So, last weekend, due to what appears to be totally human error, a 950-odd foot long cruise ship hit a rock, had a hole torn in the hull, listed and came to rest near other rocks in fairly shallow water.
At this time there are 11 confirmed deaths, about 2 dozen missing and a "captain" who will most likely find himself serving a long prison term as he allegedly caused this disaster by, pardon the term, 'show boating', sailing the ship too close to the island of Giglio in Italy so that a crew member's family could get a close look.
I've maintained, since my first cruise about 8 years ago, that cruising is very safe. You're on a 1000 foot 'floating city' with, among other things, state of the art navigational aids, a properly trained crew and officers who know what they're doing and take their responsibility for thousands of guests and crew, not to mention a ship that probably cost the cruise line somewhere north of $400 million dollars to build.
Once you're on the ship, there is an implied trust that those charged with operating the vessel will take you from point of embarkation to various ports of call, and to the point of disembarkation, where the most serious decision being made by passengers is whether to order an extra dessert.
Yet, last weekend the fun and excitement of cruising turned into a life or death situation. While all the details have yet to come out, and in actuality there's no guarantee that we will every hear the full story, 4000 people had to decide what to do in order to survive. The "Captain" (and frankly, if he did what is alleged, this man doesn't deserve that title) allegedly abandoned not only the ship, but the 4000 souls he was charged with protecting, not to mention the ship. He didn't own it-the Concordia is owned by Costa Crociere, which in turn falls under the Carnival Corporate umbrella. So, aside from endangering lives, he (allegedly) destroyed (or at least severely damaged) company property.
There has been much discussion about the muster drill not being held. Maritime law permits 24 hours from departure for this to happen. This particular cruise had multiple ports of embarkation which is not typical of cruises that begin in the United States. Some passengers said they were on the ship for five days and still hadn't attended a muster drill.
In my 20-plus cruises, there was exactly one instance of muster NOT being held before we left port. This was due to the very late arrival of the ship to our port of embarkation. We were scheduled to sail at midnight as opposed to 5 PM. (Heck, boarding didn't even start until close to 6 PM.) Muster took place promptly at 10 AM the next morning. Having cruised before, and several times on that ship, I felt confident enough that I'd be able to find my muster station should the unthinkable have happened in 10 hours.
Sure, many people may have been on their first cruise-but I think at this point, even if you're going on your first one, take minutes out of your first day excitement to look at the map on the back of your cabin door. Figure out where your muster station is located, and go check it out. You just never know! I'll be doing this on all future cruises, even if I KNOW where to go in an emergency.
The crew deserves credit for trying, and apparently taking it upon themselves to try and load lifeboats and get them launched. I am disturbed though that not all crew know HOW to launch the boats. Perhaps EVERYONE should know this. Not necessarily how to drive them, but surely it would be possible to teach them all how to operate the launch mechanism. I don't imagine that it's too terribly hard.
Muster drills need to be taken seriously. If they are supposed to start at 4 PM, then they should start at 4 PM, which means guests need to STOP boozing it up by 3:45 PM and proceed to the muster station! That's when the outlets on ships seem to close-shortly before muster starts. Why? So that the PROPERLY TRAINED crew can get into position to guide the passengers to the proper location. I will say that some lines do a much better job with this necessary drill. (Face it, you have to do exactly TWO things on a cruise-go to the Muster Drill and get OFF the ship at the end!) It's 15 minutes out of your vacation that can save your life!
Will this stop me from cruising? Not a chance. Will I think twice about which lines I choose? You bet I will. Do I worry about the officers and crew keeping me safe? No, but I probably should. I've been lucky enough to meet several Captains on ships, and I can't imagine them EVER intentionally putting lives or ships in danger. While I was on an Alaska cruise, we were, I am not sure, maybe half a mile or so away from the Hubbard Glacier. The Captain asked if we should get closer. Of course the entire ship said YES!! He said, not a chance! Even though there are charts with the glaciers marked on them, due to the calving, and the fact that only 10% of the glacier is above water, we weren't going even a bit closer! There's no way he, nor any other Captain that I can think of, would deviate from the pre-programmed course to show off. And honestly the only way they would vary the route would be out of necessity-weather, other traffic, etc.
My prayers go out to all those affected directly, and to my friends on ships whose colleagues at sea have been involved in such a horrific experience.
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