Crown Princess accident fascination

[fig414]

I am fascinated that only we cruisers are fascinated by the Crown's accident. In my office of 17 people on Long Island the day after the accident I asked what people thought of the cruise ship "thing" and 1 (yep 1) said they even saw it on the news. And the ship was coming our way. No big deal. But to us it IS a big deal. When I'm not booked or in the planning process (neither right now) I spend no time on CC. But when anything happens cruise related our antennae go up, up, up. I want to read all the accounts and also want to see damage pictures. It's kind of morbid but I think we can't help it as we've all been on a cruise before for the most part. We've actually tried to determine where we might have been at the time and what it possibly might have felt like. It's kind of wierd and pathetic too after reading the hair-raising actual accounts but I also think it's human nature. People arguing about listing percentages make me want to puke.

I really think the good human nature part though has come through because I think a lot of people have put themselves in the passangers places and are realizing just how scary it must have been. Even though not many people non-cruisers care, we do and I'm done.

 

Fig

[sunshine 229]

Where I work also, the only people who cared were ones who have cruised and one who is thinking of booking her first cruise this fall. the very funny thing is that the other people didn't just not care but said they hadn't even heard about the incident, while those who had been on a cruise had all heard about it even if they didn;t know many details.

 

I guess for the non-cruisers thre news item just went in one ear and out the other without even registering.

[Sandytoes]

I'm not sure that's 100% true. I had friends and coworkers who mentioned it to me and they didn't realize I am booked on the Crown.

It hit every newspaper, news broadcast, radio station, people did take notice, because people were injured.... Headline maker.....Sad but true. If no one got hurt it would have been swept under the carpet....

[MaryPoppinz]

I only mentioned it to two people. Both of them had heard.

 

I don't have a TV, but it was on the main page at MSNBC and CNN for most of Tuesday and Wednesday. I think I remember seeing that someone was interviewed on the Today show. Seems like it's been very widely publicized.

[Oconomowoc]

To be perfectly honest, in the scheme of things, this incident is small potatoes compared to the conflict in the ME.

 

The Old Fart

[LeeW]

According to my son who was on it, it was pretty scary. He got to know the balcony beam in B751 very well. Daughter in law almost got washed out of the adult pool. She helped with first aid - fortunately most injuries were minor although with a ton of first-time cruisers there was a bunch of freaked-out people. Lots of water damage, glass breakage in shops and bars. Tipped over slot machines could have hurt a lot of people! They still served lobster and beef Wellington for dinner, but only two desserts. Ship will supposedly be back in service tomorrow.

 

Folks were looking forward to a last day at sea relaxing and the vacation came to an abrubt end. Pretty jarring. Had been a very good cruise up to that point with great weather. I figured Princess would give them a future credit but they are refunding the whole cost of the cruise for everyone, plus travel costs getting home. Also free drinks and photos (photo studio was flushed out).

 

This isn't going to affect our going on the Crown in a couple of months.

[fig414]

Maybe I mis-represented a little of my premise. Of course the accident was covered extensively, but one of my points was that not many people other than ourselves give a rats petunia for a minute or so. And the human nature part intrigues me.

[Navy_Chief]

Yeah I got to agree, the Middle East is the headline winner now, the Crown is yesterday's news.

[SueM.]

According to my son who was on it, it was pretty scary. He got to know the balcony beam in B751 very well. Daughter in law almost got washed out of the adult pool. She helped with first aid - fortunately most injuries were minor although with a ton of first-time cruisers there was a bunch of freaked-out people. Lots of water damage, glass breakage in shops and bars. Tipped over slot machines could have hurt a lot of people! They still served lobster and beef Wellington for dinner, but only two desserts. Ship will supposedly be back in service tomorrow.

 

Folks were looking forward to a last day at sea relaxing and the vacation came to an abrubt end. Pretty jarring. Had been a very good cruise up to that point with great weather. I figured Princess would give them a future credit but they are refunding the whole cost of the cruise for everyone, plus travel costs getting home. Also free drinks and photos (photo studio was flushed out).

 

This isn't going to affect our going on the Crown in a couple of months.

 

LeeW, I am glad that your son and daughter-in-law are ok!

 

My husband and I are sailing on the Crown Princess on august 25th and I see you son and DIL were in "our" cabin. Do you know if there was any water damage or anything else in our cabin, B751 or any nearby cabins? If they are up to it, I would love to know anything they have to say about our cabin and how they enjoyed it "before" the tilt happened.

 

This will be our 16th cruise and we have two more booked after this. As a cruiser I eat up all information about the ships, good, bad and horrible like this. I live in the Philly viewing area and have seen very little coverage of the Crown Princess. My friends who are not cruisers are asking me if this is my ship and if our cruise will still be on, is it safe etc.

 

I agree with the poster who said that the Middle East is a much bigger story and therefore getting all the coverage. This is not at all meant to put down what the passengers and crew went through!!

 

sue

[Merion_Mom]

Sue, I was told that Channel 6 received a cell phone call from a passenger on board within minutes of the *incident*! I think that he was on live, and they had some coverage later. It was all before I got home, so I have no first-hand knowledge of this.

 

I don't believe that any cabins on Baja deck received any water damage at all. The only affected cabins were on Lido and Riviera.

[Cruisin' Chick]

Here on the west coast, it didn't seem to get covered very much. I got home about 6:30pm that day (we left our house after 3pm PST, a few hours after it happened and there wasn't any cut-in on the TV, at least while I was watching) and turned on the computer and saw a news story about the ship. I tried logging into cruise critic -- not happening, but managed to log into another cruising website where I got more info than the regular news site. I tried CNN, CNN headline news, Fox News, etc., but they were covering the MidEast, exc. for CNNH which was airing a special on Elizabeth Smart. So I had to wait a while for a quick update on CNN at some point.

 

Our local news did have a little story on the 11pm news at some point, but here we're dealing with 110 degree heat, and that was the lead story, along with the wild fires.

[celebrity]

According to my son who was on it, it was pretty scary. He got to know the balcony beam in B751 very well. Daughter in law almost got washed out of the adult pool. She helped with first aid - fortunately most injuries were minor although with a ton of first-time cruisers there was a bunch of freaked-out people. Lots of water damage, glass breakage in shops and bars. Tipped over slot machines could have hurt a lot of people! They still served lobster and beef Wellington for dinner, but only two desserts. Ship will supposedly be back in service tomorrow.

 

Folks were looking forward to a last day at sea relaxing and the vacation came to an abrubt end. Pretty jarring. Had been a very good cruise up to that point with great weather. I figured Princess would give them a future credit but they are refunding the whole cost of the cruise for everyone, plus travel costs getting home. Also free drinks and photos (photo studio was flushed out).

 

This isn't going to affect our going on the Crown in a couple of months.

I am glad to hear that your Son & DIL are ok. That was great that she helped out with first aid. Your statement that the first time cruisers were "freaked out people" has me perplexed. I am sailing today on the Crown and this will be my 12th cruise. I can assure you that I would have "freaked out" also.

[gatour]

Actually most my co-workers mentioned it to me.

 

You have to remember that most people that post here are cruise fanatics, so they have a tendency to grab on anything cruise related. A parallel would be Disney fanatics, they grab on anything Disney related and discuss it ad infinitum. :)

 

For example they recently made a couple of changes to a menu at a particular restaurant at Walt Disney World, you should have seen the "debate" about that one on one of the Disney boards.

[gatour]

Let me clarify one thing, I am in no way comparing severity of a menu change at Disney with what happened to the Crown and the people on the Crown.

[MrPete]

I had quite the opposite.

 

I was in Boston, with a bunch of dance schools, and everyone who knew I was a "cruiser" came up to me to "report" what they heard in the news.

 

It's all in the "interest".

[Jennifer823]

one of my points was that not many people other than ourselves give a rats petunia for a minute or so.

 

Sad thing is, I think most people don't care much about ANY news. People are so wrapped up in their own lives that they don't stop to recognize what's going on around them. Do you think most people even care about what's going on in Israel and Lebanon right now? Probably not.

[hill6]

Here I sit about 3 hours before leaving for the pier to sail on the Crown and the news is still saying that the Coast Guard has to clear her to sail. I am sure if there was a problem on the sail up they would have had her dock or turn around.

 

I am waiting for all the news channels to be at the terminal today to get the "story."

[spongerob]

I had a few people ask me about it the day after it happened since they know we like to cruise. To the 99.9% of the world that is not part of the CC membership, it's mostly forgotten.

[sunshine 229]

Sad thing is, I think most people don't care much about ANY news. People are so wrapped up in their own lives that they don't stop to recognize what's going on around them. Do you think most people even care about what's going on in Israel and Lebanon right now? Probably not.

 

I'm not sure if it is so much a problem of being self-adsobed as it is a problem of being bombarded by so many news stories from all over the world that people learn to tune out, partly in self defense.

 

One thing that instantaneous global communication has done is multiply the amount of information coming at us, all the time, from everywhere. I think we learn to let most of it wash over us and only fasten on those stories that have personal significance to us for some reason.

[SueM.]

Sue, I was told that Channel 6 received a cell phone call from a passenger on board within minutes of the *incident*! I think that he was on live, and they had some coverage later. It was all before I got home, so I have no first-hand knowledge of this.

 

I don't believe that any cabins on Baja deck received any water damage at all. The only affected cabins were on Lido and Riviera.

 

Merion_Mom,

 

I have been reading a lot of your posts about what happened on the Crown Princess and appreciate all the information you have shared. I was glad to hear that you got home safe and sound!!

 

I don't watch channel 6, so I didn't catch that. I did catch some of the Fox(24) and NBC news and there was barely a mention of this. This morning I heard a short blurb on the NBC(10) news and they mentioned that the tilt was caused by human error.

 

Thanks for the info on the water damage, I am happy to hear that my cabin should be just fine. I hope that the ship sails today without any more problems!!

 

sue

[RetireeWannabee]

I'm not sure if it is so much a problem of being self-adsobed as it is a problem of being bombarded by so many news stories from all over the world that people learn to tune out, partly in self defense.

 

One thing that instantaneous global communication has done is multiply the amount of information coming at us, all the time, from everywhere. I think we learn to let most of it wash over us and only fasten on those stories that have personal significance to us for some reason.

 

I agree. Part of it for me is also that I can't let it all in because my coping mechanisms aren't strong enough to deal with all the human suffering in the world. It's more weight than I can bear. It's not that I don't care, it's that I care too much. There's more to it, but that's the short version.

 

As far as "the incident", I didn't see anything on local news, and no one at work talked about it. I don't find this surprising. I own a border collie, so all things border collie or dog-related get my attention, but I'm sure plenty of people don't tune in at all to dog sports. Everyone has their interests and priorities. Don't be surprised that a golf enthusiast asks you what you thought about The Open and don't be surprised to find I don't know who won the World Cup. Everyone's filter has different settings. jmo

[Oconomowoc]

Sad thing is, I think most people don't care much about ANY news. People are so wrapped up in their own lives that they don't stop to recognize what's going on around them. Do you think most people even care about what's going on in Israel and Lebanon right now? Probably not.

Jen, dear, you must make allowances for the differences between people. Indifference to world affairs and even to things local may not be indifference at all, but a coping strategy.

 

My granddaughter has severe depression. As part of her coping strategy she does not watch much television, especially the news, and is very selective about what she exposes herself to. This has worked better than the medication the shrinks throw at her.

 

I do not mean to sound too harsh here, but please remember that everyone has their reasons for being the kind of person they are. We need to be a little kinder to everyone around us because we do not know the circumstances of the person sitting next to us at dinner.

 

This old fart thanks you all for listening to his little lecture and hopes you will be kinder to that gent or lady sitting next to you on the Lido deck who just told you they do not watch the news or do not care about world events.

[Jennifer823]

I do not mean to sound too harsh here, but please remember that everyone has their reasons for being the kind of person they are. We need to be a little kinder to everyone around us because we do not know the circumstances of the person sitting next to us at dinner.

 

This old fart thanks you all for listening to his little lecture and hopes you will be kinder to that gent or lady sitting next to you on the Lido deck who just told you they do not watch the news or do not care about world events.

 

Sure, I understand where you're coming from. I know that there is a lot of bad stuff going on in the world, and people can only stand to hear so much of it. Things like the Crown incident are not "happy news," obviously. But we still need to be aware of what's going on or we won't be safe. What if no one cared, and no one reacted to it - we'd really be a mess! Sometimes it bothers me that people are so blase about the world. Kinda scares me, actually. Rest assured, though - I definitely wouldn't bring it up on the Lido deck during a cruise! :)

[LeeW]

LeeW, I am glad that your son and daughter-in-law are ok!

 

My husband and I are sailing on the Crown Princess on august 25th and I see you son and DIL were in "our" cabin. Do you know if there was any water damage or anything else in our cabin, B751 or any nearby cabins? If they are up to it, I would love to know anything they have to say about our cabin and how they enjoyed it "before" the tilt happened.

 

This will be our 16th cruise and we have two more booked after this. As a cruiser I eat up all information about the ships, good, bad and horrible like this. I live in the Philly viewing area and have seen very little coverage of the Crown Princess. My friends who are not cruisers are asking me if this is my ship and if our cruise will still be on, is it safe etc.

 

I agree with the poster who said that the Middle East is a much bigger story and therefore getting all the coverage. This is not at all meant to put down what the passengers and crew went through!!

 

sue

 

Gary said he saw a lot of water going by the railing while he held onto the beam. Nothing in the cabin except the tv flipped off the shelf. Not sure I would like beds across the ship (roll would be head to foot instead of side to side) but might be ok. Cathy responded to your other post (obstructed view and coffee card) - she is the "Friend of Eeyore". And redsgj added the link to the photo of B750. Gary really liked sitting on the balcony in that cabin and watching the wake - wish I was there!

[Love Boat Dream]

We were in south Florida when it happened and it was covered extensively on the news there. I received many calls and emails from friends who knew I was going on the Crown, but not sure when. They were all relieved that I had not sailed yet. I'm not sure if they would have given the news of the ship any other thought though if they didn't know I had booked it.

 

Someone asked me today if we were going on the ship "that tilted"

 

 

I am fascinated that only we cruisers are fascinated by the Crown's accident. In my office of 17 people on Long Island the day after the accident I asked what people thought of the cruise ship "thing" and 1 (yep 1) said they even saw it on the news. And the ship was coming our way. No big deal. But to us it IS a big deal. When I'm not booked or in the planning process (neither right now) I spend no time on CC. But when anything happens cruise related our antennae go up, up, up. I want to read all the accounts and also want to see damage pictures. It's kind of morbid but I think we can't help it as we've all been on a cruise before for the most part. We've actually tried to determine where we might have been at the time and what it possibly might have felt like. It's kind of wierd and pathetic too after reading the hair-raising actual accounts but I also think it's human nature. People arguing about listing percentages make me want to puke.

I really think the good human nature part though has come through because I think a lot of people have put themselves in the passangers places and are realizing just how scary it must have been. Even though not many people non-cruisers care, we do and I'm done.

 

Fig