Infinity big wave Feb 1st

[Arizona Art]

I just found out about this site and don't know how to check if any other threads exist about the injuries and damage resulting from the waves that hit the Infinity on Feb 1st just before entering the straits of Magellan.

We were on the second floor of the dining room at about 6:30PM when we were broadsided by what must have been two enormous waves. Two folks at our table of eight, were knocked to the floor with water, wine, dishes etc spilled on them. At the table next to us, a woman was injured and taken out on a stretcher. The waiter and head waiter said they had never experienced any thing like this before and were of no help as to what we should do. The waiter said that there were broken arms and legs suffered by galley workers. Passengers throughout the ship later had stories of "where they were and what happened" when the waves hit. Every bottle of booze and all glassware all over the ship hit the floor. The books in the library were all on the ground. The Grand piano in the theater broke legs and pedals. It was a mess and the most astonishing thing is that neither the Captain, nor any of his officers got on the PA system until 36 hours later to talk about it. All he said then was "he did good since three other ships in the same waters had to delay their cruises because they suffered even more severe damage and injuries". When I got back home I emailed Celebrity to ask them to explain their lack of communication during the event. When we needed it most, there was no one to tell us what to do and to reassure us. It is now a week and they have not responded. It is as if they can make believe it never happened if they don't acknowledge what happened. Is this typical of all Cruise lines or just Celebrity?

[cabo de hornos]

Sorry to hear of this misfortune.

 

We've sailed this itinerary on infinity, and we'll be doing it again a year from now.

 

Out of curiousity, I just checked the Web Cam archive at http://www.CelebrityatSea.com, and sure enough, at the time you described (6:25 pm on the 1st) the bridge cam shows a "severe list". Must have been something.

 

The only thing that comes close for us, was our first sailing on Mercury in the Caribbean about 8 years ago, when in the middle of the night, we awoke with a sensation that our feet were much lower than our heads, followed by what seemed like every dish in the galley across the hall from our cabin crashing to the deck.

 

The next morning when we inquired of the crew....the response was .."Did something happen last night?"

 

I agree there should have been some more communication on this.

 

Cabo

[DaveFr]

Art,

 

I haven't seen anything about the incident you described in the media. I just took a look at the Infinity's bridge camera on February 1st and all I can say is WOW. At about 6.25 p.m, the camera shows a large list to the left of, I estimate, 15 to 20 degrees. The motion when the ship listed as well as the counter-motion when the ship righted itself would certainly cause the damages you described. I hope you and your traveling companions came through the incident without injuries.

[cabo de hornos]

As a matter of fact, if you scroll back a few frames in the Bridge Cam archive, you'll find that there were a number of large waves, with listing in both directions. Things seemed to have smoothed out by about 9 pm though.

 

"This joint was jumping", for sure!!!

 

Cabo

[Arizona Art]

Thanks Guys

It's great to be able to communicate about this, since as I said, Celebrity will not discuss it. I know that it might hurt business if the public knew that ships can be impacted so severely by waves at the tip of South America, but give me a break...communicate with your passengers immediately after it happens, not 36 hours later. My guess is that the Captain is following corporate policy with his silence. Amazing how that day's mishaps for all 4 ships never made it to the media. So how do I get to see that Feb 1st webcam shot?

Art

[DaveFr]

Art,

 

Go to http://www.celebrityatsea.com/index.aspx?Value=8&Loc=CI2, select February 1st, one minute intervals and start at 6 p.m.

[dkjretired]

I checked on the roll call for that cruise and there is only one mention of a "rogue wave" in numerous posts after the cruise. The people on that thread seemed to have a good time and apparently they were not too impacted by the wave. I do however feel that there should always be better communication, Celebrity has been getting quite a poor reputation as far as telling people what is going on.

[cabo de hornos]

Should have said we sailed this itinerary on Mercury in 2002. We did infinity through the Canal in '04.

 

Another memorable moment on that '02 trip involved our passage through the Mar del Plata during dinner.......vibrations to beat the band, due to shallow waters.

 

Hope all injured recover quickly.

 

Cabo

[Arizona Art]

Don

What was interesting, is that even in the dining room in the same section, some tables like mine were pretty much wiped out and others were able to keep on eating. Folks came over to our table to take pictures of the mess.

Art

[sea-cruise]

I hope it didn't affect anyone out on decks or in the centrum. :(

[Host Kewlguy]

Looks like those infamous "rogue waves" struck again. Brings back memories of the NCL Dawn back in April 2005.

[Sheik]

WOW! :(

 

http://www.celebrityatsea.com/webcam/Archive/FetchPic.aspx?Id=C25905EA-C59D-45B3-B881-647F5F123E6A

[dforeigner]

Rogue waves occur more often than initially believed. Will this stop me from cruising? No. Just like highway fatalities does not stop me from driving.

 

These articles speak about research results done on this subject. There was even a special on the History Channel about rogue waves.

 

http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMOKQL26WD_index_0.html

 

http://discover.com/issues/jul-04/features/rogue-waves/

[Ine]

Recently the same happened to HAL's Prinsendam in that region. Passengers hurt, glasses broken etc. The ships even returned to Ushuia.

Check the postings by Arzz who was on board in this link:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=480550&page=3&highlight=Live+Prinsendam

 

It must have been an awful experience.

Good luck to those passengers on board!

[Sheik]

Thanks Ine for the link!

[aqhacruiser]

Rogue waves occur more often than initially believed. Will this stop me from cruising? No. Just like highway fatalities does not stop me from driving.

 

These articles speak about research results done on this subject. There was even a special on the History Channel about rogue waves.

 

http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMOKQL26WD_index_0.html

 

http://discover.com/issues/jul-04/features/rogue-waves/

 

 

The TV show was an excellent documentary and it also featured the NCL Dawn that was hit by a rogue last year. It happens and there is a higher risk of injury driving on a highway.

[excitedofharpenden]

Wow, that is quite some picture on the webcam.:eek: It's really strange that no announcement was made. I've been on the ship a couple of times where there have been incidents that caused the ship to roll to a much lesser extent (one was a total power loss for a few seconds and the other a malfunction in the stabilisers) and both times there were announcements, but a little later on. I hope that everyone that experienced it is ok.

 

I'm no expert on these matters, but wonder if the strength of the wind hitting the side of the ship played a part too. Modern cruise ships are pretty slab sided and a gust of wind could contribute to a "lean" like that.

 

Phil

[Arizona Art]

Hi Ine

Yes the comments from the link below are from a passenger Arzz on the Prinsendam relate to the same wave. That ship as well as two others were in Ushuai when we got there for repairs. Interesting that they were wise enough not to have full sets of dishes and glassware on the dining room tables and they kept their passengers apprised of what was happenening. I sure hope that Celebrity learned something about how to manage a situation like this in the future.

Art

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=480550&page=3&highlight=Live+Prinsendam

[Ine]

Hi Ine

Yes the comments from the link below are from a passenger Arzz on the Prinsendam relate to the same wave. That ship as well as two others were in Ushuai when we got there for repairs. Interesting that they were wise enough not to have full sets of dishes and glassware on the dining room tables and they kept their passengers apprised of what was happenening. I sure hope that Celebrity learned something about how to manage a situation like this in the future.

Art

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=480550&page=3&highlight=Live+Prinsendam

 

I hope you also read the posts there after, not just the 1st one. It seems the captain of Prinsendam made announcements a few times after the accident, also explaining the ship was safe, explaining why the ship was returning to Ushuia etc.

Apparently HAL informed through the "emergency tel. nrs." the relatives at home to tell all was safe etc. Probably many of them didnot even know what happened.....

 

Hope you are feeling o.k. and had a great cruise after all.

[Cruise Arizona]

I believe that this part of the world has long been infamous for rough seas. I know that Magellan had a hard time. Recently I've watched the two movies "Hawaii" and "Master and Commander" which showed fictionalize, but supposedly accurate accounts of both passing through the straits and and going around the tip. Both had their pros and cons and both were very rough and dangerous at the time.

 

I am surprised that no announcements were made. On our recent Mercury Mexican Riviera cruise we had cam seas until the last sea day. As soon as the waves picked up the CD was on the intercom telling passengers to exercise caution, and asking ladies not to wear high heels.

[Cruise Arizona]

I believe that this part of the world has long been infamous for rough seas. I know that Magellan had a hard time. Recently I've watched the two movies "Hawaii" and "Master and Commander" which showed fictionalize, but supposedly accurate accounts of both passing through the straits and and going around the tip. Both had their pros and cons and both were very rough and dangerous at the time.

 

I am surprised that no announcements were made. On our recent Mercury Mexican Riviera cruise we had cam seas until the last sea day. As soon as the waves picked up the CD was on the intercom telling passengers to exercise caution, and asking ladies not to wear high heels.

[arzz]

So sorry to hear that Infinity also suffered from the seas on February 1. We hit our waves in the Drake Passage (South of Cape Horn) at about 12:45 pm and we made the turn back to Ushuia at 8:00 pm (the captain said that he wanted to wait the storm out a bit but still make the turn during daylight hours -- he warned us all to be sitting or lying down during the few minutes it took to turn the ship).

 

Add in the NordNorge that returned to Ushuia about the same time that we did to disembark the passengers that they had rescued from their sister ship the Nordkapp that had gone aground in Antarctica off of Deception Island and it explains the overcrowded conditions in Ushuia on our return visit.

 

Our captain estimated that we took a list of about 20-22 degrees, possibly 25 degrees but that it was only an estimate as he had not calculated it out yet. He also emphasized to us over the intercom and again several other times that the ship itself was never in danger. I have only praise for the captain and the whole crew of the Prinsendam. The whole incident was handled in an entirely professional way and I would not hesitate to sail the Prinsendam again, even to Antarctica. Throughout the incident and the many hours it took us to cross back through the storm I felt entirely confident in the captain, crew, and sea-worthiness of the Prinsendam. We certainly had a dynamite cruise.

[Ine]

Since I had read you story on the HAL board about the BIG one on Prinsendam I posted the link of that in this board.

It must have been a frightening experience.

I also read you had a great cruise on Prinsendam and you loved antartic.

I hope to sail there one day, your reports were fantactic. Thanks.

[two rabbits]

Hi Ine

Yes the comments from the link below are from a passenger Arzz on the Prinsendam relate to the same wave. That ship as well as two others were in Ushuai when we got there for repairs. Interesting that they were wise enough not to have full sets of dishes and glassware on the dining room tables and they kept their passengers apprised of what was happenening. I sure hope that Celebrity learned something about how to manage a situation like this in the future.

Art

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=480550&page=3&highlight=Live+Prinsendam

 

Hi Art,

 

Sorry to hear about your problem. Please correct me if I am wrong but I believe your main two points were that no annoucments were made until 36 hours after the incident and that so far you have had no response from Celebrity. We all know that things can happen when at sea as well as when walking to your mail box. The point is whether or not this was handled in a professional manner. Thanks for bring this matter up for discussion.

[Kathie44]

We were on the 1/29 Mercury cruise and it was calm the whole time. Just wondering when you experienced the rough seas?