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Costa Concordia sinking (merged threads)

ItalianGuest

By ItalianGuest,
in Holland America Line

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CruiserBruce

CruiserBruce

Posted
Posted

We have no evidence of when people got off the ship. The life boats were lowered- at least on one side (port side), and some reports say some were lowered on the starboard side. Who lowered those??? The crew!! So saying the crew fled is, at least, premature, and perhaps very wrong.

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PirateShark

PirateShark

Posted
Posted

My heart breaks for all the souls upon that ship :( I hope that the investigation is allowed to proceed in a factual manner.

 

Also, I now wonder if life boat drill procedures will be revisited by Carnival Corp in the very near future. While Maritime law would be slow to change (i.e. the 24 hour rule), it would, and I hate to say this, be good PR to make the drills more comprehensive and take the roll call at each station. Oh heck, damn the PR - its just good common and business sense!

 

Maybe it will make people think about their own safety instead of assuming it is someone else responsibility?

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Two@Sea

Two@Sea

Posted
Posted
HAL has always run excellent life boat drills IMO

 

Of all the cruise lines we have sailed, HAL has always conducted the most serious and informative drills.

 

 

On our Westerdam cruise in April 2009 the muster drill was halted several times by announcements from the bridge by the Captain. He insisted on absolute silence, and full attention, from every single passenger and refused to continue the drill until the 'unruly few' were in compliance. Loved it.

 

I am one who thinks it is important to hold the muster drill at the lifeboat stations, but am pleased that life jackets are no longer required. I would always use disinfectant wipes on them (knowing how many previous cruisers had stood outside sweating in them) but still hated having them so close to my mouth and nose. I tend to think the change to not wearing them was a combination of 'trip and fall' injuries and 'code orange' efforts.

 

I don't have a lot of cruise experience, but I absolutely agree that HAL has the very best life boat drills.

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SwissMyst

SwissMyst

Posted
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When a ship is listing and access to muster stations is blocked or in this case half gone anyway by being on its side, one has to wonder how much of any life boat drill is a vanity exercise in the first place. Ships themselves need to learn to sink only in orderly fashions, so they conform to the passenger expectations taught in the drills as they are presented now. :o

 

All of us need to also think about Plan B's. Many good suggestion on this thread so far. Wool is best when wet - grab anything wool to wear. Or even better, layered with silk. Maybe in our Plan B kit is to at least include wool socks, gloves and cap. Loss of heat in the extremities is a real killer.

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kazu "Live from...." Rare

kazu

Posted
Posted
We have no evidence of when people got off the ship. The life boats were lowered- at least on one side (port side), and some reports say some were lowered on the starboard side. Who lowered those??? The crew!! So saying the crew fled is, at least, premature, and perhaps very wrong.

 

Well, CBC television showed a clip of the captain leaving the Costa ship early:rolleyes: That being said, I have always been impressed with the HAL captains and I would like to think that their first priority would be the passengers, ship and crew:)

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Cindy

Cindy

Posted
Posted
On our Westerdam cruise in April 2009 the muster drill was halted several times by announcements from the bridge by the Captain. He insisted on absolute silence, and full attention, from every single passenger and refused to continue the drill until the 'unruly few' were in compliance. Loved it.

 

I am one who thinks it is important to hold the muster drill at the lifeboat stations, but am pleased that life jackets are no longer required. I would always use disinfectant wipes on them (knowing how many previous cruisers had stood outside sweating in them) but still hated having them so close to my mouth and nose. I tend to think the change to not wearing them was a combination of 'trip and fall' injuries and 'code orange' efforts.

 

I don't have a lot of cruise experience, but I absolutely agree that HAL has the very best life boat drills.

 

I've always thought the Muster Drills on Princess were well-organized and informative. People seemed to pay closer attention when they were seated inside rather than crammed in very close quarters out on deck. I haven't been to a HAL drill yet, so I can't comment on their procedures.

Kudos to the captain on the Westerdam for insisting that people pay attention and take the drill seriously! I have been to a couple Muster Drills on Carnival that were an absolute joke due to passenger behavior. In my opinion if the cruiselines want Muster taken seriously then they need to enforce their own rules. I've seen people show up staggering drunk with a drink in one hand and a plate of food in the other, and then proceed to talk/text the entire time. This usually happens right after they make the announcement about no food, drinks, smoking, or cell phones allowed. It just bewilders me that none of the crew says anything when the rules are so blatantly broken. If somebody refuses to put their drink down or is too drunk to understand, they can have a make-up session...at about 6:00 the next morning!:D:p:D

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Arwen

Arwen

Posted
Posted
This incident has made me rethink a couple things, just as the Splendor fire did. After that fire I added a small flashlight to my cruise supplies.

I have always carried a small purse with me on a ship...usually one that has a long strap so I can put it across my chest and not worry about it.

I've also been in the habit of having our passports, a credit card, and some cash in a Ziploc bag to take ashore. Now that this has happened I will probably start putting that Ziploc in the zipper pocket of my small purse and keeping it with me. I use my phone as an iPod, so that's usually with me too, and I would have contact information if I needed it.

 

I always have several LED keychain flashlights with me, on my purse, tote bag, etc. You can buy these online. They are tiny, lightweight, but put out a light comparable to a larger and heavier flashlight. Mine came in handy when I was on a shore excursion and the public bathroom I had to use on a shore excursion was really dark and the light was out. I also have a a light weight goose necked LED reading light. Now after reading about this accident and having already been in safe situations with lights out, I will also make a habit of having one of my little keychain LED mini-flashlight around a neck chain as well.

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puddles'n splashes

puddles'n splashes

Posted
Posted

Last February, on our cruise to Peru,out of San Diego, one able bodied passenger refused to get up off the deck chairs as the crew stacked them for drill. Several junior officers and one more senior officer spoke to him but he refused to move. Many mobility challenged and handicapped passengers conformed to the drill procedures. Attendance was not taken. We had another drill at Callao, and the same display of arrogance. He was at our lifeboat station. In my opinion, he should have been put off the ship in San Diego for not complying with the safety of all aboard. To do it twice with no consequences was in total defiance of Captain's orders and the safety of all. Not acceptable!

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Host Walt

Host Walt

Posted
Posted
...I've also been in the habit of having our passports, a credit card, and some cash in a Ziploc bag to take ashore. Now that this has happened I will probably start putting that Ziploc in the zipper pocket of my small purse and keeping it with me...

A suggestion I received from a staffer in the State Dept. is to have a good, color, photocopy of the front pages of your passport made and laminated to carry in your wallet at all times. Losing your actual passport while ashore can be a major headache. Losing the laminated copy is no big deal.

 

In the very unlikely event that you can't access your actual passport, such as this case, the copy makes it far easier to get a duplicate at any US Embassy. On the other hand getting a brand new passport overseas to replace an original one that gets lost or stolen can be a real nasty bit of business.

 

The photocopy of the passport pages also can be useful as identification along with a gov't issued photo id (driver license, for example) if required in a foreign city.

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THE BUDSYS

THE BUDSYS

Posted
Posted

My husband and I always leave passports in the safe in our cabin. We sail next Sunday on the Ryndam and this Costa disaster has me nervous. I am going to fix a bag to keep with me but I was thinking about making photocopies of the passports and still leaving the originals in the safe. What do you more experienced cruisers think? Would copies be accepted if the real ones were lost? Thanks for any advice.

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kazu "Live from...." Rare

kazu

Posted
Posted
We have had several cruises, most recently our May 2011 TA on the Rotterdam were the ship kept our passports so we all wouldn't have to bring them to customs.

 

We always carry copies of our passports while off the ship.

 

We always carry colour copies too:) If this was a typical European/Med cruise, the ship would have taken the passports for the non EU passengers (at least they do when we are on)

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donh1

donh1

Posted
Posted

Costa 'showboating' may have caused Italy disaster

By Francoise Kadri (AFP) – 4 hours ago

ROME — A risky practice by cruise ships of close-passing the island of Giglio in a foghorn-blasting salute to the local population appears to have contributed to the Costa Concordia disaster, officials and witnesses said Sunday.

The 114,500 tonne monster cruise liner sank after hitting a reef only 300 metres (985 feet) from shore late Friday as it passed much too close to the shore of the Tuscan island on its route to Savona in northern Italy.

Defence Minister Giampaolo Di Paola, a former Italian navy admiral, blamed "gross human error" for the disaster in comments to Rai3 television on Sunday.

"Ships of such dimensions cannot sail so close to a coastline where one knows there are rocks," the minister said.

Some witnesses said the ship was indulging the local population with a spectacular parade past the island in what is known locally as an "inchino" or reverent bow, with its upper decks ablaze with light as many of the passengers sat down to dinner.

Adding weight to the theory, the daily La Stampa on Sunday published a letter dated last August in which Giglio's mayor Sergio Ortelli thanked the Concordia's captain for the "incredible spectacle" of a previous close pass.

The mayor told journalists on the island on Saturday that the normal route for cruise ships heading north from the port of Civitavecchia near Rome takes them to within three to five kilometres (1.8 to 3.1 miles) of Giglio. "Many of them pass close to Giglio to salute the local population with blasts from their sirens."

"It's a very nice show to see, the ship all lit up when you see it from the land. This time round it went wrong," said the mayor.

On Sunday however, Ortelli denied that it was a regular practice to come so close to the island.

"It's not the practice, or in any way a programmed salute but always in safe conditions," he said.

Ortelli said some skippers of Costa cruise liners liked to "pay tribute" to former colleagues who have retired to the island but that this always occurred in "safe conditions".

Francesco Verusio, the Tuscany region's chief prosecutor, said the ship's captain "should not have been sailing so close to the island" and had him arrested for multiple homicide and abandoning his ship before all the passengers were off.

He said that the captain had "approached Giglio in a very awkward manner", which led the ship to "hit a rock that became embedded in its left side, causing it to list and take in an enormous amount of water in the space of two or three minutes".

Enrico Rossi, the president of the Tuscany region, visited the island on Sunday to see the rescue effort at first hand. He said he would ask the environment ministry on Monday to ensure that cruise ships adhere strictly to navigation rules in future.

"It's shocking to learn that a ship of this size can navigate so close to the coast," Rossi told AFP, adding that it should be possible to balance the need to entertain passengers with the safety of the ship.

Copyright © 2012 AFP. All rights reserved. More »

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Windsailer

Windsailer

Posted
Posted

It's being reported in Russian newspapers (there were a number of Russians onboard the ship) that several passengers from Kazakstan saw the Captin eating dinner with a young woman and drinking wine a bit before the crash. The newspapers also reported that several British passengers saw the same. No, I don't speak/read Russian but my husband does!

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Krazy Kruizers

Krazy Kruizers

Posted
Posted
A suggestion I received from a staffer in the State Dept. is to have a good, color, photocopy of the front pages of your passport made and laminated to carry in your wallet at all times. Losing your actual passport while ashore can be a major headache. Losing the laminated copy is no big deal.

 

In the very unlikely event that you can't access your actual passport, such as this case, the copy makes it far easier to get a duplicate at any US Embassy. On the other hand getting a brand new passport overseas to replace an original one that gets lost or stolen can be a real nasty bit of business.

 

The photocopy of the passport pages also can be useful as identification along with a gov't issued photo id (driver license, for example) if required in a foreign city.

 

I always have colored copies of our passports in that small purse that I talked about earlier.

Back in the early 70's we were touring Europe with a group. One couple did not listen to the warnings about the various ploys that go on in Rome to get women's purses. She placed her purse down on the floor between her legs -- a couple of boys caused a ruckus behind her and before she knew what happened -- her purse was gone. Also gone was their passports. But they had copies back in the hotel. Made it very easy to get new ones.

From that time on I have always made extra copies of our passports.

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Krazy Kruizers

Krazy Kruizers

Posted
Posted
KK- great point. Years ago we had a sailing from San Juan at midnight. People were still coming on board at 10pm, including my in-laws. When do you have the lifeboat drill then? Ours was the next morning just before we docked at our first port.

 

Right -- all our cruises out of San Juan were late departures and we also had the lifeboat drill the next morning.

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