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

[MissMeggieMurphy]

sad if Mobile had all those rooms available for a last minute booking like the Mayor alluded to. definitely means that no one considers mobile a destination stop if all of their rooms are just empty and waiting. and funny his press release was after carnival released theirs. covering your ass, mr mayor.

 

ETA: when i'm towing a trailer or a speed boat the process doesn't go any faster if i have several cars working all at once to pull it. but don't let minor things like the physics of movement get in the way of expressing an opinion.

[Miss Fig]

Originally Posted by CruisenFunToo

A private jet flight plan out of Opa-Locka Executive Airport this morning has been amended. The flight to Mobile, Al was to depart at noon is now set depart at 5:30pm est.

 

Looks like the executives from Carnival are going to fly in just before the ship docks at 7.

Carnival employees flew into BFM last night via another airline.

 

 

LOL, we are not talking about the EMPLOYEES,, we are talking about the CEO. His goal is to arrive at the dock 1 minute before the ship does. He cannot waste his precious time in Mobile any longer than necessary. Saw a clip of his press conference, he's a very cold fish. Hopefully he's better for the bottom line than his PR skills.

[coaster]

Carnival executives flying into Mobile don't want to face these passengers at hotels in Mobile where they would be staying also. Shipping the passengers off to New Orleans will create a buffer.

[ducklite]

Maximum range is something like 20 miles for GSM towers. Over the ocean with no obstructions that should be pretty close to reality.

 

It has been reported (though who knows at this point what's true) that some outlets are available for charging phones.

 

I don't know where that "outlets" thing started, but it hasn't been stated in any CCL press releases or by any passengers on the ship. Most likely wishful thinking by the same people who insisted there were lights in the midship cabins even though there was absolutely nothing to back up the statement.

[Half Pint]

This begs the question. If 3 tugs are faster than 2, with reports that a 4th is on the way, why did they not have the 3 or 4 tugs from the get go? Every hour saved for these folks living in squalor (as reported by the only witness to get off the ship thus far) would be worth the cost of an extra tug.

 

$$$$$$

[IcePrincessKCL]

They'll have 12 "weeks" now to recover.

 

They won't! In most cases they may have a few days and then they will vessel transfer them. As for the ones who were two weeks or less out from sign off, they will more than likely get to go home

[Miss Fig]

Earlier report said the 3rd tug was because they were making slower progress than anticipated. If only to navigate the channel, why bring the extra tug out so soon?

 

You're right, the 3rd tug was to speed up their arrival to port. They are facing a major headwind and making much slower progress than anticipated.

[Loonbeam]

Part of the latest MSNBC article, key takeaway is they are apparently in phone range.. Second key, less than 2 dozen public toilets were working.

 

"

“Like Katrina in the Dome, except it’s afloat,” Jamie Baker told TODAY on Thursday in a telephone interview from aboard the ship.

She said that there were lines of four hours for food — meals that are sometimes no more than a tomato slice on bread — and that passengers have to use vanity trash cans for toilets, emptying the contents into bags in the hall.

Baker said she saw one woman pass out. She also said she and her friends slept with life vests one night because the ship was listing and they feared that it would capsize.

“Pipes are busting, I know the sewer is backing up, and water is in the cabins, and it’s just a nightmare,” she said.

Carnival has disputed passenger accounts and said that crews are doing the best they can, although Carnival has confirmed that fewer than two dozen public toilets are working. Baker told TODAY that the crew has been “phenomenal.”"

[gtalum]

The whole Mobile vs Progreso thing is still an issue, to me. They initially broke down ~150 miles from Progreso. They drifted 90 miles north before the tugs were ready to tow, meaning they were ~240 miles from Progreso. By my rough calculation, it's ~630 miles from Progreso to Mobile, meaning if they were ~240 miles from Progreso at that point, they were at least 390 miles from Mobile. This doesn't add up with Carnival's claim that triumph was "equidistant" from mobile and Progreso. Couple that with the storm front they've encountered which has slowed them down, and it looks to me that Carnival has extended this by at least a day or two vs what it would have been had they gone to Progreso.

 

Mobile is certainly simpler and cheaper from the perspective of getting the passengers home, but I hope that wasn't the driving concern.

 

Either way, that was about the worst possible place in the entire Caribbean/Gulf basin to break down.

[MrPete]

Are you posting to get your count up?

 

I asked you, what is it I don't GET? I said in so many words, why sit at the port a day or two early to wait for a ship that's still out to sea!!

 

Why do people go to church?

 

This may just be what their beings need right now. I would be standing right there with them, and probably making new friends, in the form of a support group.

[ducklite]

No, they are still out on the ship.

 

You also have to trust that CCL is going to actually fix the problem instead of just band aiding it to get the ship back out there.

 

I'm not sure that many will "trust" anything CCL says about the seaworthy-ness of one of their ships for a long time to come. They seem to be proving this with no help from anyone else.

[ryano]

From Today - the latest first hand report

 

http://houston.cbslocal.com/2013/02/14/passengers-sleeping-with-life-vests-on-fearing-cruise-ship-will-tip-over/

 

Speaking by phone to NBC’s “Today” show Thursday morning, passenger Jamie Baker said conditions on the ship were “extremely terrible.” There has been no electricity and few working toilets, she said.

 

Baker also described having to use plastic bags to go to the bathroom and wait in line for hours to get food and once saw a woman pass out line.

 

“It’s just a nightmare,” she said.

 

Baker said she and her friends slept with their life vests one night because the ship was listing and they feared it would tip over.

 

Vivian Tilley, whose sister, Renee Shanar, is on the ship, said Shanar, of Houston, told her the cabins were hot and smelled like smoke from the engine fire, forcing passengers to stay on the deck. She also said people were getting sick.

 

Seriously? :rolleyes:

[skittl1321]

Here's the latest from the NYT. First words I've heard from the person who was taken off: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/15/us/carnival-cruise-line-ship-triumph-towed-into-port.html?hp

 

Interesting that this article mentions free liquor. Were bars open at first?

[declansdad]

Like I said...........Carry on.

 

I have not a horse in this race. I dont even cruise Carnival. Not saying that I wouldnt, Im just saying that I havent in quiet a while.

 

I just came here to see if there were any new reports and have to weed through 4000 posts of bickering back and forth. Ive seen a lot less deleted on these forums than whats going on in this one.

 

NO ONE here knows the conditions on board and if you all are taking what you hear from a very biased media and one or two text messages from a scared passenger, then thats laughable at best.

 

Cruising has risks and Ship happens on EVERY line. If people cant take those risks, they need to quit cruising. These poor people are majorly inconvenienced but they are NOT in jeopardy of losing a life as some in this thread would have one to believe,

 

I will trudge back on over to the RCI forum now.

 

Good day.

 

 

Careful; the bolded statement makes you a Carnival cheerleader to some on this thread.

[Rangervr6178]

Originally Posted by CruisenFunToo

A private jet flight plan out of Opa-Locka Executive Airport this morning has been amended. The flight to Mobile, Al was to depart at noon is now set depart at 5:30pm est.

 

Looks like the executives from Carnival are going to fly in just before the ship docks at 7.

 

 

LOL, we are not talking about the EMPLOYEES,, we are talking about the CEO. His goal is to arrive at the dock 1 minute before the ship does. He cannot waste his precious time in Mobile any longer than necessary. Saw a clip of his press conference, he's a very cold fish. Hopefully he's better for the bottom line than his PR skills.

 

Pretty sure I've seen Mickey's plane in FLL, not OPF... but I could be wrong.

[berryberry]

No, more like responding to the "CCL can do no wrong" crowd when they

 

cast disdain on people's suffering,

suggest that 90% of the Internet is made up,

flame posters for piecing together those parts of the story that don't fit their agenda,

label family as "entitled" for wanting to know what's going on,

post sensationalized summaries that twist pages of thread discussion into straw man arguments.

 

e.g. 45 degree list vs 4.5 degrees list ... not easy to hear what someone says over a cell phone... but the 45 degree comment got argued down very quickly. So don't know how someone would "learn" that the ship had a 45 degree list unless they read very selectively.

 

very well said

[geocruiser]

Why? They would just get in the way. The captain and crew are trained for these type of situations, not the corporate office.

 

The one reason why I would want some one from the home office to go on board would be to report the correct onboard conditions. It would be a good PR move. If not on board at least when the ship came in.

[Cindy]

The additional tugs are for better control of the ship, not towing speed. When the ship gets into shallower water and has to be navigated through a narrow channel, the addtional tugs wll be used on the sides to keep the ship in the center of the channel.

 

Oh, and as to them 'keeping them away from cell towers'. In a sheltered port, like a bay, standard protocol for disabled ships that cannot operate under their own power is to always bring them in during daylight to minimize the risk of incident.

 

In short, without thinks like Radar and depth meters the tugs really like to see what they are doing.

 

I really appreciate the two of you sharing your knowledge so patiently and repeatedly. I wish there was a way for CC to mark your posts as *expert* so people would know what to read and believe!

[ducklite]

This begs the question. If 3 tugs are faster than 2, with reports that a 4th is on the way, why did they not have the 3 or 4 tugs from the get go? Every hour saved for these folks living in squalor (as reported by the only witness to get off the ship thus far) would be worth the cost of an extra tug.

 

My money is... well, on the money.

[Jumbiecruiser]

I feel for the crew ...:rolleyes:

 

I feel for anyone on board that ship but yes the crew has had to endure even more than the passengers.

[Loonbeam]

Also from MSNBC Video "The hotels here are filled with Family members who didn't want to wait, limiting availability to the cruise line"

[micro yaya]

don't know if this was said before, but it sure is ironic that the triump is docking in mobile, when carnival took the old holiday from mobile and left the city high and dry with no ship at all. boy payback is a b--ch

[MrPete]

The whole Mobile vs Progreso thing is still an issue, to me. They initially broke down ~150 miles from Progreso. They drifted 90 miles north before the tugs were ready to tow, meaning they were ~240 miles from Progreso. By my rough calculation, it's ~630 miles from Progreso to Mobile, meaning if they were ~240 miles from Progreso at that point, they were at least 390 miles from Mobile. This doesn't add up with Carnival's claim that triumph was "equidistant" from mobile and Progreso. Couple that with the storm front they've encountered which has slowed them down, and it looks to me that Carnival has extended this by at least a day or two vs what it would have been had they gone to Progreso.

 

Mobile is certainly simpler and cheaper from the perspective of getting the passengers home, but I hope that wasn't the driving concern.

 

Either way, that was about the worst possible place in the entire Caribbean/Gulf basin to break down.

 

The part you are missing is probably what they aren't telling you.

 

They have to know about those string northern currents, so to the novice, Progresso may have been an immediate obvious choice till the experts were consulted.

 

I imagine they would have just as hard a time trying to tow something that bin from the Bahamas to Miami.

[FSUNole]

Yesterday the winds shifted and a storm came up. The winds have continued to hamper progress. Hence the additional tugs. Carnival appears to still be counting the pennies for this disaster. It may make the shareholders happy but I'm sure many customers and potential customers are wondering what it would take for the company to just worry about the people.

 

The only mitigating possibility that came to mind is that additional tugs were simply not available until now. Since Carnival hasn't bothered to comment on this I expect most will presume this was not the case.

 

I'm in Key West right now and the rain storm they went through has been in the forecast for Key West for several days. Should not have been a surprise.

[ducklite]

The additional tugs are for better control of the ship, not towing speed. When the ship gets into shallower water and has to be navigated through a narrow channel, the addtional tugs wll be used on the sides to keep the ship in the center of the channel.

 

Good info, thanks :)