Union's warning over cruise-ship safety Travel section in The Sunday Times

[bengaltiger1]

An interesting article in today's Sunday Times travel section-

 

 

 

More than a year after the Costa Concordia disaster, an international seafarers’ union has warned that the design of cruise ships may be putting passenger safety at risk.

The warning comes after an engine-room fire aboard the Carnival Triumph left the ship stranded without power in the Gulf of Mexico. The 3,143 passengers, who spent five days without galley facilities, working lavatories, air-conditioning or stabilisers — which reduce roll — were towed back to port.

“Cruise ships use state-of-the-art high-voltage systems for propulsion and are thus entirely dependent on electrical systems,” says Allan Graveson of the union Nautilus International. “If one of these blackouts happens in poor weather, the ship will lose steerage and propulsion. If it then goes ‘beam on’ to the sea, it could capsize. The industry fails to address the issue. Contrast this with aviation and the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, where 50 aircraft are currently grounded”.

The Passenger Shipping Association (PSA) describes shipboard fires as “unlikely events”, but records show that since 2006, engine-room fires have been reported on ships including the Costa Allegra, which spent three days adrift without power in the Indian Ocean in February 2012, the Carnival Splendor, the Queen Mary 2, the Allure of the Seas and the Adventure of the Seas.

According to Nautilus, total power loss resulting from engine-room fires probably would not happen if cruise lines followed the model used by naval and oil-industry vessels, which have auxillary engine rooms as back-up if the main power plant stops working.

In response to the increasing size of cruise ships, the International Maritime Organization, which oversees safety at sea, has published new rules requiring ships to “be their own lifeboat” and be capable of a safe return to port after all but the most catastrophic incidents. One requirement is a back-up power plant. Another is the maintenance of sanitation, food and water and the prevention of heat stress to the passengers. However, the safe-return rules apply only to ships built after 2010. The Carnival Triumph was launched in 1999, and the other ships that have had engine-room fires were also launched before 2010.

Carnival Cruise Line said its ships “comply with all relevant maritime and cruise industry rules and regulations. Indeed, Carnival’s own standards and policies often exceed international regulations.”

The PSA said; “The safety of passengers and crew is our number one priority and robust regulatory measures are in place in the global industry to protect passengers and crew from fires onboard ships, which are rare”

[hillsprint]

So reading the above, it would lead you to believe that the new Post 2010 Launch rules mean that the later S Class ships ( if not all of them) have the back up abilities and won't be caught out like the Triumph.

[Dave4120]

Hello...I will apologize first found sounding totally stupid, and for probably a couple of dumb questions, but here I go.

 

1...In the news article listed above, it says if it goes "beam on" to sea, it could capsize.

 

Can anyone explain to me what the words "Beam On" mean?

 

2...If a ship loses power like the Triumph, and, also has no stabilizers, are they saying

that this big ship can actually sink and/or overturn just by the water of the ocean?

 

What a scary feeling. I assumed with no stabilizers, and a ship just stuck out in the water, that there could be movement of the ship, but never thought it could tip over and sink. Yikes.

 

My wife and I are going on our 22nd cruise in May, and neither one of us ever thought about many of these issues until the other day. We are still going, but I think many of these latest issues will be floating around in my head.

 

Thanks for any help to my questions.

Dave

[Denny01]

'Beam On' means the ship side is facing into the waves/winds instead of the bow (front) or stern (back) into it. The ship is then more prone to rolling side-to-side.

 

Not sure what sea-state would be required for this to occur,but it wold have to be a major storm with very high waves. Not an expert. The article says it is possible.

 

 

Den

[gkny]

Thanks for the article and this is good information.

[floridatravelersforlife]

IMO This article is focused on the extreme and written to sell papers.

 

Yes as we have seen, any electrical system can be knocked out, but what are the chances? Ships have backup systems like airplanes. I learned the following from Bridge tours and discussions with First Officers. The M Class have three generators and two pods. One generator can power one pod, so there is redundancy and then some.

 

And after our experience on the Infinity through Drake Passage several years ago, I believe it would take quite a huge wave abeam to topple even the megaships. We had 75 mph winds abeam (from the side) and 38 ft waves. Somewhat of a concern at the time, but the ship carried on.

 

After our experiences, I would not hesitate cruising again, which we are in March on the Solstice

[TLCOhio]

Appreciate this posting from the Sunday Times in the UK. Interesting, good questions!! On another thread on this board, I raised the issue about the type of electrical grid, set-up and/or buss being used on these newer Solstice-class ships. Clearly from what I have read, having two different engine rooms seems fairly common. BUT, how the set-up is done for the electrical systems are distributed and "fed" seems now to be very, very important.

 

Doing engine room tours will be lots more of interest these days. Many smart, "inquiring minds" like to know more on how these system are designed and work.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

Did a June 7-19, 2011, Celebrity Solstice cruise from Barcelona that had stops in Villefranche, ports near Pisa and Rome, Naples, Kotor, Venice and Dubrovnik. Enjoyed great weather and a wonderful trip. Dozens of wonderful visuals with key highlights, tips, comments, etc., on these postings. We are now at 119,837 views for this live/blog re-cap on our first sailing with Celebrity and much on wonderful Barcelona. Check these postings and added info at:

http://www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1426474

[buggins0402]

I'm wondering about the 2010 build date requirement for separate systems - date really crosses over with some of the later S class ships. It's vague as to what constitutes "build" (designed or finished) and "date" - 01/01/2010 or 12/31/2010?

[buggins0402]

Found the answer to my question on the MSC board that had a link to the CC news article.... http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=5201

[TLCOhio]

Found the answer to my question on the MSC board that had a link to the CC news article.... http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=5201

 

Good, added posting confirming the key questions being more about electrical system than just the engine room. Very in-depth reporting, including about the CO2 fire safety system failing on this Carnival ship.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

Did a June 7-19, 2011, Celebrity Solstice cruise from Barcelona that had stops in Villefranche, ports near Pisa and Rome, Naples, Kotor, Venice and Dubrovnik. Enjoyed great weather and a wonderful trip. Dozens of wonderful visuals with key highlights, tips, comments, etc., on these postings. We are now at 119,837 views for this live/blog re-cap on our first sailing with Celebrity and much on wonderful Barcelona. Check these postings and added info at:

http://www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1426474

[fishycomics]

oh boy another carnival story

[robin111]

The Royal Princess also had a horrible fire when we had just left Egypt! It was about 4 years ago.How they kept it out of the news is beyond! We also had no power- not even back up generators! The sewage was everywhere! Toilets overflowing and horrific conditions! It was day 5 of a 12 night holy land cruise. We were on our way to Israel and had just left Egypt. We waited 2 1/2 days for the CEO to fly in from California and then finally were rescued by the authorities and towed in to port. It was a nitemare also. One man had a heart attack and everyone was frightened. Fire also started in engine room. We were given a refund and only 25% of what we paid for a future cruise. We had paid a lot of $ because we had our grown children too. We were so traumatized and angry that after all the stress and horrific conditions that they only gave us 25% that we would never sail princess again. After taking 2 weeks off from work they should have done the right thing. If you wanted to go on to Israel- you had to pay on your own. They would only pay to fly guests home. With 1 1/2 weeks left the passengers were quite upset to be sent home with a n insulting compensation!. Our future cruise credit went in the garbage! At least carnival is giving a fair compensation. But when you live through it- as they did and we only did for 2 1/2 days- it really is horrible! Also we had the fear that the ship would explode from the heat in the engine room and cracked lines from the fire.