Concordia -- Email from a passenger

[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]

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]

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 :eek: Just another feather in Costas cap:rolleyes: Unbelievable.

[StillPooh]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

 

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]

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]

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 .:mad:

 

 

Shame on you!! :mad::mad::mad: 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".

[glrounds]

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 .......

 

Your post reminds me of a cruise I took to Canada from New York on the Carnival Victory.

 

While at the one port stop in Canada, the aft pool was being utilized as a "training pool" where different crew members (one was our waiter) were being trained to upright a capsized life raft and help passengers get in it. Men and women both, one at a time, were jumping into the pool, pulling on a cord that runs under the bottom of the raft and leveraging it while standing on the side of the capsized raft to get it to flop right-side-up. Then dragging others to the opening in this covered raft. I can't imagine the energy it took for some of the tiny guys and gals to do this, but they all did it with enthusiasm. :)

 

. . . and it was freezing cold out (started to snow as we left the port):eek:

 

 

[seattle2000]

The OP said his friend did not see any officers, which is different than not seeing crew. Many pax are reporting that lower level crew members were helping - the waiters, the room staff, the dancers, etc., but that higher ups were nowhere to be seen, nor were the crew members receiving instructions from them.

 

I fully agree that the cooks and room cleaners were the most likely heroes here, and deserve much praise and hopefully recompense for their efforts. And there were very likely officers who were doing what they could without commands from the captain.

 

However, there are reports of people loaded into lifeboats awaiting the abandon ship order, which was very late in coming, and was reportedly not made by the captain himself. Without clear orders, I can see how everything would quickly fall into chaos on a ship that runs on its hierarchical structure.

[readytotravel44]

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...

 

This did not seem strange to me. I guarantee that if I went back to get my life jacket for a possible evacuation, I would most definitely grab my passport, $, cell phone, and frankly, my camera (though I always tend to have it with me on a cruise.)

 

My family and I have discussed this tragic situation a great deal. It will not keep us from cruising, however it will make us wiser cruisers. Our concern is, other than dinner, we are very often all at different places. Should there be an emergency, we've discussed potential meeting points, or even the possibility that we would likely just need to evacuate without finding each other. Gosh, that would be hard to do.

 

My prayers goes out to everyone involved. The passengers, the crew, the families of everyone, and yes, also the captain. I'm not excusing his actions (though the whole story is not completely out yet.) I can't imagine the pain he must be feeling right now. Surely he is devastated over his actions.

 

Praise goes out to the folks on the island who opened their hearts (and wallets) to the passengers in need.

[writer100]

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 .......

Sir: The ratio on the ship was 4 passengers to one crewman, or crewperson. As to the crews training constantly, that is true in the U.S. Navy--and presumably in other navies as well--but not on cruise ships. They receive two weeks of training, and there are, on at least some lines, refresher exercises on each 7-day cruise. But remember, the crew consists of individuals with personal service contracts of from 6 to 12 months. So the education for dealing with disasters has to be repetitive. Part of the problem with respect to maritime safety is that no single entity has responsibility for enforcement of safety regs. The U.S. Coast Guard has the most restrictive, but ships which operate under other flags--which is most of them--only have to conform to the regulations of various maritime associations, much more elastic than our CG. For example, in theory, according to the current regulations, every cruise ship has to be able to evacuate all of its passengers in 30 minutes. That may be possible for a ship with a few hundred passengers, bur clearly not likely for the Concordia, even in the best of circumstances. And even less likely for the gigantic ships with 5 or 6 thousand passengers aboard.This particular nugget comes from a tv news broadcast. Also, the modern cruise liner is designed to sink slowly and on a level, based on a system of watertight doors within a double hull. But the tiering of deck upon deck seems to seems to threaten that premise. That last insight comes from the New York Times. And no, I am not a maritime writer though I have been on a few enjoyable cruises.

[irun5k]

Our concern is, other than dinner, we are very often all at different places. Should there be an emergency, we've discussed potential meeting points, or even the possibility that we would likely just need to evacuate without finding each other. Gosh, that would be hard to do.

 

I had not thought about this yet, but you are right. I cannot imagine anything worse than being in that situation while our son was at the kids club. As I have understood the safety briefings, you should not try to retrieve your child... they have an armband and the kids club staff will see to them.

 

Call my cynical but this whole event doesn't make me feel 100% comfortable with literally putting our son's life in someone else's hands. I know most of the staff are hard working and I expect that we will eventually hear some about some heroes. This number of people couldn't have gotten off this ship w/o some level of help and I will bet some of this came from unlikely places. HOWEVER, if the Captain headed for the hills... sorry but I can't help but wonder who else onboard might abandon their post and duties... an infant/toddler/etc. exactly fend for himself/herself.

[DizzyDallasDi]

This did not seem strange to me. I guarantee that if I went back to get my life jacket for a possible evacuation, I would most definitely grab my passport, $, cell phone, and frankly, my camera (though I always tend to have it with me on a cruise.)

 

My family and I have discussed this tragic situation a great deal. It will not keep us from cruising, however it will make us wiser cruisers. Our concern is, other than dinner, we are very often all at different places. Should there be an emergency, we've discussed potential meeting points, or even the possibility that we would likely just need to evacuate without finding each other. Gosh, that would be hard to do.

 

My prayers goes out to everyone involved. The passengers, the crew, the families of everyone, and yes, also the captain. I'm not excusing his actions (though the whole story is not completely out yet.) I can't imagine the pain he must be feeling right now. Surely he is devastated over his actions.

 

Praise goes out to the folks on the island who opened their hearts (and wallets) to the passengers in need.

 

^This !!

 

I love a poster with a level head who sees the big picture. Everyone who was on the Concordia is experiencing their own personal trauma. Even the captain.....and most probably deservedly so.

 

Major praise for the people of Italy who leant a helping hand. Major praise for the crew who stayed onboard helping the passengers get off. Heartfelt sympathy to all the families who lost loved ones.

[Snow Bunnies]

I was not on the the Costa Concordia, so I'm only speculating. I worked aboard the SS Norway on a 6 month contract from April - August 1986 as a musician. I can tell you that I have a hard time believing that this incident would not have played out this way on any cruise ship that sails into a US port.

Norway cruised the Eastern Caribbean from Port of Miami during my tenure. Every Wednesday when the ship got to St. Thomas, we were tested by the US Coast Guard. There would be a simulated emergency, we would all have to take our stations (mine was down on Biscayne deck). Then we would have to simulate getting the passengers out of their cabins and lead them up to the boat deck for evacuation from the ship. On alternating weeks all boats from either port or starboard side were lowered by the cranes into the ocean with crew members aboard. I saw a US Coast Guard inspector many times on my deck ensuring that I was at my post and that I knew what to do in case of an emergency.

I have read in earlier posts that waiters or entertainment staff would man the boats. This is only partially true. We could get passengers to the life boats, but a certified deck hand would actually pilot the life boats. (I don't think I'd want to get on a life boat with a musician or a dancer at the helm).

The chances of a ship capsizing/keeling happening to anyone reading this board is probably about the same probability as you crashing on an airliner the next time you fly.

Obviously, this captain was a twit and abandoned ship against all known rules of the sea. I do wonder if he was off duty when the incident happened. I also wonder if there could be some negligence on the part of the first officer or maybe a harbor pilot. Time will tell.

If you're cruising in the Caribbean, your crew members are well trained. They are required to be by the US Coast Guard.

 

Happy Sailing!

[sfwriter]

Obviously, this captain was a twit and abandoned ship against all known rules of the sea. I do wonder if he was off duty when the incident happened. I also wonder if there could be some negligence on the part of the first officer or maybe a harbor pilot. Time will tell.

 

Also ex-crew.

 

The captain is always on duty in case of an emergency even if it's not his normal watch, though. The staff captain also left the ship, which I haven't seen widely pointed out.

 

Completely agree with you on the well-trained crew coming out of US ports, though.

[stuttgart]

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.

 

Thank you for sharing the friend’s email. Hope every one will be soon home and safe, except few of our love one! Hope they are now in a better place and God will gave their family strength to over come this great loss…we are praying for them….

[frito58]

This did not seem strange to me. I guarantee that if I went back to get my life jacket for a possible evacuation, I would most definitely grab my passport, $, cell phone, and frankly, my camera (though I always tend to have it with me on a cruise.)

 

My family and I have discussed this tragic situation a great deal. It will not keep us from cruising, however it will make us wiser cruisers. Our concern is, other than dinner, we are very often all at different places. Should there be an emergency, we've discussed potential meeting points, or even the possibility that we would likely just need to evacuate without finding each other. Gosh, that would be hard to do.

 

My prayers goes out to everyone involved. The passengers, the crew, the families of everyone, and yes, also the captain. I'm not excusing his actions (though the whole story is not completely out yet.) I can't imagine the pain he must be feeling right now. Surely he is devastated over his actions.

 

Praise goes out to the folks on the island who opened their hearts (and wallets) to the passengers in need.

 

I would agree , I would even change clothes real quick and put on some pants with cargo pockets or jacket , I wear an ostomy bag and would be in a panic if were to leave without an extra supplies just sayin that would cross my mind even in a rush. If I were I my room I would fill my pockets with my most needed things , I would think. I wasnt there and Hindsight is always 20/20 but I dont find it hard to believe someone thought ahead.