Concordia -- Email from a passenger

[Mrs. Wilburforce]

Originally Posted by izatu

the interwebs are your friend. there are many services that have online "vaults" for documents. they are safe and encrypted but you can access them on line in emergency, etc. hell, when i went traveling for 4 months, i sent myself an email with copies of my passport and driver's license. that may not have been the smartest for identity theft purpose

This really caught my eye. Very good idea! I don't know about the security of the email, but kudos for thinking on your feet.

[Mrs. Wilburforce]

Forgot to thank you for sharing this. Best wishes to your friend. Let him know that people here at cc are thinking of everyone affected by this disaster. Sounds pretty hollow at this point, I know, but for what it's worth....

Originally Posted by Kroozen

Just thought I'd share this. A friend of mine was on the Concordia when they had to abandon the ship. He sent me this email today.

We just landed back in New York. I've never been so happy to be on dry land. You would not believe what we went through. I'm serious. You just would not believe it. I'll call you later to tell you the whole story, but I'll give you the jist of it now...

We had just finished dinner and we're heading to the casino when we felt an awful shaking. Almost immediately after, the lights went out and people began screaming. Once we saw crew members getting their life vests, we went to our cabin and got ours. There were SOME announcements, but they were not in English. More and more passengers were coming out with their life vests on and I knew we were in trouble. During this entire time we saw NO officers, nor did we hear from any of them. Crew members were attempting to help, but you could tell they did not really know what to do. I immediately thought of the movie Titanic. It was unreal. Lifeboats were not lowered until it was too late. By the time they were lowered, the ship was already listing too much to the point that they were slamming into the side of the ship. We saw several passengers jumping off the ship and swimming to shore. By this time we were pretty close to the rocks. We jumped off, and swam with nothing but the clothes on our back. Luckly I had my wallet with me, or I dont think I would have made it home...We had to buy our own airline tickets from Rome. Costa put us up in a hotel for the night, but told us that if we were able to buy our own tickets home we should. I'm glad to be home, but I feel awful for people who were not so lucky. This is something that I never thought could happen.

[Lyncruiser]

OMG -- nothing more to say about it. So glad your friend is safe.

[Nitemare]

Originally Posted by ducklite

Considering they're refusing to refund paid in full fares on future Concordia sailings, I wouldn't hold my breath on that.

I'd bet cash money this will change.

[repo-cruiser]

Anyone who makes excuses for crew members not performing their duties as trained and feeling sorry for them , might as well have pushed the passengers overboard themselves. Absolutely incredible that people make excuses for crew not doing their jobs and contributing to the deaths of many. I am ashamed of people .

[Fury1995]

I somewhat agree with the majority of sentiments here regarding the crew and responsibility of getting passengers off the ship safely.

There are too many first hand accounts surfacing since this has happened to disagree that many of the passengers were simply left to their own accord getting off this ship and getting to safety while others were helped by some of the crew. Obviously, some were left behind completely and still have yet to be found.

I can't speak intelligently in regards to raining for crew members but I cannot imagine any member of the crew of any passenger cruise ship does not have emergency training for this specific type of catastrophe, right down to the laundry personnel.

The handling of surviving passengers by Carnival Corp after this is very upsetting. Again, too many first hand accounts are surfacing to defend the inaction of this company to do everything it could t assist those passengers stranded with nothing after what they've endured. There are 10,000 employees of this massive corporation not counting crew. Surely there is enough internal staff to handle this many passengers in a more immediate fashion.

[mickey_d_mouse]

Originally Posted by mcrcruiser

We never thought of this before ,even afrter doing 53 cruises ;but ,now I will keep my wallet on me & copies of my pass port with me ,unless we are in the pool. With passport copies or with some one responsible at home having pass port copies ,it makes it much easier for the US authorities to duplicate the passports

If you have to swim copies don't help much, I had my copies saved online as did a lot of others, together with my travel insurance and other important papers the hotel gave us access to the internet we could print all these copies off.

From what we were told the US embassy was disgusting in its help of US citizens telling them to find there own way to the embassy in Rome when they had no money and to get family to wire them money when they had no ID to collect it, even making them pay for replacement passports.

I am gald I am Australian

[Fury1995]

Originally Posted by mickey_d_mouse

If you have to swim copies don't help much, I had my copies saved online as did a lot of others, together with my travel insurance and other important papers the hotel gave us access to the internet we could print all these copies off.

From what we were told the US embassy was disgusting in its help of US citizens telling them to find there own way to the embassy in Rome when they had no money and to get family to wire them money when they had no ID to collect it, even making them pay for replacement passports.

I am gald I am Australian

Wow, I am completely surprised by this...

Michelle, is there word that all 21 Aussie passengers are safe and home now? Do you know?

[frito58]

Wow Just another feather in Costas cap Unbelievable.

[StillPooh]

Originally Posted by angelsx4

I do think the captain has a horrible price to pay and loads of apologies, but I could hardly fault him right now for being mum or trying to cover his tracks with more than 4,000 angry pax/crew, and then their families as well. He screwed up BIG time and when he hits the remorse stage, well, I hope he can find some way to pay restitution to all those people.

I hope you're not serious.

What restitution is appropriate for the families of those who died due to his stupidity and negligence?

[Dani24]

Originally Posted by mcrcruiser

We never thought of this before ,even afrter doing 53 cruises ;but ,now I will keep my wallet on me & copies of my pass port with me ,unless we are in the pool. With passport copies or with some one responsible at home having pass port copies ,it makes it much easier for the US authorities to duplicate the passports

What I've always done is to scan all of my important travel documents (passport, cruise insurance, credit cards [front and back], cruise tickets, health insurance cards/info, air and hotel reservations, and other travel documents) and then email them to myself at my gmail account. That way, even if I lost everything and ended up on land in a foreign country, chances are I'd be able to find my way to a computer with an internet connection, and be able to access my email account and all of my documents.

Certainly, it would be preferable to have all of those items actually on my person, but it isn't realistic in every situation -- especially if, in the middle of a crisis, you somehow lost your wallet too (not unimaginable, when you think of the impact of jumping into the sea, and having to swim for shore, and your wallet becoming dislodged, or everything being ruined by the water).

[salsalady]

Originally Posted by DaNana

How did they get home with just his wallet? How did they obtain passports to return? Just wondering as so many others could not leave without their passports. Our passports do not fit in our wallets. Glad they could get home!

also strange that he had his wallet with him, when ever we sail, all wallets and cash etc go straight into safe as not needed onboard, sounds like they were very lucky...

[jonikal]

Originally Posted by Kroozen

I'm not sure. I have not spoken with him yet, but I saw on the news earlier that people were getting assistance from the US Embassy in Rome so he may have gone there for help.

Having worked at the Embassy in Rome for several years, I'm pretty sure that they would have sent a team of consular people to Porto Santo Stefano and Livorno or wherever the majority of US Citizens were and they would have issued them new passports without making them travel all the way to the Embassy in Rome.

[AmoMondo]

Originally Posted by Because123

I really don't disagree with you. I just have a feeling that the presence of a captain who said it was an electrical problem, followed by the absence of said captain, is at the root of what happened.

But I do also think that the best laid emergency plans often go awry in the face of a real disaster, no matter what the intentions. I cant imagine that there won't be willing and fair compensation eventually.

Particularly when the invoking of these sort of plans is the call of the most senior person. Waiters and bar staff etc might well have known what to do when the call was given, I doubt they were trained on what they were to do in the event there was clearly an emergency but your captain does invoke the plans and the scarpers!

[ruskatab]

[quote=izatu;31999837]the interwebs are your friend. there are many services that have online "vaults" for documents. they are safe and encrypted but you can access them on line in emergency, etc. hell, when i went traveling for 4 months, i sent myself an email with copies of my passport and driver's license. that may not have been the smartest for identity theft purpose, but...

as for the crew. I have read many articles and seen many interviews at this point. and, consistently, the survivors and pax kept repeating these things: "chaos; every man for himself; no direct; no crew; no officers; no announcements." I know many of you want to believe the best, just as many want to jump to the worst. but, i think it is undeniable that the evacuation process would have been described vastly differently if it was properly conducted.

indeed, the capt fled (no words); but they must have a second in command and a third, who are of the personality and experience to take control, no? and officers should have been present at every part of the ship possible. where are the reports from pax saying they saw them and got there help? surely someone would have had a story by now, 3 days later. at this point, the heroic stories are the scoop here.

something was terribly wrong here. they should have all been trained for a post or position if there is an abandon ship signal. period. and they should have just went automatically to their post and position.

certainly, people would have still panicked and this would have still be hugely awful, but a lot easier to get through.

i see the videos pax took of the ship in chaos and i cannot breathe. stuck, tight quarters, different languages, dark, no announcement, no help, screaming, crying, children. no where to move or run. ugh. awful.[/



I am going to put important documents like our passports, credit card info, health insurance info and bank info in some kind of online storage where I can have access to them from another computer from now on when we travel! We always take extra copies of this stuff but if you cant get to your belongings that doesnt help. Might start carrying a mini flashlight in my purse also when were out and about.

[Quasar1011]

Originally Posted by Kroozen

We saw several passengers jumping off the ship and swimming to shore. By this time we were pretty close to the rocks. We jumped off, and swam with nothing but the clothes on our back.

I wonder how many passengers were injured by these rocks, by jumping off the ship?

[sr5242]

Originally Posted by mickey_d_mouse

From what we were told the US embassy was disgusting in its help of US citizens telling them to find there own way to the embassy in Rome when they had no money and to get family to wire them money when they had no ID to collect it, even making them pay for replacement passports.

I am glad I am Australian

While I am disappointed to hear this, I am not surprised. When my mother lost her passport in Italy it was a beastly process to get a replacement from the US Embassy!

[brn2crz]

Not being argumentative, as I am sure things were very chaotic, But there was at least one announcement made in English. I heard it on one of the videos posted on CC's home page.
None the less, this was handled horrendously...
I am sure the absence of the Captain lead to the majority of the chaos...

[cherylroslyn]

Originally Posted by Because123

Not defending Costa here - just offering up a possibility or two.

Many have mentioned 'the crew' not being there rounding people up, etc..

I don't know how that would 'look', but I would think that crew members who have the most authority and training, well... ships are huge. They are long and they have many floors and many hallways that lead to more stairs and... I think it would be difficult for the right types of crew members (ones in authority) to go around. While the ratio of crew to pax was 3:1 or 4:1, most of them likely were not trained to run the show in an event like that, and those that were couldn't be everywhere at once... and it sounds like they were not getting good orders from above. Officers would even be fewer and farther between.

I would assume that Costa will reimburse anyone for airfare they had to purchase to get home, but that it was much speedier for anyone who was in a position to purchase their own, it was best to do that on the spot than to wait for them. They're dealing with thousands of people going hundreds of different places while the disaster is still somewhat unfolding.

OP, I'm so glad your friend made it back to the states safe. Having sailed Costa in the Caribbean, I do remember all the many languages in which they made announcements - more than other lines we've sailed - and often asking myself, "Wait - did they do English? What did they say???" It's unsettling enough under normal circumstances to be unable to understand or communicate. I can't imagine how isolated they felt in the midst of that crowed of scared passengers!

Every single crew memnber has a role in an emergency. They train (on the good lines) for these emergencies constantly. When they say they saw no crew they are obviously talking about the lower level crew that are supposd to be orchestrating the evacuation. Next time you are on a ship ask your steward, your waiter....the kids club staff if they have a role in an evacuation. They all do....in fact it may be your waiter loading the lifeboat or even Captaining it.........


With a staff of three to one there should be a presence of crew and the occaisional officer directing crew.


No one expects the bridge officers to be loading lifeboats when they are trying to control waterproof doors or are implementing evacuation plans over the loud speaker systems....but staff should be visible loading the passengers in to lifeboats .......

[Waihekean]

Originally Posted by repo-cruiser

Anyone who makes excuses for crew members not performing their duties as trained and feeling sorry for them , might as well have pushed the passengers overboard themselves. Absolutely incredible that people make excuses for crew not doing their jobs and contributing to the deaths of many. I am ashamed of people .

Shame on you!! On berating these crew members so. You were not there and it is not the crews JOB to give orders for procedure.

Now more passengers are giving interviews; it becomes clear that the crew did the best they could under the circumstances and happily some took the initiative to hand out life vests and direct people to the lifeboats BEFORE procedure.
It was also the crew that handled all the lifeboats and got many Pax off the ship. I am sure that more stories will come out how crew have helped like the purser that stayed on board to help and later broke his legs or the engineer that swam to shore with someone on his back.

Don't forget the crew had the same terrifying experience and will also be very dissapointed how this was organised "from them above".
They might be scared to work on a cruise ship again, many have lost their years savings, plus have lost friends and colleques etc. etc.

So, me thinks that a bit of COMPASSION is in order, therefore "shame on you".