Container Ship Struck Key Bridge in Baltimore, Bridge has Collapsed

[Engineroom Snipe]

4 minutes ago, SRF said:

Have a heart.  I am already cruising on Carnival and you want me to fly SouthWest ALSO????

 

The horror........  😄

We all must make sacrifices during these difficult times.......

 

😮‍💨

[TPKeller]

22 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

Southwest flies Norfolk to Baltimore, so that'd be an option, too.

 

Funny story, I live in Fredericksburg, and drove to BWI for a flight to somewhere.  Chatting with a lady on the parking shuttle, she was flying to Norfolk for the weekend.

I laughed, and told her I had just driven pretty close to half the distance of her entire trip just to get to the airport for my trip!

 

Theron

[SRF]

Doing some looking, I think may fly down even Saturday and enjoy the Water Side area.

 

FYI you can also fly BWI - ORF on American for a similar price, but change planes in Charlotte

[GimmeOcean]

23 minutes ago, SRF said:

Have a heart.  I am already cruising on Carnival and you want me to fly SouthWest ALSO????

 

The horror........  😄

Some of us LIKE Southwest... 

[LB_NJ]

10 hours ago, SakeDad said:

Another reason to have travel insurance. They would cover it.

I don’t think they would?

[LB_NJ]

7 minutes ago, GimmeOcean said:

Some of us LIKE Southwest... 

I flew Southwest once and thought they were OK.

[HBE4]

2 hours ago, KmomChicago said:

4 hours ago, Ocean Boy said:

Maybe RCI is also reading the thread to see what their options are.

They are lucky to get all this free advice, aren’t they? 😂🚢🎓

 

Free? If I see Royal use any of my fine suggestions, I'll be demanding compensation. OBC, cabin upgrade or at least 1 night at a specialty restaurant of my choice. You can be sure I'll be firing off a strongly worded email to Mr. Baley, no doubt that will get results! 🤣

[Earthworm Jim]

1 hour ago, SRF said:

 

We would take it.  Live 30 minutes from Baltimore port.  Easy, get up, have breakfast, finish packing, easy quick drive to port.

 

Add 4 hour drive to that and it makes it a LOT different.

 

 

Well, you'd be going on that 4 hour ride either way. The difference is it's someone else's problem to do it, but also someone else has control. In your case you'd also benefit from not having to pay for parking if you could get someone to drive you to the port.

 

All hypothetical anyway it seems.

[SRF]

Yeap.  Next Vision cruise I have booked is December.  I am pretty sure that the port will be open by then. 

[smokeybandit]

9 minutes ago, SRF said:

Yeap.  Next Vision cruise I have booked is December.  I am pretty sure that the port will be open by then. 

I think if it's still not open by May then someone screwed up.

[pghflyer]

Agreed, I think they will have debris cleared and channel open for traffic after Vision's drydock.

[death_star]

It took over a month to get the Ever Forward unstuck from the edge of the channel. I imagine it's a much larger and longer undertaking to remove twisted hulks of metal and concrete that will all have to be loaded on something. 

 

As a side note I am curious if they will use a similar set up to remove the hanging/leaning containers off the forward end of the ship. It was pretty interesting watching them take containers off at sea and put on a barge. 

[smokeybandit]

6 minutes ago, death_star said:

It took over a month to get the Ever Forward unstuck from the edge of the channel. I imagine it's a much larger and longer undertaking to remove twisted hulks of metal and concrete that will all have to be loaded on something. 

The ship isn't stuck in this case though. It really won't take that long to remove the debris from the ship and begin demo of the bridge. The questions are when are they allowed to start and when can they actually start, meaning having the right equipment on scene.

[OnTheJourney]

2 hours ago, Jetmama1 said:

Everyone we met was driving distance to the port

That's why cruises on Enchantment, Grandeur, and now the Vision have been so popular over the years.

Edited March 27 by OnTheJourney

[OnTheJourney]

27 minutes ago, death_star said:

I imagine it's a much larger and longer undertaking to remove twisted hulks of metal and concrete that will all have to be loaded on something. 

The Chief addressed this earlier jn post 218:  "The resumption of cruising, just like commercial shipping, will not depend on rebuilding the bridge, only on removing the debris from the shipping channel, not even the outer arches which are outside the channel.  But, yes, it will take 2-4 months to accomplish that. "

 

Somewhere along the way it was mentioned that commercial traffic will likely resume before passenger cruising. It does seem likely as well as logical, but I was surprised that when were on the Mississippi back in October and were significantly delayed by barge traffic, the captain told us that passenger traffic (at least right then) had priority and so we got to go while the tows waited. Perhaps that was a unique situation for a given day and time.

Edited March 27 by OnTheJourney

[SRF]

Remember, all the debris have to be cut or demo'd UNDER WATER.  

 

So commercial divers, dive ships, floating cranes.  I will be surprised if they really start within several weeks to a month.

[SRF]

1 hour ago, LB_NJ said:

I flew Southwest once and thought they were OK.

 

FYI, American has DCA - ORF non-stops.

[OnTheJourney]

5 minutes ago, SRF said:

I will be surprised if they really start within several weeks to a month.

I'd say you're right. First they have to contract with a dredger and then get all the equipment there. Could be a pretty extended project. And then you've got currents and changing conditions to deal with.

Edited March 27 by OnTheJourney

[OnTheJourney]

3 hours ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Pretty sure Royal doesn't feel the need to justify any price increases

Nah...they wouldn't do that now, would they??  😁

[OnTheJourney]

1 hour ago, smokeybandit said:

I think if it's still not open by May then someone screwed up.

I wouldn't place any bets on it being cleared for traffic by May.

[Starry Eyes]

11 minutes ago, OnTheJourney said:

That's why cruises on Enchantment, Grandeur, and now the Vision have been so popular over the years.

“Driving distance” is subjective.  Several years ago we planned to fly from Milwaukee to BWI for a b2b out of Baltimore.  When our flight was cancelled, we decided the port was within driving distance; we left in the evening and drove overnight to reach port embarkation morning.  People plan further drives, especially if they have planned visits along the way.

[Etta1213]

What hurts my heart are the families whose men are lost/trapped in under water graves, with no timelines for closure. Such horror for loved ones. Everything else pales in comparison.💞

[death_star]

39 minutes ago, SRF said:

Remember, all the debris have to be cut or demo'd UNDER WATER.  

 

So commercial divers, dive ships, floating cranes.  I will be surprised if they really start within several weeks to a month.

Isn't there some navy salvage group in Norfolk? Not sure if they could use them though. 

[smokeybandit]

31 minutes ago, OnTheJourney said:

I wouldn't place any bets on it being cleared for traffic by May.

This will be all hands on deck 24/7 to get it cleared. Baltimore is a critical port and the economy can't afford to have it blocked.

[xtremegk]

58 minutes ago, OnTheJourney said:

I'd say you're right. First they have to contract with a dredger and then get all the equipment there. Could be a pretty extended project. And then you've got currents and changing conditions to deal with.

 

23 minutes ago, death_star said:

Isn't there some navy salvage group in Norfolk? Not sure if they could use them though. 

 

Army Corps of Engineers is already on-site and tasked with clearing the main shipping channel (Federal channel).

 

Army Corps of Engineers is supporting recovery operations following Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse > Baltimore District > News Releases