Avalon Tranquility mishap

From the Avalon Facebook update:

Thankfully there seem to be no injuries.

Further down in the Facebook comments someone posted this:

http://www.buergerblick.de/index.php?AID=0000026759

The article is in German, but with the help of Google Translate it would appear that there was some serious damage to the Tranquility.

http://www.buergerblick.de/index.php?AID=0000026759 - Let me give you a brief translation of the most important parts:

After a collision on the Danube, the cruise ship MS Avalon Tranquility had to be evacuated. It's started to sink stern first due to a leak in the engine compartment. Most of the passengers waited with life vests on the sun deck and were evacuated to a second cruise ship, the MS River Empress (Uniworld).

 

Already on friday a lighter hit the Transquility and forced it in shallow waters where a stone in the river bed breached the hull.

 

All passengers are well, only one women from Australia is treated due to a shock in a local hospital.

According to a german internet board, the waterlevel on the danube in that area is at 175cm, so there was no chance to avoid the collision. Here is a picture of the Tranquility where one can see the hotel & engine segments. http://images33.fotki.com/v1116/photos/4/49272/5037478/IMG_0629-vi.jpg

In the Avalon FB comments someone mentioned http://www.mediabox.at/index.php?show_shooting_detail=2069&Sort=17#shooting_2069 where one can see pictures of the damage, but I have not found them.

http://www.mediendenk.de/images/big_pic.php/bild_klein_0000005315.jpg?ID=0000005321

http://www.mediendenk.de/images/big_pic.php/bild_klein_0000005315.jpg?ID=0000005322

Update: Another german newspaper reported 45 minutes ago, that the Tranquility did not sink over night. http://www.rp-online.de/panorama/deutschland/Frachter-kracht-in-Ausflugsschiff_aid_1021159.html

Thank you for your concern regarding the Avalon Tranquility. We wanted to provide you an update on the situation, found here: https://www.facebook.com/AvalonWaterways?sk=app_160430850678443

Kudos to Avalon for the way they're handling this situation. Total class act.

http://www.buergerblick.de/index.php?AID=0000026759 - Let me give you a brief translation of the most important parts:

 

 

 

According to a german internet board, the waterlevel on the danube in that area is at 175cm, so there was no chance to avoid the collision. Here is a picture of the Tranquility where one can see the hotel & engine segments. http://images33.fotki.com/v1116/photos/4/49272/5037478/IMG_0629-vi.jpg

 

In the Avalon FB comments someone mentioned http://www.mediabox.at/index.php?show_shooting_detail=2069&Sort=17#shooting_2069 where one can see pictures of the damage, but I have not found them.

 

http://www.mediendenk.de/images/big_pic.php/bild_klein_0000005315.jpg?ID=0000005321

http://www.mediendenk.de/images/big_pic.php/bild_klein_0000005315.jpg?ID=0000005322

 

Update: Another german newspaper reported 45 minutes ago, that the Tranquility did not sink over night. http://www.rp-online.de/panorama/deutschland/Frachter-kracht-in-Ausflugsschiff_aid_1021159.html

Hi ingo. Wondering where that fotki pic came from. Do you have a link and/or some info about it?

Thanks,

Dan

My husband and I were on the Avalon Imagery last September when the

ship rammed a lock!!! Avalon took very good care of us and most of us finished the trip as a hotel/bus tour, but the "mishap" was certainly unexpected. Good luck to the Tranquility passengers as they regroup!!! Is Avalon just unlucky with all the "incidents" as they called our accident last year?

Hi all, we've covered the story here on Cruise Critic as well, take a look: http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=4595

Thank you for your concern regarding the Avalon Tranquility. We wanted to provide you an update on the situation, found here: https://www.facebook.com/AvalonWaterways?sk=app_160430850678443

Thank you for posting the update. As a TA and Avalon Specialist, I appreciate the first-hand information. As always, it appears it was all handled with the utmost care for the passengers - typical Avalon! :)

AVALON TRANQUILITY UPDATE

On the evening of Friday, September 2, 2011, at approximately 9:30 PM the Avalon Tranquility was struck by a cargo ship that was loose from its mooring just north of Passau, causing significant damage to the engine portion (a non-passenger section) of the ship. No passengers were injured during this situation and all were removed safely from the ship that evening. With help from the River Empress, we transferred our travelers to Deggendorf. There, they were met by motorcoaches and escorted to two hotels in Regensburg where they were accommodated for the evening.

On the morning of Saturday, September 3, 2011, members of our European operations team and a trained counselor met up with clients to ensure their well-being. That evening, they overnighted in Munich.

On the morning of Sunday, September 4, 2011, our on-site operations team met with our travelers to discuss their options: 1) To return home from Munich (a flight we would arrange for them) or 2) to continue on in Europe with a special alternative program we’re organizing for them (on land) to ensure they are still able to experience most of Europe they wanted to see.

And, of course, we are providing option 2 at no additional charge to our travelers. The vast majority of our travelers chose option 2.

In addition, all travelers are being compensated with a refund for the majority of their cruise and a voucher for future travel in 2011, 2012 or 2013.

The Tranquility is currently dry docked for repairs. After our inspection of the ship’s damage, we have determined the repairs needed are significant enough to force us to cancel the Tranquility’s next two departures. See below for details.

Avalon Tranquility’s Upcoming Sailings:

Given the above, unforeseen events, we have had to cancel two upcoming sailings aboard the Avalon Tranquility:

Magnificent Europe (WAB 0911), scheduled to depart on Sunday, September 11, 2011

Blue Danube Discovery (WBN 0923), scheduled to depart on Friday, September 23, 2011

We are reaching out to all affected travelers – through our customer service team and travel agent partners – to alert them of this unfortunate news and offer travel solutions and compensation.

While we have worked diligently to reach all travelers and agents affected by these cancellations, for questions, both consumers and agents can call us toll-free at 1.800.372.1761.

Gosh, with all that compensation it makes me kind of hope my next cruise is interrupted. Well.....ok maybe not. But it sure sounds like they are taking pretty good care of those affected. I hope we see some posts from some of the 'survivors'.

First of all I've never traveled with Avalon, but I am impressed with the way they have "risen to the occasion" by providing for all travelers and their luggage. I'm glad no one was hurt and no luggage was lost. Having said that, there is one sentence in the account of the accident that I find a little disturbing: the passengers were all called to the Sky Deck and life jackets were handed out....I've always traveled with Vantage and we have a drill within hours of boarding as does everyone else BUT our life jackets are in our cabins and we are to report to the sun deck wearing them! If the ship had been in danger of sinking from the collision I should think you would want your life jacket on or at the very least in your hand. Was the initial story incorrect or is it the policy now that life boat drills no longer require passengers to wear life jackets?

First of all I've never traveled with Avalon, but I am impressed with the way they have "risen to the occasion" by providing for all travelers and their luggage. I'm glad no one was hurt and no luggage was lost. Having said that, there is one sentence in the account of the accident that I find a little disturbing: the passengers were all called to the Sky Deck and life jackets were handed out....I've always traveled with Vantage and we have a drill within hours of boarding as does everyone else BUT our life jackets are in our cabins and we are to report to the sun deck wearing them! If the ship had been in danger of sinking from the collision I should think you would want your life jacket on or at the very least in your hand. Was the initial story incorrect or is it the policy now that life boat drills no longer require passengers to wear life jackets?

Maybe because it was in the evening it was safer for passenger just to go to the sundeck rather than returning to their cabins to retrieve life jackets

If the ship was in danger of sinking then going below could cause more problems with people slipping on the stairs trying to get to their cabins

Just speculating

I know on the ocean going ships they say if you cannot make it to your cabin safely just report to your muster station they have extra jackets available

Hi Dan,

sorry, don't have any information on the picture. Just punched "Avalon Transquility" into google.com and took the picture where one could see the separated engine part best..

Maybe because it was in the evening it was safer for passenger just to go to the sundeck rather than returning to their cabins to retrieve life jackets

 

If the ship was in danger of sinking then going below could cause more problems with people slipping on the stairs trying to get to their cabins

 

Just speculating

I know on the ocean going ships they say if you cannot make it to your cabin safely just report to your muster station they have extra jackets available

That makes perfect sense. :) At the time the collision occurred, I guess most people were either just leaving the dining room or in the main lounge and you're right, it would be far safer to have them go up one flight and hand out life jackets from up there than to scatter all over three decks of cabins to get them from their rooms.

As far as I have read and heard, the collision occurred late evening. Maybe the fact that guests were just sent up to the sundeck had to do with the coincidence that Uniworld's River Countess was just 3.5 miles away?

Anyway: As long as the ship does not start to roll over - the sundeck on ship with a height of est. 5-7meter is always safe on a 2-3 meter deep river. So instead of a life vest I would rather try to get another bottle of wine while waiting upstairs.. ;)

Perhaps we should stop speculating until someone from the cruise writes a report.

HI -

I have never found a life jacket in my room... And the only time we actually had a "drill" was on our 1st cruise. We all went up to the Sun Deck - and were told that the life jackets were kept in lockers on that deck.

We have discussed safety processes - but never have had a drill since that 1st sailing.

Given the frequent challenges with low water levels, I have to think that you actually have a reasonable chance of having the boat sit on the bottom of the river, and water wouldn't even be up to the windows on the bottom deck!! :D

I'm with ingo_e on this one --> I'd like a bottle of wine handed out on my way up to the Sun Deck. Of course, it might make it a bit challenging to disembark when help arrived....

AVALON TRANQUILITY UPDATE

 

Avalon Tranquility’s Upcoming Sailings:

Given the above, unforeseen events, we have had to cancel two upcoming sailings aboard the Avalon Tranquility:

 

Magnificent Europe (WAB 0911), scheduled to depart on Sunday, September 11, 2011

Blue Danube Discovery (WBN 0923), scheduled to depart on Friday, September 23, 2011

We are reaching out to all affected travelers – through our customer service team and travel agent partners – to alert them of this unfortunate news and offer travel solutions and compensation.

 

My parents are supposed to be sailing on the Tranquility on the next cruise after 9/23 (I don't recall the exact sailing date -- they leave the states on 9/28). Has anyone heard any more updates?

They were stuck in Venice due to the volcano and now this -- they have some interesting "luck" with their travels.

On the AMA ships, the life jackets are up on the sun deck. As the captain explained, most places in the river, the ship could be sitting on the bottom, and everyone on the sun deck would be perfectly dry. Passengers would be at more risk if they tried to go down to their cabins to fetch a life jacket rather than just going up to the top of the ship.

I like the wine suggestion best! :D It's interesting to see how the different lines handle the safety drill...like I said, on all of my Vantage cruises we were told to put on the life jackets and go to the main lounge (where unfortunately wine was not available). Our life jackets were on the beds when we went to our cabins the first time and we stored them wherever we felt we would be able to find them in an emergency. On HAL we were told to report to our life boat stations without life jackets because of the danger of tripping or falling on them, but in the event of a real emergency we would be putting them on.

I was on the Tranquility when it was hit by the barge. We had had a drill a few days prior and they told us at that time, rightly so, that if the ship were to sink, the river was never deep enough to get to the top two or more decks, so going to the sundeck was the safest. They were absolutely right! The captain quickly steered the ship to a sandbank and it only sunk a foot or two. Avalon did a wonderful job of handling the situation, and the crew was outstanding! Nico, our cruise director, was fantastic with a very difficult situation and we were able to finish our cruise with a land based bus tour. It wasn't what we had planned, but the compensation was above and beyond what we'd expected, and if there were any complaints, I didn't hear them. On the final night, we all gave Nico a standing ovation for turning our lemons into lemonade! Hats off to Avalon for how they handled this difficult situation!

I was on the Tranquility when it was hit by the barge. We had had a drill a few days prior and they told us at that time, rightly so, that if the ship were to sink, the river was never deep enough to get to the top two or more decks, so going to the sundeck was the safest. They were absolutely right! The captain quickly steered the ship to a sandbank and it only sunk a foot or two. Avalon did a wonderful job of handling the situation, and the crew was outstanding! Nico, our cruise director, was fantastic with a very difficult situation and we were able to finish our cruise with a land based bus tour. It wasn't what we had planned, but the compensation was above and beyond what we'd expected, and if there were any complaints, I didn't hear them. On the final night, we all gave Nico a standing ovation for turning our lemons into lemonade! Hats off to Avalon for how they handled this difficult situation!

That's so good to hear. They really have been a great company to deal with so far. I'm impressed with their eagerness to be a good company - you don't see that much anymore.

As a first time river cruiser on Avalon next October 2012, it is refreshing to hear the first class response to an unfortunate situation.

Karen

I was on the Tranquility when it was hit by the barge. We had had a drill a few days prior and they told us at that time, rightly so, that if the ship were to sink, the river was never deep enough to get to the top two or more decks, so going to the sundeck was the safest. They were absolutely right! The captain quickly steered the ship to a sandbank and it only sunk a foot or two. Avalon did a wonderful job of handling the situation, and the crew was outstanding! Nico, our cruise director, was fantastic with a very difficult situation and we were able to finish our cruise with a land based bus tour. It wasn't what we had planned, but the compensation was above and beyond what we'd expected, and if there were any complaints, I didn't hear them. On the final night, we all gave Nico a standing ovation for turning our lemons into lemonade! Hats off to Avalon for how they handled this difficult situation!

I was on the Tranquility when it was hit by the barge. We had had a drill a few days prior and they told us at that time, rightly so, that if the ship were to sink, the river was never deep enough to get to the top two or more decks, so going to the sundeck was the safest. They were absolutely right! The captain quickly steered the ship to a sandbank and it only sunk a foot or two. Avalon did a wonderful job of handling the situation, and the crew was outstanding! Nico, our cruise director, was fantastic with a very difficult situation and we were able to finish our cruise with a land based bus tour. It wasn't what we had planned, but the compensation was above and beyond what we'd expected, and if there were any complaints, I didn't hear them. On the final night, we all gave Nico a standing ovation for turning our lemons into lemonade! Hats off to Avalon for how they handled this difficult situation!

It sounds to me like Nico had a tour that was also willing to turn those lemons into lemonade! :) On the Odyssey we had life jackets in our cabins, which we were to wear to the drill, but we were also told that there were jackets stored on the sun deck and in the lounge in case anyone was there. We were told not to return to our cabins in event of emergency. I remember someone asking how deep the water was on the Danube and the captain smiled and said if we were on the sun deck, we would not only be safe, we would be dry! :D I'm glad you were able to continue your trip....and you returned with a wonderful adventure to tell on your next trip!

Wizz, nice to hear of your positive experience. Last year on the Tranquility we had a CD in training and his name was Nico. Wonder if it was the same guy? Kind of graying hair, middle aged, good sense of humor? He had been a Globus tour guide for years and was training with our CD, Barbara.