Gibraltar Blast -Independence

[Julesben]

We are the couple who were left on shore when the explosion rocked Gibraltar last week.

 

We have just returned home today, we are composing the facts relating to our issues and will publish these in 2/3 days, if in the meantime you have any questions we will do our best to answer these in our full assessment of our interesting experience.

 

Stay tuned this coming week.

 

Regards

:cool:

[roscoegirl]

WOW!! Glad you made it home... I don't think I read where "the two people" were when the explosion happened but, if I was near the ship, AND saw the explosion AND subsequently, saw my transportation leaving me, I think I would have fainted straight away!!:) Hope you were able to catch up with the ship and enjoyed the remainder of your cruise.

[mcca2]

We are the couple who were left on shore when the explosion rocked Gibraltar last week.

 

We have just returned home today, we are composing the facts relating to our issues and will publish these in 2/3 days, if in the meantime you have any questions we will do our best to answer these in our full assessment of our interesting experience.

 

Stay tuned this coming week.

 

Regards

:cool:

 

 

OMG I read about you guys. Were you anywhere near the INDY when this happened? It must have been a real shock. I hope you made it back to the ship without too much trouble. It was amazing how quickly Captain Remo got her out of there. So sorry you got left behind. That has to be every cruisers nightmare. Look forward to your review.

[Merion_Mom]

I can't wait to hear your tale of "catch-up"!

 

The explosion occurred at 3:37 P.M., according to articles & reports.

 

According to the news reports, the ship was scheduled to depart at 4 P.M. That is the reason that she could leave so quickly and get away from the explosion site and fire on the pier - she was already prepared to cast off.

 

Why weren't you on board? ;)

[Julesben]

I can't wait to hear your tale of "catch-up"!

 

The explosion occurred at 3:37 P.M., according to articles & reports.

 

According to the news reports, the ship was scheduled to depart at 4 P.M. That is the reason that she could leave so quickly and get away from the explosion site and fire on the pier - she was already prepared to cast off.

 

Why weren't you on board? ;)

 

Just to put the record straight, 3:37pm is RCCL's time which was reported to media groups, Sky News reported it as 3:30pm, we have proof from a phone camera that we took pictures with and timed at 3:29pm-please remember this "time" is after the shock of seeing the oil tank explosion. We had already passed through the Port Security when the incident occurred and was subsequently called back to the Port gate.

 

The ships "gangways" were still in place at the time of explosion as the ships port agent was still onboard and two people were due to board-US!.

 

The ships mooring ropes were actually CUT, this obviously aided the quick response.

 

This incident could have happened at 12:00 midday and the ship would have still departed the pier, if more people had been left ashore RCCL might have tendered them however two people weren't important enough to do this.

 

Check Sky News Online for their time of incident, our camera phone was verified as "seconds" out, not a "Minute" from Skys on screen time.

 

A full assessment will be added possibly later today.

 

Regards

[Scotsnomad]

Just to put the record straight, 3:37pm is RCCL's time which was reported to media groups, Sky News reported it as 3:30pm, we have proof from a phone camera that we took pictures with and timed at 3:29pm-please remember this "time" is after the shock of seeing the oil tank explosion. We had already passed through the Port Security when the incident occurred and was subsequently called back to the Port gate.

 

The ships "gangways" were still in place at the time of explosion as the ships port agent was still onboard and two people were due to board-US!.

 

The ships mooring ropes were actually CUT, this obviously aided the quick response.

 

This incident could have happened at 12:00 midday and the ship would have still departed the pier, if more people had been left ashore RCCL might have tendered them however two people weren't important enough to do this.

 

Check Sky News Online for their time of incident, our camera phone was verified as "seconds" out, not a "Minute" from Skys on screen time.

 

A full assessment will be added possibly later today.

 

Regards

Im sorry that you were left at Gibraltar however it still appears that you were late for joining the ship as the recall was at 15:30 and by your own admission you were at the port gate at 15:29, a good 5 mins walk away from the gangway. Were you repatriate at RCI cost or your own? RCI, even aside this incident are still likely to pull the gangway and whether 2 passengers or more are entitled to sail with no recourse.

[Julesben]

I can't wait to hear your tale of "catch-up"!

 

The explosion occurred at 3:37 P.M., according to articles & reports.

 

According to the news reports, the ship was scheduled to depart at 4 P.M. That is the reason that she could leave so quickly and get away from the explosion site and fire on the pier - she was already prepared to cast off.

 

Why weren't you on board? ;)

 

Im sorry that you were left at Gibraltar however it still appears that you were late for joining the ship as the recall was at 15:30 and by your own admission you were at the port gate at 15:29, a good 5 mins walk away from the gangway. Were you repatriate at RCI cost

or your own? RCI, even aside this incident are still likely to pull the gangway and whether 2 passengers or more are entitled to sail with no recourse.

 

Thank you for your reply, please read the points regarding times again as you might have missed on something, we're not quite sure how old you are but even in holiday mode I could be in the ships gym in 5 mins from the port gate.

 

Putting aside oil tank blasts in Gibraltar, Can you tell me where it has happened that the "Gangway" has been pulled bang on "all aboard time" when

passengers are not aboard a ship

 

Why did the Port Agent immediately sort out flights for us, I thought if your late you take responsibility for yourself and at your own cost.

 

We are posting all facts later today, however in the meantime we refer you to our original post re times.

 

Regards ;)

[Merion_Mom]

I am sure that Royal Caribbean did a great job of getting Julesben & companion to the next port of call (which I believe was in France) at RC's expense.

 

I am eager to hear how it all worked out. What a scary thing to be left in port with no belongings, and probably no passports.

[English_in_Spain]

Please be a little bit more understanding to the OP. Let's not argue about a couple of minutes here or there.

 

They obviously had a very traumatic experience. One which I would not want to encounter.

 

I would love to read their story but with the posts I have read so far I would not blame the OP if he/she decided not to bother.

 

To the OP. Please ignore the posters who are trying to imply it was your fault you were left and let us have your story.

[MattyBarlow]

Just to clarify, are you complaining about what happened or satisfied with the outcome?

[Julesben]

I am sure that Royal Caribbean did a great job of getting Julesben & companion to the next port of call (which I believe was in France) at RC's expense.

 

I am eager to hear how it all worked out. What a scary thing to be left in port with no belongings, and probably no passports.

 

Hi, thanks for looking deeper into this, as usual people make their own assumptions without looking into issues/facts deeper.

 

To answer your question we did have our passports fortunately.

 

Regards

[Scotsnomad]

Thank you for your reply, please read the points regarding times again as you might have missed on something, we're not quite sure how old you are but even in holiday mode I could be in the ships gym in 5 mins from the port gate.

Even in mathematical mode 1 Min is all you had as anything after that would mean you were late !

 

Putting aside oil tank blasts in Gibraltar, Can you tell me where it has happened that the "Gangway" has been pulled bang on "all aboard time" when passengers are not aboard a ship

The reason why times are given are to allow the ship to sail on time, additional costs are incurred when over this time. I can state many times when gangways have been pulled over my 32 year maritime career

 

Why did the Port Agent immediately sort out flights for us, I thought if your late you take responsibility for yourself and at your own cost.

More than likely due to the fact that the departure was instanteous, the port area would be in panic and finally that other things were requiring immediate action

We are posting all facts later today, however in the meantime we refer you to our original post re times.

 

Regards ;)

Im sure, as we are all aware, your facts on a specific incident may be entirely different from anothers, what you saw might not even match mine. I saw the two workmen on top of the tank, one crawling and the other pulling him, I saw within a couple of mins that he had been joined by two others, one being the policeman. I was lucky enough to get additional information from officers on the bridge being invited by the Capt.

 

My point in my view still stands, you appear to have been running a bit late as the cut off point was 3.30pm wasnt it

 

regds:)

[CruisinGerman]

The OP has been through a terrible experience.

 

Anyway, any lawyer who specializes in maritime law will tell you that what counts legally is the ship's scheduled sailing time, not the time it posts for passengers to be back at the ship.

 

Forget about the fire incident, if a ship says all aboard at 3:30 p.m., sail time at 4:00 p.m., and at 3:35 p.m. two passengers are missing, the ship will wait, by law, at least until the 4:00 p.m. sailing time before deciding on whether to wait or depart.

 

Based on everybody's theory here a ship would be entitled to pull away at 3:40 p.m. even under normal conditions if passengers are not back. This is not true.

 

The LEGAL fact of the matter was that the passengers were inside the port facilities before 3:30 p.m., an incident of force majeure prevented them from boarding the ship, and the ship sailed away nearly half an hour before its scheduled sailing time, even if there was justification for doing so.

 

RCCL is famous for doing the wrong thing when it comes to mishandled passengers. If for once they did the right thing and assumed the responsibility and expense of getting the passengers to the next port of call, I think we can all assume that the fault was not on the passengers, so let's move on and let them tell the rest of their story.

 

Kind regards,

 

Gunther and Uta

[Wilda]

Julesben- glad to hear you are home and safe. Looking forward to hearing about your experience.

[sidari]

what no one has mentioned here is why the cruise lines still allow their ships to tie up next to those storage tanks! we were on the QV 15 months ago tied up on the Inside quay next to those tanks and on the other side was the Azura, had another ship been there with the Indy then any injuries or damage could have been much worse.

 

It is time for the cruise lines to stop putting their passengers at risk by refusing to moor next to those storage tanks, the smell from them is atrocious.

 

I for one will look forward to hearing your report Julesben... :)

 

Scotsnomad ... we have seen people still boarding ships on our cruises with 10 minutes to go before the ship was supposed to leave so your nit picking with regard to who was where at what time is somewhat insenative.

[Julesben]

Even in mathematical mode 1 Min is all you had as anything after that would mean you were late !

 

 

The reason why times are given are to allow the ship to sail on time, additional costs are incurred when over this time. I can state many times when gangways have been pulled over my 32 year maritime career

 

More than likely due to the fact that the departure was instanteous, the port area would be in panic and finally that other things were requiring immediate action

Im sure, as we are all aware, your facts on a specific incident may be entirely different from anothers, what you saw might not even match

mine. I saw the two workmen on top of the tank, one crawling and the other pulling him, I saw within a couple of mins that he had been joined by two others, one being the policeman. I was lucky enough to get additional information from officers on the bridge being invited by the Capt.

 

My point in my view still stands, you appear to have been running a bit late as the cut off point was 3.30pm wasnt it

 

regds:)

 

Thank you for your replys....

 

Do you work for RCCL.

 

I would think it's better for you to read what happened in our case exactly before assuming....

 

Have you read any the posts since yours?

 

We are trying to compose our facts for all cruisers to make non biased comments to.

 

Just one quick question though, you want to insist we were late and that's your prerogative however during your 30 something years of Maritime experience... How many Cruise Ships have left port before the departure time if customers were not aboard?

 

Regards :cool:

[Julesben]

Please be a little bit more understanding to the OP. Let's not argue about a couple of minutes here or there.

 

They obviously had a very traumatic experience. One which I would not want to encounter.

 

I would love to read their story but with the posts I have read so far I would not blame the OP if he/she decided not to bother.

 

To the OP. Please ignore the posters who are trying to imply it was your fault you were left and let us have your story.

 

Thanks Carol,

 

We are in the process of putting it all together.

 

Cheers

 

Pete:cool:

[Megsdad]

The OP has been through a terrible experience.

 

Anyway, any lawyer who specializes in maritime law will tell you that what counts legally is the ship's scheduled sailing time, not the time it posts for passengers to be back at the ship.

 

Forget about the fire incident, if a ship says all aboard at 3:30 p.m., sail time at 4:00 p.m., and at 3:35 p.m. two passengers are missing, the ship will wait, by law, at least until the 4:00 p.m. sailing time before deciding on whether to wait or depart.

 

Based on everybody's theory here a ship would be entitled to pull away at 3:40 p.m. even under normal conditions if passengers are not back. This is not true.

 

The LEGAL fact of the matter was that the passengers were inside the port facilities before 3:30 p.m., an incident of force majeure prevented them from boarding the ship, and the ship sailed away nearly half an hour before its scheduled sailing time, even if there was justification for doing so.

 

RCCL is famous for doing the wrong thing when it comes to mishandled passengers. If for once they did the right thing and assumed the responsibility and expense of getting the passengers to the next port of call, I think we can all assume that the fault was not on the passengers, so let's move on and let them tell the rest of their story.

 

Kind regards,

 

Gunther and Uta

 

Interesting information.

[MattyBarlow]

To be honest this was such an emergency that the safety of the ship and the 3000 or so pax onboard would always take priority over any pax left on shore. To actually cut the mooring lines is a very drastic action. I don't think anyone can blame RCI for that. What I do find strange is that as it was only two pax left, why didn't they tender you back to the ship or let the pilot take you. The video of Indy leaving certainly shows how quick she moved.

[cruisyfloozie]

I watched from the h2o zone, it was chaotic with people running out of pools screaming. The staff were very disorganised. I was wondering myself what would have happened if explosion was earlier.

[heatherb1958]

Please be a little bit more understanding to the OP. Let's not argue about a couple of minutes here or there.

 

They obviously had a very traumatic experience. One which I would not want to encounter.

 

I would love to read their story but with the posts I have read so far I would not blame the OP if he/she decided not to bother.

 

To the OP. Please ignore the posters who are trying to imply it was your fault you were left and let us have your story.

 

 

Here,here.

 

I know even if I was cutting it fine I would not have been running TOWARDS a burning,choking fire with no idea if it was going to blow again. The port area would have been pandemonium and the OP following orders given by the port authorities.

I am looking forward to reading the details of their experience so please Julesben carry on relaying your story.

 

The OP has been through a terrible experience.

 

Anyway, any lawyer who specializes in maritime law will tell you that what counts legally is the ship's scheduled sailing time, not the time it posts for passengers to be back at the ship.

 

Forget about the fire incident, if a ship says all aboard at 3:30 p.m., sail time at 4:00 p.m., and at 3:35 p.m. two passengers are missing, the ship will wait, by law, at least until the 4:00 p.m. sailing time before deciding on whether to wait or depart.

 

Based on everybody's theory here a ship would be entitled to pull away at 3:40 p.m. even under normal conditions if passengers are not back. This is not true.

 

The LEGAL fact of the matter was that the passengers were inside the port facilities before 3:30 p.m., an incident of force majeure prevented them from boarding the ship, and the ship sailed away nearly half an hour before its scheduled sailing time, even if there was justification for doing so.

 

RCCL is famous for doing the wrong thing when it comes to mishandled passengers. If for once they did the right thing and assumed the responsibility and expense of getting the passengers to the next port of call, I think we can all assume that the fault was not on the passengers, so let's move on and let them tell the rest of their story.

 

Kind regards,

 

Gunther and Uta

 

as always I enjoy reading your comments :)

[Scotsnomad]

The OP has been through a terrible experience.

 

Anyway, any lawyer who specializes in maritime law will tell you that what counts legally is the ship's scheduled sailing time, not the time it posts for passengers to be back at the ship.

 

Forget about the fire incident, if a ship says all aboard at 3:30 p.m., sail time at 4:00 p.m., and at 3:35 p.m. two passengers are missing, the ship will wait, by law, at least until the 4:00 p.m. sailing time before deciding on whether to wait or depart.

 

Based on everybody's theory here a ship would be entitled to pull away at 3:40 p.m. even under normal conditions if passengers are not back. This is not true.

 

The LEGAL fact of the matter was that the passengers were inside the port facilities before 3:30 p.m., an incident of force majeure prevented them from boarding the ship, and the ship sailed away nearly half an hour before its scheduled sailing time, even if there was justification for doing so.

 

RCCL is famous for doing the wrong thing when it comes to mishandled passengers. If for once they did the right thing and assumed the responsibility and expense of getting the passengers to the next port of call, I think we can all assume that the fault was not on the passengers, so let's move on and let them tell the rest of their story.

 

Kind regards,

 

Gunther and Uta

I am sorry Gunther, the cruise line is quite entitled to remove the gangway at the specific time without recourse I deal with maritime issues on a daily basis. Failing to leave at the specified time due to passenger late returns could mean that they might incur additional port expenses.

[BMT]

Am I missing something here? Did the cruiseline pay or not for these passengers to get to the next port? We were booked on this cruise to board in Gibraltar, but I changed my mind as there are occasional border problems and I was concerned about missing the ship.

 

Must have been a horrible experience - so pleased the OP is OK.

[roscoegirl]

I'm just SMH!! (shaking my head)...sometimes the things I read on this board are simply unbelievable! :eek:

 

@Julesben: If you would still like to share your experience (and I'd understand if you did not), I for one would like to hear your recollection of your adventure...again, glad you made it home ok... Thanks.

[uksimonusa]

I am sorry Gunther, the cruise line is quite entitled to remove the gangway at the specific time without recourse I deal with maritime issues on a daily basis. Failing to leave at the specified time due to passenger late returns could mean that they might incur additional port expenses.

 

But the ship did leave before the specified sailing time of 4.00pm, she had a very good reason for doing so, but never the less, she sailed before the published sailing time, which is what Gunther was refering too.