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Costa Concordia - I survived

mickey_d_mouse

By mickey_d_mouse,
in Costa Cruises

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polpetta27

polpetta27

Posted
Posted

Micky-d-mouse thank you for sharing your experience and I hope you get home and in the comforts of your surroundings as soon as possible.

 

Italian media is saying that Costa is paying for 3 nights of hotel stays, I do not believe this is enough time for people that lost their passports and everything else to be cared for n that time frame, surely this will be adjusted as I am sure many are also in the same situation as Mickey.

 

Thoughts and prayers to all effected by the tragedy

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Precoria

Precoria

Posted
Posted

We are all glad you are safe and will be home shortly.

 

People who were not on the ship should not judge how the survivors should feel, or what their priorities should be. Shame on anyone for judging others when they have no idea what it is like to be in their shoes.

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Donder1

Donder1

Posted
Posted
Sounds like a safety drill would have been useless. People couldn't get to their muster stations, the crew told people not to get in lifeboats, then after people insisted on boarding lifeboats anyway, the crew had trouble lowering lifeboats. There are reports of waiters in charge of lifeboats who had no idea how to operate or steer them and were crashing into the other lifeboats. Sounds like all the safety drill stuff meant nothing (as is usually the case in a catastrophe).

 

I cannot imagine the sheer terror people must have felt, with the ship listing in the pitch black, and announcements that it is merely an electrical problem when they can feel the ship sinking. When your cabin windows are now the floor of your cabin, and you can't see a thing and everyone is screaming and crying and no one, including the crew, has any idea what to do, and people are jumping into the sea and swimming for the island, and people are trying to climb against the power of gravity to get to a deck where there are lifeboats, I think the horror must be unimaginable.

 

I am so sorry for the passengers and crew. I hope those missing will be found alive.

 

As far as all the chaos goes, I think that the higher level staff is truly at fault. If the staff had been trained better, the chaos might have been lessened. I'd like to believe that we have progressed since the Titanic sinking. I always thought that in the event of an emergency, the staff would know EXACTLY what to do. Wrong! To me, the lesson for all cruise ships is that whatever training of staff they are doing is NOT GOOD ENOUGH! Yes, we should all pay attention at the Muster Drill and yes, it is likely that panic might ensue. The cruise staff needs to be trained better, be all on the same page and tell folks what to do. And, there needs to be better contingency plans to how to deal effectively with survivors.My thoughts and prayers to all who are suffering.

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guernseyguy

guernseyguy

Posted
Posted

Given the OP's last post was at 08.23, I'm sure we all hope she and her daughter are now safely en-route home after this terrible experience. I've seen reports of Britons, Germans and Brazilians arriving home - so lets hope this will soon be true of Australians too.

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nurseratchett

nurseratchett

Posted
Posted

Micky D

Thank you for your first hand and detailed report of your nightmare! We are soo glad you are safe !

Hopefully we can all learn something from This horrible incident/accident! Your accounting of this tragedy will forever change our outlook on cruising and what we do !

I will always carry a penlight or flashlight and We will NEVER skip our Muster Drill again! As I understand you sadly had not had your Muster Drill when this all happened !

 

Please have a safe Journey home and Very Happy Landing !

 

Thank You again for sharing your story while it is still going on!

 

Joanne

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canmark

canmark

Posted
Posted

Thanks for your story. I'm sure you must be in shock from such an ordeal, and hopefully when you've returned home and your life has returned to normal you (and others) will be able to provide more details of your experience--as clearly, this event is very fascinating to people here (experienced and inexperienced cruisers alike).

 

This disaster is certainly something that most people will not have (and will never) experience, but it's something we all can learn from. Looking after your own personal (and family) safety are important whether at home or away from home.

 

Hopefully the cruise industry will also learn from this experience. I can't entirely fault them, or the crew, as this specific disaster is not something that has occurred before and is not likely to occur again. Most of the crew are not professional sailors: they are cooks and waiters, room attendants and cleaners, maintenance people and so on. They come from many different countries and speak many different languages. They would never have been in a situation like this before. It's not surprising they didn't all know what was going on. They didn't have a hotline to the bridge: they only knew what they were told. It's not surprising they didn't all have skills in operating lifeboats or gathering passengers on land and taking attendance, and so on. But maybe that's some training they could be given in the future. Unlike a muster drill where everybody has their role, in an actual accident different people may have to take on different roles.

 

I think that as the stories come out, though, we will learn of great tales of crew and passengers who acted heroically and went out of their way to help their fellow survivors. I'm more interested in those stories than stories of the ones who panicked, or were incompetent or cowardly. I was not there, separated from my family, in a listing ship on a dark night: it's not for me to judge others' actions.

 

However, if there were cases of professional negligence, then let those people be judged by the law.

 

And thanks to the villagers of the island who, unexpectedly, had 4,000 people crash land on their island in the night. Thanks to the Italian coast guard, police, and other rescuers.

 

Our hearts go out to the families of those who died. Mercifully, the majority of those on board were saved. Let's be grateful for that. And again, lets hope that everyone can learn something from this disaster to prevent, or at least mitigate, other accidents in the future.

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Milily

Milily

Posted
Posted

Thanks for the Aussie update, Micky D. So glad you and your family are safe and heading back home. That is a terrible ordeal and I can only imagine how much worse it was not being able to effectively communicate. We are regular cruisers from Oz (last sailing on Carnival Magic in Europe, July 2011) and have never been on a ship that didn't hold a drill. Though I'm wondering if that would have really made any difference, anyway, given what you've posted. Never thought this would be the emergency response in modern cruising times. Quite a wake-up, actually...:(

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AussieKathy

AussieKathy

Posted
Posted

Its your worse nightmare to happen when you travel overseas! Glad to hear you and your daughter are safe. I hope they get you home soon so you can be with your family it must be very lonely there for you. I guess we will be seeing you on the evening news when you finally get back into Australia. Safe travels home.

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CruiseJunky

CruiseJunky

Posted
Posted

This is just awful. As the mom of a former dancer with Royal Caribbean, she did 5 years with them. I can tell you that she was VERY well trained, even the entertainment staff had training for just this type of event. She knew how to launch a raft, a lifeboat, and she weighs 100 lbs soaking wet. They had teams that knew what to do and were shown how to deal with people in an emergency.

 

What would have happened had this been an RCI ship, who knows, but at least I know for sure what the training was for them. It seems like Costa just fell apart and no one seemed to be trained at all in anything. Just terrible, God bless all of you, what a horrible experience.

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Susie51

Susie51

Posted
Posted

Michelle, thank you for sharing your story. Your posts and other CCers' comments have made me think about being more prepared for handling emergency situations. Also, I think I need to stick to cruise lines where the primary language is English.

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