Star Princess investigation

[Scrapchick]

Just went to Princess's Facebook page and so many on there just absolutely crucifying Princess and Captain Perrin... they basically have their mind made up that the Captain intentionally left them there and that he should be put to death.

 

Again as some other posters have said, we shouldn't rush to judgement. Let the investigation be completed and then we can decide. But alas I'm well aware that won't matter to those who have already made their mind up about this tragedy

 

Having met him in February, I feel just terribly for him about this. He was such a nice guy. This really makes me so sad for him....

[H82seaUgo]

Except for the fact there is absolutely no evidence, anecdotal or otherwise to support this view. None. According to the Princess statement (and I will take that statement to represent fact because legal exposure would be brutal if they lied and they know it), the officer of the watch was not informed.

 

"Neither Captain Edward Perrin nor the officer of the watch were notified."

 

NO ONE other than the people involved right now know exactly what was said to whom when once it got past the PSD or CC host or whomever. And even that is subject to debate unless confirmed by another party.

 

Until that comes out, we can't assume anyone did anything. It WILL come out, but these things take time. You basically accused the Officer of the Watch of manslaughter without evidence that he (or she) even knew what was occurring.

 

i guess the captain is the master of the vessel. until something goes wrong. then someone gets thrown under the bu........, um, ship.

[AKman2495]

Here's something to think about-that hasn't apparently been mentioned-RADAR. The ship has RADAR. It should have been able to see that boat at a greater distance than those binoculars. Yet, nobody seems to have mentioned whether there was a sighting on the radar.

 

The Princess statement says the captain never heard about the birders concerns.

 

I am wondering what-if anything was observed on the radar.....

[frediver]

A ship does not investigate every Radar Blip.

[Pam in CA]

I think that the Bridge definitely heard from the Princess sales rep. who had confirmed what the birdwatchers saw.

This is where there's a breakdown in communication. We can "think" something might/should have happened but so far, there's been nothing to indicate that the message got any further than whoever the birder's talked to. We can presume a lot but based on past history, it's unlikely that the Captain or Officer of the Watch had been told anything. Or, in the unlikely event they'd been told, we don't know what was said or communicated to them. We know for a fact that Princess, and Captain Perrin respond immediately and appropriately to these situations so until we know more, I'm not going to lay the blame on him or anyone else.

[Loonbeam]

A ship that size, non-metallic, and off the main course of travel would probably never be noticed or investigated unless it posed a collision hazard. Depending on the radar alignment it may not even have appeared.

 

Here's something to think about-that hasn't apparently been mentioned-RADAR. The ship has RADAR. It should have been able to see that boat at a greater distance than those binoculars. Yet, nobody seems to have mentioned whether there was a sighting on the radar.

 

The Princess statement says the captain never heard about the birders concerns.

 

I am wondering what-if anything was observed on the radar.....

[TXDrifter]

Ship happens. This is a very sad case. The task at hand for Princess is to determine why the Captain and the Officer of the Watch were not notified and to take corrective action to avoid future similar situations. No doubt they will do this. I have always found Princess and it's officers to be very responsible.

 

Phil

[icyfrost]

mostly likely as has been said someone dropped the ball onthe ship and its a tradegy 2 young lives are lost. the conspiracy thought that this was a planned event is sick and pathetic you all should be ashamed of youselves

[Mr XFT]

I'm still waiting to see who they emailed in the Coast Guard. They have dozens of locations and hundreds of departments. Did the bird watchers email a live, manned address? Or did they do the equivalent of emailing an Agriculture Department employee on vacation, to ask an IRS question?

 

On the other hand, has anyone even asked? Do we know the Coast Guard did not call Ecuador and get laughed off the phone?

[LARGIN]

We are on the Star next week and I plan to meet with Captain Perrin and shake his hand and tell him to disregard the BS on the Net and those in the media that act before all of the facts are presented.

[Starry Eyes]

I'm still waiting to see who they emailed in the Coast Guard. They have dozens of locations and hundreds of departments. Did the bird watchers email a live, manned address? Or did they do the equivalent of emailing an Agriculture Department employee on vacation, to ask an IRS question?

 

On the other hand, has anyone even asked? Do we know the Coast Guard did not call Ecuador and get laughed off the phone?

 

The panama source linked earlier in the thread indicated that the passenger used a "contact us" type of button on the coast guard website and emailed a duplicate to herself. remember she was at sea with that typical sssslllloooooowww Internet and she provably did not have a satelite phone...so she probably did the best she could. If the bird watchers were that totally convinced the small vessel was in distress, one must think the bridge (borrowing the birdwatcher scope as needed) should have garnered similar in for and informed the captain (or other high officer). what a pity if they did not.

 

I wonder if one or more lower level officers were on bridge duty and independently decided to do nothing, not even notifying the Captain or first officer. If so, their lives may never be the same. Nor will the lives of the families in Panama....Just a guess...Sad, sad story.

[Princess Chatterer]

I'm not accusing anyone. I'm just speculating based on what's being reported to have happened (which can contain errors) and a little occam's razor type thinking of what seems logical (to me). The key to exactly what actually did happen points to what did the Princess sales staffer do and say on the phone (to the bridge?) and what then did the "bridge" do and say.

[ilovetexas]

http://www.ocala.com/article/20120420/WIRE/120429989

 

Now THAT'S just funny. This is getting completely out of hand. I've read about 10ish articles on this incident and this one contradicts them all.

 

Suddenly, Betancourt has gone from 24 to 31. Also, while everyone may experience the stages of dehydration differently, nobody who is going to DIE from it a few hours later is up in a fishing boat signaling for help. Ocala.com is reporting the sighting as March 1, as opposed to March 10, like all the other stories.

 

Here's a question.....why hasn't the name of the "salesperson" on Princess (the one the birdwatchers alerted) been released by anyone? The birdwatchers were so thorough that they rushed to their cabin to get their coordinates and emailed them to the coast guard, they took pictures of the tiny boat, they flagged down an officer to report the issue; surely they had the presence of mind to get his name and write it down somewhere.

 

It would be nice if he could get a little of the public scrutiny that the captain is getting. No one even knows if the captain ever received the proper information, but the birdwatchers know what they told the crew member they talked to. I think it's time we hear from him!

[RickEk]

A ship that size, non-metallic, and off the main course of travel would probably never be noticed or investigated unless it posed a collision hazard. Depending on the radar alignment it may not even have appeared.

 

Yes, a fiberglass boat that size would be basically invisible to radar. There is usually at least one lookout (most times two) on the bridge at all times, but if the fishing boat was not directly in the ship's path, they might not have thought anything of it... :(

[caribill]

 

....

[cruiselovers20]

Never mind....I answer my own question

[MandE-UK]

Now THAT'S just funny. This is getting completely out of hand. I've read about 10ish articles on this incident and this one contradicts them all.

 

Suddenly, Betancourt has gone from 24 to 31. Also, while everyone may experience the stages of dehydration differently, nobody who is going to DIE from it a few hours later is up in a fishing boat signaling for help. Ocala.com is reporting the sighting as March 1, as opposed to March 10, like all the other stories.

 

Here's a question.....why hasn't the name of the "salesperson" on Princess (the one the birdwatchers alerted) been released by anyone? The birdwatchers were so thorough that they rushed to their cabin to get their coordinates and emailed them to the coast guard, they took pictures of the tiny boat, they flagged down an officer to report the issue; surely they had the presence of mind to get his name and write it down somewhere.

 

It would be nice if he could get a little of the public scrutiny that the captain is getting. No one even knows if the captain ever received the proper information, but the birdwatchers know what they told the crew member they talked to. I think it's time we hear from him!

We met the 'Bird Watchers' on board during that cruise and talked to them on a couple of occasions. Whilst they seemed quite nice genuine people they were a little odd to say the least. We have a phrase here in the UK which I think fits 'typical anoraks' or 'lefty do-gooders! comes to mind. Nuff said!!

[MandE-UK]

We are on the Star next week and I plan to meet with Captain Perrin and shake his hand and tell him to disregard the BS on the Net and those in the media that act before all of the facts are presented.

Sorry I think you will find that the good Captain Perrin is still on shore leave!!

[Liz54]

We met the 'Bird Watchers' on board during that cruise and talked to them on a couple of occasions. Whilst they seemed quite nice genuine people they were a little odd to say the least. We have a phrase here in the UK which I think fits 'typical anoraks' or 'lefty do-gooders! comes to mind. Nuff said!!

 

 

I hope I run into some "lefty do-gooders" when I am next in trouble. They made a REAL effort to help. I saw one of them interviewd on television and she seemed like a lovely woman and if she was "odd" it did nor seem evident.

[nschamp]

A public and private apology from the person responsible, the last person in the chain of the message, to the families involved, the Captain, First Officer and all the crew.

 

It should not be too hard for Princess to ascertain who this is. This needs to made public immediately regardless of the consequences.

 

Ed Perrin is a good man and I'm sure will take the blame, but the above comment must be done.

[highheel girl]

That would make sense. Princess ships are registered either in Bermuda or the Bahamas.

 

 

Their flag state is Bermuda. :)

[mnbruce]

 

We have a phrase here in the UK which I think fits 'typical anoraks' or 'lefty do-gooders! comes to mind. Nuff said!!

 

Do-gooders? What a terrible thing to be called. I would never want anybody to think of me as a do-gooder. ;)

[Loonbeam]

There's legal implications to doing that on several levels, not the least of which could be interfering with an official investigation.

 

In a situation like this the only time you release a name is when you are 100 percent certain they are A> Not culpable or B> definitively culpable.

 

You will notice the Officer of the Watch on duty has not been named yet even though he was ostensibly cleared. This means they either dont want to have him dragged through the mud like the Captain is, or B they are not entirely sure of his role.

 

One huge difference between this and the Concordia issue, which I have seen brought up repeatedly. In the Concordia tragedy, there was clear verifiable 3rd party documentation of dereliction of duty right after the incident. No one has come forth with any similar evidence regarding a specific member of the Star's crew.

 

A public and private apology from the person responsible, the last person in the chain of the message, to the families involved, the Captain, First Officer and all the crew.

 

It should not be too hard for Princess to ascertain who this is. This needs to made public immediately regardless of the consequences.

 

Ed Perrin is a good man and I'm sure will take the blame, but the above comment must be done.

[Charles4515]

Just went to Princess's Facebook page and so many on there just absolutely crucifying Princess and Captain Perrin... they basically have their mind made up that the Captain intentionally left them there and that he should be put to death.

 

Again as some other posters have said, we shouldn't rush to judgement. Let the investigation be completed and then we can decide. But alas I'm well aware that won't matter to those who have already made their mind up about this tragedy

 

 

What you see on Facebook is an orchestrated campaign. Bash the Captain and Princess without facts. Before any investigation.

[junglejane]

A public and private apology from the person responsible, the last person in the chain of the message, to the families involved, the Captain, First Officer and all the crew.

 

It should not be too hard for Princess to ascertain who this is. This needs to made public immediately regardless of the consequences.

 

Ed Perrin is a good man and I'm sure will take the blame, but the above comment must be done.

 

I agree with you, but it may be hard to pin down exactly where the transmitting of the message broke down. I suspect that the message got watered down as it was relayed. Look at the Jerry Sandusky scandal. The people at the end of the chain (the Athletic Director and the university vice president) claimed that the message that finally got to them was about "horsing around". Every person who transmits the message makes it sound a little more tentative and uncertain.