FYI Fire on Carnival Splendor

[dkjretired]

A fire on Carnival Splendor apparently has the ship stranded, Coast Guard is on the way.

 

http://news.travel.aol.com/2010/11/08/carnival-splendor-catches-fire-off-mexico-ship-in-limbo/?icid=maing%7Cmain5%7C6%7Clink5%7C24207

[reklawr]

A fire on Carnival Splendor apparently has the ship stranded, Coast Guard is on the way.

 

 

Thanks for posting Don. Fire at sea can be a frightening event!

[BroncosFan2010]

WOW! That would be scary.

[Blue46]

I am glad no one got hurt. It would be scary to be on a ship with a fire, but I hope Carnival let their guests know what was happening every step of the way.

[YOW]

I hope Carnival let their guests know what was happening every step of the way.

 

Not much yet in the way of direct reports from pax or crew on the ship. But John Heald (of blog semi-fame) is the CD, and is known to be a very good communicator. And Carnival are apparently offering a full refund of the cruise and related transportation costs, as well as a free future cruise of equal value.

 

Time will tell, but it does seem they are handling this better than X handled / are handling the Century mess. Granted, onboard conditions are worse for these pax; and X pretty much has offered up a PR lesson to other lines on what not to do.

[Allis154]

Time will tell, but it does seem they are handling this better than X handled / are handling the Century mess. Granted, onboard conditions are worse for these pax; and X pretty much has offered up a PR lesson to other lines on what not to do.

 

Just what I was thinking....

[WineDown17]

Hard to say if they are indeed handling it better...the only difference i have seen is that they will give a free cruise...vs a discount...but given that these folks will be on a ship 3 days with no a/c, no hot food, no hot water, and toilets that did not work for half that time? Not sure we can compare the 2....

 

Far worse than what happened on X....and these folks are also getting a bus ride back to home port...very similar...

 

What a nightmare..so glad i am not on board...but these 2 incidents should remind us all that anything can go wrong on any vacation....

[dkjretired]

Hard to say if they are indeed handling it better...the only difference i have seen is that they will give a free cruise...vs a discount...but given that these folks will be on a ship 3 days with no a/c, no hot food, no hot water, and toilets that did not work for half that time? Not sure we can compare the 2....

 

Far worse than what happened on X....and these folks are also getting a bus ride back to home port...very similar...

 

What a nightmare..so glad i am not on board...but these 2 incidents should remind us all that anything can go wrong on any vacation....

 

I also just heard that one of our aircraft carriers is going to drop off pallets of food, guess the refrigerators are out also...

[WineDown17]

I also just heard that one of our aircraft carriers is going to drop off pallets of food, guess the refrigerators are out also...

 

And people say the food in the X MDR has gone downhill!

 

In all seriousness, this is a disaster vs an inconvenience. Luckily no lives have been lost.

[Cruise Arizona]

From what I understand the toilets aren't working, at least at one time they weren't, and they were trying to restore partial power to get the toilets working. I think a lack of sanitation can be just about the worst thing they have to deal with.

 

Has anyone ever been on a ship faced with this kind of disaster? I'm trying to think of the previous fire incidents. How do you even plan for such an emergency? Is there any way to plan for this kinds of thing?

 

I'm an avid cruiser and will continue cruising, just curious if any one with disaster experience can give some suggestions as to how to handle the situation.

[WineDown17]

Foxnews.com reports that cold water and toilets were restored last night. Prior to that there was no running water....

[Spectax]

Hard to imagine being in the middle of the ocean, 3,299 passengers & 1,167 crew, with no a/c, running water, or a/c for several hours. Bet they have completely redefined the "long drop".

 

But seriously, it is good news that so far there have been no serious injuries. I'm betting life isn't very pleasant on the ship even now, and being on a ship that large under tow isn't a desirable situation.

[KruzPrincess]

Not to make light of this because it's very scary and I'm glad I'm not on that ship, but the weather is always very cool around the Baja. It's almost too chilly to be outside sometimes. It's a plus that this happened where it did and it's not stifling hot. The water and toilets are working. They expect to be back to CA by midday today. The passengers get a full refund, matching price credit for a future cruise and transportation home. Everyone is safe. I don't know what else Carnival could have done. I think it sounds like Carnival stepped up right away.

[YOW]

This is a bad situation, no question about it. The toilets are apparently functioning once again along with running cold water. No hot water and no hot food. Probably at least another 24 hours before the passengers reach Ensenada, and obviously some more time on the bus to San Diego or Long Beach. It's not the first time this has happened in cruising history, and won't be the last. How to be prepared? Some lessons will probably come out in the aftermath.

 

Again, we won't know until the passengers are home (or close to home) what has occurred aboard ship in terms of order or lack thereof. We'll probably hear stories of how some guests felt they were treated well, and others who were upset with how Carnival dealt with the situation. I would agree that there are similarities, such as both ships being disabled early on into the cruise. And there are differences, such as:

- Much more extreme conditions for Splendor pax;

- The 'home port' in question is much closer to home for the large majority of pax -- for many even within driving distance -- so a bus to San Diego or Long Beach is more helpful than was the X bus to Barcelona.

- While both lines issued refunds for the truncated cruise, Carnival has already declared that it will reimburse transportation costs as well as provide a free future cruise. This as opposed to 'here's X% off a future cruise, and if you didn't book your air with us then you're out of luck' -- only much later, after arm twisting, bad PR, and much angst for the pax, did Celebrity agree to reimburse air costs for all, and even now this is still unresolved in many cases.

[dkjretired]

This is a bad situation, no question about it. The toilets are apparently functioning once again along with running cold water. No hot water and no hot food. Probably at least another 24 hours before the passengers reach Ensenada, and obviously some more time on the bus to San Diego or Long Beach. It's not the first time this has happened in cruising history, and won't be the last. How to be prepared? Some lessons will probably come out in the aftermath.

 

Again, we won't know until the passengers are home (or close to home) what has occurred aboard ship in terms of order or lack thereof. We'll probably hear stories of how some guests felt they were treated well, and others who were upset with how Carnival dealt with the situation. I would agree that there are similarities, such as both ships being disabled early on into the cruise. And there are differences, such as:

- Much more extreme conditions for Splendor pax;

- The 'home port' in question is much closer to home for the large majority of pax -- for many even within driving distance -- so a bus to San Diego or Long Beach is more helpful than was the X bus to Barcelona.

- While both lines issued refunds for the truncated cruise, Carnival has already declared that it will reimburse transportation costs as well as provide a free future cruise. This as opposed to 'here's X dollars off a future cruise, and if you didn't book your air with us then you're out of luck' -- only much later, after arm twisting, bad PR, and much angst for the pax, did Celebrity agree to reimburse air costs for all, and even now this is still unresolved in many cases.

 

Not to make light of it either but don't forget also that the Century cruise was in a tender port so luggage and passengers had to be taken off by tender. Also, there were strikes all over Europe at the time...

[YOW]

Not to make light of it either but don't forget also that the Century cruise was in a tender port so luggage and passengers had to be taken off by tender. Also, there were strikes all over Europe at the time...

 

Agreed.

[A Sixth?]

Hard to imagine being in the middle of the ocean, 3,299 passengers & 1,167 crew, with no a/c, running water, or a/c for several hours. Bet they have completely redefined the "long drop".

 

But seriously, it is good news that so far there have been no serious injuries. I'm betting life isn't very pleasant on the ship even now, and being on a ship that large under tow isn't a desirable situation.

 

What a mess. :eek:

 

 

Can't help but wonder though....

I wonder if the bar has been comped? :p

[WineDown17]

What a mess. :eek:

 

 

Can't help but wonder though....

I wonder if the bar has been comped? :p

 

I dunno..with no working toilets, i would have avoided the bar..at least until today!

[Christine Frances]

"provide a free future cruise."

 

With this limitation "future cruise equal to the amount paid for this voyage."

 

That is a big difference IMOP

[A Sixth?]

I dunno..with no working toilets, i would have avoided the bar..at least until today!

 

I read on one of the news wires that the toilets are working again as is cold water.

[YOW]

"provide a free future cruise."

 

With this limitation "future cruise equal to the amount paid for this voyage."

 

That is a big difference IMOP

 

Not sure if you're quoting YOW or the Wall Street Journal -- there is an etiquette for this kind of thing. ;)

 

But I did mention earlier about "a free future cruise of equal value," and only for purposes of brevity did I leave out the restriction on the second post. Obviously if someone paid $399 for an inside cabin on this 7-day cruise, they're not going to get a suite that sells for $3499 on a 12-day Med cruise. And since this was a Mexican Riviera sailing in mid-autumn, they may even have to pay extra to get an inside on a Caribbean cruise, or even an inside on a Mexico cruise at a more popular time of year.

[gmazzo]

Not sure if you're quoting YOW or the Wall Street Journal -- there is an etiquette for this kind of thing. ;)

 

But I did mention earlier about "a free future cruise of equal value," and only for purposes of brevity did I leave out the restriction on the second post. Obviously if someone paid $399 for an inside cabin on this 7-day cruise, they're not going to get a suite that sells for $3499 on a 12-day Med cruise. And since this was a Mexican Riviera sailing in mid-autumn, they may even have to pay extra to get an inside on a Caribbean cruise, or even an inside on a Mexico cruise at a more popular time of year.

 

Either way, Carnival made it right by offering what they did. There's not much more they could of done. I think other cruise lines should pay attention. If that happen on other lines I doubt they would of offered such a compensation. With that being said, I would be extremely upset no matter what compensation was offered.

[Mercruiser]

I was reviewing this list of cruise ship fires and noticed that Carnival had a large number of fires in recent years. Assuming I counted right, there are 9 fires listed from 2007 through the present. Six of those were Carnival ships - that works out to 66% of the fires. The other brands within the Carnival family don't seem to have this problem (HAL, Princess, Cunard, etc.)

 

 

[jackdiamond]

A fire on Carnival Splendor apparently has the ship stranded, Coast Guard is on the way.

 

http://news.travel.aol.com/2010/11/08/carnival-splendor-catches-fire-off-mexico-ship-in-limbo/?icid=maing%7Cmain5%7C6%7Clink5%7C24207

This is the Celebrity board.

[colocop004]

This is the Celebrity board.

 

Wow, I think that we all realize that this is the Celebrity board. I think that this is something that everyone who enjoys cruising should be aware of, no matter what cruise line you prefer.