Fire Aboard Carnival Triumph

[sail7seas]

Yes, you truly place your life in the hands of the cruise company when you board a ship for a vacation.

 

 

As has often been remarked on this forum, it is sometimes hard to determine sarcasm and even humor from the written word without seeing facial expression and body language. Not sure exactly how serious or not you are with this post. :)

 

 

 

 

The situation on board that ship is just awful. While I wouldn't want to be a family in CA or one in Newton, these people are suffering a terrible ordeal that could indeed affect their health.I don't think comparing different hardships or tragedies helps while you are in the midst of an ordeal you have to endure.

 

And for those who want to sue for health related expenses, I was under the impression(please correct me if I'm wrong) that that is very difficult to do because the ships aren't registered in the US.

 

All I know is, I wouldn't want to be on that ship right now.

 

And I agree that there are many with all sorts of medical conditions who would not fare well in this situation.

 

 

I'm not a lawyer and didn't sleep in the hotel named in the ad but I wonder if suit is possible seeing the corporate offices for the company are located in Florida..... U.S.A.

 

[world~citizen]

There are not too many apologists for the line on this one. This dead in the water stuff has happened on numerous occasions and we are so so so lucky it wasn't in the middle of a storm.

 

I have commented on this and the response has been "ship happens", so I won't climb the soapbox again.

 

I hope though that cruise companies take engine room readiness a lot more seriously than they appear to have. As bad as this is, it could have been worse. That may be the silver lining in this cloud. Maybe it will be a wakeup call for PAX not the lines to demand a serious enquiry into mechanical fitness standards in the industry.

 

But I won't hold my breath.

[vbmom87]

TI do, actually, feel very sorry for these folks but can't understand why the cruise industry, after a number of such experiences, hasn't figured out to put emergency generators on the system that operates the bathrooms. People can put up with no A/C, limited food, etc. but not being able to get rid of human waste is the deal breaker. .

 

 

I too find it hard to believe that the cruise ship industry does not have better emergency plans in place. What if this had happened on a ship halfway to Europe or Hawaii?

[world~citizen]

As has often been remarked on this forum, it is sometimes hard to determine sarcasm and even humor from the written word without seeing facial expression and body language. Not sure exactly how serious or not you are with this post. :)

 

 

Deadly serious, as you are. We see eye to eye on this one I think.

[sail7seas]

There are not too many apologists for the line on this one. This dead in the water stuff has happened on numerous occasions and we are so so so lucky it wasn't in the middle of a storm.

 

I have commented on this and the response has been "ship happens", so I won't climb the soapbox again.

 

I hope though that cruise companies take engine room readiness a lot more seriously than they appear to have. As bad as this is, it could have been worse. That may be the silver lining in this cloud. Maybe it will be a wakeup call for PAX not the lines to demand a serious enquiry into mechanical fitness standards in the industry.

 

But I won't hold my breath.

 

As PAX how could we make such demands?

We have no way to really know the actual conditions/maintenace/lack of maintenance that has been done or what repairs have been delayed.

 

Life is a risk yet we get in our cars every day. At some point, there surely are more than a few people who will no longer risk their vacation dollars on cruising if they have to worry about their very safety and being provided with basic expected comforts.

[cruz chic]

I refuse to book a cruise on a ship that has know problems like the Statendam. Vote with your feet. While "ship" can still happen I'd like to try to minimize it.

[kazu]

I too find it hard to believe that the cruise ship industry does not have better emergency plans in place. What if this had happened on a ship halfway to Europe or Hawaii?

 

Please - I don't even want to think about this:eek: My ship just got out of drydock shortly. I hope they did all the necessary things to her;)

[world~citizen]

As PAX how could we make such demands?

We have no way to really know the actual conditions/maintenace/lack of maintenance that has been done or what repairs have been delayed.

 

Life is a risk yet we get in our cars every day. At some point, there surely are more than a few people who will no longer risk their vacation dollars on cruising if they have to worry about their very safety and being provided with basic expected comforts.

 

OK, so we aren't on the same page. :)

 

How do you try to improve things? I thought Americans wrote the book on that.

 

You write your elected representatives, your newspapers and the companies themselves. If as a consumer group you are vocal enough, you can make a difference. Believe it or not, because it is not always apparent, real political power rests with ordinary people. Unfortunately, they are out organized.

 

There have been enough occurrences leaving ships dead in the water to justify a review of ship safety. Lets not wait for people do die before we act.

[mamaofami]

I refuse to book a cruise on a ship that has know problems like the Statendam. Vote with your feet. While "ship" can still happen I'd like to try to minimize it.

 

Add Veendam to the list. However, these engine room conditions might be bad on any of the ships and we have no way of knowing what kind of maintenance has been performed. Makes me wonder if my next cruise will be my last.

[world~citizen]

I refuse to book a cruise on a ship that has know problems like the Statendam. Vote with your feet. While "ship" can still happen I'd like to try to minimize it.

 

Exactly.

[sail7seas]

OK, so we aren't on the same page. :)

 

How do you try to improve things? I thought Americans wrote the book on that.

 

You write your elected representatives, your newspapers and the companies themselves. If as a consumer group you are vocal enough, you can make a difference. Believe it or not, because it is not always apparent, real political power rests with ordinary people. Unfortunately, they are out organized.

 

There have been enough occurrences leaving ships dead in the water to justify a review of ship safety. Lets not wait for people do die before we act.

 

 

You're right, of course.

However, as you said, we won't hold our breath.

 

[maxie99]

why is it that people in our society seem to think that they deserve financial compensation for every bad thing that happens to them? All of those people are having a miserable time, but having a miserable time for a week does not entitle you to financial compensation. It was an accident. Stuff happens. Suck it up.

 

This has to be a really bad experience. Not one i want at all. But, still, if this is the worst thing that ever happens to these people in their lives, they are damn lucky.

i totaly agree,,

[sail7seas]

I just heard that Carnival has chartered 20 planes to bring all guests back to Galveston where the ship was supposed to return at the scheduled end of the cruise. They have booked 1,500 hotel rooms and buses to carry all these people around.

 

 

 

[Esri]

Has anyone mentioned the obvious fact that this incident is aggravated in many different ways by the size of the ship? It is too big to tow, there are too many people on it, etc...., etc...

 

And yet the cruise lines (kind of like oil companies) continue to build these megaships because they are money machines.

 

You do indeed take your life in your hands when you go on a cruise, or when you fly, or when you drive your car... As Bilbo Baggins said "It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door."

[sail7seas]

If there had been a fire and the ship had to be evacuated, everyone would have had to get in life boats. Can someone tell me why they could not transfer people to another ship by use of those life boats and get them off that floating mess?

 

Between all of the Carnival Family of Ships, something could have been arranged. I'm having a hard time accepting there was no better option than to leave 4,000 people on board. Maybe it was the easiest way but was it the best?

 

[jhannah]

Can someone tell me why they could not transfer people to another ship by use of those life boats and get them off that floating mess?

 

Between all of the Carnival Family of Ships, something could have been arranged.

Which member of the family has a spare ship to put into service? Who, outside the family, has such a ship that could accommodate 4,000 people? There really isn't any viable alternative that I can see. Deplorable situation, for sure, but options are few to none.

[hvsteve1]

If there had been a fire and the ship had to be evacuated, everyone would have had to get in life boats. Can someone tell me why they could not transfer people to another ship by use of those life boats and get them off that floating mess?

 

I assume you did not read the article about five crewmembers dying in a test of lowering a lifeboat a matter of a day or two before this incident. Lowering the lifeboats is a dangerous proposition and should only be done in a matter of life or death, i.e., the ship is going under and you have to risk your life getting off. Other dangerous suggestions, such as transfering pax between ships, are also options for a life or death situation. As miserable as everyone is, their lives are not in danger and it is unlikely that the Coast Guard or other such maritime agency would approve any effort to abandon ship, even should Carnival decide to do so.

[mamaofami]

I just watched a news report about Triumph on CNBC. One of the reporters was supposed to go on that cruise and spoke to her family who is on board on Monday.

 

At that time she was told, they did receive plastic bags for "doing their business" but the ship hadn't given them any place to put those bags and that is causing a terrible smell.

 

They did receive meat from Elation but there wasn't anywhere to cook it. I guess that could be done on the grills.

 

As of Monday, her family had only had ham and cheese sandwiches to eat and the line for getting food was three hours long...don't complain about Lido lines anymore.

 

Her family was sleeping on an upper deck and they didn't want people on any of the lower decks because there were no lights.

 

Remember, this was as of Monday so conditions could only have deteriorated since then. Cell phones have run out of power and there's no longer a ship along side to get power from, so she's not heard anything else.

 

This show is a stock market recap called "Closing Bell" at 4PM and they said so far Carnival Stock is down over 5% and they expect this mess will cost Carnival over 80 million dollars.

 

There will be medical personnel standing ready in Alabama when the ship docks for those who need it.

 

Publicity from these messes is going to take a toll on the industry for a while. The reporter said she wouldn't want to go on a ship now and was grateful she's not on it now.

[Esri]

Publicity from these messes is going to take a toll on the industry for a while. The reporter said she wouldn't want to go on a ship now and was grateful she's not on it now.

 

This is a terrible mess and I feel sorry for the people on that ship, but come on, doesn't anybody think about what they are doing anymore? Things go wrong everyday, everywhere. Sometimes they inconvenience a whole bunch of people. Sometimes they kill people.

 

I'm not saying, in any way, that if that ship was not properly maintained Carnival is not at fault here, but my car is properly maintained -- or at least I pay a mechanic real good money to maintain it, but I could still go out there in the morning and it not start, or have a flat tire. Should there be public disclosure on the maintenance records for these ships? Yes, I think there should, but the risk of this happening again next week is no more than it was last week.

 

How many cruise ships are out there in the ocean right now? Anybody have an idea, because I don't. I know that 3.6 MILLION passengers pass through Port Everglades alone every year and a slightly larger number passed through PortMiami and Port Canaveral last year. (See source here.)

 

That's a little over 11 million people sailing from southern Florida and there were 4000 on this cruise ship. 1% of 11 million is 110,000 and 4000 is less than 4% of 110,000 (my calculator threw out scientific notation when I tried to find out exactly what percentage of 11 million 4000 is). That is a really, really small number, folks.

 

All I know is I'm not canceling either of my cruises for next year.

[sail7seas]

I assume you did not read the article about five crewmembers dying in a test of lowering a lifeboat a matter of a day or two before this incident. Lowering the lifeboats is a dangerous proposition and should only be done in a matter of life or death, i.e., the ship is going under and you have to risk your life getting off. Other dangerous suggestions, such as transfering pax between ships, are also options for a life or death situation. As miserable as everyone is, their lives are not in danger and it is unlikely that the Coast Guard or other such maritime agency would approve any effort to abandon ship, even should Carnival decide to do so.

 

 

Actually, I posted the link to the tragic story about the loss of five crewmembers. So, yes I did read it.

 

We ride tenders on every cruise. The tenders are raised and lowered the same as lifeboats.......

 

 

[Pokeynose]

DH and I both have medical conditions that would have worsened if this happened to us. He is on oxogen and sleep ap machine and diabetic. I am also diabetic and have to eat after each shot, I take, 4 a day,

not wait 3-4 hrs. As you diabetics know you have to track your blood sugars and eat immediately if they get low. I carry little bottles of pills and liquid that will help the sugars rise but also need to eat. Also meds have to kept cold.

Maybe I'm jumping the gun but a cruise at this point doesn't interest me, I don't care what line. Our health is more important. My prayers are with the people on this ship.

[mamaofami]

 

We ride tenders on every cruise. The tenders are raised and lowered the same as lifeboats.......

 

And, the crew on HAL is frequently doing life boat drills and raising and lowering those boats.

[leen50]

I am no expert but I believe that tendering is usually fairly close to the shore. This ship is in the middle of the ocean.

[cruz chic]

Why is it that people in our society seem to think that they deserve financial compensation for every bad thing that happens to them? All of those people are having a miserable time, but having a miserable time for a week does not entitle you to financial compensation. It was an accident. Stuff happens. Suck it up.

 

This has to be a really bad experience. Not one I want at all. But, still, if this is the WORST thing that ever happens to these people in their lives, they are damn lucky.

I'm thinking you'd likely have a different opinion if this happened to you. This has to be a nightmare. No other way to paint it.

[sapper1]

I'm thinking you'd likely have a different opinion if this happened to you. This has to be a nightmare. No other way to paint it.

 

I certainly can't think of any way to put a positive spin on what seems to be happening. It might not be the worst thing that ever happened to me but it would rank as number three, should I have happened to be on that ship.