Star Princess investigation

[Shogun]

Hi All,

 

There is no way that the captain would sail past a boat in trouble, never mind the rules of the sea etc, its great PR for the ship to rescue folks,

 

the truth will come out,

 

but what about the bridge gets a message that a passenger has seen something, they having a better or different view of the sea spot a boat the wrong boat,

 

make contact everything is OK so sail on,

 

sad but it happens, recall a ship a 100 years ago sending up flares that ships saw and thought nothing of it,

 

now I have never been in the position of seeing some one in the water or a boat needing help, but me being me if I did and the ship did nothing on my first time of asking and I knew I was right I would have made so much trouble that the ship would have had to turn around, but thats just me.

 

 

yours Shogun

[paddingtonbear]

Hi All,

 

There is no way that the captain would sail past a boat in trouble, never mind the rules of the sea etc, its great PR for the ship to rescue folks,

 

the truth will come out,

 

but what about the bridge gets a message that a passenger has seen something, they having a better or different view of the sea spot a boat the wrong boat,

 

make contact everything is OK so sail on,

 

sad but it happens, recall a ship a 100 years ago sending up flares that ships saw and thought nothing of it,

 

now I have never been in the position of seeing some one in the water or a boat needing help, but me being me if I did and the ship did nothing on my first time of asking and I knew I was right I would have made so much trouble that the ship would have had to turn around, but thats just me.

 

 

yours Shogun

 

Yes sounds to me a likely scenario - the captain assumed the passengers were looking close by (he wouldn't know they were bird watchers with powerful binoculars) saw a boat waving, radioed them, they said avoid our nets and the captain complied.

 

A very sad accident. Maybe it would have been better for the passengers to have taken their sighting further to ensure someone knew exactly where they were looking. I don't believe for one second that a captain of any ship, especially a princess ship, would deliberately ignore a distress signal.

[Ethel5]

With all the problems that Carnival seems to be having this year, it seems like retraining and better PR should be top on the list. It is a Captain's legal resonsiblity to give aid to vessels! This Captain appears to have failed. I agree that we need to wait and see, but all to often things just seem to disappear with nothing is ever done to those responsible. Companies like Carnival/Princes just want the news cycle to pass and its back to business as usual. We the crusing public can not let this pass, with more than a white wash from the cruise operator. This seems to involve several pasasangers reporting to ship's officers about a vessel in distress and an ineffective ships leadership doing nothing.

 

A run around on something that happened more than 30 days ago must not slide away from the light of day. If the light of day was on the actions of the Concordia, perhaps all those who lost their lives, would be enjoying happy memories...

 

 

Lets Keep the pressure on...People and Companies need to take responsibility for their actions, if they did we would have a better world...

 

 

Judge, Jury and Hangman.

[Mom33]

With all the problems that Carnival seems to be having this year, it seems like retraining and better PR should be top on the list. It is a Captain's legal resonsiblity to give aid to vessels! This Captain appears to have failed. I agree that we need to wait and see, but all to often things just seem to disappear with nothing is ever done to those responsible. Companies like Carnival/Princes just want the news cycle to pass and its back to business as usual. We the crusing public can not let this pass, with more than a white wash from the cruise operator. This seems to involve several pasasangers reporting to ship's officers about a vessel in distress and an ineffective ships leadership doing nothing.

 

Captain Perrin is in no way an "ineffective leader". He is one of the Best Captains in the fleet!

 

A run around on something that happened more than 30 days ago must not slide away from the light of day. If the light of day was on the actions of the Concordia, perhaps all those who lost their lives, would be enjoying happy memories...

 

 

Lets Keep the pressure on...People and Companies need to take responsibility for their actions, if they did we would have a better world...

 

Yes sounds to me a likely scenario - the captain assumed the passengers were looking close by (he wouldn't know they were bird watchers with powerful binoculars) saw a boat waving, radioed them, they said avoid our nets and the captain complied.

 

A very sad accident. Maybe it would have been better for the passengers to have taken their sighting further to ensure someone knew exactly where they were looking. I don't believe for one second that a captain of any ship, especially a princess ship, would deliberately ignore a distress signal.

 

I agree with you!

[flamomo]

The current captain on the Star is Todd McBain.

 

 

Captain McBain came aboard the Star for the 3/19/12 sailing.

After reading this story, I am wondering if the switch of Captains was scheduled , or if it came about as a result of the pending investigation of the incident. (I did read the post that said Captain Perrin was going on vacation at the end of their cruise.)

[Pam in CA]

Captain McBain came aboard the Star for the 3/19/12 sailing.

After reading this story, I am wondering if the switch of Captains was scheduled , or if it came about as a result of the pending investigation of the incident. (I did read the post that said Captain Perrin was going on vacation at the end of their cruise.)

It's not unusual for a Captain to take a scheduled vacation after a repositioning cruise. After every trans-Atlantic or trans-Pacific cruise I've taken, that's been the case. The CD also left after our cruise. Some Captains only work in a particular region and switch with another when the ship sails in a different region.

[cherylandtk]

There are enough inconsistencies in the details (the bird watchers reported no other boats all day, yet other pax reported many small fishing boats; the bridge contacted a waving fishing boat by radio, yet the stranded waving boat had no radio) that we will just have to wait and see the results of the investigation. Regardless of if or how the Star Princess and her crew could have intervened, I know the tragedy of the deaths will be a great sorrow for many.

 

I was on a Princess ship during a sea rescue with Capt. Perrin in charge and I cannot in any way imagine that he would not have done absolutely everything to save lives in danger.

[WeBeGone]

Capt Perrin took a long scheduled vacation and it had nothing to do with any "incident". He is a captain above reproach and if he had knowledge of a boat in distress, he would have stopped and helped. All this jumping to conculsions makes my blood boil. I was on this sailing and we heard nothing, saw nothing.

[Loonbeam]

There are three issues here:

 

1> Did the birdwatchers see the boat in question, or a similar one.

 

2> What information actually reached the bridge (the game of telephone scenario applies) and WHEN.

 

3> What was done in reaction to that information.

 

We don't know the answers to any of these.

 

Any conclusion that the 'Captain was lying' or the ship ignored someone in distress is premature at best.

 

I've been following this via several feeds and if I had to guess I'd say we are looking at an unfortunate series of events, something like what was posited above. But we don't KNOW and won't for a while.

[skynight]

This story is disturbing. We were also on this voyage. As passengers we expect this highest degree of professionalism from the Captain and all the crew. What happened here needs to be fully investigated and not shoved under the keel.

[hobo1937]

We had the opportunity to sail on the Star Princess to Australia with Captain Perrin in 2009. Prior to our scheduled arrival in the Samoa's they were hit with a tsunami. When we arrived the Captain was on the dock overseeing the donation of supplies from the ship to the stricken islands as well as allowing the rescue workers onboard for showers and a hot meal. So the recent allegations about him are totally out of character with what we saw.

[ONT-CA]

Hopefully from this tragedy will come a procedure whereby there is total follow-up from the bridge with the passenger(s) who make such an observation. If the call had been "Man overboard" there sure would have been. I feel for those who now must say to themselves, I should have, I should have, I should have.

[billco]

Hopefully from this tragedy will come a procedure whereby there is total follow-up from the bridge with the passenger(s) who make such an observation. If the call had been "Man overboard" there sure would have been. I feel for those who now must say to themselves, I should have, I should have, I should have.

Including the survivor of the fishing boat who should have had emergency signaling devices onboard.

[johnmik1]

I know Ed Perrin and when we were having dinner one night we talked about this various type of situation and he said that"under no circumstances would I leave someone in need stranded at sea".He is one of the finest Captains at sea and I am sure any inquiry will find him faultless.

[gp1oseg]

The Captain seemed like a nice guy, good talker hard to say.

[Pam in CA]

Including the survivor of the fishing boat who should have had emergency signaling devices onboard.

After weeks at sea, there might not have been any left.

 

What's confusing to me is the birders implying that this was the only fishing boat around yet passengers on the ship and the Captain said there were a number around at approximately the same time and even contacted at least one. If there were, why wouldn't the other fishing boats nearby seen the one in distress?

[robgvic]

I think the key thing here is how the bird watchers knew this was the same ship. There are a lot of very dangerous accusations being made here. The Captain,ship and company are being convcited and executed without a trail or investigation.

Personally I don't see a well respected Captain not investigating a reported emergency very fully. He is a seaman first.

[shellbeachjim]

The Captain seemed like a nice guy, good talker hard to say.

The captain for the cruise you just finished on April 13th was Todd McBain who took over the Star Princess on March 19th. The captain on the Star during this incident was Ed Perrin. I am waiting until all of the facts are in before coming to any opinion regarding this.

[Charles4515]

Judge, Jury and Hangman.

 

There is an orchestrated lynch mob being organized against the Captain on the social net.

[robgvic]

There is an orchestrated lynch mob being organized against the Captain on the social net.

 

I agree but that happens very often here, unfortunately

[dforeigner]

There is an orchestrated lynch mob being organized against the Captain on the social net.

 

Typical!

[Landlocked North]

How many people are daily accused of a crime because evidence points to it and then in the end are found to be innocent? And yet some people without even seeing any evidence are convinced that the captain acted negligent.

I don’t know the captain but I know he is Innocent Until Proven Guilty!

[Astro Flyer]

There is an orchestrated lynch mob being organized against the Captain on the social net.

Apparently those so willing to convict the captain & crew before learning all of the facts didn't get much support for their opinions here & have gone elsewhere seeking those who are also willing to rush to judgment. Hopefully such people who rush to judgment before having all of the facts won't ever be on a jury. Too many today think that the world is like a 60 minute drama but that's not reality.

 

I haven't watched much news today but in this news crazy world of instant access it will become someones cause for their point of view while choosing to ignore facts otherwise.

 

It's a sad commentary on our wolrd today...social media is today's lynch mob that foolishly rushes to judgment.

[Poulsbo Cruisers]

Apparently those so willing to convict the captain & crew before learning all of the facts didn't get much support for their opinions here & have gone elsewhere seeking those who are also willing to rush to judgment. Hopefully such people who rush to judgment before having all of the facts won't ever be on a jury. Too many today think that the world is like a 60 minute drama but that's not reality.

 

I haven't watched much news today but in this news crazy world of instant access it will become someones cause for their point of view while choosing to ignore facts otherwise.

 

It's a sad commentary on our wolrd today...social media is today's lynch mob that foolishly rushes to judgment.

 

And aren't many judging those they accuse of judging? That's the trap. We all judge, but call out only those we disagree with.

[Cruise Junky]

And aren't many judging those they accuse of judging? That's the trap. We all judge, but call out only those we disagree with.

 

I wouldn't consider telling someone to wait until all the facts are presented to be Judging. Isn't that the basis of innocent until proven guilty? The foundation of the American court system?