Costa Ship grounded or sinking

[lovevacadays]

Perhaps, but if initial reports of the delay in issuing a mayday and that the Captain abandoned his post and exited the ship prior to passengers turn out to be accurate it would follow there is likely criminal liability.

 

I saw the reports about the Captain possibly having criminal charges brought against him. I was wondering why this might be. What you've posted makes sense. I wonder what the complete outcome of the story is going to be.

 

Also wondering if the Captain was not at fault for why the ship hit the rocks and then listed but he did abandon ship prior to all passengers being rescued would that Captain still face criminal charges?

 

I am so sorry for the families that lost loved ones and for those that experienced this tragic event. I can't even imagine what this might have been like for everyone.

[kathe]

Captain and Staff Captain have been arrested on Homicide and leaving ship before all passengers were found.Ship I believe was in Italian waters.This will effect all CCL ships.A major diaster with AA reports at least 40 still missing.Kathe

[lovevacadays]

Captain and Staff Captain have been arrested on Homicide and leaving ship before all passengers were found.Ship I believe was in Italian waters.This will effect all CCL ships.A major diaster with AA reports at least 40 still missing.Kathe

 

What do you mean by this will effect all CCL ships?

[jollyjones]

What do you mean by this will effect all CCL ships?

 

This is going to cost CCL an awful lot of money ...

[cdamion]

I'm just repeating what a major TV station posted. That was the headline to the news story. It was a CNN article so the error is theirs. I know we shouldn't believe everything we read or hear on the news but the media has an obligation to double-check their facts. :)

 

CNN has been particularly sloppy in reporting this story. While I was watching the anchor reported:

 

-the ship is owned by Carnival Cruise Lines based in Miami.

 

-passengers had to swim 2 1/2 miles to shore.

 

-captain was charged with manslaughter (later corrected himself to say 'will likely be charged')

 

-had the order of ports wrong (most media outlets did).

 

-still talking about possibility of explosion on board (everybody else dropped this)

 

I would take anything CNN writes with a grain of salt as they seem to be listing "facts" that they haven't verified.

[Pam in CA]

I would take anything CNN writes with a grain of salt as they seem to be listing "facts" that they haven't verified.

You're right. I should have remembered that they often get things wrong.

[cdamion]

I saw the reports about the Captain possibly having criminal charges brought against him. I was wondering why this might be. What you've posted makes sense. I wonder what the complete outcome of the story is going to be.

 

Also wondering if the Captain was not at fault for why the ship hit the rocks and then listed but he did abandon ship prior to all passengers being rescued would that Captain still face criminal charges?

 

I am so sorry for the families that lost loved ones and for those that experienced this tragic event. I can't even imagine what this might have been like for everyone.

 

This is standard procedure in Italy. It is not the same as if he was arrested in the US. There, if there is an incident like this (or on a much much smaller scale) the driver, pilot, engineer will be arrested first for questioning to determine what happened.

 

Not like the U.S. where they can disappear until they are ready to talk to officials with a union official present hours or days after the incident.

[JanaJohn]

CNN like every other media outlet responding to a breaking new story tends to rush information to their listeners/readers before verifying the info. I've read and heard several versions of what people think happened. As usual I'll wait until the experts have had time to do a proper investigation.

 

I understand that everyone seems to want to know exactly what happened as soon as possible but far too often the first versions of the story don't turn out to be what really happened. I guess I'm old enough now that I'll wait to hear the facts.

 

BTW, have you noticed that what everyone calls a "black box" is normally colored orange or some color other than black to make it more visible? Yet we persist in calling it a "black box." I know that on locomotives (I worked where they build them) the 'black box' is actually called an event recorder. I guess it doesn't sound as cute as black box.

[lovevacadays]

This is going to cost CCL an awful lot of money ...

 

I agree. Just wasn't sure how it was going to affect the other ships.

[Cupcrazy]

If you think the Grand Princess had an extensive dry dock session, can you even imagine how long or how much this is going to cost to repair? Its possible that they could even scrap the ship all together with how much its going to cost to rebuild. Almost everything will need to be replaced.

[windsor26]

If you think the Grand Princess had an extensive dry dock session, can you even imagine how long or how much this is going to cost to repair? Its possible that they could even scrap the ship all together with how much its going to cost to rebuild. Almost everything will need to be replaced.

 

I think it is more likely that insurance costs will rise to cover this

[northernsw]

>This will effct all CCL ships.

 

I think the biggest change we as cruisers may see will be in muster drills. All of the reports I have seen seem to show problems in this area. It appears the company may not been diligent enough in conducting the drills, and passengers may have not have been diligent enough in participating in them. The end result was a breakdown in crowd control when disaster struck.

 

As an experienced cruiser, I always map out the quickest route to a muster station and to a weather deck, and I do this the moment I dump my stuff in my cabin. I suspect muster drills will become a bit more disciplined as a result of this disaster.

[Tony Villano]

Not just cruise ships, but it's a good idea to know a primary and secondary evacuation route for any public area (hotels, arenas, etc.).

[Pam in CA]

>This will effct all CCL ships.

 

I think the biggest change we as cruisers may see will be in muster drills. All of the reports I have seen seem to show problems in this area. It appears the company may not been diligent enough in conducting the drills, and passengers may have not have been diligent enough in participating in them. The end result was a breakdown in crowd control when disaster struck.

 

As an experienced cruiser, I always map out the quickest route to a muster station and to a weather deck, and I do this the moment I dump my stuff in my cabin. I suspect muster drills will become a bit more disciplined as a result of this disaster.

I think it'll affect how Costa conducts their drills and Princess will (and should) implement a check-in procedure that's better than randomly scanning people's cruise cards.

 

What the media has failed to make note of is that the only people who hadn't had Muster were those embarking in Civvitavecchia. Costa disembarks and embarks passengers in a number of ports on the itinerary, unlike Princess where other than those doing a b2b all embark at the same port. That doesn't excuse the reports of crew not being organized or assisting passengers.

 

Having been on a ship when the alarm went off at 2am, even experienced cruisers get confused and unsure no matter how many Musters they've attended and how clear the instructions at Muster. When it happened to me, I seemed to be the only one who got dressed and had my stuff together before opening the door only to find people in their PJs or robes wandering around. Ever since then, I've always organized and laid out my clothes for the next day on a chair. I also leave my safe open overnight. If the power is out, as it was on the Concordia, you can't get into the safe if it's locked.

[6pack]

I think it'll affect how Costa conducts their drills and Princess will (and should) implement a check-in procedure that's better than randomly scanning people's cruise cards.

 

What the media has failed to make note of is that the only people who hadn't had Muster were those embarking in Civvitavecchia. Costa disembarks and embarks passengers in a number of ports on the itinerary, unlike Princess where other than those doing a b2b all embark at the same port. That doesn't excuse the reports of crew not being organized or assisting passengers.

 

Having been on a ship when the alarm went off at 2am, even experienced cruisers get confused and unsure no matter how many Musters they've attended and how clear the instructions at Muster. When it happened to me, I seemed to be the only one who got dressed and had my stuff together before opening the door only to find people in their PJs or robes wandering around. Ever since then, I've always organized and laid out my clothes for the next day on a chair. I also leave my safe open overnight. If the power is out, as it was on the Concordia, you can't get into the safe if it's locked.

 

Good idea about the safe! Thanks for sharing this!

[Aussie Gal]

We had a fire alarm at 2am when we were on Azamara's Quest back in 2009 and the first thing I did was to open the safe just in case the power went off.

 

I did read that a passenger on Costa boarded on the 8th January and said she hadn't yet had a lifeboat drill. It does make one wonder!

 

I do like the way HAL conducts their drills, with everyone being marked off on the list that the person in charge of that Muster Station carries with him. Of course, HAL had a ship that caught fire and went down in Alaska in the 1980's (the original Prinsendam) and since then, they have been very particular about drills.

 

Jennie

[Host CJSKIDS]

I think it'll affect how Costa conducts their drills and Princess will (and should) implement a check-in procedure that's better than randomly scanning people's cruise cards.

 

What the media has failed to make note of is that the only people who hadn't had Muster were those embarking in Civvitavecchia. Costa disembarks and embarks passengers in a number of ports on the itinerary, unlike Princess where other than those doing a b2b all embark at the same port. That doesn't excuse the reports of crew not being organized or assisting passengers.

 

Having been on a ship when the alarm went off at 2am, even experienced cruisers get confused and unsure no matter how many Musters they've attended and how clear the instructions at Muster. When it happened to me, I seemed to be the only one who got dressed and had my stuff together before opening the door only to find people in their PJs or robes wandering around. Ever since then, I've always organized and laid out my clothes for the next day on a chair. I also leave my safe open overnight. If the power is out, as it was on the Concordia, you can't get into the safe if it's locked.

 

Pam, as always you are correct. Sometimes you do forget everything you have heard in an emergency at sea.

 

My thoughts and prayers are with everyone that was involved as I know just how terrified they were. Our situations may have been different, but I know they were scared out of their wits. I pray they all get home safely and that they can overcome the awful memories they will have.

[caribill]

The ship would have been under the direction of the pilot, but the captain would still have been in "charge."

They were not anywhere near to approaching the next port, so they would not have needed a local pilot on board.

 

On a Princess ship, in a situation like this would people still have had to go to the muster stations in the theater, etc? Or would they go directly to the lifeboats? Yes, to the muster stations. From there staff can, once an abandon ship order is given, lead the proper number of passengers to each working lifeboat. When the emergency signal sounds, it is not an abandon ship signal.

 

Can you imagine trying to evacuate several hundred people from the theater with most if not all of them in a panic? But I'm not sure if going to the actual muster stations would have helped in this situation either. The account I read said people were crawling on their hands and knees trying to claw their way up severely tilted hallways. At that point wouldn't the muster stations on the port side have been unusable anyway? The call to muster was a while before the ship started listing.

 

 

see above in red

[caribill]

We had a wheelchair person in the cabin across the hall from ours and had talked that we would knock on their door to check on them if something came up. Should there be a buddy system in place in each section on the ship?

 

Those who may need assistance in case of emergency on a Princess ship are asked to notify their cabin attendant or the Purser's desk at the start of the cruise so that staff personnel know to assist them in case of an emergency.

[caribill]

Some ran to their lifeboats in their nightclothes, completely unprepared.

 

Since lifeboats are not pre-assigned. how did they know which lifeboarts were "theirs" to run to?

[caribill]

The Captain has already been arrested for abandoning the ship and manslaughter. They sure didn't waste any time and must have clear-cut evidence.

 

That is just the way the law works with accidents in Italy. Arrest first and decide if that was the right thing to do later.

 

Someone posted a link to where Italian seismologists were being sued by the authorities because they had not predicted that a severe earthquate was possible. They were not arrested, but it indicates the way laws are implemented there.

[karatemom2]

A passenger's firsthand account of the ordeal from the Costa Board. Sounds just horrendous!

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1548951

[Pam in CA]

Since lifeboats are not pre-assigned. how did they know which lifeboarts were "theirs" to run to?

It was on a HAL cruise where Muster is under "your" lifeboat. I should have been clearer. The HAL instructions in the cabins are very clear that you should go immediately to your lifeboat. After five very long minutes, the Captain got on the PA to tell passengers to stay in their cabins. There was a fire up in the Lido buffet but not an emergency as it turned out but it was chaotic during those five minutes. At 2:30am, we were told that everything was under control and to go back to sleep. (Like that was going to happen.) I'm guessing that regulations required them to sound the alarm and wake us up.

[Aussie Gal]

From reading of the first hand account by one of the passengers, it seems that they haven't received any help from Costa. I know that 3000 passengers is a lot to sort out but some help wouldn't go astray.

 

Jennie

[fathercop]

My prayers go out to all those who were sailing, but most especially to the families and loved ones of those who died. What a tragic event.