Britannia broke her lines

[zap99]

1 hour ago, Eglesbrech said:

Yes I fully comprehend the circumstances and the challenges Zap. 

 

What we don’t actually know is if they could have spent another night in port accommodating all guests until flights / decent hotels were available? Was there a choice?
 

All I know for a fact is that that I personally would have been horrified to spend a night in a mouldy room when I had paid for a cruise.

 

 

I don't suppose it would be practical to get to Southampton late. They are doing over 20kts now. If the ship was late the 3 000 or so folk on the next cruise would be subject to the knock on.

 

[zap99]

1 hour ago, ballroom-cruisers said:

None of us would like it having our cruise terminated in exchange for hotels or flights of any kind - but we all know that occasionally exceptional situations arise, and lead to exceptional experiences that we would not have predicted - sometimes we have to simply shrug shoulders and say, "That's life" and move on once we get back home.

I guess many would agree with you. Stuff happens and often happens at the most inconvenient time.

[zap99]

46 minutes ago, jeanlyon said:

They were already in port when this hit!!  If you are moored up to the quay with 6 or more huge warps, they should hold.  It must have been some wind.  As I said before, exactly the same thing happened on Aurora in Rome.  Luckily we only broke a few and the tugs were in time to hold us on for 6 hours.  It came out of nowhere.

Jean. You more than most will be aware that one thing you can predict with weather at sea is that it is unpredictable. We were at sea off of bolt tail and got hit by a squall. Not forecast, or predicted and in 15 minutes...all gone.

[jeanlyon]

3 minutes ago, zap99 said:

Jean. You more than most will be aware that one thing you can predict with weather at sea is that it is unpredictable. We were at sea off of bolt tail and got hit by a squall. Not forecast, or predicted and in 15 minutes...all gone.

Absolutely, that's why I find some of these comments just ridiculous.  the ship was moored up in a port and got hit by a tremendous storm.  These things can and do happen.  I would never blame the Captain or the port for this.

[zap99]

Just now, jeanlyon said:

Absolutely, that's why I find some of these comments just ridiculous.  the ship was moored up in a port and got hit by a tremendous storm.  These things can and do happen.  I would never blame the Captain or the port for this.

Not much reference to the damage ashore in Majorca. Videos were posted of damage to Palma and a number of hotels. A tree came down across the line on the Soller train. Folk were stranded for several hours. Stuff happens .

[Eglesbrech]

14 minutes ago, zap99 said:

I don't suppose it would be practical to get to Southampton late. They are doing over 20kts now. If the ship was late the 3 000 or so folk on the next cruise would be subject to the knock on.

 

Not practical for whom exactly?

 

Is it a case of the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few 🖖😀

[Red Leicester]

I'm actually quite... embarrassed?  Ashamed?  Taken aback?... at some comments on here over this incident.  "I'd demand..." and all that.  It was an incident that happened quickly and without much notice at height of peak season.  Hindsight is perfect.  Handling incidents in real time with the info you have at the time and snap decision making never will be.

 

For me I am just glad everyone is safe and well and hope those injured onboard are recovering.

 

[zap99]

1 minute ago, Eglesbrech said:

Not practical for whom exactly?

 

Is it a case of the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few 🖖😀

The ship needed to be at Southampton on Friday.  Finding hotel rooms for the many is not practical. So the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.

[jeanlyon]

3 minutes ago, zap99 said:

Not much reference to the damage ashore in Majorca. Videos were posted of damage to Palma and a number of hotels. A tree came down across the line on the Soller train. Folk were stranded for several hours. Stuff happens .

I suppose if the ship hit a big wave and a passenger fell over and cut their head, the Captain would be blamed for not steering the ship properly?   Some people are just part of blame culture.

[Eglesbrech]

4 minutes ago, zap99 said:

The ship needed to be at Southampton on Friday.  Finding hotel rooms for the many is not practical. So the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.

FYI that was a joke, hence the 😀

[Eglesbrech]

12 minutes ago, Red Leicester said:

I'm actually quite... embarrassed?  Ashamed?  Taken aback?... at some comments on here over this incident.  "I'd demand..." and all that.  It was an incident that happened quickly and without much notice at height of peak season.  Hindsight is perfect.  Handling incidents in real time with the info you have at the time and snap decision making never will be.

 

For me I am just glad everyone is safe and well and hope those injured onboard are recovering.

 

I have just searched this thread and the only reference to the word “demand” appears to be in your post. Could you direct me please.

 

[Red Leicester]

3 minutes ago, Eglesbrech said:

I have just searched this thread and the only reference to the word “demand” appears to be in your post. Could you direct me please.

 

I'm sure you get the point I'm making.

[Eglesbrech]

1 minute ago, Red Leicester said:

I'm sure you get the point I'm making.

I do to an extent as I get quite embarrassed, ashamed and taken aback by the propensity of some British people to excuse absolutely anything and everything without cogent questioning.

 

I have made no comment of any kind about the actual incident re the ropes / collision as I’m not qualified to do so and I doubt anyone else on here is either.

 

I do however know about customer care as most of us do as we are customers. On that we are all entitled to an opinion without being judged by others.

 

 

 

 

[molecrochip]

31 minutes ago, jeanlyon said:

Absolutely, that's why I find some of these comments just ridiculous.  the ship was moored up in a port and got hit by a tremendous storm.  These things can and do happen.  I would never blame the Captain or the port for this.

So a proper investigation is already underway. It may be that everything was done properly and we move on, it may be that there are learnings. Either way, as a responsible operator, the questions will be asked and facts determined.

 

P&O are the responsible party. Their ship hit another, which was still. I’m not aware of P&O shirking that. It may be that whilst they are responsible, no party is to blame. If everyone did their jobs fully and correctly but it was just a freak set of circumstances that occurred quickly then no one else can may have done a better job.

 

One final thought. The bridge is manned 24/7, I don’t know whether arrangements were already being made to get a tug, adjust the lines or move from the berth. 

[Megabear2]

12 minutes ago, molecrochip said:

So a proper investigation is already underway. It may be that everything was done properly and we move on, it may be that there are learnings. Either way, as a responsible operator, the questions will be asked and facts determined.

 

P&O are the responsible party. Their ship hit another, which was still. I’m not aware of P&O shirking that. It may be that whilst they are responsible, no party is to blame. If everyone did their jobs fully and correctly but it was just a freak set of circumstances that occurred quickly then no one else can may have done a better job.

 

One final thought. The bridge is manned 24/7, I don’t know whether arrangements were already being made to get a tug, adjust the lines or move from the berth. 

Thank you for that information.

 

Do we have any update on the passengers in Palma still? I see a mention of a Stansted flight, I presume so a larger aircraft can be used.  

 

Any idea if everyone is being kept in one place as is being suggested on news outlets.

[terrierjohn]

1 hour ago, zap99 said:

I don't suppose it would be practical to get to Southampton late. They are doing over 20kts now. If the ship was late the 3 000 or so folk on the next cruise would be subject to the knock on.

 

I think that situation probably did affect the arrangements that were being made to disembark enough passengers to enable Britannia to leave Palma when she did. 

But that is not to say that P&O were wrong to make the decisions they did, however the team sent out to oversee the arrangement possibly did not cover themselves in glory with the choice of some of the hotels, if we are to believe the BBC article.

[molecrochip]

41 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

I think that situation probably did affect the arrangements that were being made to disembark enough passengers to enable Britannia to leave Palma when she did. 

But that is not to say that P&O were wrong to make the decisions they did, however the team sent out to oversee the arrangement possibly did not cover themselves in glory with the choice of some of the hotels, if we are to believe the BBC article.

Please remember it’s still peak season in Palma so hotel rooms are few and far between. I believe that the hotels chosen were the hotels with capacity.

 

Not an excuse if conditions are truely unacceptable but certainly the reason that 320 people haven’t been put in 4/5 star hotels.

[emam]

Some people are staying in the Belle Vue at Alcudia. They report it as a horrible hotel with horrible food. They have been given £15 pp, per meal and two bottles of water.

[Ben785]

Well. You just have to do a quick google of cruise ship incidents.  Collisions, fires,  engine failures, cruise cancellations all in the last few weeks . The little scuffing of the paint work of Britannia is put into perspective .

 

looking at the progress of Brittania now doing a steady 20knts up the Atlantic .

 

I am sure those on board are living it up

 

be careful what you wish for yo those that shouted I want to leave .

[Megabear2]

7 hours ago, emam said:

Some people are staying in the Belle Vue at Alcudia. They report it as a horrible hotel with horrible food. They have been given £15 pp, per meal and two bottles of water.

Interesting choice of hotel if that's where the passengers are - a British couple abandoned their teenage child there a few years back and ended up with a jail sentence for doing so!   It is a vast complex featured as a 2 star hotel in the TUI and Jet2 package holiday brochures and very far from a quality offering.  I'm guessing that due to its size it would have been able to offer P&O the required number of rooms, although apparently under renovation in a lot of them. 

 

A very poor offering in any circumstances and I still cannot get my head round the photograph of the food.  It's not the food itself that confuses no matter how unappealing it looks, rather its presentation looking like pictures we saw of quarantine food in the height of the pandemic.  A rundown hotel room in an emergency is one thing that might have been unavoidable in an emergency for a night or two but a paltry food allowance and meals such as the one photographed are really not acceptable.

[Snow Hill]

On of the funniest headlines I have seen on the incident is from a little watched so called News Channel which reports Britannia as colliding with a Petrol Tanker in Palma. 🤣

[brian1]

15 hours ago, Eglesbrech said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-66647123
 

Take a look at the pictures of where the 321 have been sent, looks horrendous for both food and accommodation.
 

For balance P&O have yet to make any comment to the BBC on the situation.

I love "4 in a bed" how many points did they get?

[9265359]

12 hours ago, ballroom-cruisers said:

None of us would like it having our cruise terminated in exchange for hotels or flights of any kind - but we all know that occasionally exceptional situations arise, and lead to exceptional experiences that we would not have predicted - sometimes we have to simply shrug shoulders and say, "That's life" and move on once we get back home.

 

That would be a suitable attitude to take if *everybody* was being removed from the ship, but not if you are one of the 1% of the ship's paying passengers that P&O has selected to be removed - 1% because from what has been said previously few full fare passengers were told to get off and most were employees or people on 'friends and family' discount fares.

 

As I posted before, I would want to know for absolute certain where I was staying, for how long, when I was flying, etc. so I could check out those places and make an informed decision before making any move out of the cabin - once you and your luggage are on the quayside you have lost any tactical advantage and if you volunteer / don't object before knowing those facts then you are a mug.

 

And if you really didn't want to be removed and flown back home - well you don't need to be Einstein to think of a reason why flying isn't suitable for you at that time.

 

Edited August 30, 2023 by 9265359

[kalos]

10 hours ago, jeanlyon said:

Absolutely, that's why I find some of these comments just ridiculous.  the ship was moored up in a port and got hit by a tremendous storm.  These things can and do happen.  I would never blame the Captain or the port for this.

 

Things can and do happen .."You can work with mother nature but on her terms "

 

Looking at other ships ,we have seen Iona strapped up in Southampton and delayed going 

out due to high winds in the past .The Captain did what he believed to be right .

Same in Palma but this time with incident .

 

How many times  do we see on the news that a high wind has turned a HGV over on 

exposed parts of the motorway , in bad weather ?  

Should we sit here and a) blame the driver or B say that lorry should never have been 

on that part of the road ?

Actual fact is 100s of lorries past where the lorry went over without incident .

 

Captain hindsight can say what he wants about the lorry or the ship but  9/10 they 

were not there .

[Fionboard]

Unfor

6 minutes ago, kalos said:

 

Things can and do happen .."You can work with mother nature but on her terms "

 

Looking at other ships ,we have seen Iona strapped up in Southampton and delayed going 

out due to high winds in the past .The Captain did what he believed to be right .

Same in Palma but this time with incident .

 

How many times  do we see on the news that a high wind has turned a HGV over on 

exposed parts of the motorway , in bad weather ?  

Should we sit here and a) blame the driver or B say that lorry should never have been 

on that part of the road ?

Actual fact is 100s of lorries past where the lorry went over without incident .

 

Captain hindsight can say what he wants about the lorry or the ship but  9/10 they 

were not there .

Agree absolutely. Bad things can happen on holiday - fires, storms, floods, tsunamis, even terrorist attacks. Those of us who love to travel must accept the risks or stay at home. Just hope those involved in this incident eventually get home soon and safely.