Solstice encounters brief problem in Venice

[sldispatcher]

Best that I can tell..

Was dining in BLU at sometime between 745pm and 815 when Captain comes on with an ECHO ECHO ECHO announcement for the “crew only”….the ship vibrated as motors started/loud clanking sounds..and we started moving..more announcements for the crew only….

Back to room where it was easy to see that boarding had stopped…and we were starting to move forward.

Over in the “Minoan Lines” terminal, people were gathering…by the tens..then hundreds. Must have been passengers waiting to reboard.

From what I could gather from the captain’s in room announcement, that some of the forward moorings had broken in a strong gust of wind. No injuries..and ship was under control.

About 945pm, all had been secured and the ship repositioned and then the mass of people returned to the ship. I would estimate about 1500 or so..maybe more….had waited for things to return to normal.

Hats off to the crew and all involved for restoring order quickly.

In the dark, I could make out one large blue line in the back appeared either torn or cut and laying on the pier surface as well as one in the front. Two yellow mooring anchors (not sure of the correct term) were not present on or about the area where the front of the ship had previously been located.

Will be interesting to get more details.

[john_galt]

The force of the wind against the side of a ship can be intense. I remember watching video of a Carnival ship sideswipe a Royal Caribbean ship in Cozumel due to high winds.

 

Let us know if you get any more details.

[cirman52]

We were 2of the hundreds waiting to reboard the ship. We actually had to wait over 2 1/4 hours, and deal with confusion, both on Celerbity's part as well as the Port auth.

2 moorings were broken and the ship did have some minor damage, very minor. As the romps broke, the gangplank fell into the water. Luckily, no one was hurt. .3 tug boats were needed to keep the ship from moving away from the dock.

[Phxazzcruisers]

We were on a sailing of Journey out of Valpariso Chile two years ago. The winds were so strong that it too well over an hour just to pull away from the docking port. It was a very interesting experience.

[gold1953]

I was also on the ship and felt the movement. We seemed also to have power issues. The captain was not on board so the first 'echo , echo, echo call was not made by him . He was rushed back to the ship in a small port boat and went o quickly to examine the stern. He boarded and repeated the echo call. The tugs did push us back to the pier and then we had to move the ship to reconnect with the pier. The captain came on a again and announced that we had safely regained control of the ship. I took photos of the damaged to the ship and we are very lucky that the person who had just stepped on the gangway got off befor it fell!

[BizDoc]

We were there and among those that had to wait to reboard. A bollard from the dock was pulled away by the ship's dock lines and literally was catapaulted upwards where it hit the ship and put a hole through a vent on the port side. Pretty intense.

 

Unlike some other comments we felt the port security and the crew, who were also stranded on shore, did a good job of telling us what they could and getting us back aboard. The assistant hotel manager was especially helpful and informative.

 

There were, unfortunately, some "ugly Americans" who felt somehow punished by the event, who complained loudly while waiting, and then pushed others out of the way to get back on board. We even overheard one woman who -- honestly -- wanted to know why the Captain was immediatley allowed to board the ship after the incident and she could not. This, of course, was after the gangway had fallen into the water......

 

The Ocean View Cafe stayed open late that night, and the Grand Epernay Dining Room took diners late into the evening, to accomodate those who had to wait on shore. All in all, it was exciting and not a big deal, since no one was hurt.

[drarill]

We even overheard one woman who -- honestly -- wanted to know why the Captain was immediatley allowed to board the ship after the incident and she could not. This, of course, was after the gangway had fallen into the water......

 

 

You made me laugh!!! Can't believe some people :confused:. I'm grateful because no one was on the ramp when the gangplank fell in the water.

[boogs]

There are videos on YouTube of a similar situation aboard MSC Fantasia in 2009. In that case a couple of people fell into the water. Not a good thing to happen to anyone.

 

Here is one of the videos:

 

[sunflower46]

Hi all Solstice lovers. We were there right on the dock when the moorings broke loose. There were two loud thunderous booms and then a smaller third one when the gangway went into the water. We did not think the Italian security did a very good job initially. They were too busy trying to make sure they pulled their awning in while it was happening, and not thinking about the 18 or so of us who stood there trying to get out of the way. Our belongings were all stuck in the scanner because they turned it off. We were no more than 100 ft. from where it happened - at the security checkpoint vehicle . I do think that Celebrity staff did an outstanding job taking care of us and getting out the word of what happened. The Captain was on one of the shuttle boats and he actually made the announcement to the people on with him and then got on to another shuttle to explain to that group as well. And, yes, he was escorted quickly onto the ship. So, if he didn't get on the ship he would have been compared to the Captain on the unfortunate Costa ship. The way I see it, he put himself in harms way to protect those of us waiting onshore. The Staff Captain took over while the Captain was off the ship as is procedure. He did an excellent job. There were many people who complained, including the lady mentioned above. I think it was because they didn't really understand that this COULD have been a very serious incident and that the cruiseline was acting out of an abundance of caution. As I mentioned before, the fact that we were right there when the incident took place and having seen the heavy moorings hit the ship, I understand that this could have been very bad. And, by the way, there was a group that just got on the ship just before the gangway went down. So, kudos to the Celebrity staff on shore and on the ship that took such good care of us. We were all safe and unharmed. This incident reminded me of why I travel on Celebrity.

[AerynSun_JohnCrighton]

Wow,

I will be on her in 5 weeks!

 

I'm glad it was taken care of promptly and no one was hurt (that's the biggest thing)

 

I can't wait for full reviews from all of you just off!!!

 

I will prob have lots of questions as this is my first Med cruise!

[WoodyP]

My wife and I were on this cruise and on this evening I had taken her to a little restaurant I know in Venice. When we came back, I jokingly said I could only see one ship in the dock and it wasn't ours - turned out to be true !

When we got down to the dockside there was some poor Italian guy doing his best but surrounded and being harranged by 50 or so people, mostly it has to be said Americans demanding to know when they would get back on board.

The sudden wind gust on the huge side area of the ship must have exerted hundreds of tons of force to do what it did, so as up until then it had been a perfectly calm pleasant spring evening, no one could have predicted it, so why some people were bellyaching so much was beyond us.

Anyway, it all got sorted in the end. We ended up in an embarcation lounge for about half an hour and eventually got back on board.

A lot of the delay was down to the port authority insisting we still went through their security before going through it again on the ship. We were met by the ship's staff handing out hot drinks.

This was a unique event and the crew acted in the best interest of everyone's safety so we all waited around for a while and re-joined the ship without anyone being injured. Let's all be thankful for that.

[Essiesmom]

I am on Nieuw Amsterdam now and we had such bad weather in Venice on May 12 that they had to run the thrusters the night of May 12 to keep us at the pier. The port was closed and Musica and Costa Favolosa couldn't doc until 2pm. We were supposed to leave at 12:15 and were held until 6pm. EM

[americandream]

This is slightly off topic and will no doubt ruffle some feathers, but I must rant.

 

I find it interesting (and annoying) how many people in this thread make reference to "ugly Americans" in the same post as they state the Italian port authority was incompetent. Incompetence breeds irritation regardless of nationality...

 

We perpetuate our own myths people! I have worked extensively with all of our NATO allies and beyond. I can assure you that Americans are among the most humble of all in both deed and word. We are definitely the most generous when it comes to our time and resources. Yes, there are knuckleheads in every group, but stop with the generalizations already!

 

I'm glad nobody was hurt.