chengkp75

Quite serious. While this could be considered "interfering with the safe operation of a vessel", 46USC2302, this only applies to US flag vessels, or foreign vessels in US waters. Neither applies here.

If you'd like to know, there are chapters that address this in the shipbuilding rules for all the classification societies: DNV, ABS, Lloyds. Feel free to study.

Which continues to ignore the structural requirements for muster stations. You can't just say, "let's make this a muster station, because it's comfortable and convenient for me".

Been to Hungnam, wouldn't recommend it.

You and me, and the rest of US taxpayers.

It's not going to cost him a dime.

Yes, just checked SeaDistances.org, that uses commercial shipping routes. It is 1000 miles, which at 22 knots is 1 day 22 hours. I believe they left at 2100 last night, so that would be 1900 (7pm) Sunday, not counting any Gulf Stream boost.

While I don't believe that a Sunday afternoon timing is possible, remember that the ship will have the Gulf Stream with her, and I have personally seen this add 6 knots to a ship's maximum speed.

I'm assuming that the above sentence is what you consider inconsistent? With the recent (2017) adoption of the Polar Code, a Captain and crew need certification to operate in Polar waters. So, yes, Wildcat is correct. The main restriction on operating in Polar waters, however, is the ship, not the Captain or crew. However, for the discussion here, rounding Cape Horn is not in Polar waters, so no certification is required.

Yes. They knew the last time he was seen, so traced the ship's course back to that point, and set the search area from that, which was mentioned as being over 200 square miles. The man being seen as quickly as he was, was pure chance, but as soon as the sighting was reported, that narrowed the search area greatly.

And it teaches them nothing about what an actual muster and emergency would be like. See above about the training for passengers as well. But, I guess under your suggestion, that a fire drill at a business building should just ring the alarm and "simulate" evacuating the building, so that everyone can just wander to the outside sometime during the day to "know where to go", and to not use employees as training aids. Where are these "better" muster stations? What is the consideration for "better"? Passenger comfort? Or, perhaps spaces specifically constructed to be used as muster stations, based on safety considerations? See above. The interior spaces on Oasis are designed and constructed to be muster stations, they are not randomly chosen. So, "herding" a couple thousand people over several hours is equivalent to herding those same thousands of pax in a few minutes. And, I've never said this, and the IMO agreed to study the new drill, as a possible revision, but it appears that they are not satisfied with the results of months of the new drill. So, they are not just saying this is the way we've always done it, they are willing to change, if that change provides an increase in safety.

With the record low levels in the river, as noted, the current will be low. He was found south of SW pass. The current from SW pass, is to the southwest. I haven't checked the tide tables, but tide may have moved him north (closer to the shore). Once the ship clears the sea buoy at SW pass, they change course to south, to head for Cozumel.

I don't believe Carnival has automated MOB cameras, so unless someone was actually looking at the feed at the time, they wouldn't know. No, 20 miles off SW pass is outside of state waters (3 miles) and even federal waters (12 miles). Why should he, unless someone did something to him? Correct. Prudent, for sure, but not a legal requirement.

Where would be the probable cause to test for drugs? Unless he claimed that someone drugged his drinks, there would be no cause. As far as I know, there is no federal law against assisted suicide, it is a state by state law. And, if it was?

Why? No crime was committed. And, after many hours in the ocean, his BAC would be zero.

Not really. The USCG uses a risk/reward matrix to determine when/where/if to perform an evacuation. In the ship's medical center, the patient is not being shaken as happens on a helicopter, and has more medical resources than onboard the helicopter. If the patient is stable, it is better to keep them on the ship then to risk an air evacuation, with all the risks that involves.

Nearly every ship will have piping repairs all the time. It is one reason the ship employs several plumbers (not just to unclog toilets). Unless it is the main line, there will be limited areas shut down for repairs, as there are isolation valves around the ship to limit disruptions. It could be a single deck, or just a bank of cabins between fire doors, or even just a single cabin. Very likely these were done during the day while you were ashore, or at night, with little notice given due to the limited scope of the shutdown. Various ships built at various yards will utilize different piping system materials, which could result in better or worse performance down the years.

These two comments together make me just SMH. And, as I've stated repeatedly, but you continue to ignore, is that the part that the muster station leaders have "scanning cards and reading a briefing" is a very small part of the overall drill. I guess you ignore the crew on stairwells and passageways guiding you. There are hundreds of crew assigned to passenger muster drill that you never see during the drill (though I doubt another repetition will work any better). And, you miss the picture when you say there would be no reason to hire passenger substitutes, since without them, when does the crew get the practice in dealing with thousands of milling cattle?

No worries. The officers always seem to want to embellish things. But, I would say that the Captain may have more experience in Southern waters, and was brought aboard for that reason.

So, one last response. If repetition indicates poor training and retention, why is it that fire fighters train every single day, as does the military, and other first responders. Repetition is what builds "muscle memory" in the crew. Ask any first responder, and they will tell you that regardless of how much training a person gets, until that person actually faces an emergency, you won't know how the person will react. "Muscle memory" is what helps to override conscious thought, and makes the person react as they have trained. Perhaps a little interaction with local first responders would do some good, though maybe not. I have participated in multiple training and drills, 26 weeks a year, for 46 years, yet I don't feel that without the repetition I would forget what I've learned. But, again, since the repeated argument is that this is best for passenger comfort and convenience, yeah, I'll leave it at this.

John can give a definitive answer for HAL, but from my experience, each tree brought onboard by the line has a certificate of fire proofing (fire retardant spray), so unless you can do this, I would say no.

NCL used to serve whole turkey on Thanksgiving (if the US pax count was high enough), and I think they still do. Whether in the MDR or buffet, I can't remember. Since I was on the Pride of Aloha, with a full US crew, during the day, while most pax were ashore, the aft MDR would be taken over for a crew Thanksgiving dinner, where the officers served the crew. I carved many a turkey on those days.

SOLAS requires that muster stations, on any ship, be "as close to the boats as practicable. Older ships with larger promenade decks are required to have the muster stations on the boat deck. When ships started to reduce the size of the promenade deck (to maximize revenue generating space inside the ship), muster stations were moved inside, because the promenade deck was not practicable. IMO would prefer the stations at the boats, but have agreed to the indoor stations, provided they meet the various requirements of access, egress, structural fire protection, size, etc. This is not what I said. I said the inspectors were there to analyze the new system to determine its effectiveness. As any regulatory regime needs to be analyzed to see if proposed changes are beneficial or not. The old system was inspected by port state control officers, like the USCG maybe once a year. I believe you've misrepresented this idea from another poster. But, since you feel it is not required for you to have any input into your own safety, I'll leave this argument here. Here's a better way. We take 2 hours out of the cruise, and hold a passenger muster drill prior to allowing boarding. We hire 2000 people to come on and act as passengers. The time comes out of your vacation, and the cost ups the cruise fare.

Sorry, but this is not correct. Every single ship's Captain has a license that says "any oceans". There is no certification for rounding Cape Horn. Now, for Beagle Channel and the Straits of Magellan, pilotage is required. Whether the Captain has studied and passed an exam to obtain pilotage there, I couldn't say, but it would be very unusual, especially for Chile to give pilotage to a foreigner.

This sounds to me like they have had a leak in one of the main water lines, and have put a temporary patch on it, and chose the wee hours of the night to make permanent repairs. That would work if the toilet on the ship bore any resemblance to the toilet in your home. It doesn't. Your toilet at home doesn't have a valve that holds water in the toilet, otherwise that annoying sucking noise you hear when you flush the ship's toilets would be continual. Pouring water into a ship's toilet will only cause it to overflow. Now, if you "deposit" something in the toilet, and then flush, since the vacuum system will likely not be down, the toilet will empty, and you can use the pitcher of water to refill the bowl afterwards. And the result would be the same.