Costa Concordia SINKING

[King of Cool]

Quote:

Originally Posted by IRL_Joanie

It is the person who makes the impression, not the nationality

 

Milaandra said

 

To be fair, there are some cultural differences……. There are also some cultures that are amazingly sweet and thoughtful to anyone they have met...almost effusive...yet in contact with strangers, act in ways we anglos would consider rude.

Absolutely Milaandra, I can back that one up:

 

On a beautiful deserted island in the middle of the Pacific when an international cruise ship sank, the following people are stranded:

 

2 Italian men and 1 Italian woman

2 French men and 1 French woman

2 German men and 1 German woman

2 Greek men and 1 Greek woman

2 English men and 1 English woman

2 Polish men and 1 Polish woman

2 Japanese men and 1 Japanese woman

2 American men and 1 American woman

2 Irish men and 1 Irish woman

2 Australian men and 1 Australian woman

2 New Zealanders and 1 New Zealand woman

 

One month later, the following events have occurred;

 

One Italian man has killed the other Italian man for the Italian woman.

 

The two French men and the French woman are living happily together as a threesome and having loads of sex.

 

The two German men have a strict weekly schedule when they alternate with the German woman who has twisted some palm fronds into strands for making ropes and whips.

 

The two Greek men are sleeping with each other and the Greek woman is cleaning, cooking and ironing for them.

 

The two English men are waiting for someone to introduce them to the English woman.

 

The Polish men took a long look at the endless shark infested ocean and then a look at the Polish woman...and started swimming!

 

The two American men are contemplating the virtues of suicide, while the American woman keeps on bitching about her body being her own, the true nature of feminism, how she can do everything that they can do, the equal division of household chores, how her last boyfriend respected her opinion and treated her much nicer and how her relationship with her mother is improving.

 

The two Japanese men have emailed Tokyo and are waiting for instructions.

 

The two Irish men divided the island into North and South and have each set up a distillery. They do not remember if sex is an alternative because it gets sort of foggy after the first few litres of coconut whiskey.

 

The two Australian men got drunk and beat each other senseless fighting over the Australian woman, who in turn, is checking out all the other men, sure that she can do better than 'Bloody Australian Wankers!'

 

Both New Zealanders have disregarded the New Zealand woman and are searching the island for …..?

 

(I guess you could add some more)

[Milaandra]

Absolutely Milaandra, I can back that one up:

 

 

I'm sure I'm expected to say something about cultural insensitivity and gender stereotypes...

 

But to heck with it...that was funny!! :D

[SomeBeach]

While each individual will have a different story, for some a quick $14,000 and put this behind them is worth considering. Assuming that the last night of the cruise the ship sinks near Miami instead of arriving in Port Canaveral the following morning, and assuming a couple pay $2,000 for the cruise, another $2,000 in transportation and lodging costs, plus loose $1,000 in clothing and another $2,000 in electronics then they are out $7,000. If they receive $28,000 in return and can then put this whole thing behind them, it might not be a bad deal.

 

How many people on the US Air flight that landed in the Hudson still fly? How many people that have been in an auto accident still drive? This might not be a good deal for everyone, but for many it might be worth considering.

 

Yikes! By your estimate I'd be losing out on the clothes. That's about my total for shoes and dresses for formal nights. ;)

Even with the knowledge I have after this accident, while I do think I'll make some slight changes in what I take, I won't change all that much.

As to the settle or file class action, I can offer no real opinion. People have to look at their own situation. The only advice I would have is to think about each option, possibly talk to an attorney so you can weigh one way against the other. I mean, no offense to any lawyers posting here but the promises of a minimum of 160,000 to 1.2 mil Euros seems a bit out of bounds. People not living in Italy are going to encounter additional expense if they have to return to Italy to give a deposition and who knows how many times that may happen. In my situation, I've had to make 2 trips to the lawyers office.

What really bothers me is the limited amount of time that Costa is giving the folks that survived. I find that a bit insulting but I imagine they don't want to give folks to long an opportunity to talk to a lawyer.

[Pushka]

The comments about class actions and lawyer fees are incorrect. We have just received settlement from a class action in Australia and the lawyers fees were paid for by the other party and were part of the pre court settlement. We received our full allocation and these were the terms written into the contract.

 

Costa cannot call the shots here.

[Ozcruiser1]

Perhaps you would be interested in what happened to Captain Yiannis Avranas, the then Captain Coward of the Oceanos in 1991. Like the current Captain Coward he left the ship early and left it to the entertainment staff to manage the rescue operation.

.

 

Actual footage of the Oceanos sinking.

[BalconyBumz]

The comments about class actions and lawyer fees are incorrect. We have just received settlement from a class action in Australia and the lawyers fees were paid for by the other party and were part of the pre court settlement. We received our full allocation and these were the terms written into the contract.

 

Costa cannot call the shots here.

 

While that can happen in a perfect world, it's not the norm in US cases that I've seen or heard about. I saw one family get hit by a semi truck, killing the wife, injuring one son, and paralyzing another and he got 42 million and had to pay 33% to the attorneys.

[SomeBeach]

The comments about class actions and lawyer fees are incorrect. We have just received settlement from a class action in Australia and the lawyers fees were paid for by the other party and were part of the pre court settlement. We received our full allocation and these were the terms written into the contract.

 

Costa cannot call the shots here.

 

The case I am involved in is now awaiting a ruling on how much they will be paid by the party we are against. If they do not get the full award they submitted, the rest will come out of our individual awards.

It's often been a contention in the US that class action lawsuits most (but not all) times benefit the lawyers more than the clients.

[BalconyBumz]

Actual footage of the Oceanos sinking.

Wow, talk about hero!

[Uniall]

The comments about class actions and lawyer fees are incorrect. We have just received settlement from a class action in Australia and the lawyers fees were paid for by the other party and were part of the pre court settlement. We received our full allocation and these were the terms written into the contract.

 

Costa cannot call the shots here.

 

The term "Class Action" and the fee payment structure vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction: Nation to Nation and State to State in US.

 

The term Class Action can mean known and identified multiple Plaintiffs/Claimants/Petitioners with similar claims being being merged together for one trial on similar issues. Or, it can be a few known and identified representatives of a class of people, who are unknown and not easily ascertainable.

 

Some Brtish Commonwealth nations adopted the British system of loser pays legal fees. Most US states require each side to pay their lawyers. I believe "Loser pays" is the norm in European Codal juridictions but I'm not certain.

[SomeBeach]

I couldn't stand it any longer! I called ABC News 7 (Chicago area) and told them that Carnival Cruise Lines is NOT the line that made the offers to passengers of the Costa Concordia. I explained that Costa Cruises is a part of the Carnival Corpaoration, much in the same way ABC is part of Disney and that it was Costa that made the offer.

The gentleman I spoke with replied, "Oh, I see." To which I responded that they should try to be accurate in reporting.

[Seago2]

Absolutely Milaandra, I can back that one up:

 

On a beautiful deserted island in the middle of the Pacific when an international cruise ship sank, the following people are stranded:

 

2 Italian men and 1 Italian woman

2 French men and 1 French woman

2 German men and 1 German woman

2 Greek men and 1 Greek woman

2 English men and 1 English woman

2 Polish men and 1 Polish woman

2 Japanese men and 1 Japanese woman

2 American men and 1 American woman

2 Irish men and 1 Irish woman

2 Australian men and 1 Australian woman

2 New Zealanders and 1 New Zealand woman

 

One month later, the following events have occurred;

 

One Italian man has killed the other Italian man for the Italian woman.

 

The two French men and the French woman are living happily together as a threesome and having loads of sex.

 

The two German men have a strict weekly schedule when they alternate with the German woman who has twisted some palm fronds into strands for making ropes and whips.

 

The two Greek men are sleeping with each other and the Greek woman is cleaning, cooking and ironing for them.

 

The two English men are waiting for someone to introduce them to the English woman.

 

The Polish men took a long look at the endless shark infested ocean and then a look at the Polish woman...and started swimming!

 

The two American men are contemplating the virtues of suicide, while the American woman keeps on bitching about her body being her own, the true nature of feminism, how she can do everything that they can do, the equal division of household chores, how her last boyfriend respected her opinion and treated her much nicer and how her relationship with her mother is improving.

 

The two Japanese men have emailed Tokyo and are waiting for instructions.

 

The two Irish men divided the island into North and South and have each set up a distillery. They do not remember if sex is an alternative because it gets sort of foggy after the first few litres of coconut whiskey.

 

The two Australian men got drunk and beat each other senseless fighting over the Australian woman, who in turn, is checking out all the other men, sure that she can do better than 'Bloody Australian Wankers!'

 

Both New Zealanders have disregarded the New Zealand woman and are searching the island for …..?

 

(I guess you could add some more)

 

 

Literally the first laugh I have had all day. Thank you ;)

[Milaandra]

My Southern parents had the common sense and tact to teach all of their children that if you can't publically say something nice about someone, you shouldn't say anything at all.

 

Well, Michelle did say that's what she was told, and obviously she was misinformed. Some of the most gracious people I have met are from the south. (And I love a Virginia accent...so genteel)

[SomeBeach]

Actual footage of the Oceanos sinking.

 

The Oceanos Captain Coward, imo, is slightly worse than the Concordia Captain Coward. At least CC2 left them with help coming. CC1 just left!

One would wonder tho, how would CC1 explain that the only survivors were he and his Staff. Did he think no one would question that? Idiot.

Most times on a ship people want to meet the Captain and/or his Staff. I'm thinking it's a better idea to get to know the entertainers or crew. ;)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Looks like I need to get a call into Diane Sawyer about the Carnival/Costa issue. She did it again.

Ok, an email sent.

[Rancher Dave]

The gentleman I spoke with replied, "Oh, I see." To which I responded that they should try to be accurate in reporting.

 

 

That may violate their right to free speach...:eek:

 

Seriously I agree with you, it is nice when the reporting is accurate.

 

One reporter here always states that firefighters wear oxygen tanks when fighting fires...HFD needs to show him the difference between an 02 tank and compressed air tank, definitely a big differece in safety.

[SomeBeach]

That may violate their right to free speach...:eek:

 

Seriously I agree with you, it is nice when the reporting is accurate.

 

One reporter here always states that firefighters wear oxygen tanks when fighting fires...HFD needs to show him the difference between an 02 tank and compressed air tank, definitely a big differece in safety.

ABC local news at 6 p.m. had a story about a crew member from Concordia filing a Federal lawsuit in Chicago. "The lawsuit is against Carnival Cruise Lines and it's Costa subsidiary seeking to represent all 4200+ passengers and crew. Lawsuit says Chicago is a proper venue because Carnival does substantial business in IL."

The newscaster also said something about since Carnival and Costa have offices here in the US that it makes it valid to do so. Sorry, I focused so hard on getting the above quote correct, I missed some of that part.

Does that mean the crew member brought in what I think they mean to be Carnival Corp in order to have the case in the US?

How would that benefit people from other countries, since the suit was filed on behalf of all 4200+ passengers and crew? I suppose one can file a lawsuit like that but how can this person be sure that everyone else wants that filed for them?

[De La Cruise]

Absolutely Milaandra, I can back that one up:

 

On a beautiful deserted island in the middle of the Pacific when an international cruise ship sank, the following people are stranded:

 

2 Italian men and 1 Italian woman

2 French men and 1 French woman

2 German men and 1 German woman

2 Greek men and 1 Greek woman

2 English men and 1 English woman

2 Polish men and 1 Polish woman

2 Japanese men and 1 Japanese woman

2 American men and 1 American woman

2 Irish men and 1 Irish woman

2 Australian men and 1 Australian woman

2 New Zealanders and 1 New Zealand woman

 

One month later, the following events have occurred;

 

One Italian man has killed the other Italian man for the Italian woman.

 

The two French men and the French woman are living happily together as a threesome and having loads of sex.

 

The two German men have a strict weekly schedule when they alternate with the German woman who has twisted some palm fronds into strands for making ropes and whips.

 

The two Greek men are sleeping with each other and the Greek woman is cleaning, cooking and ironing for them.

 

The two English men are waiting for someone to introduce them to the English woman.

 

The Polish men took a long look at the endless shark infested ocean and then a look at the Polish woman...and started swimming!

 

The two American men are contemplating the virtues of suicide, while the American woman keeps on bitching about her body being her own, the true nature of feminism, how she can do everything that they can do, the equal division of household chores, how her last boyfriend respected her opinion and treated her much nicer and how her relationship with her mother is improving.

 

The two Japanese men have emailed Tokyo and are waiting for instructions.

 

The two Irish men divided the island into North and South and have each set up a distillery. They do not remember if sex is an alternative because it gets sort of foggy after the first few litres of coconut whiskey.

 

The two Australian men got drunk and beat each other senseless fighting over the Australian woman, who in turn, is checking out all the other men, sure that she can do better than 'Bloody Australian Wankers!'

 

Both New Zealanders have disregarded the New Zealand woman and are searching the island for …..?

 

(I guess you could add some more)

 

Oh John...you're...brilliant! I could never make that up.

 

Some welcomed comic relief!

[IRL_Joanie]

The Oceanos Captain Coward, imo, is slightly worse than the Concordia Captain Coward. At least CC2 left them with help coming. CC1 just left!

 

One would wonder tho, how would CC1 explain that the only survivors were he and his Staff. Did he think no one would question that? Idiot.

 

Most times on a ship people want to meet the Captain and/or his Staff. I'm thinking it's a better idea to get to know the entertainers or crew. ;)

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Looks like I need to get a call into Diane Sawyer about the Carnival/Costa issue. She did it again.

Ok, an email sent.

 

I shall become the best of friends with all the members of my Life Boat Crew!!! I think there is a Life Boat Station Captain (I believe an Officer) and the actual young man or woman who will be making sure we not only get on board the life boat, but knows how to steer it!!

 

If people (fellow passengers) thought I was dripping saccharin before, wait till they see me in 37 days!!

 

I will be best friends with EVERYONE who can save me if necessary:)

 

Joanie

[Uniall]

FINAL POLL RESULTS

Regardless of what happens with ongoing Criminal investigation and possible prosecution by the Italian authorities or Civil law suits filed or to be filed by survivors or deceaseds' next of kin,

BASED UPON THE FINAL POLL RESULTS, WE CAN CONCLUDE:

A. 100% of those responding believe they have sufficient evidence to find Captain Schettino guilty in the Court of Public Opinion.

B. 56% of those responding believe they have sufficient evidence to find Costa Cruises guilty in the Court of Public Opinion.

1. Would you book a new Costa Cruise ?

2. Would you keep an existing Costa Cruise booking ?

3. Would you book a new cruise with Captain Schettino ?

4. Would you keep an existing cruise with Captain Schettino ?

 

Responses:

 

1. Yes_7__No_9

2. Yes_7__No_9

3. Yes_0__No_14

4. Yes_0__No_13

__________________

* No responses and undecideds not counted

__________________

[greg-nc]

ABC local news at 6 p.m. had a story about a crew member from Concordia filing a Federal lawsuit in Chicago. "The lawsuit is against Carnival Cruise Lines and it's Costa subsidiary seeking to represent all 4200+ passengers and crew. Lawsuit says Chicago is a proper venue because Carnival does substantial business in IL."

 

The newscaster also said something about since Carnival and Costa have offices here in the US that it makes it valid to do so. Sorry, I focused so hard on getting the above quote correct, I missed some of that part.

Does that mean the crew member brought in what I think they mean to be Carnival Corp in order to have the case in the US?

How would that benefit people from other countries, since the suit was filed on behalf of all 4200+ passengers and crew? I suppose one can file a lawsuit like that but how can this person be sure that everyone else wants that filed for them?

 

I believe the lawyer who filed this case is simply focused on padding his pockets with money. The idea that the lawyer is suing on behalf of a crew member from Peru in a location where the company has no business office means to me that he is just gaming the system to obtain financial compensation. I expect that the first judge who reviews this case will dismiss it for not being the correct venue.

[Charles4515]

Not to offend my wonderful lovely american friends on here and around the world but there appears to be a line drawn in America someone told me it was the Mason Dixon line, and every american traveller I have met who was from above that line I have got on very well with and loved traveling with, people who lived below it tended to be the loud obnoxious americans I cant stand to travel with ( PS I am sure there are nice travellers from there just none I have met :o) see generalizations galore

 

 

You must be joking since your generalization makes no sense. The Mason Dixon line is currently a meaningless line and has been meaningless for a long time. It only has historical meaning.

[SomeBeach]

I believe the lawyer who filed this case is simply focused on padding his pockets with money. The idea that the lawyer is suing on behalf of a crew member from Peru in a location where the company has no business office means to me that he is just gaming the system to obtain financial compensation. I expect that the first judge who reviews this case will dismiss it for not being the correct venue.

 

My bad. Excuse me, I worded the first sentence wrong and didn't catch that. A crew member from Chicago working on the Concordia filed in Chicago.

[Charles4515]

ABC local news at 6 p.m. had a story about a crew member from Concordia filing a Federal lawsuit in Chicago. "The lawsuit is against Carnival Cruise Lines and it's Costa subsidiary seeking to represent all 4200+ passengers and crew. Lawsuit says Chicago is a proper venue because Carnival does substantial business in IL."

The newscaster also said something about since Carnival and Costa have offices here in the US that it makes it valid to do so. Sorry, I focused so hard on getting the above quote correct, I missed some of that part.

Does that mean the crew member brought in what I think they mean to be Carnival Corp in order to have the case in the US?

How would that benefit people from other countries, since the suit was filed on behalf of all 4200+ passengers and crew? I suppose one can file a lawsuit like that but how can this person be sure that everyone else wants that filed for them?

 

Most likely that lawsuit will be thrown out.

[Cuizer2]

You must be joking since your generalization makes no sense. The Mason Dixon line is currently a meaningless line and has been meaningless for a long time. It only has historical meaning.

 

You certainly have an interesting view of things. First of all Mickey d Mouse is from another country - Australia. Most likely (s)he didn't study the Mason Dixon line in school. Second, I don't think ANYONE believes that there is an actual line. Even the state borders are not actually drawn on the ground. Finally line was surveyed at one time and thus can be referred to, even if the line is not used today for any purpose.

 

http://geography.about.com/od/politicalgeography/a/masondixon.htm

[DebbyV]

ABC local news at 6 p.m. had a story about a crew member from Concordia filing a Federal lawsuit in Chicago. "The lawsuit is against Carnival Cruise Lines and it's Costa subsidiary seeking to represent all 4200+ passengers and crew. Lawsuit says Chicago is a proper venue because Carnival does substantial business in IL."

 

The newscaster also said something about since Carnival and Costa have offices here in the US that it makes it valid to do so. Sorry, I focused so hard on getting the above quote correct, I missed some of that part.

Does that mean the crew member brought in what I think they mean to be Carnival Corp in order to have the case in the US?

How would that benefit people from other countries, since the suit was filed on behalf of all 4200+ passengers and crew? I suppose one can file a lawsuit like that but how can this person be sure that everyone else wants that filed for them?

 

Here's the bloomberg wire story regarding the filing in Chicago.

 

http://mobile.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-27/carnival-sued-in-u-s-by-crew-member-for-negligence-over-costa-concordia?category=%2Fnews%2Fmostread%2F

 

 

Also this Reuters/ChicagoTribune story just popped in:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/travel/sns-rt-us-italy-shiptre80p20i-20120126,0,4334525.story

[greg-nc]

My bad. Excuse me, I worded the first sentence wrong and didn't catch that. A crew member from Chicago working on the Concordia filed in Chicago.

 

Here is the press story that most of us saw off the AP wire today.

Cruise crew member sues over Italy disaster

 

"The lawsuit seeks to represent all 4,200 passengers and crew aboard the vessel when it struck rocks and capsized Jan. 13. It was filed Thursday on behalf of crew member Gary Lobaton, who is from Peru."

 

"Carnival is based in Miami and Costa in Hollywood, Fla. The lawsuit says Chicago is a proper venue because Carnival does substantial business in Illinois."

 

Is there another lawsuit being launched for a crew member who is from Chicago?