First hand report of a Concordia passenger on Costa board

[AdrenalineRush]

All I can say is WOW!!

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1548951

[AdrenalineRush]

All I can say is WOW!!

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1548951

 

 

Sitting here in the Hilton Garden Inn, Rome Airport waiting for passports and a flight home. We have nothing just the clothes on our back, ( evening wear with a hurried coat thrown over the back, my 12 year old is dressed in a short halter neck dress with a windcheater and the temps here are very cold but we have been given nothing else by Costa our embassy have given us cash and are taking us shopping for essentials. Costa have put us up in this hotel but told us nothign and given us no further help than that. They left the hotel yesterday afternoon abandoning us here alone dazed bruised and confused.

 

After the ship Hit it listed people rang and panicked we were told to go to our rooms, glad ours was the 6th deck and not below. The announcements were that we had electrical porblems everything was under control, the english was announced by our international host. We were told this twice. and then by the staff numerous times, I think they believed it as well. We could not go into our cabin as our welcome spumante and glasses was shattered all over the floor and there were no lights, we could see the island was close from the balcony window so did not panic thinking everything would be okay. Cabin staff told us not to get our life jackets it was not neccesary we sat on stools and the floor joking with them, this went on for what seemed like an hour, the boat struck just after 9pm I think. Then a message came over the speakers all of the staff left immediately.

 

We were left alone as the abandon ship sirens screamed, we grabbed a coat and shoes in place of high heels our life vests, put them on and headed for the lifeboats. We stood on the deck for ages before the cabin staff told us to enter the lifeboats. We got into the boats we had a waiter in the drivers seat and some boys in white overalls, the lifeboat filled to capacity and they shut the door, people screamed the door was purshed open and people continued to enter the boat overflowing it the waiter in the drivers seat trying repatedly to get an answer form the bridge to drop the lifeboat. I dont believe that message ever came eventually an Indian engineer came who said he should be the driver the gate was sealed and they started to drop the boat, it was horryfying the boat was too heavy it lurched all of as standing were thrown to the floor the boat stuck on the side of the ship with men desperatly trying to lever it off the side of the boat.

 

Eneutally we got to the sea the waiter was too short to see out the top of the boat to steer they circled around the boat for ages and ages, eventually the engineer steered with the waiter on his shoulders we just kept circling with the shore so close and all those people still on the boat and we kept circling. Lifeboats crashed into each other they were empty but they were not going back to the boat they had no orders no instructions. Eventually we tried to dock but crashed into the wharf circled a bit more and docked.

 

We got of the ship dazed and confused trying to find a toilet for my 12 year old, a shopkeeper let people use his a long line for one toilet. The locals on the island gave us everything they had souvenier tshirts tops blankets. We were herded to the school, some to the church, here we sat on cold floors on our life vests this was about midnight when we got there. No one spoke English everyone was talking and we had no idea where we were or what was happening the staff were the waiters etc and no time did we see an officer. I saw the International english speaking host and asked him what was happening he said he had no idea and was as dazed and confused as me, I told him where we were and to come back and tell us, he never came back, from time to time we ventured out of the school to look and see what was happening as the ship submerged on its side where our cabin was. Eventually a lady in a shop or meeting place of some kind spoke english, she told me there was a queue for the ferry to the mainland. We joined the queue, and gave our names ( the first time) and got on the next ferry.

 

1 hour later we arrived on the mainland, we were given warmer blankets and pushed towards a tent we went through and had our names taken again we were then pushed through to a bus and taken to a school and told to stand in a corner for the port where we embarked, there were not enough chairs. We sat there for three or four hours we were then called to a bus, but when we got there we were told this bus was only for people who had cars at Civitivecchia, we had to wait for the airport bus.

 

We were then bussed to the Hilton Garden Inn and given a room, we were still told nothing given nothing by Costa, constantly I asked them and was always told to wait while they spoke to people in more common languages, Costa have done nothing but give us the room.

[Holidayz]

Prayers go out to you and your family,thank God you are safe and not hurt.

[scperk]

I just don't understand why they did not start putting passengers into lifeboats as soon as they hit the rocks...Somebody did not do what they were trained to do...Dennis

[serene56]

what I find scarey is the crew have no idea what to do.

 

I have ALWAYS been under the assumption they are well trained in case of emergencies.

 

I am sailing with a lot of first timers-- and these are older senior citizens.

They are now scared and do not want to go. I asked them to stop reading or watching news accounts to what happened.

 

This stuff does happen but it is rare. I am sorry that I do not know how to console them and make them understand this.

[tamirpr]

What a scary story!

 

I was impressed to hear the locals jumped into action and GAVE them shirts and blankets.

[med9114u]

what I find scarey is the crew have no idea what to do.

 

I have ALWAYS been under the assumption they are well trained in case of emergencies.

 

I am sailing with a lot of first timers-- and these are older senior citizens.

They are now scared and do not want to go. I asked them to stop reading or watching news accounts to what happened.

 

This stuff does happen but it is rare. I am sorry that I do not know how to console them and make them understand this.

 

Being a firefighter I can attest to this...all the training in the world cannot prepare some people when faced with an ACTUAL emergency. Some people are just not cut out to handle the stress of a actual emergency, unfortunately there is no way to tell until it happens.

[dst]

I think in any type of emergency people train and re-train however, until you are faced with a "live" emergency you never know how they are going to react. When you train you don't necessarily have the reactions of the people who will be involved, you don't know the extent of the emergency so while folks train until faced with a live situation it really is just training.

 

Could Coasta have done thing different, perhaps and believe me they will be reviewing this and making adjustments now that they have had a "real" emergency.

 

My thoughts go out to all the families affected with this and thankful only minimal loss of life - it could have been a lot worse

[dst]

Being a firefighter I can attest to this...all the training in the world cannot prepare some people when faced with an ACTUAL emergency. Some people are just not cut out to handle the stress of a actual emergency, unfortunately there is no way to tell until it happens.

 

 

Agree - working in Health Care we train for Hurricane emergency, fires and all sorts of other emergencies however, until something "live " happens you just never know. I am part of the training team and this is what we all fear as the trainers......

[Elaine515]

OMG... how horrible... Just from her posts, you can tell how scared she is.. Things are crazy and there is not one person who is taking control... This is so sad.. I hope that they all get home ok and get the help they are going to need after this terrifying ordeal...

 

My prayers go out to Michelle, her family and the rest of passengers and crew...

[Blurgh]

It's not really surprising to me, this isn't the crew's first job, they work ridiculous hours, and are badly outnumbered in a situation like this. It went as I imagined a seafaring disaster would. I'll leave the analogies out of this as they're in poor taste considering what happened.

 

Really the only special crew I'd trust to be effective in this kind of situation is the fire crew.

 

People are going to panic. I was on the Pride when we had that little 30-40 foot wave adventure, and some people were panicking then. And that was with the boat moving, the lights on and things operating pretty much as normal. Put a non-zero % risk of death on the table and people are going to get haywire.

[Monicaed]

How brave of you to tell this horrific story so quickly. The shock must be enormous. Our thoughts are with the families of the bereaved. What a tradegy. I have often wondered if one day there might be a calamity involving one of the giant vessels although this is not one of those.

Similarly, I have often felt that the lifeboat drills may not help very much. OK if you are nearby in your cabin but what happens if paassengers are all over the ship. Just imagine the elderly and infirm (like us!) trying to cope and blocking the stairways. Cant imagine any precautions improving mstters vey much in the event of a catastrophic happenning but I suppose some lives could be saved as a result.

We live in dangerous times but will still aim to enjoy our Med cruise in June whilst remembering those not so fortunate. No doubt the Cruise lines will tighten up procedures but it worries me that such ships are more vulnerable to accident (and attack) than we had imagined.

[Monicaed]

Just to add that I suppose that getting 4000 persons safely off in those circumstances is a good result in spite of the panic and chaos.

[CorvetteLady]

I heard on the news that they got almost everyone off the ship in 2 hours. It just didn't say how. From the pictures it would appear that all the lifeboats on one side of the ship were unusable, so I wonder how they managed to get everyone off. I know some jumped but have never heard a number as to how many did this.

 

I don't understand why the Captain moved the ship after it hit whatever it hit. I wonder if the ship would not have rolled over if he had not moved it? Sounds as if the Captain waited to long to sound the abandon ship.

 

It is also apparent that Costa had no plan for what to do if a ship sank. I think they should have a plan for every contingency. Maybe all the cruiseline will now make plans to handle these situations better.

[elcuchio24]

what I find scarey is the crew have no idea what to do.

 

I have ALWAYS been under the assumption they are well trained in case of emergencies.

 

I am sailing with a lot of first timers-- and these are older senior citizens.

They are now scared and do not want to go. I asked them to stop reading or watching news accounts to what happened.

 

This stuff does happen but it is rare. I am sorry that I do not know how to console them and make them understand this.

 

And the officers and captain abandoned ship and abandoned their passengers. Totally and absolutely unforgivable.

[MsTabbyKats]

Being a firefighter I can attest to this...all the training in the world cannot prepare some people when faced with an ACTUAL emergency. Some people are just not cut out to handle the stress of a actual emergency, unfortunately there is no way to tell until it happens.

 

A professional emergency worker wouldn't get "the job" unless he had demonstrated that he was capable of working in an emergency.

 

On a ship...the "emergency workers" are just the regular workers who also have this duty this as part of their job description. They may know what to do...but I doubt that had psychological evaluations to determine how they would actually perform in an actual emergency.

 

I highly applaud any worker who helped the passengers. The initial human reaction is "self preservation"....

 

In any event....I think we'll all be taking those muster drills more seriously.

[dst]

A professional emergency worker wouldn't get "the job" unless he had demonstrated that he was capable of working in an emergency.

There is testing and preparation however, on more than one occasion I have seen someone freeze or respond differently when an emergency arises. Often people will train their entire life to never really face an "emergency"

 

On a ship...the "emergency workers" are just the regular workers who also have this duty this as part of their job description. They may know what to do...but I doubt that had psychological evaluations to determine how they would actually perform in an actual emergency.

Agree - we can train and re-train but this is not their primary function

 

I highly applaud any worker who helped the passengers. The initial human reaction is "self preservation"....

 

In any event....I think we'll all be taking those muster drills more seriously.

 

The unfortunate part is that human nature (and the news) focus on the small portion of failure rather than the large amount of success.........success does not sell newspapers or increase ratings

[5waldos]

what I find scarey is the crew have no idea what to do.

 

I have ALWAYS been under the assumption they are well trained in case of emergencies.

 

I am sailing with a lot of first timers-- and these are older senior citizens.

They are now scared and do not want to go. I asked them to stop reading or watching news accounts to what happened.

 

This stuff does happen but it is rare. I am sorry that I do not know how to console them and make them understand this.

 

Remind them that some 17 million people cruised last year. The chances of being injured on a cruise ship are vanishingly small. They are safer on a ship than in their own home.

[BIG_Steve]

I just don't understand why they did not start putting passengers into lifeboats as soon as they hit the rocks...Somebody did not do what they were trained to do...Dennis

 

The Captain was apparently very reluctant to call a Mayday or start evacuating. Maybe he was paralyzed with fear? In denial? Or?? But the account I read was that the Coast Guard goaded him into calling Mayday, and then he finally called Costa. The article I'm referring to said passengers called out on cellphones to folks on shore. Those folks called the Coast Guard. The Coast Guard contacted the Captain who said there was nothing wrong (or only something minor.) Folks continued to call and told the Coast Guard the ship was listing. They recontacted the Captain who was still playing the whole thing down. At that time the Coast Guard made him call Mayday or maybe they called it in his place.

 

These are things I read in the media. It's probably still a day or two before all the puzzle pieces fit.

[rondb]

And the officers and captain abandoned ship and abandoned their passengers. Totally and absolutely unforgivable.

 

I agree 100%

[BIG_Steve]

I agree 100%

 

Do we know the Capt deserted for sure? Earlier a link was posted to an eyewitness account saying he was watching over the rail when the last lifeboat was departing.

 

I'm not defending him, and I tend to believe the accounts that place him on the island. Just wondering if we know for sure yet?