Costa concordia survivors 12 months on

Sunday, or Monday morning for me will be 12 months since Captain Coward tried to add to his Rock collection on Giglio Island. He then proceeded to let the ship sink whilst telling us to go back to our cabins as it was only an electrical fault.

John Katharine and I will be up early as she arrives back from a scout Jamboree at 5am, the crash time will be around 7:30am for us. I will then come to work and John and Kath will try to pack away her belongings, it is school holidays for us here until Feb and John has the day off.

Its strange whilst the nightmares have not retrurned (yet) I have had trouble sleeping. Found myself and lots of other survivors posting a lot more regulalry on the survivors facebook page, and increasingly becoming short tempered, disinterested and crying for no reason.

I still have three main questions and one cheeky one

Why did they lie to us whist the ship was sinking?

Why wasnt someone giving orders during the evactuation? ( yes I know Captain Coward was warm and dry on land but there were other officers on board).

Why did Costa treat us all so apallingly after the wreck?

Why is anyone still sailing on their ships?

For those of you that have booked and sailed on Costa after the 13th of January, why did you was it that no other ships were going where you wanted or the cheap prices or you just thought us survivors were telling a load of rubbish?

Also for those that have sailed since the 13th of January, is there any improvement in their saftey procedures?

I would also like to thank all of the Cruise Critic Members who have supported me, listened to me and helped me during the past 12 months. For that I am very grateful.

Michelle

Hi Michelle

Thank you for your posting.

I know all of us posting on the different threads will join together in our thoughts for you, your family and all others so tragically affected by the disaster in hoping your suffering is coming to an end and your lives will gradually return to as near normal as possible.

We will be all thinking of you this coming weekend.

Our Love and Very Best Wishes

Clive

Michelle ... Tonight in the UK on sky tv channel 527 there was a programme about the Concordia 12 months on made by National Geographic, the information used was from the Data recorder together with a computer graphic of the ship.

The data recorder and the Graphic shows Schettino taking over control of the ship and when they realised they were close to Le Scole rock ordered a turn to Starboard, then an order Rudder to Midship followed by an order of Port 20 degrees ... this would have taken Concordia clear of Le Scole rock but for some reason it took the Helmsman some 13 seconds to act on the order, by the time the order Hard to Port was given it was too late.

It seems that in those 13 seconds the fate of Concordia was sealed, as for why it took time to give the Abandon ship order ... the Experts on the programme say that it would have been almost impossible to lower lifeboats full of people while the ship was moving away from Giglio and listing to Port while heading to deeper waster.

When Concordia turned around the wind acting on the Port side pushed the ship into the Vertical/Upright position which then caused the water within the Hull to move to the Starboard side and cause the ship to capsize onto that side, the programme also said that with three adjoining watertight compartments breeched that teh Concordia could not stay afloat.

As for changes since i can only confirm that on our recent Transatlantic crossing from Barcelona to Port everglades on the MSC Poesia that the Emergancy Lighting in the Corridor/Hallways of the ship were on continuously for the whole voyage.

Michelle,

Does anyone feel that if the Captain had stayed on board they would have felt different towards him at the end of this?

Very curious as to the fact that Costa suggested you not return to Giglio for the services this weekend. I would think that is a personal decision for each as to whether it would help or hurt you to see the ship as she lies awaiting removal. Knowing myself, I would have to face it and tell the sea, the ship, and the Captain that I was stronger than what they threw at me. Just not sure that this would be the weekend I would pick to do so.

Those of us that have chatted with you here wish you, your family, and the rest of the survivors all the best as you try to put this behind you.

Some Beach,

You know if the Captain had stayed on board helping and had been seen by some of the passengers helping them, and if Costa had treated us nicely and helpfully after the accident, I think I would feel a lot differently.

Costa could have made this a whole lot better for themselves by just having nice compassionate people in those hotels after the accident, by giving us a choice of what to eat for dinner, what to drink. By sitting down with each of us and checking we were ok, that we had got some of the clothing brough to the hotel at various hours and had we organised replacement passports and a way home, by giving us 50 euro each to buy some essentials and organising us to get to a supermarket to get them. This would have costs them under $500,000 but would have earned them 10 times that in positive publicity. It probbaly would have also saved them 10 times more in settlements and litigations if people felt they had been treated properly I think they would have been more prepared to settle.

Michelle ... while i have no arguement with Italians sadly they can at times to be very abrupt and appear very rude! something many people outside of Europe cannot understand along with many of those within it.

I have to agree with you that had it been done different with regards to afterwards it would have helped calm people somewhat,that said it is worth remembering that most if not all of these people had never dealt with any kind of disaster in their lives.

Michelle ... while i have no arguement with Italians sadly they can at times to be very abrupt and appear very rude! something many people outside of Europe cannot understand along with many of those within it.

 

I have to agree with you that had it been done different with regards to afterwards it would have helped calm people somewhat,that said it is worth remembering that most if not all of these people had never dealt with any kind of disaster in their lives.

Sidari, my father is Italian but I take no offence at your comment, as you have consistently made valid coherent points unlike many others over the last year on here.

Whilst I feel sorry for Michelle and all the others on board that fateful night the accident would not deter me from sailing with Costa. My younger brother did last November and had a fantastic time.

The benefit of hindsight is a wonderful thing and I'll watch that programme with interest, but until all the facts are known I am making no prejudgements.

Another thing to remember here is that unlike other cruise lines such as Carnival, Royal Caribbean and NCL, Costa Crociere do not have "go teams" that are trained to deal with pax in the event of a problem.

Essentially those who met with survivors at the various places tween ship and eventual flight home were people pulled out of the main offices along with representatives from the shipping company that Costa Crociere use during port stops.

They are not trained specifically to deal with distraught people who have just survived an accident...reasons why they are not trained is twofold.....1. the industry as a whole was in denial that anything like this would ever happen and 2. the fact that it did happen caught everyone unawares...they were not prepared for it due to factor #1.

Carnival Splendor's fire really placed the go team onto the map since they were made public by the media...it was only AFTER the Concordia that Costa Crociere adopted the go team ethic, as was shown during the Allegra incident shortly thereafter.

But those who were trying their best to do the right thing after Concordia were, on the whole, office workers who were flung out into the melee and they were as unsure as to what to do as those wanting help and reassurances.

Its not an excuse...just a reason why they might not have come across as well as you might have wanted or hoped. They still don't have a truly dedicated group of people dealing with the aftermath but they have learnt important lessons and will continue to learn.

As I have said all along, there are alot of similarities with the airline industry...planes have crashed for years, decades even...yet it took the loss of a 737 outside Pittsburgh in 1994 that woke up the airlines and those investigating aircrashes to how to deal with survivors and relatives of survivors & victims in a proper way. Up until that crash, there was no dedicated department that specifically dealt with the human aftermath and they still screw it up even now...but they are learning...as will the cruise industry given time.

Fortunately there are alot less accidents involving passenger ships than aircrashes, so the learning process for the cruise industry have very few markers and precidents to go by. Concordia was the first "big ship" so mistakes in the aftermath were inevitable...

No comfort, I know, but no-one anticipated a ship of any size, let alone one that big, to founder...no-one can prepare for something they do not ever anticipate happening.

Sunday, or Monday morning for me will be 12 months since Captain Coward tried to add to his Rock collection on Giglio Island. He then proceeded to let the ship sink whilst telling us to go back to our cabins as it was only an electrical fault.

 

John Katharine and I will be up early as she arrives back from a scout Jamboree at 5am, the crash time will be around 7:30am for us. I will then come to work and John and Kath will try to pack away her belongings, it is school holidays for us here until Feb and John has the day off.

 

Its strange whilst the nightmares have not retrurned (yet) I have had trouble sleeping. Found myself and lots of other survivors posting a lot more regulalry on the survivors facebook page, and increasingly becoming short tempered, disinterested and crying for no reason.

 

I still have three main questions and one cheeky one

 

 

Why did they lie to us whist the ship was sinking?

 

Why wasnt someone giving orders during the evactuation? ( yes I know Captain Coward was warm and dry on land but there were other officers on board).

 

Why did Costa treat us all so apallingly after the wreck?

 

Why is anyone still sailing on their ships?

 

 

For those of you that have booked and sailed on Costa after the 13th of January, why did you was it that no other ships were going where you wanted or the cheap prices or you just thought us survivors were telling a load of rubbish?

 

Also for those that have sailed since the 13th of January, is there any improvement in their saftey procedures?

 

 

I would also like to thank all of the Cruise Critic Members who have supported me, listened to me and helped me during the past 12 months. For that I am very grateful.

 

Michelle

Thank you for Posting.

It is still going to take time before so many of your questions are answered. The investigation continues to grow, right to the doors of Carnival Corporation now, and rightfully so.

As to why people still book Costa, I ebleive its a combination of cheap fares, and not really following what really happened and why. Many people still think it was all due to one captian. Lastly, people are creatures of habit.

My family will not sail any Carnival crusie lines, and it does seems since carnival is often almost giving away cruises now, seems some people are thinking the same way.

My families prayers and best wishes go out to you and your family.

AKK

thanks for the update. the year did seem to go quickly.

to answer your question, the main reason i booked costa this: costa is the only line where smoking is permitted in the cabin.

John my partner who was on the cruise ship with me comes from an Italian family he is the first of his family born in Australia.

So I do understand how they can come off abrupt.

Initally we were told by Costa staff that we would get all those things I mentioned and that they were waiting for the boss to arrive to proceed, when he did arrive we were then told Costa had chnaged their mind and would give us none of those things.

Whomever sent the first lot of people to us obviously realised this was the best way to proceed by 4pm Saturday some idiot at Costa had decided I am sure we will never know why that this was not the way to go and it was better to handle it like unfeeling nasty morons, whomever made that change should be held responsible for a lot of the negativity and angst of the passengers. So this was not a case of they did not know what to do as they told us they would do everything in the first instance it was a case of someone at Costa making a deciison not to do it.

My thoughts have been with the passengers of the Concordia all day today. OP I am truly sorry you had this experience. I am sorry things were not handled better for you on Giglio. I can only imagine that the lawyers were calling all of the shots after the disaster. The company surely went into damage control mode and clearly not caring-about-people mode.

I hope that someday soon all those who survived this tragedy will be able to return to their normal lives (no nightmares, being able to sleep, go to a mall, eat the food they were eating that night,etc.).

Stay strong and while this event will always be a part of your life, try not to let it control your life.

Have visited the Costa Forum this morning from my usual P&O/Celebrity 'home' as my thoughts, and I am sure those of every member of CC, are with anyone affected by the tragic events on the COncordia this time last year. Take care all

Michelle, there has been mention in a book, written by 2 survivors from US, about the lack of help they received from our Embassy in Italy. Did you receive any help from your Embassy whilst trying to make your way home after your return to mainland Italy from the Island?

Michelle, I am so sorry that you had such a dreadful experience, and to add insult to injury, were treated so very poorly by Costa. I believe every word of your story, and am outraged on your behalf, and hoping that you and the other passengers will be properly compensated, and soon.

Unfortunately, every cruise line has a history of appalling customer service when something goes wrong, although in most other cases there has not been loss of life. If I were to boycott every cruise line, airline, hotel chain, tour company or resort that treated customers shockingly badly when things went wrong, I would have to give up holidays altogether. We recently tried Costa for the first time, and one of the reasons for the choice was that we hoped they'd be likely to behave better with their recent mistakes still fresh in their minds.

That doesn't mean that I don't take your experience seriously, or have compassion for you and the others. I do, and I hope things improve for you very soon.

Michelle, there has been mention in a book, written by 2 survivors from US, about the lack of help they received from our Embassy in Italy. Did you receive any help from your Embassy whilst trying to make your way home after your return to mainland Italy from the Island?

The Australian embassy were incredible they came to see us by 8pm on Saturday gave us money organised a car to collect us sunday morning to get our emergency passports and organised for him to take us shopping for essentials, even drove us around some tourist spots and took us for coffee. They also made sure our travel insurance organised our flights home. They had issuee with Katharines passport as an Australian minor emergency passport application needs to be signed by both parents and her dad was homein Melbourne so they had to organise to send someone there for him to sign the application. When we returned they organised replacement passports in a couple of weeks and even extended mine and Katharines by another 2 years. They were incredible, they didnt even charge us for the emergency or replacement passports.

Spent ages the other morning writing an item for the one year anniversary of the accident for cruise critic I couldnt come at doing any media and it doesnt seem to have survived the cut onto their one year item :mad:

The Australian embassy were incredible they came to see us by 8pm on Saturday gave us money organised a car to collect us sunday morning to get our emergency passports and organised for him to take us shopping for essentials, even drove us around some tourist spots and took us for coffee. They also made sure our travel insurance organised our flights home. They had issuee with Katharines passport as an Australian minor emergency passport application needs to be signed by both parents and her dad was homein Melbourne so they had to organise to send someone there for him to sign the application. When we returned they organised replacement passports in a couple of weeks and even extended mine and Katharines by another 2 years. They were incredible, they didnt even charge us for the emergency or replacement passports.

Wow. So different from what the US couple has said.

From one interview I've seen and what Clive reported after reading the book, the US Embassy did nothing to help, including expecting them to get to Rome with very little money on them. Actually they had US and China Embassies (wife's family) to deal with, neither of which were much help.

The survivor wrote the book with more of an angle on treatment after the accident. I'll have to look into getting a copy of it.

Both Benji & Emily are incredible people and whilst I havent read the book yet I know it will be incredible I remember talking to them in the queue for the toilets in Porta San Stefano the morning after the accident. Emily has also written some music as well. I can totally attest to what the embassy said to the Americans as we with numerous americans in the Garden Inn they had nothing and were told to find there own way to Rome, the told them to get money wired from home but they had no ID to pick it up, one american lady had some cash and was giving some to other americans, a Russian man paid for a cab for some of the other americans.

When I rang the Australian Consulate it was unattended and the phone transferred me thorugh to Canberra in Australia, as soon as I mentioned the Concordia they put me through to a special person she took all our details found our passport numbers asked if she could do anything for us at home, and said the embassy would call us. The head if the embassy rang us within 15 minutes, I forgot to mention that they also sent us a comb as I needed a brush but they couldnt find one in the embassy and some warm shawls as it was freezing and they jnew we didnt have much clothes.

It was a day I was very glad I was Australian.

Michelle sending prayers across the miles to you and your family and the many other families affected by this terrible tragedy.

Hugs, from The Thompson's of Jacksonville, Oregon

Michelle, Thanks for posting this. I'm happy you're doing better now and the nightmares have subsided. I can't imagine what you have been going through. I remember a year ago reading your posts on here when you got to dry land. I see in your signature you'll be cruising for the first time since this event. I'm happy your experience hasn't shun you from cruising.

Michelle, I've been thinking of you with the 12th month marking of the Concordia in the media here.

I'm pleased that the Embassy stood up for you in many ways.

While people say that Costa didn't have teams in place for such a crisis, it doesn't take much training to show compassion when dealing with the individual survivors immediately after the crisis. The arrogance of the Captain suing for wrongful dismissal is appalling. I do hold the cruise line accountable for what happened as there seems to be a culture of bravado amongst the crew that was allowed to flourish. It probably wasn't a matter of if, but when, something like this happened.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Both Benji & Emily are incredible people and whilst I havent read the book yet I know it will be incredible I remember talking to them in the queue for the toilets in Porta San Stefano the morning after the accident. Emily has also written some music as well. I can totally attest to what the embassy said to the Americans as we with numerous americans in the Garden Inn they had nothing and were told to find there own way to Rome, the told them to get money wired from home but they had no ID to pick it up, one american lady had some cash and was giving some to other americans, a Russian man paid for a cab for some of the other americans.

 

When I rang the Australian Consulate it was unattended and the phone transferred me thorugh to Canberra in Australia, as soon as I mentioned the Concordia they put me through to a special person she took all our details found our passport numbers asked if she could do anything for us at home, and said the embassy would call us. The head if the embassy rang us within 15 minutes, I forgot to mention that they also sent us a comb as I needed a brush but they couldnt find one in the embassy and some warm shawls as it was freezing and they jnew we didnt have much clothes.

 

It was a day I was very glad I was Australian.

Michelle, I've read enough into Benji's book to feel sorrow for what they had to go through not only on the ship but by our own Embassy.

Like many others in this country, I've always thought that they would be the ones to turn to in my travels should there be a problem. I no longer am confident that I can rely on them if something major were to occur.

Michelle, there has been mention in a book, written by 2 survivors from US, about the lack of help they received from our Embassy in Italy. Did you receive any help from your Embassy whilst trying to make your way home after your return to mainland Italy from the Island?

US Embassies are about the LAST place you should go for assistance in an emergency abroad, unless you are literally bleeding to death on the sidewalk. Anything short of that is not an "emergency" as they define it, and you are required to make an appointment, show up during business hours, and pay in US currency for any services you require. In particular they don't care about you getting mugged and being broke and without a passport, or other crisis of similar magnitude. They won't feed you, help you get home, or take you in from the cold. They won't pay for a doctor, unless perhaps you are about to die they might agree to call your relatives to get them to send some Western Union cash to you. So all their PR crap about being there for you is absolutely untrue.

US Embassies are about the LAST place you should go for assistance in an emergency abroad, unless you are literally bleeding to death on the sidewalk. Anything short of that is not an "emergency" as they define it, and you are required to make an appointment, show up during business hours, and pay in US currency for any services you require. In particular they don't care about you getting mugged and being broke and without a passport, or other crisis of similar magnitude. They won't feed you, help you get home, or take you in from the cold. They won't pay for a doctor, unless perhaps you are about to die they might agree to call your relatives to get them to send some Western Union cash to you. So all their PR crap about being there for you is absolutely untrue.

Wow, we were treated very well by the Canadian Embassy!! The Embassy staff looked after all of our needs on the Sunday (their day off) They sent cabs for us at the Rome Airport Hilton, had snacks and coffee ready when we arrived. Had a Doctor there ready to help if we needed any medical attention or prescriptions written. They had computers available for us to find contact information for our guarantors as we had to make new applications for our replacement passports. They loaned each of us 200 euros and gave us a ride back to the hotel after. Our replacement passports were delivered to us that same evening by embassy personnel. The evening before they had opened to help another bunch of survivors and said they stayed into the wee hours of the morning drinking wine with them!! (we got coffee, cookies and apples!)