Crown Cleared To Sail At 3pm

[Colo Cruiser]

Crown Princess cleared to leave port

Passengers to pay half price for first voyage after accident

BY KAUSTUV BASU

and RICK NEALE

1:05 P.M. UPDATE: Ship will sail at 3 p.m.

The Crown Princess will set sail at 3 p.m. today with U.S. Coast Guard and National Transportation Safety Board investigators aboard.

 

"We haven't concluded the investigation yet," said Lt. Patrick Eiland, spokesman for the Coast Guard at Port Canaveral.

 

Four investigators will make the entire voyage from Port Canaveral to New York, checking the operation of the 116,000-ton ship during the trip.

 

Officials said the Crown Princess will follow the exact route the ship took Tuesday afternoon when a steering problem 11 miles out of Port Canaveral caused the ship to suddenly tilt to the right side.

 

The angle of the tilt was between 15 degrees and 18 degrees, officials said today.

 

Only the investigators and crew members will be aboard the ship. The 3,100 passengers disembarked the ship the last two days at Port Canaveral, taking airplanes, trains and cars back home. Most of the passengers were from the Northeast.

11:45 A.M. UPDATE: Ship cleared to set sail

The Canaveral Port Authority has cleared the Crown Princess to leave the port, officials said today.

 

The cruise ship is expected to leave its berth within the next two hours on a voyage to New York.

 

Preparations are being made for the Crown Princess to depart around 1 p.m., said Petty Officer Jennifer Johnson, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Coast Guard, one of the leading agencies reviewing the incident involving the cruise ship.

 

The ship suddenly tilted 15 degrees to the right shortly after it left Port Canaveral on Tuesday afternoon on a planned trip to New York.