Crew lif boat accident on the Empress

[Chuck & Phyllis]

Don't know if this was posted here yet. One of our Roll Call members posted this on our thread.

 

 

 

http://www.theroyalgazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040908/NEWS/109080042

[Chuck & Phyllis]

Does anyone know if the U.S Coast Guard will do any inspections when the ship returns to the States? I would imagine so. Hope those crew members are cared for and that RCCL continues to support them after they recover.

[smeyer418]

They may even do one in Bermuda...any accident like this is reported and will be investigated...Does the US still have a CG base in Bermuda?

[Chuck & Phyllis]

No, we don't have any presence in Bermuda anymore since the Navy left. Seems a little scary if in a true evacuation that something like this could happen. Even if it was crew mistakes, that's not good. We sail in 9 days and although we don't anticipate any emergencies of course, it is concerning.

[reggierail]

To identify any potential problems and train the crew.

Possibly some new procedures were required after the

refurbishment and the problems associated need to be addressed.

This is to have a real emergency action to be done as if

second nature.

My sympathy goes out to all the injured crewmembers.

 

Reggie

[It'sRC4ME]

Actually this does not surprise me. When my husband and I sailed on Enchantment in May 2002, we watched as they tried to bring the last of the ship's tender boats on board so we could leave Grand Cayman. Even though I'm sure they had had practice doing this every other week, it took the crew guys about 35 minutes to get the tender hooked up to the cables to be pulled up. There were several close calls where a huge swinging hook would either come close to hitting a crewman in the head, or come close to dragging one overboard. All this happened in a very calm sea. They finally managed to do it, but they were no where near as slick at it as I would have expected.

[bubbadog]

trust me the coast guard will craw up every orofice of the ship and will want to know what the hell happened

[Chuck & Phyllis]

That's what I was thinking when she comes home. We're sailing on 9/18 and I was saying that we're glad we're not on this Sunday's cruise because if the Coast guard does a full operational test (all life boats with crew under their supervision), that cruise might be delayed. You have to remember that although this was a drill, something like this happening, could happen in a real evacuation. It's not a matter of training on the job, it's being trained and maintaining skills via these drills. Scary.