"Azura Breaks loose from her berth !!!"

While aboard the Azura last week we were tied up in Civitavecchia port when all of a sudden the sky went black. We were sitting in the Horizon having tea and scones when without any warning a the wind howled through the port.

2 minutes later ALL the mooring lines of the ship "snapped" and the ship started drifting across the harbour towards the cargo quay. An emergency call was made for all emergency mooring staff to attend stations and there was a mad rush of officers and deck crew in all directions.

A few moments later 3 tug boats were seen rushing towards our vessel and went around to the starboard side of the vessel to push it away from the opposite quay with what I would say only metres to spare between the ship and berth. We were then held in a position facing into the wind for around 90 minutes until the winds ceased and the ship was then berthed at the cargo quay instead of returning to its original resting place.

This could not have happened at a worse time as it was mid afternoon and according to Captain Hoyt later over 1000 passengers had to remain in their coaches having returned from Rome previously until the ship could receive passengers again.

In closing I would like to say that had it not been for the extremely fast reactions of the Captain, Officers and Crew both on-board and on the quayside this event could have had very serious consequences. A full explanation of what happened was given by Captain Hoyt later that evening when all passengers were on-board.

That should never happen, I wonder why it broke the moorings.

That is incredible. It always has at least 6, maybe 8 lines on and to break all of them is amazing. I wonder if the lines didn't actually snap, but broke the bollards on the quay?

One bollard did break but the lines snapped. I took photographs at the next port of them waiting to be collected from the quay.

If one or two lines break. The extra strain could break more . The mooring lines probably didn't break all at once. But sounded or felt like they all broke at once.

The side of a ship the size of Azura is equivalent to having an acre of solid sails, about a football pitch.

It doesn't take much of a sudden unexpected gust to cause severe problems.

And now perhaps people will believe the captain of any vessel when he says it is too windy to dock, it’s too windy and not safe to dock.

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This type of incident happens every few years on cruise ships worldwide. Once one line breaks the stress can overload the others in sequence snapping. Wind seems to be the major problem and the biggest hazard to passengers being stood on the gangway at the exact moment that the separation occurs. This can lead to passengers in the water and fatalities. Gangways have also been known to fail under the weight of queuing passengers. This hazard is exacerbated where the section is over water.

This clip shows you what can happen and how tugs turn up and frantically try and save the day for Brilliance of the Seas.

Regards John

I was stuck in one of those coaches on returning from Ostia Antica. We were diverted to a motorway service station before waiting another 40 minutes at the quayside. Better safe than sorry.

But this disaster was nothing compared to the disastrous food on board and the unhygenic nature of the ship which had lots of people confined to their cabins.

I would suggest that they were in their cabins because of sea conditions. After all we did have a few big swells throughout the cruise. I am not aware of any confinements to cabins because of food problems or hygiene? Maybe we were the lucky ones.

In respect of quality of food I will agree that on occasions the choice was quite bland and this has been reflected upon in my assessment of the overall cruise. Nobody can be held responsible for the weather though.

Normal ships lines are rated to hold x strain - sounds like a sudden storm front came thru and hit the ship side on.... I can only relate to being in Portland harbour on a grey funnel line one march day and being duty watch turned out to rig extra hurricane lines, fore and aft to keep us safely berthed and we had far less "sail" to act on us than the modern cruise ships...I thought our normal lines were thick enough but these were about twice the size... You certainly don't want to be anywhere near a breaking line in any direction.......

I thought the winding gear was supposed to give way first rather than the lines snapping which could be fatal to someone on the quayside.

I would suggest that they were in their cabins because of sea conditions. After all we did have a few big swells throughout the cruise. I am not aware of any confinements to cabins because of food problems or hygiene? Maybe we were the lucky ones.

 

In respect of quality of food I will agree that on occasions the choice was quite bland and this has been reflected upon in my assessment of the overall cruise. Nobody can be held responsible for the weather though.

Your suggestion is misplaced. We went on board perfectly healthy and by day 2 had succumbed to the flu virus which was doing the rounds. 60 people were confined to their cabins, you were obviously lucky. The spread of virus was assisted by the dirty conditions.Only using a wet rag to wipe down tables in Venezia not using any antibacterial spray. Not cleaning common parts that everyone uses like lift buttons, hand rails, theatre seat backs. I complained about this many times but still it went on.

The flu virus is caused by breathing mostly, not from dirty surfaces. It only takes one person to board with flu and it's passed round in the aircon.

Yes maybe I was lucky, but if the suggestion you make of dirty surfaces etc causing the small virus epidemic then I would have thought this would have been categorised by the ship as a norovirus and subsequently we would have seen staff at every food outlet ensuring hands were sanatised. I did not see this during the cruise!!!

Yes maybe I was lucky, but if the suggestion you make of dirty surfaces etc causing the small virus epidemic then I would have thought this would have been categorised by the ship as a norovirus and subsequently we would have seen staff at every food outlet ensuring hands were sanatised. I did not see this during the cruise!!!

It was not a noro virus,it was a flu virus. I'm not saying it caused it,I'm saying that dirty uncleaned surfaces help spread the virus.

The flu virus is caused by breathing mostly, not from dirty surfaces. It only takes one person to board with flu and it's passed round in the aircon.

The flu virus is passed by air, certainly, but ALSO by contaminated surfaces.

How we managed to get onto this subject when I initially started it as a problem with the berthing of the ship I don't know. However if contributors wish to continue on the subject of the Virus, I would suggest another blog covering this and the cruise in question?

How we managed to get onto this subject when I initially started it as a problem with the berthing of the ship I don't know. However if contributors wish to continue on the subject of the Virus, I would suggest another blog covering this and the cruise in question?

That’s exactly what I was thinking!

Also, what happened to the gangway when the moorings broke?

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How we managed to get onto this subject when I initially started it as a problem with the berthing of the ship I don't know. However if contributors wish to continue on the subject of the Virus, I would suggest another blog covering this and the cruise in question?

Threads morph, happens all the time. There's nowt wrong with that.

OK,so the wind got up, the lines broke,the tugs came to our rescue and we sailed away into the sunset. What more would you like to say on the subject?

That should never happen, I wonder why it broke the moorings.

https://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/wind-load-d_1775.html

technical explanation here

In reply to the question about the gangway, apparently as the winds started to increase the gangway staff and security quickly removed the gangway as a precaution. And a good job they did. Shortly after you could see the shore side staff running for cover as the ropes started snapping. They were placed in local vehicles for safety and later taken to the new berthing point.

That should never happen, I wonder why it broke the moorings.

From watching the TV programme about Princess Cruises: last week's episode showed them docking in the Caribbean with high winds, and they said that the lines are tensioned according to the wind speed/prevailing weather conditions. If it had been fine with slight winds in Civitavecchia, and then a sudden storm blew up, presumably the tension was wrong, the ship wasn't held fast and they snapped.

From watching the TV programme about Princess Cruises: last week's episode showed them docking in the Caribbean with high winds, and they said that the lines are tensioned according to the wind speed/prevailing weather conditions. If it had been fine with slight winds in Civitavecchia, and then a sudden storm blew up, presumably the tension was wrong, the ship wasn't held fast and they snapped.

Thank you.

We had the opposite in Eidfjord many years ago, the wind was blowing down the fjord and blowing the ship against the jetty, it took quite a while for the captain to get going. As an ex dinghy sailor ( with several capsizes due to wind gusts!), I well aware of the power of the wind and the difficulty of getting off a 'lee' shore.