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Boats Collide in Budapest - 7 Dead


G.M.T.
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Courtesy of - well, I took the liberty to link - the great people at Binnenschifferforum.de, with a big thank you from me, here is the thread on the Viking Sigyn. I have mentioned before that she is a new ship, how new you will see in the thread that was only started on 11 April of this year. She was christened "electronically" on 19 March in Rostock by her godmother who was in Basel. The last photos in the thread show Viking Sigyn's scars from the accident: https://www.binnenschifferforum.de/showthread.php?95490-Viking-Sigyn-FGKS-07002115

 

notamermaid

 

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Whatever the legal consequences of this tragedy and large loss of human lives, hopefully any safety issues found will be addressed to minimise further incidents.

Unfortunately these cases can take years to resolve and much distress for the victims and their families.

Plus the impact on tourism and confidence in cruise operators to provide a safe experience.

Many will be watching how this is managed and the outcome.

Big price to pay for a pleasure cruise. 

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All six ships of this year where named on the same day. While only two ships were present for the ceremony on March 19th in Basel the other four where in Cuxhaven or still in the shipyard in Warnemünde. The Viking Sigyn was in Warnemünde.

 

In the meantime they found one more body about 100 km downriver and a second one in the sunken ship.

 

steamboats

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1 hour ago, G.M.T. said:

The Viking captain arrested in Budapest, was also involved in another Viking incident between Anterp and Gent lat year:

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-48548023

🙀 and he was allowed to be the Captain of the brand new ship?? Speaks volumes. And I don’t want to hear from any Viking cheerleaders about there are more Viking ships so the odds are greater. 

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2 hours ago, Got2Cruise said:

🙀 and he was allowed to be the Captain of the brand new ship?? Speaks volumes. And I don’t want to hear from any Viking cheerleaders about there are more Viking ships so the odds are greater. 

 

 

Well someone has to balance the anti Viking crowd on this board especially the ones that have never been on a Viking boat! Maybe the real problem on the rivers are that it's getting more crowded. I'm sure Viking purposely hires incompetent people to steer their ships cause we know they love accidents! Great for business!

 

Edited by dolllover
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Wow wow wow, I have never cruised with Viking and as I’m not enamoured of their cruise content I don’t expect I ever will, but having river cruised for quite a few years I can assure you that when you see a ship with a dent or a dink 10 to 1 it’s a Viking ship and the maritime crew on our ship will take great delight in pointing it out. If it’s correct that this is the same guy then he must have been cleared by the relevant authorities to continue captaining river cruising vessels. This whole event has potentially caused a huge lose of custom from the Eastern countries of our world so regardless of the hard work done by the marketeers it may have solved the over toureesting problem. CA

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4 hours ago, Got2Cruise said:

🙀 and he was allowed to be the Captain of the brand new ship?? Speaks volumes. And I don’t want to hear from any Viking cheerleaders about there are more Viking ships so the odds are greater. 

It would be interesting to see number of accidents per hundred thousand kilometers of boat travel by each cruise line and fatalities per hundred thousand kilometers. That would give some statistical basis to judge which lines are better or worse. 

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9 hours ago, TravelerThom said:

It would be interesting to see number of accidents per hundred thousand kilometers of boat travel by each cruise line and fatalities per hundred thousand kilometers. That would give some statistical basis to judge which lines are better or worse. 

That it is a very interesting idea and sounds a good statistical evaluation.

From what I have read over the last six years there have been 10 or eleven accidents of Viking ships and about 20 of other companies. Sadly, the only two that I know of that have resulted in casualties are with Viking. But without statistics this is all anecdotal.

 

notamermaid

 

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My husband and I have been big fans of Viking for many years.  We recently returned from BTB Viking river cruises in France (both wonderful).  In each case the tour director spoke at length and enthusiastically about how quickly Viking was growing--setting records for launching new ships.  They are very proud of this expansion.   I wondered at the time if this was necessarily a good thing.  I certainly hope the Norway incident and Budapest tragedy aren't symptomatic of the difficulties of managing through such rapid recent growth.  At any rate, we're sailing around the Horn on Viking Jupiter in January.

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Just in case someone has missed this in the news in countries further afield:

https://www.dw.com/en/police-in-hungary-lift-capsized-tourist-boat-from-danube/a-49133425

 

There is debate in the German media and online communities about safety, training of crew, etc.

 

One thing in the discussions that struck me was the politics allegedly involved. Economic local interests in Budapest, mayor and parliament with potentially different interests in how to handle river traffic - excursion boat licences included - in the city centre area.

 

Even the Viking longship design and it's potential technical disadvantages (I am not talking about the hulls specifically) has been thrown into the conversations.

 

This info is partly coming from the media but also from those that see rivers on a daily basis at work - captains among them.

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

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7 hours ago, notamermaid said:

A kind of correction to an earlier statement on this thread, from Reuters: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-hungary-accident/captain-in-fatal-budapest-boat-crash-was-sober-at-the-time-police-idUSKCN1TJ1UD

 

notamermaid

 

I'm sure the anti-Viking faction that posted here and bludgeoned Viking for allowing drunkards to pilot their ships will RUSH to their computers and apologize...................(turn on sarcasm indicator)

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1 minute ago, sharkster77 said:

I'm sure the anti-Viking faction that posted here and bludgeoned Viking for allowing drunkards to pilot their ships will RUSH to their computers and apologize...................(turn on sarcasm indicator)

Wow what’s your problem? Are you a Viking investor or something? Show me one post on this thread where a poster wrote Viking allowed drunkards to pilot their ships? 

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18 minutes ago, Got2Cruise said:

Wow what’s your problem? Are you a Viking investor or something? Show me one post on this thread where a poster wrote Viking allowed drunkards to pilot their ships? 

 

@Got2Cruise, if you deny that Viking gets escoriated on these boards you are in denial.  Viking gets regularly dumped on in these threads.

 

I for one think that accusing the captain of a ship of being drunk at the helm, resulting in multiple fatalities is a BIG DEAL and a terrible accusation if wrong--and apparently it is incorrect.

 

I am NOT an investor or stockholder.  My  name isn't named Torstein Hagen--just calling for fairness. There are folks who are fans of Tauck, Scenic, Crystal, etc that look down on those of us who find Viking, Vantage, Avalon, more in our price ranges than the above-mentioned lines.

 

I AM NOT calling you snooty, but some of the comments from this group come across that way--mind, you these anti-Viking experts have never sailed with them, but hold their noses at the thought.

 

We personally know almost a  dozen couples who sailed with Viking and have nothing but good things to say about them.  Enjoy the luxury river cruise lines, but don't begrudge those who are happy with their adventures on other lines.

 

It's OK to say "Viking (or any other line) isn't for me, it's something entirely different to look down your nose at those who do.

 

Now let the attacks from the one-percenters begin.

Edited by sharkster77
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Attacks rarely come from the one-percenters; one rarely becomes and remains a one-percenter wasting effort in scurrilous attacks. However, from the studies I've read, few among the one-percenters consider themselves victims, even when they weren't yet so affluent.

 

I have only sailed with VR and VO and certainly begrudge no one from enjoying what Viking offers. We've had very favorable experiences. However, beginning with the Viking Sky incident, and now followed by three separate accidents/incidents involving Viking river ships (the Idun, Sigyn, and Var) I am increasingly concerned Viking's expansion and hell-bent drive (perhaps hyperbole) for market share may be contributing towards such events, for a host of reasons (e.g., adequacy of training, dilution of competence, lack of experienced work force, etc.). Viking's success and company emphasis is its marketing, and having dealt with Viking operational and service staff (on the ships) and with sales personnel and guest services, I have sensed nuanced changes in my dealings with the company over the past 3 years that give me pause about further cruises with Viking. In fact, if any of the other premium and or luxury lines adopted a "no kids" policy, I would eagerly entertain cruising with a competitor.

 

We just concluded a Mediterranean cruise aboard the Star, which is the oldest of the ocean ships, and it shows need for extensive refurbishment (permanent stains on carpeting and furniture, very worn armrests on the wooden chairs, etc.). We had a great cruise but was very surprised when I discovered workers replacing hallway carpeting outside our stateroom (for the entire length of the hallway) shortly after 10 pm one night. I took this up with the Explorer's Desk immediately (and the General Manager the following morning). I never received a satisfactory explanation about why it happened at that time - I lost about 2 hours sleep and the OBC that the corporate office approved was paltry in my opinion. Operationally, things seem askew with Viking. This is especially true for new ocean itineraries (like Alaska).

 

I hope these incidents and issues (there are many and not only reported from the alleged "anti-Viking faction") are merely indicative of growing pains, and not something worse, and that VR ad VO can deliver consistently on the expectations it creates among cruising patrons as evidenced by the company's marketing campaigns. For the moment, we have no plans to cruise in 2020 and will monitor developments with Viking and the industry as a whole.

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Bottom line:  the captain of the Viking ship was NOT DRUNK OR ON DRUGS, and this runs counter to the narrative pushed forward by the Viking haters. 

 

Again, to repeat, accusing someone of being drunk when they are the captain of a ship carrying passenger is a BIG DANG DEAL, and he was NOT.

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4 hours ago, sharkster77 said:

Bottom line:  the captain of the Viking ship was NOT DRUNK OR ON DRUGS, and this runs counter to the narrative pushed forward by the Viking haters. 

 

Again, to repeat, accusing someone of being drunk when they are the captain of a ship carrying passenger is a BIG DANG DEAL, and he was NOT.

According to the police reports, he indeed wasnt drunk. He wasnt even at the helm, he was taking selfies with the passangers. Passangers testified that he was asking them what happened.

 

https://index.hu/belfold/2019/06/20/hableany_cserbenhagyas_miatt_is_nyomoznak/

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I would hope that even you are the biggest cheerleader of Viking products you still would want to learn the reason for this crash that killed innocent people, plus other crashes, plus the Viking Ocean fiasco that put many pax lives in danger. These are all factual events. Because they happened in Europe and no American lives were lost there was no reporting in American media. If it wasn’t for our European friends searching for articles concerning the events and in sometimes translating them, we would know even less. 

 

The facts in the latest article posted stated that the Captain passed the breathalyzer. It also stated as of now the Viking Captain is considered THE ONLY ONE AT FAULT. 

 

This has nothing to do with 1% ers. This is about finding out the facts. 

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