Fire on Carnival Triumph. No engines, running on emergency generators.

[Rasvar]

What I have been wondering is what happens to the safes if there is a power outage ? Do they open or stay locked ? A lot of people probably have money & their passports in them .How do they retrieve those ?

Also how do the Mom's of young babies get additional diapers ? They probably only planned for a week not two .

 

The style safe they use are like most hotel safes. They usually run on batteries with the ability to be plugged in if the battery fails.

 

I feel really sorry for the families with babies. I can only hope that some of the supplies from the ships and the last few days have been diapers and formula.

[airmj2123]

What I have been wondering is what happens to the safes if there is a power outage ? Do they open or stay locked ? A lot of people probably have money & their passports in them .How do they retrieve those ?

Also how do the Mom's of young babies get additional diapers ? They probably only planned for a week not two .

 

Safe= battery powered

[BeagleOne]

Fox News now interviewing passenger Ed Buck, who's praising the crew, saying they are doing a great job and picking up the latrine bags very quickly, the passengers are having phone charging parties, and he is happy with the compensation package and will probably sail Carnival again.

 

Didn't say anything about onshore management, but was also not asked. All in all he sounded in pretty good spirits.

 

Will be interesting to hear the different stories as passengers get ashore.

[Tutankhamen]

does anyone else find it odd that the whale tale is lit up?

[Rasvar]

Anyone else find it odd that as it is getting darker you can see that the Tail is lit up by lights. I understand the emergency lighting, but really?? The tail??

 

No idea on that. Only reason I can think of for the tail to be lit with emergency lighting is that if there is an issue the lighting of the tail makes it easier to spot at sea. Maybe other people are more familiar with the emergency lighting.

[airmj2123]

Whale Tail light powered by emergency lights.

 

Things I have learned from the interviews:

Situation is awful but crew has been amazing. As amazing as crew has been, management has been equally poor.

 

Both tugs had issues today (rope snapped and stern tug had a engine problem). So the 2 tugs in front and back are different than the original 2 tugs.

[tntornadox]

Concordia's funnel was lit up by the backup system too. I agree, I think it's to make it easier to spot on the horizon.

[wilsonqbc]

Clean up a little bit. That bathroom at the terminal will be a busy place Probably get a little hot food. Shower? Not going to happen. No facilities for it anywhere around that cruise terminal. I don't think I want to hop on a bus to go wait in line for showers and then get back on the bus again. Just get me to my car in Galveston or to New Orleans if I will be flying. I just hope their bad luck doesn't continue and a CSX train breaks down in front of the terminal. You have to cross those railroad tracks to get out.

 

Well maybe not then, but I am sure they must have some portable showers set up outside the terminal maybe, or something available nearby like a school for whoever really wants/needs one, but then again maybe not.

[ib4cruzn]

So, instead of being critical about the way things were handled, tell us how you feel they could have done things differently? What does money have to do with this? they couldn't safely evacuate 4,000 people. Food and water were delivered from other ships. There was no power so their hands were tied. All they could do is make people as comfortable as possible under deplorable conditions.

Pat

 

Actually, if it wasn't for the cost, Carnival could have done this quite easily. They'd have to charter some passenger ships (easily done in any tourist port) and then just transfer them with their tenders.

 

At tender ports they routinely turn-over passengers in just over a couple of hours.

 

They knew (or should have) that those engines would never run again. It's not rocket surgery. The only thing preventing them was, as always, COST.

 

Will this bad publicity hurt them? No. There are plenty of shills just waiting for this discounted service at a discounted price.

 

YMMV

[Haoie]

Think some enterprising person will be selling "I survived the Carnival Triumph' tshirts?

 

Someone did have that idea with Splendor, if I recall.

[airmj2123]

Actually, if it wasn't for the cost, Carnival could have done this quite easily. They'd have to charter some passenger ships (easily done in any tourist port) and then just transfer them with their tenders.

 

At tender ports they routinely turn-over passengers in just over a couple of hours.

 

They knew (or should have) that those engines would never run again. It's not rocket surgery. The only thing preventing them was, as always, COST.

 

Will this bad publicity hurt them? No. There are plenty of shills just waiting for this discounted service at a discounted price.

 

YMMV

 

 

Coast Guard said this was a bad idea and unsafe... There are several great posts about why tendering in the ocean from a listing ship is bad... Conditions on the ship are bad, being trapped between a tender and cruise ship could be fatal.

[gtalum]

Actually, if it wasn't for the cost, Carnival could have done this quite easily. They'd have to charter some passenger ships (easily done in any tourist port) and then just transfer them with their tenders.

 

At tender ports they routinely turn-over passengers in just over a couple of hours.

 

They knew (or should have) that those engines would never run again. It's not rocket surgery. The only thing preventing them was, as always, COST.

 

Will this bad publicity hurt them? No. There are plenty of shills just waiting for this discounted service at a discounted price.

 

YMMV

 

Transfer to other ships has been discussed ad nauseam. Coast Guard said no, so it wasn't ever an option.

 

The simple fact is that in the aftermath of the fire, Carnival has done all they can to get the pax home as quickly as possible. Personally I question their decision to head to Mobile instead of Progreso, but that was a judgment call.

 

Carnival's biggest faults in the aftermath are in communication (lack thereof) and in a horrible PR game.

 

Clearly carnival does have a problem with its maintenance procedures, and hopefully that will be addressed in the investigation.

[Cindy]

Fourth call from my wife:

 

1. My wife went on this cruise with a bunch of her Jazzercise friends. This morning one of them was airlifted off the ship due to a stroke. I saw this on CNN earlier but I thought they were lowering supplies down.

 

2. She has already cleared customs. They are calling each level one at a time to go through customs.

 

3. The smell has gotten extremely worse over the past 8 hours.

 

How terrible for your wife's group to have one of them fall seriously ill...I pray that she will be OK!

I'm not surprised that the smell is much worse...the red bags have accumulated over the course of the week, there's no way to ventilate or dry soaked carpets, and I'm sure the spoiled food is starting to make its presence known as well.:(

[ShanZro]

 

 

 

Not all people who need medications are old or "sick." Diabetics, asthmatics, people with seizure disorders, the mentally ill, the list goes on. With proper medication, most of the people with those conditions can live very normal, productive lives. Most people wouldn't bring more than an extra 2-3 days supply of medication on a four day cruise, and some of the medications that they might take aren't going to be stocked by the infirmary.

These people weren't going to a rock concert in a field, they were going on a cruise. Do you really think they are at all comparable?

 

 

Very true! Most people only bring a few days extra days of medication on any type of vacation.

 

I have Multiple Sclerosis and I know for a fact that the medications that I take to manage my MS would not be stocked on the ship. I do a Injection every other day, when we went on our cruise back in January I brought 2 extra injections with. Had something like this happened on our cruise I would have missed 2-3 injections. I will say though that the next time we travel whether its a cruise or a land vacation I will be sure to pack more than 2 extra injections.

[Branman]

does anyone else find it odd that the whale tale is lit up?

 

It might be for aircraft navigation purposes? Similar to lights on large buildings and radio towers?

[ib4cruzn]

Transfer to other ships has been discussed ad nauseam. Coast Guard said no, so it wasn't ever an option.

 

Thanks for the respectful reply. I stand corrected.

 

Mea culpa.

[Hal from Ohio]

The "Buzzard New Network" seems appropriate in light of their hyper-pathetic tabloid wall to wall coverage. Really? .... an exclusive on board photo of a red bag full of human waste?

Is there no shame or compassion anymore?

 

CNN news puppets could all sit in a ditch ... and their feet would dangle. Can't get much lower than that!

 

I am truly living in a world I do not understand.

[Jumbiecruiser]

Just a follow up to other posters. I never said where she could post. It's just ironic our highest poster person doesn't even cruise Carnival.

 

Okay so she doesn't cruise Carnival but that doesn't mean that she has no interest in what has transpired. Is that good enough for you.

[AcaCandy]

What I have been wondering is what happens to the safes if there is a power outage ? Do they open or stay locked ? A lot of people probably have money & their passports in them .How do they retrieve those ?

.

 

Safes have batteries.

[LuckyZ]

If people bought the Cheers drink program, would they have gotten free drinks for the extra days while the ship was being towed?

[ib4cruzn]

Transfer to other ships has been discussed ad nauseam. Coast Guard said no, so it wasn't ever an option.

 

The simple fact is that in the aftermath of the fire, Carnival has done all they can to get the pax home as quickly as possible. Personally I question their decision to head to Mobile instead of Progreso, but that was a judgment call.

 

Carnival's biggest faults in the aftermath are in communication (lack thereof) and in a horrible PR game.

 

Clearly carnival does have a problem with its maintenance procedures, and hopefully that will be addressed in the investigation.

 

Thanks for the respectful reply (a rarity). I stand corrected.

 

Mea culpa for not reading "the whole thing".

[airmj2123]

Not always. I do freelance work and am also gainfully employed. My freelance work is enjoyable, comes with a ton of perks, and the extra cash doesn't suck. If he's a freelance sports writer he probably gets a lot of free tickets to sporting events as a perk. That can add up to thousands of dollars in freebies a year. :D

 

 

 

That' really good to hear. A FOIA request might be interesting reading. ;)

 

If I could have kept up posting with you, I would be soooo happy... (I would love to be able to have the flexibility to do that, although being on anything other the Triumph right now would also make me happy)

[ducklite]

They could do some light items but it also takes helicopters to transfer heavy goods from ship to ship. A generator was transferred yesterday that could not be transferred without helicopter. You could have gotten a ship out there with some of those supplies but would have been lacking helicopters with the lift capacity because they were beyond the safe range for the helicopter to operate without running out of fuel.

 

I disagree. A Chinook has a 450 mile range. The National Guard would have provided one, and sent the bill to CCL.

[gtalum]

Thanks for the respectful reply. I stand corrected.

 

Mea culpa.

 

I apologize if I seemed gruff. that question's been asked about a million times today. :)

 

I know the situation is awful, and I truly feel for the pax and crew. There really was no better way than to tow the ship to a port, though I do question their ultimate choice, as I think Progreso would have been faster(I think they'd have docked last night). Aside from that choice, though, carnival has handled this about as well as they could have from an operational point of view, but their "human touch" has been lacking in terms of communication and PR. I do suspect ultimate compensation will be higher than what's been offered thus far, but we may never know exactly how much.

[MrPete]

Nice personal attack. None of your post addressed anything I said.

 

BTW, I heard 4 people say positive (as postitive as it can be) things. Of course with one of them, CNN only wanted to focus on the one negative that person mentioned.

 

So post that on CNNCritic.com