New Orleans Elation Oil Spill

[LHP]

I wish I knew the exact dimensions of the opening (and there may even be a wee bit of variance from port to port), but I've seen some rather large luggage items being sent through.

In Port Everglades for the very first US voyage of Carnival Spendor, every single piece of luggage had to be carried onboard by every passenger . . . much to the surprise of the security personnel . . . and some of the things that had to be checked just inside the port building doors were whoppers.

.

.

 

Yep...that was fun wasn't it......

 

One of the Carnival Reps before we got to Security asked me why I had not "checked my luggage" with the porters...and I said..."because there are no porters" !

 

The port expected everyone to carry on because it was only a 2 day cruise...what they did not anticipate was the 124 guests that were doing a B2B (2 days then 6 days).....

 

and they certainly did not anticipate folks like us that had luggage for yet another 8 day on the Freedom..after we got off the Splendor....

[KroozLov'r]

My guess would be oil...the fuel (actually bunker oil and their on ship refinery makes into usable fuel) we have always seen located comes from a barge ....

 

not a truck.

 

 

"Thank you!", LHP, for finally being a voice of reason!

[rick&james]

Traveling up the Mississippi almost home I'm just ready to get home This has been the worst cruise out if 16 and the Customer Service has been Terrible every answer is you have to send something to the folks in Miami...so what's the point of there Job I think the best part of the Trip is getting off in a few Hours will really consider giving another Cruise Line a Try....

[Cruzin' Daddy]

Rick & James,

 

Sorry to hear about you having a bad cruise! Post more when you get the chance. Can't wait to hear what happened. Have a safe trip back home!

[Cruzin' Daddy]

Yep...that was fun wasn't it......

 

One of the Carnival Reps before we got to Security asked me why I had not "checked my luggage" with the porters...and I said..."because there are no porters" !

 

The port expected everyone to carry on because it was only a 2 day cruise...what they did not anticipate was the 124 guests that were doing a B2B (2 days then 6 days).....

 

and they certainly did not anticipate folks like us that had luggage for yet another 8 day on the Freedom..after we got off the Splendor....

 

And in this instance, my first stop once onboard would have been my cabin...ready or not. No way I would have lugged all the luggage around!

[DGP1111]

And in this instance' date=' my first stop once onboard would have been my cabin...ready or not. No way I would have lugged all the luggage around![/quote']

 

We did have immediate access to cabins, which was a good thing.

But the challenges to that morning were numerous, including being told after check-in that all our S&S cards were goobered up and that we'd have to go through the lines again to get that adjusted by issuing new ones (yes, while schlepping our luggage along with us).

.

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[rcknrbn]

Just got home from the Elation. Can't say the cruise was totally negative since our luggage didn't get destroyed. However, it certainly wasn't the best cruise ever.

 

I took the first pic shortly after the spill. Firefighters were on the scene quickly, they apparently had orders to to wait on hazmat. The cruise director came on the intercom about 4:30 or 5:00pm telling us there would be a "slight delay" due to an oil "incident".

 

I spoke with one passenger who told me he saw the truck operator sitting in the cab while the oil was overflowing the tank and was spewing everywhere. Multiple people, both on the dock and on the ship were yelling at him to get his attention. I guess in a panic, the driver initially put the truck in gear and moved forward a short distance with the hose still attached which did even more damage. All of these containers were pretty well saturated.

 

 

 

 

 

Midnight on the dot, taken from the uppermost deck. Carnival seemed to have all available hands helping out.

 

 

 

 

 

Closeup pic I took at midnight (8 hours after scheduled departure time). Keep in mind the casino and duty free shops were still closed.

 

Over the hours, guests were called by name and escorted back to the dock to go through their luggage to salvage anything not contaminated by oil. Just talking to other affected guests, they were told anything "touched" by oil was considered hazardous material and not allowed on board. The 55 gallon drums were being used to house soiled items and then sealed.

 

 

 

 

At our table that initial evening, 6 of the 10 guests at the table had been told their luggage was contaminated and they would eventually be called down to go throught it. By that measure, we were lucky. Passengers were given "American Tourister" luggage from a local Walmart until their stock ran out; then they were given Carnival bags. And free drinks for the night.

 

I'd hate to be answering the phones at Carnival customer service right about now!

[rick&james]

I already made the call to my PVP

[rcknrbn]

I already made the call to my PVP

 

 

Rick and James - after reading your story, I've got NO complaints!

 

On a side note, I'm very prone to motion sickness. I ate enough Dramamine to choke a horse starting Wed before the Thurs departure. After yesterday's rough seas, I'm a believer in that stuff!

[AdrenalineRush]

Traveling up the Mississippi almost home I'm just ready to get home This has been the worst cruise out if 16 and the Customer Service has been Terrible every answer is you have to send something to the folks in Miami...so what's the point of there Job I think the best part of the Trip is getting off in a few Hours will really consider giving another Cruise Line a Try....

 

Welcome Home!!

I think its a good idea to check out other lines, even if you havent had a bad experience. It will either allow you see what else is out there.

 

Each line has something to offer.

[firefly333]

Any idea of what would be the largest suitcase that could go through?

 

Tucker in Texas

 

3 times my non expandable 25 inch suitcase which isnt that big and has gone thru the xray machines numerous times, so obviously it fits was not allowed to be carried on. This is both in Galveston and New Orleans.

 

So, even though it easily fits they have not allowed me to carry it on.

[Herfnerd]

Glad all y'all are back safe - just sucks about what happened.

 

We cruise on the Elation in 84 days - hope things go well for us!!

[lady_cruiser]

Welcome home RICK&JAMES. I never though I would be saying this but you are the only cruisers I know who will have a legimate excuse on getting a partial refund on your cruise.

[Darris XTMRage]

Sorry to dig out a year-old topic but...

 

My friend caught videos from the first night of this cruise. Anybody who was in this cruise might be interested.

 

 

(I know this may seem like a spam/troll post, but it really isn't. I wanted to bring back what it looked like in this situation.)

[dkc1973]

Note to self- use space bags! If my stuff was ruined I'd be up a creek because my experience with the ships shops is that if you are more than a size 20 you are out of luck!!

[bbbearden]

Just got home from the Elation. Can't say the cruise was totally negative since our luggage didn't get destroyed. However, it certainly wasn't the best cruise ever.

 

I took the first pic shortly after the spill. Firefighters were on the scene quickly, they apparently had orders to to wait on hazmat. The cruise director came on the intercom about 4:30 or 5:00pm telling us there would be a "slight delay" due to an oil "incident".

 

I spoke with one passenger who told me he saw the truck operator sitting in the cab while the oil was overflowing the tank and was spewing everywhere. Multiple people, both on the dock and on the ship were yelling at him to get his attention. I guess in a panic, the driver initially put the truck in gear and moved forward a short distance with the hose still attached which did even more damage. All of these containers were pretty well saturated.

 

 

 

 

 

Midnight on the dot, taken from the uppermost deck. Carnival seemed to have all available hands helping out.

 

 

 

 

 

Closeup pic I took at midnight (8 hours after scheduled departure time). Keep in mind the casino and duty free shops were still closed.

 

Over the hours, guests were called by name and escorted back to the dock to go through their luggage to salvage anything not contaminated by oil. Just talking to other affected guests, they were told anything "touched" by oil was considered hazardous material and not allowed on board. The 55 gallon drums were being used to house soiled items and then sealed.

 

 

 

 

At our table that initial evening, 6 of the 10 guests at the table had been told their luggage was contaminated and they would eventually be called down to go throught it. By that measure, we were lucky. Passengers were given "American Tourister" luggage from a local Walmart until their stock ran out; then they were given Carnival bags. And free drinks for the night.

 

I'd hate to be answering the phones at Carnival customer service right about now!

 

 

WOW, those pictures are amazing yet disturbing at the same time. As we tend to travel with some of our best pieces of clothing I cannot imagine how upset we would be. I really hope CCL stepped up and made this right with the passengers effected. Would love to hear the final outcome.

[Darris XTMRage]

Just incase you didn't view the posted video playlist, here's the parts concerning the incident itself.

 

At first, the captain of the Elation himself came over the intercom and updated the passengers on what was happening (ETA of departure, compensations, etc.) at what the Sports Deck clock roughly shows to be 8:32PM:

 

 

Then about 45 minutes later, the recorder got two glances at the spill itself. The first was on the Verandah deck midship. The second (recorded about 9:30PM) was on the aft Sports deck:

 

 

But as we can all guess, this didn't get in the way of having a good time:

 

 

By the way, this is a review of the cruise up until Cozumel that he wrote for me to put here:

 

Elation left the port some time around 1:45AM or 2AM. At 10AM she reached the mouth of the river. She ended up reaching Cozumel at about 11 in the afternoon, even going at full speed ahead across the Gulf. She didn't leave the port of Cozumel until about 10PM that night. Infact, the Mardi Gras parade started just as Elation was rebarking (The 2-16-12 cruise was the Mardi Gras weekend cruise).

[TruckinMama]

Note to self- use space bags! If my stuff was ruined I'd be up a creek because my experience with the ships shops is that if you are more than a size 20 you are out of luck!!

 

Yeah, I would be completely screwed! Nothing would fit me, nor do we have ANY extra money for replacing anything. This post is giving me anxiety like crazy! We leave for NOLA in 4 days. HAHA! I think I have some space bags somewhere around here, definitely going to look, and if not, I may pack things in plastic bags IN my luggage anyway. Anxiety, seriously!

[ib4cruzn]

They've just GOT to find a way to kill baby seals...

 

Talk about a run of bad luck!

[Cruisin'Doc]

I think the part I find the most uncomfortable, is that if items were touched by oil, it seems you lost them for good, as they were then put in the 55 gallon drums and sealed up.

 

Although inconvenient and extremely aggravating, I could deal with losing some clothes, but I'm thinking of how many of us may travel with a certain item in our luggage that we can NOT as easily replace. That part makes me uneasy.

 

I may have to rethink how I pack. Although this was a rare accidents, accidents *do* happen.

[sailincajunns]

;) Bon jour, everyone on board............

 

Certainly "stuff happens". We live about 1 hour from the Port at NOLA. As you might guess, this was BIG news here for well over a week.

 

For those that are 'freaking out' or 'in a panic' because of this possibility, please know that changes were made in the staging of luggage/materials at the cruise port following this incident, so the possibility of this happening AGAIN are even more remote than the odds of this having happened in the first place.

 

Of course, the 'odds' are meaningless if it happens on YOUR cruise, and I understand that, (note the cancelled Triumph in our history) but NOLA 'turns around' at least two cruise ships every week, year-round..........and in all of those many, MANY transitions, this was the first and only time a pressurized fuel/oil line failed and impacted passenger luggage on the dock.

 

As with nearly every vacation, the most 'dangerous' and most likely to 'fail' part of the trip will be the drive to/from the port, even if that drive is only to and from the airports pre and post cruise.

 

I hope everyone can enjoy their planned sailing.

 

I was a little sad to see this old story resurrected, since Carnival has enough current/negative news coverage/threads.........but I certainly don't want anyone to have any concern/impression that this is LIKELY to happen or to think this is a common problem.

 

Bon Voyage and happy vacations to ALL :D:)

[wmowan8485]

How old is this post??

[sailincajunns]

This incident occurred over a year ago.

 

No worries, presently

 

Bon Voyage!!:D

[gregg204]

How old is this post??

 

Over a year old. Old News.

[Darris XTMRage]

Over the hours, guests were called by name and escorted back to the dock to go through their luggage to salvage anything not contaminated by oil.

 

He caught these on video too. There's a video compilation:

 

*I will insert a link here tomorrow when he uploads it*

 

Basically, this is how the intercom speaker worded it every time:

 

Good evening. This announcement is for the following guests: <list of names>...to calmly proceed to the Mark Twain's library located on Deck 8 Forward. Thank you.

 

I would hate to have them call my name on that list!