Concordia News: Please Post Here

[sidari]

Whatrtheodds .... It seems that the dropping of Lifeboats/Tenders in ports early in the cruise may become a common thing, on our recent TA on the MSC Poesia the drill for crew was announced on our arrival in our 1st port and at least 3 others were carried out during the cruise including during the days at sea.

 

The Poesia also had the Emergancy lighting in Corridors/Hallways and Landing areas where the Lifts/Elevators are on the whole cruise which is something we have never seen on any other ships we have travelled on.

 

The Lifeboat drill still requires you to take your Lifejacket to an Indoor area where you have to put it on after the demonstration and you are then taken with it on to your designated Lifeboat.

 

CS ... Thanks for the reply.

[sidari]

It looks like some NCL ships like to hit piers on their travels .....

 

NCL Spirit .... 2005 Hit Pier Alaska, 2007 Hit Pier NYC, 2008 Hit Pier NYC and 2011 Hit Pier in Mexico 1 passenger died.

 

NCL Sky ..... Originally the Costa Olympia Sept 1999 Hit Reef causing damage to bottom of ship ... 1 month repair time.

 

NCL Star .... April 2012 Hit Pier NYC, July 2012 Caused Collapse of a Gangway to a moored Submarine due to Excessive wake, an interesting statement from the US Coastguard though ....

 

The United States Coastguard stated that the maneuvering procedures were normal, noting if "One vessel created a wake. The other vessel just bobbed in the water, and that's what vessels do."

 

Seems that when it is a Costa ship that causes a wake entering or leaving a port things are different!

Pride of America .... 2004 Partially sank in the shipyard at LLoyd Werft before completion.

Just goes to show that no ship or cruise line is exempt from damage to their vessels however it is caused.

[Tonka's Skipper]

It looks like some NCL ships like to hit piers on their travels .....

 

NCL Spirit .... 2005 Hit Pier Alaska, 2007 Hit Pier NYC, 2008 Hit Pier NYC and 2011 Hit Pier in Mexico 1 passenger died.

 

NCL Sky ..... Originally the Costa Olympia Sept 1999 Hit Reef causing damage to bottom of ship ... 1 month repair time.

 

NCL Star .... April 2012 Hit Pier NYC, July 2012 Caused Collapse of a Gangway to a moored Submarine due to Excessive wake, an interesting statement from the US Coastguard though ....

 

The United States Coastguard stated that the maneuvering procedures were normal, noting if "One vessel created a wake. The other vessel just bobbed in the water, and that's what vessels do."

 

Seems that when it is a Costa ship that causes a wake entering or leaving a port things are different!

 

Pride of America .... 2004 Partially sank in the shipyard at LLoyd Werft before completion.

 

Just goes to show that no ship or cruise line is exempt from damage to their vessels however it is caused.

 

 

Ships hit the dock every day all year long. It's part of operating the worlds largest manmade objects in the water. The vessels movements are effected by highly changable wind, current and the movement/postion of vessels and other objects around them!

 

 

Even sitting at the dock..................

 

During world War II a Railroad engine slipped into gear while the engineer was at lunch and steamed down the tracks to the dock, crashed though the stop and went over the edge of the dock, into the stbd quarter of a TII tanker and surprized the hell out of the engine room crew members.

 

True Story!

 

AKK

Edited December 31, 2012 by Tonka's Skipper

[sidari]

Even sitting at the dock..................

 

During world War II a Railroad engine slipped into gear while the engineer was at lunch and steamed down the tracks to the dock, crashed though the stop and went over the edge of the dock, into the stbd quarter of a TII tanker and surprized the hell out of the engine room crew members.

 

True Story!

 

Tonka ... A photo of that would have been priceless .... :)

 

 

A Happy New Year to Everyone with hope that 2013 brings less problems for the cruise industry and according to some "those floating blocks of flats"

Soon it will be Twelve months since the Concordia Accident, i am sure that everyone will also want to remember those lost as well as those who are yet to be found.

 

Safe travels everyone ...... :D

[Uniall]

[Ken711]

The weekly progress report has some nice photos of the welding work being done even at night.

 

http://www.giglionews.it/images/stories/allegati/rel_sett_osservatorio311212.pdf

[clive and anne]

Thanks for that Ken.

Do we know if there is an English translation ?

The photographs are very interesting.

From the task sheet it would appear that the preparations for the parbuckle should be complete by 14th June 2013. I suppose that there will be some slippage in this for bad weather etc.

Best Wishes for the New Year to everyone on the thread

Clive

[Ken711]

Thanks for that Ken.

Do we know if there is an English translation ?

The photographs are very interesting.

From the task sheet it would appear that the preparations for the parbuckle should be complete by 14th June 2013. I suppose that there will be some slippage in this for bad weather etc.

Best Wishes for the New Year to everyone on the thread

Clive

 

Clive -- I've searched for a PDF translator before, but haven't found one.

 

Happy New Year to you as well.

[SomeBeach]

I've also tried to find a way to translate the reports. I've decided that the best I can do is look at the charts and pictures. :rolleyes:

Happy New Year!

[SomeBeach]

 

Same to you and everyone else that posts here.

[Ken711]

I've also tried to find a way to translate the reports. I've decided that the best I can do is look at the charts and pictures. :rolleyes:

Happy New Year!

 

If you had the time and desire, you can copy the text and paste it into a translator. I'm like you, I just look at the photos, drawings and timelines.

[Ken711]

From the webcam it appears a good portion of the remaining part of the funnel has been removed.

[SomeBeach]

From the webcam it appears a good portion of the remaining part of the funnel has been removed.

 

I agree. It is down from where it was.

[jennb101]

Like you, I have never forgotten that 2 people are still missing. After this long, I am not sure what could be found but if there is anything, I think they will be found when the ship is moved in an upright position.

 

 

I have not followed this story closely for a while. Who are the people that are still missing? I didn't realize there were still two people missing-that is very sad!

[clive and anne]

Welcome back Jennb101.

There is an Indian crew member and a German passenger who I think have been located (from one report I read) but they unable to recover them until the parbuckle is done.

 

Clive

[jennb101]

Welcome back Jennb101.

There is an Indian crew member and a German passenger who I think have been located (from one report I read) but they unable to recover them until the parbuckle is done.

 

Clive

 

Thanks Clive! Their poor families. That's terrible that they haven't been able to get to them yet. :(

[clive and anne]

Your are so right. the families need to grieve and that must be hard to do without their loved ones being recovered.

The brother of the crewmember flew from India after the disaster and stayed for a long time hoping to take his brother back to India for a decent funeral. I presume he has now gone back and is there waiting for news.

Terrible terrible time for all the families but for these two families the situation is multiplied several times.

[SomeBeach]

Welcome back Jennb101.

There is an Indian crew member and a German passenger who I think have been located (from one report I read) but they unable to recover them until the parbuckle is done.

 

Clive

 

Correct on the Indian crew member but the women is Sicilian.

They believe they are in the area between the rock and the ship, near where the last 3 bodies were recovered.

The waiters brother had just gone home when the last 3 were recovered. He returned in hopes of being able to take his brother home. Soon after, rescue workers said they could not get to the last 2 and he returned to India.

I still picture that poor man sitting on that rock as he had for months.

I noticed very early this morning that workers were back at the funnel. By the time I was able to check again, it was dark and I couldn't tell if the rest was removed.

Anyone *see* anything today?

[Mooguy]

I have not followed this in some time but I set sail on the anniversary of this tragedy. I watched the documentary on 60 Minutes and a few others on You Tube and it got be to thinking.

I wonder how many if any of the passengers that were on the Concordia have sailed again or plan to?

[clive and anne]

Thanks for the correction Micki.

The weather at the site was poor as was the visibility.

I couldnt say with any certainty if anymore of the funnel has been remeoved.

I will have a look later to see if anything has changed.

Clive

[sidari]

Mooguy .... There were 2 passengers from the Concordia on the cruise prior to ours last February from Barcelona to the Canary Islands, the NCL Jade`s Safety officer was telling us as we were asking him a question re lifeboats because they have one swung down level with the boat deck after their Muster drills and prior to setting off.

 

One other thing for those of you who have recently cruised or are about to, on our Transatlantic crossing in November 2012 on the MSC Poesia the Emergancy floor level lighting was on all the time during the 15 day cruise has anyone one else noticed this on other ships recently ?

 

Looks like the funnel has almost gone now.

Edited January 3, 2013 by sidari

[balf]

 

Looks like the funnel has almost gone now.

 

So that wasn't such a massive job then, was it?

 

David.

[SomeBeach]

I have not followed this in some time but I set sail on the anniversary of this tragedy. I watched the documentary on 60 Minutes and a few others on You Tube and it got be to thinking.

I wonder how many if any of the passengers that were on the Concordia have sailed again or plan to?

 

There is a lady that has posted that she has booked a cruise for next year. She's going on RCCL.

[SomeBeach]

Mooguy .... There were 2 passengers from the Concordia on the cruise prior to ours last February from Barcelona to the Canary Islands, the NCL Jade`s Safety officer was telling us as we were asking him a question re lifeboats because they have one swung down level with the boat deck after their Muster drills and prior to setting off.

 

One other thing for those of you who have recently cruised or are about to, on our Transatlantic crossing in November 2012 on the MSC Poesia the Emergancy floor level lighting was on all the time during the 15 day cruise has anyone one else noticed this on other ships recently ?

Looks like the funnel has almost gone now.

 

I didn't pay attention to floor lighting on my cruise in Oct.

I did however check the layout for alternative exits on the inside of my door and followed up with actually seeing their location. Not sure I would have done that if I was in the middle of the ship, my usual area. I had an aft stateroom for the first time, so I looked. Other than that, I didn't give any more thought to it.

[CostaSmurfette]

Thoughts regarding design issues...or should that be decor issues too...

 

Pacifica...as close to a twin to Concordia as you'll ever get.

 

The glass elevators DO NOT have escape hatches in their roof, just panels of toughened glass...so exactly how anyone is meant to get out in an emergency such as a capsize is frankly anyone's guess...especially since the elevators do stop tween decks in power outtages and the upper decks have solid steel doors on the access points, only the lower public decks have glass doors. The elevators themselves have glass doors.

 

Deck 5 is the only deck that you can go stem to stern internally through public rooms. The layout on these ships is insane.

 

The two restaurants are over deck 3 and 4 midships and aft, so to get to the theater from either reataurant is a case of from the aft restaurant go up one or two decks along deck 5 and then a choice of entry on deck 5 or down to deck 3 or 4 and into the theater.

 

The midships restaurant does have access via decks 3 & 4 into the theater across the atrium, but this access is not available to those in the aft restaurant.

 

The atrium is very poor in its design and access. The public areas on either side of the atrium on deck 5 have wide sweeping floorspace, however, that floorspace goes down to tween 4ft and 6ft in width..so effectively the 2000 coming out of the theater to go to dinner usually meet the 2000 coming from the restaurants in the narrowest point of the ship...deck 5 atrium.

 

This also due to all of the main bars and dancefloors being on deck 5, so those in the theater on decks 3 and 4 all going up the atrium stairs or using the glass elevators to deck 5 atrium where the pinchpoint is.

 

The muster stations are outside on deck 4.....I say outside...well they are...sort of outside. The large ship length corridor, one each side, is accessed via double doors with push bars on them. These double doors are, again, poorly designed and the decor is completely wrong.

 

The internal side of the doors is various shades of dark brown with a motif of a violin in black.....the muster station signage is 4" square on the top right corner of each door and it literally does need hunting to find it, it is not illuminated in any way. There are also double doors with push bars in the chapel and restaurants.

 

For those wishing to board lifeboats on deck 3, its difficult....to say the very least.

 

There are two sets of double doors out onto the outside boat decks where the boats are dropped down on their davits and can be loaded there as well as above at the muster stations on deck 4.

 

The double doors are approximately 15ft apart from each other, two sets - one on port side, one on starboard side, leading off from the lower atrium floor.

 

There are NO access points to the boat deck anywhere else from inside the ship.

 

So you have a combination of dark decor mixed with extremely poor use of space in the public areas and all areas are lacking in appropriate signage.

 

However....NONE of these issues are below SOLAS standard, infact they are BETTER than standard.....which says alot about the standard, really.

 

The class of ships...which would also include the older variants Destiny, Conquest along with the later variant Dream all have exactly the same floorplan layout, all have exactly the same poor flow internally...just on a rising scale of size.

 

There are definite issues with the design of these ships and those problems have been highlighted by the loss of Concordia...and frankly makes it all the more incredible that so many got off the ship that night.

 

The architects and designers of these ships almost certainly placed revenue first above everything else.....why I say this is simple, the pinch point on the atrium is where the shops are and the photo area etc are placed. The interior design of the ships is awful, not pax or crew friendly at all.

 

A ship of Pacifica's size at 114,500 tonnes has massive potential to "WOW" but these ships have completely missed the opportunity and instead have potentially dangerous design issues internally.

 

Setting aside the why's and the wherefore's of Concordia's foundering, the fact so many got off her that night is truly a miracle...NOT due to the circumstance of her foundering but by the internal design flaws and poor use of access, decor and basic common sense in the footprint of each deck.

 

Pacifica is dark inside, her atrium is poorly lit and looks half the size of atriums aboard smaller ships like Costa Victoria that is bathed in natural light and which has superb flow across 3 decks....a ship of Pacifica's size, with 4000 people on board needs more than one deck internally for stem to stern access...it is a gallon into a pint pot and it lets her and her sisters down badly.