Fire on Carnival Triumph. No engines, running on emergency generators.

[mamaty]

Oh thank you so much for your reply. I am so happy to hear about how they are like family. This is true my son has told me the same thing. after all...all they have is each other being away from family for so long...they all have that in common no matter where they are from or what it is they do on the ship. My son has been gone 2 and 1/2 months. I wonder if they know each other...your daughter and my son. What department is she in?

 

 

She is on of the entertainment staff, a singer. I am looking forward to her return home. All the doom and gloom from other posters is making the wait very trying. So much speculation and two individuals who are filling up the news stations with more doom and gloom. I am sure there are others who the media has not spoken to that will prob say it is a very tough situation but not as ugly as the ones the media is choosing to promote.

 

Until I hear different from her, I will not buy into the ugly speculations of others. How else wuld I be able to sleep thinking of my child enduring what is being "guessed" about.

 

Yes that crew is simply AMAZING!!!! They were all so wonderful when I was on the ship on a b2b this past xmas and new years. They truly think of each other as family and treat each other that way.. This is what keeps me going. I hope this comforts you until you can hear your sweet boys voice.

[waldocruiser1]

The principal reason the ship headed to Mobile are the sea conditions. According to a Carnival statement Triumph would have had to go against the prevailing currents had it been towed to Progreso.

 

Given that the currently reported tow speed is 6 knots with the current, it seems reasonable to conclude that heading to Progreso would have taken much longer than the original estimate.

 

Then why didnt it go straight to Galvestan instead of Mobile?

 

I don't trust or believe the Carnival statement anymore than I beleive he made the statement on 2-12-13 (look at the statement) at 8:30 pm that was posted last night, Did he write the statement and get in his time machine and come back to yesterday to post it? (I know it was a type-o) but you would think they would READ what they are putting out before saying it.

[MEOWSMURPHY]

I am assuming it was Windstar and not Carnival? You can make a ship where they are setup for that purpose. The setup of the Carnival ships do not appear to allow them to be used as tenders. The loading deck appears to be too high to safely load a lifeboat as a tender on the open sea. You are still in 3 to 6 foot seas. I can't see anyway to make loading a Carnival lifeboat for transfer from one ship to another safe enough and quick enough to make it worth it when it is just a 48 hour tow. Too many chances for someone going in the water for my liking. Plus, considering how rude people apparently are in the food lines, I could only imagine the fights in the line to get off the ship. There might be a riot.

 

Carnival has on occasion used a life boat as a tender. One of my cruises we did this in Grand Cayman..it was nice to see the inside of the lifeboat, but I personally would not like to be sitting in that thing for hours on end..very very uncomfortable..

[broberts]

Brent Nutt on again. Said he has not spoken to his wife since yesturday. So no updates.

 

Caught that interview.

 

I thought it sad that he feels Carnival is not being truthful with passengers because reports of when the tugs would arrive kept being revised. I've always been a proponent of disseminating as much information as possible to passengers when the unexpected is happening. But when I hear people suggesting cover ups and lying due to the fluidity of a situation I begin to understand the downside.

[waldocruiser1]

On my cruise last summer, the life boats were used as tenders. They lowered two of them at every port that we couldn't dock.

 

I have seen this done also,

 

seams like it would have worked if then needed/wanted to

[cruiseflyer38]

this is much more than "Stuff Happens"! A bar server that spills a drink on me is stuff that happens. I trip over my own feet, is stuff that happens. A cruise ship that has a fire and loses power is much more than suff happens. All I can say is " Thank God I am not on that vessel>

How about departing with one engine inoperable ?

[Disneycrazymom]

I have been thinking about the passengers who take medications. While traveling I always take a day or 2 extra but not everyone does. Would there be a pharmacy on board to dispense passengers medication as needed? I hope so!

[reallyitsmema]

Then why didnt it go straight to Galvestan instead of Mobile?

 

I don't trust or believe the Carnival statement anymore than I beleive he made the statement on 2-12-13 (look at the statement) at 8:30 pm that was posted last night, Did he write the statement and get in his time machine and come back to yesterday to post it? (I know it was a type-o) but you would think they would READ what they are putting out before saying it.

The currents are taking the ship towards Mobile.

 

There are facilities in Mobile to fix the ship.

 

There is an airport in Mobile, not huge, but an airport none the less.

 

There is a cruise terminal in Mobile.

[broberts]

Then why didnt it go straight to Galvestan instead of Mobile?

 

I don't trust or believe the Carnival statement anymore than I beleive he made the statement on 2-12-13 (look at the statement) at 8:30 pm that was posted last night, Did he write the statement and get in his time machine and come back to yesterday to post it? (I know it was a type-o) but you would think they would READ what they are putting out before saying it.

 

Galveston was about half again the distance to Mobile. It would also have been across the current making the tow more difficult and slower.

 

I don't understand why a typo makes someone loose trust in the statements made about an emergency.

[Dee777]

My thoughts are with the passengers and crew, hoping they all remain safe and well and supporting each other through this misadventure.

 

Things like this are bound to happen in life no matter where you go and what you do. Thankfully it is resulting in inconvenience and discomfort when it could have been so, so much worse.

 

Dee :)

[waldocruiser1]

Ship to ship transfers in open seas involve a fair degree of risk.

 

Sending a relief ship and conducting a transfer would need much more than one day. So another 3,000 people would have their vacations substantially affected. Tough call.

 

There are a host of reasons the anchor was not dropped. A salient one is that sea depths in the area are over 3,500 feet.

 

3000 people catching norvo also is a risk, and with raw poop and pee all over (from posts here on CC) I would take the risk of stepping off the ship and on the other ship.

 

 

Risk falling in the water for a few minutes, or get a very bad sickness and risk dieing, I would risk the water

 

Why would it take more than a few hours? They get all (most) of the passengers off the ship in a few hours every day in Grand Cayman and Cabo by tenders, and then they put them back on again also. The return trip from Cozamel can be done in one long day, and they are part way back where they are floating,

 

As for the ship "moving" it floated 90 miles in 30 hours, that is about 3 miles per hour, and yes it is bobbing up and down and around, but hey, they transfered 3 tons of food and supplies from one ship to another, how did they do that, Toss each box/bag and bottle from the lido deck of one to the other? I would bet they tied one ship to the other, and slid the gangway across and before they started moving things they told the crew "be carefull the ships are still moving" and they did it and did not drown

[WetToes]

Because many Americans are lazy and do not want to take the (little)time it takes to apply for one

 

 

Yep! That must be why. :rolleyes:

[AcaCandy]

Galveston was about half again the distance to Mobile. It would also have been across the current making the tow more difficult and slower.

 

I don't understand why a typo makes someone loose trust in the statements made about an emergency.

 

Maybe someone in their British office typed it.

[caribill]

How do you know there won't be a fee? Source? The government has often waived the fines imposed by the Jones act when the circumstances are beyond the control of the people involved.

 

My "guess" would be that since this was an accident, that the ship's insurance policy would pick up all costs relating to such accident.

 

It is also my "guess" that cruise ships have insurance policies. Yes, the cruise ship companies have incurance policies, but with a high deductible. You can be sure that Carnival will be paying millions of $$ before the policy kicks in.

 

 

See above in red

[Rasvar]

Carnival has on occasion used a life boat as a tender. One of my cruises we did this in Grand Cayman..it was nice to see the inside of the lifeboat, but I personally would not like to be sitting in that thing for hours on end..very very uncomfortable..

 

Ok, Feasible then. It may have made sense if done a day or two ago, then. But there is still the question of how long it would take. The would have had to have canceled the Legend yesterday and used it for it to make sense. Still not sure how well it would have gone. I still think that the tow is the safest and most reasonable option for this incident.

 

I am not going to condemn Carnival for not moving faster until I have a fuller view of the situation, what was known and what wasn't known. I suspect there are some lack of maintenance issues that may have led to the issue, but want to know that it wasn't just an unfortunate accident or the breaking of something that had not been having problems prior. I am hoping that all of the pax are being taken care of as best as they can. I would not want to be in the situation for anything myself. I will also make this prediction: some people will end up saying it was living hell and worse than third world conditions and then there will be others that say it was tough but we made the best of it and made some good friends. 3000 Pax and 3000 different stories. All will be the truth as they saw it.

[Half Pint]

Free CRUISE plus FREE FUTURE cruise, plus all traveling expenses reimbursed, plus a STORY for the AGES. Suck it up for a few days, everyone is going to be just fine. To be honest, put me on that ship, I wouldn't mind the adventure. I dont think SAFETY is an issue at all. People are making a big deal out of nothing. The PAX are getting compensated nicely. So, you sleep in tents on the deck. There is no buffet, or unlimited ice cream for a few days. My golly, only 3 square meals. Heaven forbid. Send me on that ship, I'll take that compensation package any day for what the PAX are going through.

 

I'm guessing once passengers are home safely and stories of how things really were on the ship start trickling out, you may have a different opinion.

[reallyitsmema]

3000 people catching norvo also is a risk, and with raw poop and pee all over (from posts here on CC) I would take the risk of stepping off the ship and on the other ship.

 

 

Risk falling in the water for a few minutes, or get a very bad sickness and risk dieing, I would risk the water

 

Why would it take more than a few hours? They get all (most) of the passengers off the ship in a few hours every day in Grand Cayman and Cabo by tenders, and then they put them back on again also. The return trip from Cozamel can be done in one long day, and they are part way back where they are floating,

 

As for the ship "moving" it floated 90 miles in 30 hours, that is about 3 miles per hour, and yes it is bobbing up and down and around, but hey, they transfered 3 tons of food and supplies from one ship to another, how did they do that, Toss each box/bag and bottle from the lido deck of one to the other? I would bet they tied one ship to the other, and slid the gangway across and before they started moving things they told the crew "be carefull the ships are still moving" and they did it and did not drown

Seriously???

[truecruiser]

Caught that interview.

 

I thought it sad that he feels Carnival is not being truthful with passengers because reports of when the tugs would arrive kept being revised. I've always been a proponent of disseminating as much information as possible to passengers when the unexpected is happening. But when I hear people suggesting cover ups and lying due to the fluidity of a situation I begin to understand the downside.

 

Agree (if you're stating that you are seeing the downside for these family members).

 

The few who have been posting on here have each expressed a common theme -- updated information was not provided regularly and when they sought it out, it was difficult to get through. when they got through they were told the ship was underway to Progreso. 3 posts later, another posted the information that tugs were, in fact, not even there but still several miles away. Very frustrating for them.

 

One of the interesting reports I heard this morning is that the fire suppression system did put out the fire quickly and that the damage is not that bad. But because the fire suppression system is now empty, they cannot restart the engines or the main generator because there would be no method to kill a 2nd fire if one would start.

 

This is very interesting. Makes sense, but gosh, also so tempting to say "omg, just fire it up and get us back. we'll take our chances." :eek:

[MrPete]

Someone smarter than me will have to explain why/how sewage is running down the walls. I suspect the news media is doing what the news media does...report unfounded "facts."

 

Well, when toilets overflow, gravity takes over. I had that in my condo last year, with the water on floor 4 came down to floor 3, right through the ceiling and down the walls.

[dwjoe]

This morning they announced that it will be towed to Galveston.

What was the source for that? No other report of it here.

[mainelycruising]

Not wanting to be overly pessimistic, but at what point (with dodgy sanitation, little clean water, little chance of washing, and people living close together in areas not being cleaned) does a cholera epidemic begin?

 

The ship must be like the black hole of Calcutta. Imagine the stench..........

 

I hope the CDC has someone on board monitoring this.

[Aquahound]

I would bet they tied one ship to the other, and slid the gangway across and before they started moving things they told the crew "be carefull the ships are still moving" and they did it and did not drown

 

Tell me you don't really think 2 cruise ships rafted off to one another. Really?

[MrPete]

For all the folks who "will never sail Carnival again" or who have never sailed Carnival before and think this proves why they shouldn't:

 

What do you think YOUR preferred cruise line would do differently given the same circumstance? (IMHO, you're pretty much smoking crack if you think it couldn't happen on any line but CCL - and, no I'm not a cheerleader. I've cruised other lines more often than I have CCL)

 

I would hope they would offload the pax to the two ships that brought them provisions and took them home. I guess they would have only done that if the ship was sinking and not stinking.

 

Where is the Californian?

[Half Pint]

I doubt if anyone is getting updates from those on board. I don't think there are any ships there to transmit.

 

Agreed. Unfortunately, I think people may not hear from loved ones again until the ship is either close enough to shore to pick up land cell signal or if they have another ship re-supply them again. :(

[mainelycruising]

What was the source for that? No other report of it here.

 

It is on Huffington Post.