Costa Pacifica - 10 December 2012 cruise review - all about a buoy in Marseille

[CostaSmurfette]

When I booked this short 6 night Med cruise a few months ago, it was in essence to see whether big ship life was my cup of tea....what it turned out to be was something quite different and very memorable in so many ways.

 

I flew from the UK to Nice via Amsterdam on December 10, 2012 and joined the Costa Pacifica in Savona later that day.

 

Boarding was faultless...straight off the transfer coach and literally straight onto the ship...via the usual photo opportunities and security found on all my previous cruises.

 

Once boarded I made my way up to deck 7 where I had a single inside cabin waiting for me, cabin #7347. The cabin is large, lots of storage and since it stands alone, its very quiet most of the time.

 

This cruise was always going to be emotional, afterall it would trace the route of the Concordia some 11 months to the day after she foundered off Giglio. Pacifica, being Concordia's almost double, was fully booked and all boarded when we finally slipped our ropes, leaving the slightly smaller Costa Magica in our wake.

 

During the first evening it became very evident that several hundred passengers, crew and entertainers were indeed Concordia survivors, all wanting to retrace their steps and finish their unfinished cruise...and in some cases, lay their ghosts to sleep too.

 

So there were many tears that first night...crew and passengers meeting for the first time since the accident and some truly poignant moments that will remain with me forever...

 

As I walked down to deck 4 My Way MDR, the soothing sound of a string quartet echoed out of one of the bars...classical music always sounds wonderful when played on string instruments...I followed the sounds and there, captivated by the beautiful music were many of my fellow passengers and some of the crew, tears gently falling down their faces...

 

One of the violinists sat their with such poise and grace, a single red rose sat on a stool beside her.....the reason soon came to light, she was playing her late husband's violin with the group of musicians that he had spent so many years playing with on cruise ships...just as he had been aboard Concordia on January 13, 2012. He had given his life so that others could escape the wreck that night, his memory kept alive by his beautiful wife and the equally beautiful music wafting down the decks....

 

So as the night wore on and I had eaten my meal I took myself off for a wander around Pacifica, stopping at various places to just think and contemplate...the atrium with the soaring glass elevators, the outside deck areas...and the stern rail....

 

And then it was time for bed...the end of a long day of travelling and the start of what was to become a true rollercoaster of emotion and adventure in equal measures.

[CostaSmurfette]

Overnight the weather had deteriorated considerably....strong winds and rough seas greeted the dawn.

 

Mother Nature was not going to be letting up...she hadn't for a couple of months, November and December had brought some of the nastiest weather experienced in almost a century and she was going to show her strength to us as we sailed towards Marseille.

 

About breakfast time, we had the first indication that things were not quite right. Crew that would usually never be seen were scurrying around, worried looks on their faces.

 

None of us had heard or felt a thing...but as we pirouetted within the harbour of Marseille a large marker buoy had been caught in a hefty gust of wind and had blown up against our side...hard.

 

The result were two large dents, two deep and very long slices in our hull above the waterline. There followed some very animated conversations tween the Italian officers and the French port authorities...much shouting and gesticulating with blood pressure rising by the second.

 

The ship was disembarking and embarking along with shorex too, so once we were secured alongside, the action started....people and cases off, people and cases on and people with packed lunches off....

 

We had been due to leave Marseille at 6pm local time.....

 

By around lunchtime we had been notified that we would be delaying departure til 9pm so that repairs could be made to the hull plating.

 

By around 7pm we were told via flyers and the cabin TV's that departure was pushed back til 2am and that our Barcelona timings would be adjusted accordingly.

 

At 11pm we had another notification.

 

RINA needed to come to Marseille and inspect the damage and subsequent repairs but they would not arrive from Genova til 6am...this pushed back our departure til 9am.

 

It didn't take too much mathematics to figure out that Barcelona might be in trouble...if, indeed, the cruise would even continue....it all fell onto the shoulders of RINA when they inspected.

 

We all went to bed and awoke to find ourselves in Marseille...when we should have been in Barcelona.

 

More notifications came that RINA had given us the green light to sail for Barcelona. We left Marseille at just after 10am local time.

 

Barcelona or bust....the ship is built with a max speed of 23 knots...but it is a very rare event that she would ever go that fast....this cruise was one such event.

 

We went flat out, facing into strong headwinds and high seas we arrived in Barcelona at just after 7pm local time.

 

Passengers debarked, new ones embarked.....Costa laid on free excursions and gave waiting passengers €75 each for food and drink whilst they awaited our arrival.

 

Passengers wanting to explore Barcelona's night life were given free shuttle buses to use and we departed Barcelona at 4am.

 

The next day was a sea day, so a valiant attempt to catch up was made.....23 knots speed again and even worse weather all the way to Palermo.

 

A group of very vocal Sicilians were making it clear that they were not impressed, but on the whole, everyone else just went with the flow and enjoyed the cruise as best they could.

 

Costa had embarked senior management in Barcelona and representatives of RINA were also aboard too.

 

We had been given a flyer to the effect that each cabin would receive a hefty OBC for "inconvenience". Most thought it unwarranted since it was the weather in Marseille that caused the problems......just as it had done a couple of weeks before when the cruise ferry Napoleon Bonaparte was severely damaged when wind caught her and sent her into the quay, partially ripping out her stern and causing her to sink by the stern. She was in a drydock in Marseille when we were there.

 

We arrived in Palermo around 4 hours later than planned and further repairs were made to Pacifica's side. The original departure time was pushed back from 6pm to 11pm.

 

As with Marseille and Barcelona we had disembarkations and embarkations...plus shorex...in Palermo.

 

Next came Civitavecchia.....we arrived just after 11am, again about 4 hours late, and due to wanting to allow the usual shorex to Rome, we delayed departure til just before midnight. Another set of disembarkations and embarkations went ahead without any problems.

 

So finally it was our last night of sailing.....Civitavecchia to Savona.

 

Another night of heavy seas and high winds met us as we left the shelter of the port.

 

Large groups of passengers and crew huddled at the stern rail as we passed Pacifica's fallen sister way out of sight in the far distance...roses dropped quietly over the side, words spoken in quiet prayer and contemplation and hugs with tears as we sailed by the spot where Concordia lay on her side and where lives were lost just 11 months before.

 

The damage done to Pacifica brought it home just how vulnerable a ship of her size really can be....the buoy hit us on December 11 and we passed Concordia on December 15...so the rollercoaster of emotion was raw and no-one could have ignored it all.

 

We arrived in Savona a couple hours late and disembarkation began at 10am.

 

As we walked off the ship, looking back there was the battle scars on Pacifica's otherwise pristine side...a reminder, if ever anyone needed one, that Mother Nature has more strength than anyone one person could ever imagine.

 

It was a wonderful cruise, making new friends, rekindling old friendships and casting sorrow and memories into the sea.

 

One couple who I met on a previous voyage found me aboard Pacifica. They had been honeymooners when I first met them in 2010 aboard another Costa ship...they introduced me to their 8 month old little girl, a gorgeous little sweetheart with bright eyes and a heart melting giggle...

 

The apple of mummy and daddy's eye....a little girl who might not have been born had the young couple not been able to escape that night off Giglio....a little girl who will always be a precious part of that family's life.....her name?

 

Maria-Concordia....

 

A beautiful child with a wonderful family and who took her first cruise aboard Costa Pacifica with her mummy and daddy :)

 

They too had traced their steps from that awful night aboard Concordia

[AmoMondo]

Thanks so much for the review. You really brought the onboard emotions alive for us. Some wonderful stories and tributes there to those who did and those who did not survive the Concordia