cruise ship drama

[luckydog]

An engine room fire stopped this cruise in its tracks

Nearly 4,500 stranded on cruise ship off Mexico - Yahoo! News

[pinball wizard]

i just saw that on my homepage.also,it appears that somebody may have fired a large missile at los angeles,the pentagon has no idea about what happened.the only thing they know right now,is that it came in off the coast,and was probably launched from a plane or boat,possibly even a submarine.the pentagon also said it could have been mistakenly set off by the navy or air force,but nobody has owned up to it yet.they also said all of our missiles were accounted for.it didn't sound like the missile did any damage.some scientists are saying it was just a contrail from a jetliner.we'll just have to see about that.Mystery 'missile' launch near L.A. no threat to national security, government officials say [Updated] | L.A. NOW | Los Angeles Times

[luckydog]

someone on a U.S. submarine must be saying Whoopsie!!!

[dattia]

The end is near, the end is near...

[takethecastle57]

"The Truth , You Can't Handle The Truth !! "

[luckydog]

instead of towing the ship 50 miles to Mexico and busing all the passengers, they decided to tow it back to port in California.

passengers ate sandwiches, corned beef and a lot of Spam on the trip back

they are getting money refunded and a free cruise in the future

[Sid]

Since this sort of dips into my field of expertise

The Mexican port may not have been suitable to accept the vessel and give it the access it needed. As for disembarking the passengers and bussing them you would require around 50 50 seater standard busses to transport 3500 people to the nearest where? Most of the tourist port/resorts arent made /capable of dealing with this sort of disembarkation issue

[dattia]

There are also many safety concerns with areas in Mexico right now... it probably had some impact on the decision.

[Sid]

You can be certain about that Dawn.

[JACKSJE4]

Mexico is only safe if you know when and where to go (and where to not go). I travel south of the border by car twice a year and have friends and family that do the same. We all avoid going through Tijuana to Ensenanda (the same route the cruise ship company originally planned to transport the passengers) because of the heavy drug cartel activity. I have heard scary stories first-hand from folks who were both chased and/or captured by the banditos. Frankly, these folks are very lucky to be able to share their story in the first place.

I cross the border in Calexico, which is about 120 miles east of San Diego. So far there have not been any significant safety issues around that area, as most of the crossings there are for the agricultural industry. You also only travel during daylight hours - NEVER at night!! The mexican military maintains a visible presence along the routes I drive and I always feel safe.

The real tragedy is the impact that the drug cartels and the sour economy have had on the residents of Mexico. Many have seen the tourist industry plummet by more than 60%. Many of the businesses I have supported for years are gone, and the town I visit looks more and more like a ghost town each time I see it. The people constantly ask: "Where are all of the Americans?"

From a logistics and safety perspective, the cruise ship company was smart to bring the ship to San Diego. Although Mexico could have really used the tourist dollars that would have been spent by 4,500 very hungry people, the passengers will have better options for their return travel and there will be less liabilty for the cruise operators should anything have happened to a bus load of passengers being transported from Ensenada to the U.S. border.

I have never taken a cruise, but have always wanted to. This event has not changed my mind, but my wife is now very resistant to the idea. Personally, I think a situation similar to this could happen on any type of vacation.

[vegasmax]

My best friend is Mexican from Guadalajara and his wife is from Mexico City. He has no plans on making any visits there at this time because it is not safe for them let alone an American tourist.

[takethecastle57]

Cruise Ships SUCK BIG TIME what do you get for the Thousands of dollars that you spend well this piece of Crap 2 year old cruise ship has a Fire in the Engine Room !!!


And What do they feed them this Multi-Millon dollar ship and cruise line ??? and More and Crappy Poop Tarts


If this is a 21st century ship why is it that the Rooms are dark and the sanitation system doesn't work and all the Fuel that is on board can't power Generators to keep the Food on the on-board Freezers frozen ??

In the U.S. Army in the 80's I was rated as a Operator of up to a 60 KW Diesel generator and this 2 year old floating city doesn't have even One crummy generator ???


I Will Never set foot on ruise ship unless it has been gone thru from stem to stern by the United States Coast Guard for proper operations


over

[Sid]

I beg to differ

A cruise ship like anything else is a machine.

Machines can and will break down.

There are regulations as to how a ship must have its generators and backup equipment
Emergency generators are not there to power NON ESSENTIAL EQUIPMENT

A/C slot machines etc are not essential

It was an engine room fire no amount of inspection by the US COAST GUARD, American Shipping Bureau (ABS) , or anyone else for that matter would have helped

The important thing to focus on here is that the crew on board were able to control and handle a crippling situation

And as news worthy as it may seem just cuz Billy bob couldnt have a shrimp cocktail and his 399$ per person dream holiday was ruined is not the point as much as the media would like to play this into a Rose and Jack .

Working for a cruiseline myself for the last 15 years i know a lot about the behind the scenes stuff

[takethecastle57]

So Sanitation and taking care of the passengers i.e Food ( Refrigeration/ Freezer IMPORTANT) . The passengers said that the ship stunk of spoiled meat and such . No lights on a 21st Century Cruise Ship (what , no solar power and energy effecient lighting

Luxury Cruises : World Cruises on Luxury Cruise Ships : Cunard Cruise Line - Cunard
______________________________________________________
Search Results - Royal Caribbean International

[Sid]

You are losing sight of an important issue here...

THIS WAS AN EMERGENCY SITUATION!

and your links to both Cunard and the Royal Caribbean are pointless and offer nothing to your post or the topic of conversation other then just being a link to

1) A cruise company
2) Cruise deals

or is it that you believe that if a similar incident happened on Cunard lines or Royal Caribbean the whole situation would be different?

[Drunkenclam]

Oh good. We have 2 weeks work on a cruise liner early next year doing internal upgrades while at sea. Hope nothing like this happens.

Although I must admit it does seem strange not to have a back up power supply away from the engine room. for emergency lighting etc. I agree with Sid. Aircon, lifts, slot machines aren't vital equipment.
Maybe not cocktails but at least 1-2 weeks emergency provision. for 4000 or so people. instead of waiting for the coast guard to fly them out. But its accidents like these that make and change regulations.

[Sid]

the regulations do require that there is a secondary generator away from the engine room (Higher up) for cases of where there is flooding in the engine room etc.

S.O.L.A.S. (safetly of life at sea regulations)

[JACKSJE4]

I would like to add that this is the first time such an issue has been encountered on a modern "floating city". The CEO of Carnival Cruise Lines stated that nowhere in the company's history has another one of their vessels had a situation like this crop up, so there were no procedures in place for the crew to follow when this disaster struck and no previous experiences to leverage. I would imagine rules, crew training and ship design will be modified in the future after a full investigation of this incident has been completed and new regulations are passed to prevent such a thing from happening again. The airline industry has been doing this for years and has made air travel safer than ever over the last few decades.

On a side note, I chuckled when I read one headline regarding this story on CNN Last Night: "Thankful to be alive!" From everything I read about the saga, not once did any article suggest that the passengers lives were in danger at any point (perhaps the person who was quoted was referring to the diet of Mayonnaise sandwiches and Spam?). I would agree that the living conditions were deplorable on the ship and didn't live up to what the passengers paid for, but the cruise operator did refund the passengers' money, paid for their transportation home and offered them a free cruise at a later date, so that should have mitigated some of the anger and frustration. The headline just reinforces to me how vindictive the media can be when they want to sell newspapers or shape the public's perception on a story or issue. I take everything I read with a large grain of salt because I know the media outlets always slant the truth.

Again, I would have no issue with boarding a cruise ship today if the opportunity arose. Any vacation can be "ruined" at any time due to circumstances beyond your control (such as a hurricane, earthquake or tsunami), so there is no point avoiding a vacation because of what might happen. You only live once!!

[bfree]

the regulations do require that there is a secondary generator away from the engine room (Higher up) for cases of where there is flooding in the engine room etc.

S.O.L.A.S. (safetly of life at sea regulations)

Okay, explain the Spam on board. I've heard that cruises offer every kind of incredible food imaginable...why Spam? Was there a Monty Python fan club that requested it?

[dattia]

The SPAM was relief food delivered to the disabled vessel by the Coast Guard and the Navy, I believe. As tragic as this event was... in the end, it can best be described as a major inconvenience to the passengers... as we all know, a similar emergency event on an airliner would have had catastrophic results.

I went on one cruise and it was the best time I've ever had!