is this what ship captains are like?

[dr.dawg]

in the aftermath of the concordia disaster, i have to ask the question, 'how are ship's captains trained?' what is the standard of leadership, not to mention just knowledge of how to operate and guide a ship with hundreds or thousands of passengers and crew and staff? this captain of the concordia was/is, by all accounts a coward who put himself high above the welfare of his fellow shipmates, whatever category. anyone read the dialogue between the 'captain' safely ensconced in the lifeboat and the coast guard? that says it all. waiters and room staff trying to get folks safely ashore; no officers in sight. most cruises are noneventful; the 'master' makes a few appearances, does a couple of toasts, and retreats to the sanctity of the bridge deck. how about when the 'real thing' happens? are they prepared to lead? i'll not stop cruising, for sure; but this whole episode makes me queasy. what think any of you cc's?

[peaches from georgia]

We all certainly believe they are well-trained and will be strong leaders and unselfish in the face of danger or we wouldn't get on the ship. However, one never really knows for sure until such an event occurs. As much as we all think we ourselves would behave courageously in such a situation we really dont know that for sure either, do we?

[kazu]

No, all captains are not like this thank heavens.

 

On HAL, it takes many years to become a captain. This fellow would never have become a captain this quickly on HAL ever. They normally have to do 5 years in each area (if memory serves correctly).

 

I have met many HAL captains and they are an impressive group.

 

Last year on the Prinsendam, the captain sailed 200 miles out of the way to avoid a very bad tropical storm. He kept us informed and apologized that he would have to pick up speed to make up for lost time. There was no thought about fuel but safety of the passengers and the ship.

 

He also did 'scenic' cruising at La Gomera - with the permission of the Island and all (we were not close). This was announced and he was accompanied by a pilot. It was very nice and beautiful but it was done SAFELY. :)

 

After this incident, I am more happy that I sail HAL than ever:D

[eldercruser]

in the aftermath of the concordia disaster, i have to ask the question, 'how are ship's captains trained?' what is the standard of leadership, not to mention just knowledge of how to operate and guide a ship with hundreds or thousands of passengers and crew and staff? this captain of the concordia was/is, by all accounts a coward who put himself high above the welfare of his fellow shipmates, whatever category. anyone read the dialogue between the 'captain' safely ensconced in the lifeboat and the coast guard? that says it all. waiters and room staff trying to get folks safely ashore; no officers in sight. most cruises are noneventful; the 'master' makes a few appearances, does a couple of toasts, and retreats to the sanctity of the bridge deck. how about when the 'real thing' happens? are they prepared to lead? i'll not stop cruising, for sure; but this whole episode makes me queasy. what think any of you cc's?

 

Remember, there is an exception to almost every rule. There are Good, Better and Best Captains. This guy appears to be the the Very Worst.

[JR767]

in the aftermath of the concordia disaster, i have to ask the question, 'how are ship's captains trained?' what is the standard of leadership, not to mention just knowledge of how to operate and guide a ship with hundreds or thousands of passengers and crew and staff? this captain of the concordia was/is, by all accounts a coward who put himself high above the welfare of his fellow shipmates, whatever category. anyone read the dialogue between the 'captain' safely ensconced in the lifeboat and the coast guard? that says it all. waiters and room staff trying to get folks safely ashore; no officers in sight. most cruises are noneventful; the 'master' makes a few appearances, does a couple of toasts, and retreats to the sanctity of the bridge deck. how about when the 'real thing' happens? are they prepared to lead? i'll not stop cruising, for sure; but this whole episode makes me queasy. what think any of you cc's?

 

Although it may still be too early to rush to judgement, by all accounts so far it does appear that this Captain was rash, incompetent, and cowardly - a disgrace to himself, his ship, his company, and his nation.

 

As to whether this should undermine our confidence in other skippers on other cruise ships, I'm not sure. But it sure gives one pause - before, I had assumed that the Captains of these cruise vessels were the best of the best - the elite - the cream of the crop. Now, one can at least rightly say that the selection process for skippers for Carnival Corp should at the very least be subject to intensive review and study.

 

I certainly would not condemn other skippers out there without further evidence - however even reasonable people will be entitled to at least some nagging doubt as to whether a few such similar individuals in command of these ships slipped through the cracks in the vetting process.

[djg541]

The fool on the Concordia was nowhere near a true ships captain. probably a nephew of someone in the company.

A rare anomaly with tragic consequences.

Ive sailed on many small sailing ships ( the old barefoot Windjammer line) and the Star Clipper line, as well as regular cruise ships and the captains were always professional in every way.

HAL officers are mostly Dutch, and are serious sober men and women who take great pride in their work and the ships they sail in true mariners tradition.

Remember, your thousands of times safer on a cruise ship or aircraft than you are in your own automobile.

Anchors aweigh!

[world~citizen]

... however even reasonable people will be entitled to at least some nagging doubt as to whether a few such similar individuals in command of these ships slipped through the cracks in the vetting process.

 

That vetting process may well be of interest to the Concordia inquiry, and everyone else.

 

I think the total dead now is 11.

[Belgian fry]

The captains and officers I have had the pleasure of meeting and having proper discussions with on HAL ships (including Peter Harris and Mark Rowden) are people who have a great sense of pride in what they do and a great passion for working on the seas. I have the utmost confidence in them.

 

That being said, I wish all companies would go back to having people wear their lifejackets for boat drill. It always surprises me how many people cannot follow the relatively simple instructions for putting them on. In my opinion, there is no such thing as too much practice.

[TraelorMex]

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/288253/dude-where-s-my-lifeboat-rich-lowry

[jschm27]

 

That being said, I wish all companies would go back to having people wear their lifejackets for boat drill. It always surprises me how many people cannot follow the relatively simple instructions for putting them on. In my opinion, there is no such thing as too much practice.

 

Agree concerning the life jackets. Concerning the Concordia captain (please note I used a small "c"), ships captains are humans. And humans sometimes do really STUPID things, which IMO is what happened here. It is becoming obvious that Costa needs to revisit it's vetting process, crew and officer training, standard operating procedures and how these procedures are enforced and presented to staff.

 

This incident has turned into a HUGE media event, which hopefully will put pressure on the whole industry to improve safety. That pressure will come, not necessarily from the media coverage itself, but from where it really hurts, a drop in future bookings. Maybe we all will benefit from improved crew training and selection as a result of this horrible incident.

 

May God bless the lost souls and protect the survivors.

 

John

[bepsf]

The captains and officers I have had the pleasure of meeting and having proper discussions with on HAL ships (including Peter Harris and Mark Rowden) are people who have a great sense of pride in what they do and a great passion for working on the seas. I have the utmost confidence in them.

 

Although others may disagree, I would have a difficult time identifying a HAL Captain that I don't trust completely.

On the other hand, there are lines where the Captains have proven incredibly untrustworthy - Such as the Captain of the Celebrity Mercury who was found drunk by the US Coast Guard (arrested and fired), that captain from the Louis Lines Sea Diamond that sank off Greece in 2007, the Captain of the Epirotiki Oceanos, which sank in 1991, who jumped off the ship first just like this fool Schettino from the Concordia...

[FLACRUISER99]

The captains and officers I have had the pleasure of meeting and having proper discussions with on HAL ships (including Peter Harris and Mark Rowden) are people who have a great sense of pride in what they do and a great passion for working on the seas. I have the utmost confidence in them.

 

That being said, I wish all companies would go back to having people wear their lifejackets for boat drill. It always surprises me how many people cannot follow the relatively simple instructions for putting them on. In my opinion, there is no such thing as too much practice.

When was the last time you tried on a lifejacket on an Airplane?

[sail7seas]

I have never met a HAL Captain I didn't immediately respect and trust with our safety. Of course, all have their own ways and personalities, as one would hope and expect, but they all exude confidence, pride and competence. I would never question an instruction any gave as to our safety.

 

There is not a one we have met I could possibly imagine behaving in the way Concordia's Captain is reported to have behaved.

 

[Has anyone else read he was actually trying to flag a taxi when he made his way ashore? I just read that on the net and am still shaking my head.]

 

 

 

[world~citizen]

I have never formed an opinion on ship captains one way or another save for one on Azamara who I saw save a passengers life with the Heimlich Maneuver.

 

I assume ship captains perform their duties the same as the rest of us do - each according to their ability. Unfortunately, that can be expressed on a bell curve and we don't know how any of us will react in a crisis until we are in one, and by then...

 

You have to be fatalistic when you get on a ship and if you are the slightest bit doubtful, there is always the bar.

 

Smooth sailing...

[m steve]

captains, crew or even the food to HAL. HAL is a class operation with well trained people and Costa seems very laid back in everything they do. I have thought about sailing with them but most of what I have read on CC has been less than enthusiastic. It seems the only thing they excell in is the number of smokers (not that I feel smoking is wrong on balconies).

[lcand1923]

I've met tug boat, tanker and barge captains. I've seen cruise ship captains on each of my cruises. All of these gentlemen (sorry, haven't met a female in any of these roles, yet) have been extremely professional in manner and make you feel that they can handle any situation. (Some, I'll admit, have had very wicked senses of humor, which instills even more confidence for some reason.) I keep shaking my head when I read about the actions of the captain of the Costa Concordia. I can just imagine what he is being called by the TRUE captains.

[Monicaed]

The captains and officers I have had the pleasure of meeting and having proper discussions with on HAL ships (including Peter Harris and Mark Rowden) are people who have a great sense of pride in what they do and a great passion for working on the seas. I have the utmost confidence in them.

 

That being said, I wish all companies would go back to having people wear their lifejackets for boat drill. It always surprises me how many people cannot follow the relatively simple instructions for putting them on. In my opinion, there is no such thing as too much practice.

 

At the next lifeboat drill examine your fellow passengers and imagine how each one might react in a calamity situation! What would the stairways be like with aged and infirm (like us!) trying to find our station possibly from the other end of the ship! Not to mention the panic.

I read somewhere an exprerienced fireman saying that no amount of training prepares people for the real thing. Having said that it is true to say that extra precautions must be worthwhile even if only one extra life is saved.

It is extremely dangerous to comment upon the causes until the outcome of the enquiry is known but am I correct in assuming that other officers should also have been on the bridge? What were they doing?

[Krazy Kruizers]

Unfortunately in life there will always be a bad apple among all the good ones.

 

Brian just listed a few captains that have proven not to be among the best.

 

And sadly I dread thinking that someday this is going to happen again. And Hopefully if it should, there will be, once again, little or no lives lost.

[Winters in NZ]

Presently in Canada there is ONE navy lieutenant on trial for espionage. One.

 

One person does not determine the competency or professionalism of an entire group.

[Susie51]

I read about the taxi, also, but I don't know if that is confirmed yet.

 

I'm wondering if the authorities gave the captain and first officer a drug/alcohol test when they arrested them?

 

Are there rules about the amount of alcohol the captain and other officers who are in charge of the bridge at different times of day can consume before they are on duty?

[Krazy Kruizers]

I have never met a HAL Captain I didn't immediately respect and trust with our safety. Of course, all have their own ways and personalities, as one would hope and expect, but they all exude confidence, pride and competence. I would never question an instruction any gave as to our safety.

 

There is not a one we have met I could possibly imagine behaving in the way Concordia's Captain is reported to have behaved.

 

[Has anyone else read he was actually trying to flag a taxi when he made his way ashore? I just read that on the net and am still shaking my head.]

 

 

 

 

I haven't heard or read anything about this.

[Krazy Kruizers]

At the next lifeboat drill examine your fellow passengers and imagine how each one might react in a calamity situation! What would the stairways be like with aged and infirm (like us!) trying to find our station possibly from the other end of the ship! Not to mention the panic.

I read somewhere an exprerienced fireman saying that no amount of training prepares people for the real thing. Having said that it is true to say that extra precautions must be worthwhile even if only one extra life is saved.

It is extremely dangerous to comment upon the causes until the outcome of the enquiry is known but am I correct in assuming that other officers should also have been on the bridge? What were they doing?

 

I have also been wondering where the rest of the officers were who should have been on the bridge.

[WriterOnDeck]

I want all our ship captains to be like airline pilot Capt. Chesley Sullenberger, who was the last one off his plane floating in the Hudson River, after having done a walk-through twice to ensure no one was left on board.

[iancal]

Notwithstanding all the training, I believe that there can sometimes be a gap between someone's public persona and how that individual would react in an emergency. It is difficult to judge a persons character, integrity, and professionalism based on one or two interactions.

 

I would like to assume that all those in command of a ship-sea or air-would react in a professional manner but who really knows until the 'rubber hits the ground'.

[SwissMyst]

Wonder if anyone has done a study on the different nationalities of captains and their general professionalism rankings.

 

Every country in Africa had a "national airlines" regardless their third world standing which did not exactly generate a lot of confidence until I learned they all used NZ or Swiss trained pilots.

 

My confidence shot way up. Same thing about certain nationalities in the shipping industry? Additionally, what about the country who flags the ships. Any material difference in safety standards as well with that?

 

Or is it the competence of the port authorities who decide what is safe or not for each ship who docks.

 

Nor is corporate ownership off the hook, but I do feel confident HAL is managed well and ergo would suppose CCL sets important criteria as well - but does this operate across all their varied brands who do have unique national characteristic.