake for the 99.5% totality instead of wanting to be directly in the path. If my house were in the path, I could probably rent out camping space in my lower yard, for a premium price of course 😁

That's the part that quite frankly worries me a bit. This event will unfortunately bring out the undesirable elements of our society. After all the money spent on planning, preparing merchandise, etc. wouldn't it be a bust if the weather does not cooperate?!?

Sure...3:23 of totality there.

I wish! I wouldn't dream of going ANYwhere if we lived in the path. Not looking forward to crowds and traffic. Despite the undeniable nature of this once-in-a-lifetime celestial event, it's really not our sort of thing from the standpoint of the number of people it'll attract. Almost has a Woodstock sort of feel to it.

For sure, and super expensive also! We've passed it many times during our drives up that way. Most hotels are charging double / triple their usual rate. Can't blame 'em. Right now I have two places booked being that the first I considered turns out to not be in the path. That one's on Keuka Lake. 99.5% - still really good, but we figure if we're going to do this might as well go for totality. So I'm sitting on both reservations for now, but will likely cancel Keuka. That Geneva link is great. Thanks! Those public areas are gonna be jammed. Best to just hang out at the hotel and see how things are there. Just hope this event (nationwide) doesn't bring out the crazies, especially of the gun-happy sort. A bit concerned about that. "Eclipse crawl"?? Amazing!! Some of the activities taking place are really cool.

So what happens on these. Nightly concerts in the theatre by individual bands / artists - or even more frequently during the day at various places around the ship? Quite an extensive line-up for just 7 days. Sounds cool.

Absolutely! You get nearly 4 minutes of totality there. Have to be prepared for LOTS of people wherever we all are (in the path anyway). Traveling on the eclipse day could be tough in many areas.

Whereabouts does he live in NY?

Where are you going on the Summit? I've not followed this thread for quite awhile. One of our favorite cruises used to be the Summit out of Bayonne up to Canada / NE. Perhaps those are itineraries never to be seen again since, as I've recently discussed in a different thread, they shifted them to roundtrip Boston.

Anyone have plans for viewing the eclipse next month? We made reservations at a hotel in Geneva, NY since it's in the path of totality. Here's a really cool site to check it out: https://science.nasa.gov/eclipses/future-eclipses/eclipse-2024/where-when

Interesting. Didn't know that. Makes sense. So then I suppose RCL doesn't come in or out of Montreal either.