Incident on Solstice Cruise to nowhere someone's in huge trouble!

Just back from the 3 day cruise to nowhere on Solstice, very nice!

Thought the regular cruisers would be interested in an "event" (Celebrities word) that happened on Friday.

We were poodling along at 7 knots enjoying the sun when the ship changed course and headed for an orange coloured object in the distance.

As we approached they announced over the PA that an emergency safety device had been thrown overboard and they needed to retrieve it. Turns out it was one of those liferafts that expand out of the white capsules that look like 44 gallon drums you see on the side of the ship. They are huge and bright orange when they expand. I think when it deploys it would set off an emergency beacon as well so as well as getting the expensive equipment back on board they would have had to deal with the maritime authorities.

The crew brought the ship around so it was on the windward side of the raft (huge orange thing) to keep the raft out of the wind which was pretty strong.

'

A rib was put into the water and two staff members climbed into the liferaft and got ropes onto it to hoist it out of the water. There was about a 2 metre swell so the rib and the liferaft were doing a fair bit of bobbing around. The captain used the bow and stern thrusters to keep the ship in position.

Once attached they hoisted the liferaft up out of the water but couldn't take it right onto the top deck because the wind kept catching it and it blew around. They ended up tethering it to the top of one of the other lifeboats.

Amazing work by the bridge and the crew who retrieved the raft. They worked as a great team. Makes you very confident that if something went wrong they would swing into action very efficiently.

Talk onboard was that those rafts cost around £90,000. The captain said they would offload it to a contractor in Sydney who would repack the raft.

Apparently they caught whoever the idiot was that threw it overboard, wouldn't like to be in their shoes! I hate to think what the cost of the damage was and if they set off an epirb the fine from the maritime authorities is huge!

(I have photos but no idea how to post, I imagine there could be film up on youtube by now!)

It's good that they know who did it. I wonder if alcohol was involved though that is no excuse. Maybe they may have to pay for the repacking (I doubt it though) I think it would be very very expensive.

Karryl

I saw those pictures on facebook :eek: and i am glad the caught the person who did it.

Whilst i do appreciate the these short cruises tend to be party/lots of drinking type cruises, i do wonder if these all inclusive drinks packages are causing more of these types of issues to occur :rolleyes: we did the 3 day cruise in Jan and we were quite uncomfortable with the amount of drinking the occured on the ship...esp the early morning people wandering around with an alcoholic drink in their hand. I wonder if we would have seen this if there are no drinks packages around?? :confused:

I saw those pictures on facebook :eek: and i am glad the caught the person who did it.

 

Whilst i do appreciate the these short cruises tend to be party/lots of drinking type cruises, i do wonder if these all inclusive drinks packages are causing more of these types of issues to occur :rolleyes: we did the 3 day cruise in Jan and we were quite uncomfortable with the amount of drinking the occured on the ship...esp the early morning people wandering around with an alcoholic drink in their hand. I wonder if we would have seen this if there are no drinks packages around?? :confused:

Can you point me to the pictures on Facebook? I'm hopeless at searching that site ;)

There was certainly a whole lot of drinking going on. It was nowhere near as bad as the Princess 2 night cruise we went on a few years back though. The price of the X cruise was much higher though. Princess didn't sell the drinks package on their short cruise. X sells it from 3 night cruises upwards, it did appear a lot of people had the package. I wonder whether they should make it from week long cruises upwards though, the cost may make people think about whether they buy it.

I saw those pictures on facebook :eek: and i am glad the caught the person who did it.

 

 

 

Whilst i do appreciate the these short cruises tend to be party/lots of drinking type cruises, i do wonder if these all inclusive drinks packages are causing more of these types of issues to occur :rolleyes: we did the 3 day cruise in Jan and we were quite uncomfortable with the amount of drinking the occured on the ship...esp the early morning people wandering around with an alcoholic drink in their hand. I wonder if we would have seen this if there are no drinks packages around?? :confused:

It's my understanding that drinks packages are only available on cruises for 4 nights or more.

Gae

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It would appear the 'Drunken Aussie Bogan' has struck again. Why the Cruise Lines run these alcohol fuelled cruises is beyond me.

I hope the alleged offender is prosecuted.

It would appear the 'Drunken Aussie Bogan' has struck again. Why the Cruise Lines run these alcohol fuelled cruises is beyond me.

 

I hope the alleged offender is prosecuted.

those stupid drunks spoil the cruise for everyone..... we were on a p&o cruise years ago and this young bloke got kicked out of the buffet at 5.30am on disembarkment day as he was so pissed

It would appear the 'Drunken Aussie Bogan' has struck again. Why the Cruise Lines run these alcohol fuelled cruises is beyond me.

 

 

 

I hope the alleged offender is prosecuted.

I suspect they are great money earners for those annoying itinerary gaps.

Great they caught the offender. Idiot.

Unfortunately the problem is the Aussie Bogan drinker. It is evident in Bali, and Thailand. Where Simple Aussies go and think that they are above the law because everything is so cheap, or in the case of Celebrity Free.(Drinks)

I agree that if Celebrity are to offer drinks packages in the Australian market they need to be for cruises 7 nights or more, to stop those clowns from using it as a booze cruise to get smashed and act like total idiots. Which seems to be the case here. I am lucky enough to be friends now with a couple of the crew members, and they absolutely dread the Aussie Short cruise for this reason. Too many pissed and over demanding fools.

When will our culture of overindulgence turn around? Please don't get me wrong, I have been in those positions, where I have over indulged and made a fool of myself, but I wish, I had someone to point me in the right direction as opposed to seeing how stupid I was.

Perhaps the older I get the more sinnacle I become. But I do hope that the offending party/s are charged with and made to pay for any fee's and damages they have created by their simple mindedness. If you stuff up, pay the consequences...

Just my 2 cents. But I do hope those that made the trip enjoyed this amazing vessel for what she is.

Cheers

Hi all,

We were also on the cruise - in fact we heard a loud hissing sound from our balcony and saw the life raft flip into the ocean and inflate. The crew did an incredible job - it was really windy.

Apparently It was 2 guys - there were witnesses and camera evidence. They had both apparently been quite offensive to several guests. They were caught and spent the last 2 days in the brig. Handed over to the police this morning. Because it's in international waters, it's an indictable offense.

I was really impressed with the crew - it was terrible that their lives had to be put at risk because of fools.

Great cruise :)

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I saw those pictures on facebook :eek: and i am glad the caught the person who did it.

 

Whilst i do appreciate the these short cruises tend to be party/lots of drinking type cruises, i do wonder if these all inclusive drinks packages are causing more of these types of issues to occur :rolleyes: we did the 3 day cruise in Jan and we were quite uncomfortable with the amount of drinking the occured on the ship...esp the early morning people wandering around with an alcoholic drink in their hand. I wonder if we would have seen this if there are no drinks packages around?? :confused:

If there were no drink packages - it would still happen - brain dead - enough said :mad: An old North of England saying: beer in - wit out.

If there were no drink packages - it would still happen - brain dead - enough said :mad: An old North of England saying: beer in - wit out.

The only thing worse, that makes me shudder with shame & embarrassment is that "Ozzy,Ozzy.Ozzy" chant from some Illiterate Fools.

I was on this cruise too. I felt sorry for the staff having to put their lives on the line. It really was windy when the were crawling on top of the bobbing life raft.

There was also a conference on board with around 350 mortgage broker type people. They all had free drinks packages & took over parts of the ship like the pool deck one night, the theatre during the day etc.... I think this effected the number of activities on offer as venues were occupied.

No matter, I had a great time anyway!

It would appear the 'Drunken Aussie Bogan' has struck again. Why the Cruise Lines run these alcohol fuelled cruises is beyond me.

 

I hope the alleged offender is prosecuted.

Hi

,

I was also on this cruise......Its a bit presumptious to assume it was an Aussie who was the culprit considering the amount of nationalities on board.The cruise was very good on a very nice ship.From what i saw most of the pople onboard were enjoying themselves but were not troublesome in any way.

It was great to see people still dress for dinner on a 3 dayer.

It appeared most pax were well mannered with a predominate age 25-45

who appeared to be young executives or professional people.....

cheers

Col:)

Hi

,

I was also on this cruise......Its a bit presumptious to assume it was an Aussie who was the culprit considering the amount of nationalities on board.The cruise was very good on a very nice ship.From what i saw most of the pople onboard were enjoying themselves but were not troublesome in any way.

 

It was great to see people still dress for dinner on a 3 dayer.

 

It appeared most pax were well mannered with a predominate age 25-45

who appeared to be young executives or professional people.....

 

cheers

 

Col:)

glad you enjoyed yourselves but they will have to do something about the stupid drunks

glad you enjoyed yourselves but they will have to do something about the stupid drunks

When they charge peanuts for a cruise

they have to expect some monkeys.

I suspect they are great money earners for those annoying itinerary gaps.

 

I agree, as the cruise lines wouldn't offer them otherwise.

I just hope people who use them as a test run for a longer cruise don't think they are "normal" cruises and are put off cruising.

My neighbours were on the Solstice. The wife wanted her husband to try a cruise to nowhere to convince him to go on a longer cruise. It didn't work he said the people at the buffet were feral.

I don't really think a cruise to nowhere is a good indication as to what it was like on a longer cruise.

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I agree, as the cruise lines wouldn't offer them otherwise.

 

I just hope people who use them as a test run for a longer cruise don't think they are "normal" cruises and are put off cruising.

A friend of a friend went on one and hated it. She said it was totally feral and she was really disappointed as she wanted a relaxing few days away. I got the impression that she won't be considering cruising again - at least not for a very long time.

I heard a story about this yesterday but it didn't click that it was here in Australia. Some people need to be banned for life from cruising.:(

I am an experience cruiser that loves long voyages of over two weeks every time I go away.

Having said that I have done the occasional 2 night cruise and love them for a short break on a ship to unwind and fix your cruise ship addiction.

As some have suggested it is just an Australian way of life the way some people behave. If you have ever been out and about your local town of a weekend night you will see the people in clubs, bars and pubs are normally in thongs, shorts and t-shirts. Some cities have curfews to combat antisocial behaviour.

It is just really unfortunate that such a species of people have managed to infiltrate cruise ship life and give cruise ships a bad name.

I am an experience cruiser that loves long voyages of over two weeks every time I go away.

 

Having said that I have done the occasional 2 night cruise and love them for a short break on a ship to unwind and fix your cruise ship addiction.

 

As some have suggested it is just an Australian way of life the way some people behave. If you have ever been out and about your local town of a weekend night you will see the people in clubs, bars and pubs are normally in thongs, shorts and t-shirts. Some cities have curfews to combat antisocial behaviour.

 

It is just really unfortunate that such a species of people have managed to infiltrate cruise ship life and give cruise ships a bad name.

They are giving us Aussies a bad name, not the ships.:(

I heard a story about this yesterday but it didn't click that it was here in Australia. Some people need to be banned for life from cruising.:(

Love your idea of a lifetime ban , it should apply to all cruise lines when someone has proved that they can't behave responsibly on a cruise ship . Hey we all cruise to have a great time but not when it spoils it for other people.

Love your idea of a lifetime ban , it should apply to all cruise lines when someone has proved that they can't behave responsibly on a cruise ship . Hey we all cruise to have a great time but not when it spoils it for other people.

But if they banned everybody who acted irresponsibly on a cruise and there wouldn't be many people at sea:D

I am an experience cruiser that loves long voyages of over two weeks every time I go away.

 

Having said that I have done the occasional 2 night cruise and love them for a short break on a ship to unwind and fix your cruise ship addiction.

 

As some have suggested it is just an Australian way of life the way some people behave. If you have ever been out and about your local town of a weekend night you will see the people in clubs, bars and pubs are normally in thongs, shorts and t-shirts. Some cities have curfews to combat antisocial behaviour.

 

It is just really unfortunate that such a species of people have managed to infiltrate cruise ship life and give cruise ships a bad name.

I'm sorry but what has

If you have ever been out and about your local town of a weekend night you will see the people in clubs, bars and pubs are normally in thongs, shorts and t-shirts.

Got to do with this sort of behaviour?