Hurtigruten Reveals Compensation for Fram Passengers

[LauraS]

Cruise Critic has just posted the following news:

Hurtigruten Reveals Compensation for Fram Passengers

Read the entire news article... (http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=2342)

[Cruise Cat]

Magnify this whole incident by 10 times and that's what we could be facing with the Star Princess going down to Antarctica on their January 10, 2008 itinerary.

Are they (Princess) prepared to deal with an incident ( getting help to 3,000 passengers and crew down there won't be easy)?
What, if any, experience does the crew have navigating those waters and responding to cold weather incidents?
How many 'pilots' are they bringing on board to navigate those waters (must be qualified on that size ship and will need several to cover all the watches around the clock)?
Are all the passengers and crew on that sailing required to bring along waterproof, cold weather clothing?
Are the lifeboats of Star Princess (fiberglass hulls and unknown propulsion) designed to be used in cold water with floating pieces of ice?Personally, I think this whole cruise itinerary is just greed on the part of the executives at Princess. They are just gambling nothing will go wrong when sending an inexperienced (warm weather) crew down there with a standard hull, full sized cruise ship. Let's cross our fingers and hope they get lucky this time!

[c-to-sea]

Interesting that you ask questions to which you apparently do not know the
answers but then make a bunch of conclusions - based on what, exactly???

[Cruise Cat]

Interesting that you ask questions to which you apparently do not know the
answers but then make a bunch of conclusions - based on what, exactly???


Logic and common sense. It is a standard hull ship - Fact. This is a one time itinerary as the ship usually sails in warm waters, hence the inexperienced crew - fact. There is not much aid down in that part of the world - fact. Apparently, you could not tell from my writing style that I already doubted Princess is prepared for these items at all, though the pilot is a requirement (they need to cover all watches though). That ship should not be going down into that area because she is not built for it, plain and simple.

[Nancyquilts]

Well, we're off on Prinsendam January 3rd to Antarctica - planning to have a great cruise! Nancy

[dforeigner]

Magnify this whole incident by 10 times and that's what we could be facing with the Star Princess going down to Antarctica on their January 10, 2008 itinerary.

Are they (Princess) prepared to deal with an incident ( getting help to 3,000 passengers and crew down there won't be easy)?
What, if any, experience does the crew have navigating those waters and responding to cold weather incidents?
How many 'pilots' are they bringing on board to navigate those waters (must be qualified on that size ship and will need several to cover all the watches around the clock)?
Are all the passengers and crew on that sailing required to bring along waterproof, cold weather clothing?
Are the lifeboats of Star Princess (fiberglass hulls and unknown propulsion) designed to be used in cold water with floating pieces of ice?Personally, I think this whole cruise itinerary is just greed on the part of the executives at Princess. They are just gambling nothing will go wrong when sending an inexperienced (warm weather) crew down there with a standard hull, full sized cruise ship. Let's cross our fingers and hope they get lucky this time!


What does this have to do with Princess? There are other large cruise lines, and small cruise lines as well, that sail this area every year. Just to name a few:

HAL
Orient Lines
Discovery
Azamara
Clipper
Regent

[Cruise Cat]

Didn't know about HAL until someone mentioned it. It all depends on the ship. Some of the ships were made for thise kinds of expeditions and have an ice rated hull. The Star Princess does not. I'll do some reseach on the HAL ship(s).