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

[RuthlessBoss]

One thing to consider is that they removed the sheets and mattresses so the helicopter could deliver supplies to the upper deck. If one of the sheets got caught up in the wash from the helicopter, that could be catastrophic to those on the ship and the helicopter.

Yes, and they didn't think there might be another night on board.

[gtalum]

How far is Tampa? Would wind and currents be more favorable for getting to Tampa?

 

Or what about the Pensacola Naval Air Station? If you google that it comes up with a picture of a Navy ship tied to a pier. Isn't Pensacola fairly close to Mobile?

 

Tampa was a bit further away than Mobile from the initial location. Tampa has a long, unwieldy channel too, though, and Triumph won't fit under the Skyway anyway.

 

Progreso, on the other hand, has a pier that sticks out a few miles into the ocean.

[ducklite]

thorough investigation and remedies for these ships. What we don't need: Congressional grandstanding and burdensome regulations that will solve nothing and put cruising further out of the reach of the average traveler.

 

Part of the problem is that in order to make cruising affordable to pretty much anyone, they've cut corners. Priority needs to go back to safety instead of cheap fares, even if it means shutting some out.

[jamesboat]

People keep talking about Mobile vs Progreso....

 

But werent ports like Gavelston and New Orleans closer?

 

I understand not docking in Mexico...passport and transportation issues. But why not the closest port in Texas?

[Sargent_Schultz]

Nothing like rolling out of your rack and strolling to the bar for an eye opener:p

 

Reminds me of summer camp- except more comfortable and of course, the bar.

[mstelly]

I was on the Splendor when it caught fire and drifted so have been following this story with great interest. I have an idea of how these people feel and what they are going through. They have it worse in that our toilets were only out for 24-36 hours, not the entire voyage, and although our AC was also out, it wasn't as hot where we were. And we were fortunate enough to have good weather.

 

Apart from lack of basic facilities, lining up hours for "food" (as did we) and having, if you're very lucky, cold showers the worst thing is the absolute boredom. There is nothing to do. No TV/movies to watch. No Internet. You can't read at night because it's dark. You can't eat out of boredom because there is nothing to eat. The smell of rotten food is bad enough - if you have to compound that with human waste on their ship I can't even begin to imagine what it's like. The highlight of our journey was the morning we knew we were pulling into San Diego - at least it was over. And our voyage ended in a city that could handle the 4,000 extra people at once. I can't imagine how these people feel now if it is true, as has been reported, that they might now be delayed another day. I hope this nightmare is over for them all soon and everyone is okay.

 

If I may ask, what was your final compensation?

[gtalum]

I am watching CNN and each person interviewed are praising the crew. The head boys had better count their blessings.

 

The crew is apparently doing an incredible job. They always do, but these are extraordinary circumstances. At least one part of Carnival is functioning...

[scubababy]

I think it a real stretch to blame all of this on the thought and planning of Carnival executives.

 

It's not a stretch at all. CCL knew they had a major mechanical problem with the Triumph. It's documented here multiple times.

 

CCL should have had a disaster recovery plan in place knowing the major issues they were having with this ship.

 

It was inevitable.

[davids68girl]

I think they just said either a tug boat or the tug line had broken. Another night on ship now? Poor people. This is just one thing after another.

[RuthlessBoss]

Why didn't the crew handles the rations and take the choice away from te passengers on how much food was given to each person to insure fair share?

That has been my thought. Someone posted they were using all or most staff doing other duties, but there should have been more regulation.

[jonbgd]

Windstar at one time was purchased by Carnival. After a total loss of a ship to a fire, Carnival sold the line off. The ship was not based off of Destiny and Carnival had nothing to do with the design.

 

I really did like my one Windstar cruise.

I remember but thought it was HAL that owned Windstar and Carnival Corp gained it when they purchased HAL.

My comment was based on current umbrella

 

You On Windstar ?I heard they were good put pricey. Im not saying you couldnt afford it but with as passionate you are about CCL just a little surprised:confused:

[berryberry]

Cruise lines spend millions on publicity...to entice the public with fun commercials that show sumptious food, gorgeous ships, people having the time of their lives. They spend that money because it drives business: in short, PR works.

 

For those of you whothink this story will be just a blip, something the general public could care less about...you are right to a degree. But you are wrong in the way that counts MOST to the cruise line. This is millions and millions of dollars of air time, print time, prime time interviews, the morning shows...a budget no cruise line could possibly afford...and ALL of this PR will be negative.

 

It is a PR disaster,not because Carnival is an inferior cruise line, but because their handling of this terrible situation seems to indicate the bottom line trumps concern for these customers. The "busing to NOLA" might make BUSINESS SENSE but it does not make PEOPLE SENSE. It reeks of a lack of compassion and a sparcity of common sense. Anyone who puts themselves in these peoples places, tries to imagine their discomfort and what tney have been through, would think that there should be rooms ready in BOTH places...so whatever any individual needed...Carnival would be sensitive enough to provide.

 

Are they to ride the buses in stinking clothes, perhaps stained with feces, urine, vomit? How many people might already be sick....are they to be herded like cattle?

 

This is milions of dollars of horrific publicity...not just with questions about maitenance of the ships,but Carnival's LOYALTY to those who choose them, who cruise their ships. If their choices were limited as to how to handle the fiasco onboard,they are only limited by MONEY as to how to handle on land. At this point, a free cruise on Carnival probably has little appeal to some onboard. If you suffered several days in the hospital from food poisoning, not everyone is thrilled to rush back for a "free" dinner in the same hideous place. Not everyone who is on a plane that has to crash land, is jumping for joy at a chance to board another flight. Yes, the jealous ones who are spitting mad because someone got something, they DID NOT... see this differently.

 

BUT take care of these poor people AS SOON AS THEY return..in whatever way,THEY WANT.

 

All the millions on commericals going forward is chump change to the VALUE of the negative vile image of the Carnival "publicity"we are about to see.

 

Great post

[gtalum]

People keep talking about Mobile vs Progreso....

 

But werent ports like Gavelston and New Orleans closer?

 

I understand not docking in Mexico...passport and transportation issues. But why not the closest port in Texas?

 

New Orleans has a really tricky trip up the river. I don't know why they didn't consider returning to Galveston. it was only marginally farther away than Mobile. Meanwhile Progreso's pier sticks out something like 5 miles into the ocean, so no tricky maneuvers to get there (and no opposing weather front moving in to slow things down!). They'd also likely have arrived there last night.

[Host CJSKIDS]

"Aren't some of the Princess Grand class ships also built off the same platform by Fincantieri? The ship yard connection is something I've really been wondering about this week"

Cannot recall any fires on any of the Grand class of Princess ships to date.

Questions have been raised about the shipyard on the Costa thread in regard to the Concordia and no inbuilt redundancy there, with regard to power outages in the weeks prior to the accident!

 

There have been fires on the grand class ships. Major fire on The Star Princess and that was a bad one.

[AcaCandy]

I think it's conditioning.. the crew is trained to not turn away "Horders'...

 

You only have to go to your nearest all you can eat buffet to see how people pile mountains of food on their plates with no intention of being able to eat all of it. The buffet lines on the ships are even worse. Gotta get your $$$$ worth even if you throw it away…..:rolleyes:

[ducklite]

How far is Tampa? Would wind and currents be more favorable for getting to Tampa?

 

Or what about the Pensacola Naval Air Station? If you google that it comes up with a picture of a Navy ship tied to a pier. Isn't Pensacola fairly close to Mobile?

 

Tampa is quite a ways away. Pennsacola has a difficult to manuever around barrier island, and I'm not even sure there's a deepwater port there.

[Trainman-2]

Some things to consider...

 

- Our troops in Afghanistan regularly go on patrols of 7 - 10 days or longer with no hot food or showers.

 

- All of the talk of transferring to another ship assumes that there is a cruise ship available with space and food for 4K passengers and able to get to where the Destiny is.

 

- The decision on where to tow the ship was based on distance, time for the tow, and most important, the capability to handle the passengers and crew when they debarked.

 

On the Engine Room Fire:

 

- I have no knowledge of what happened but consider

 

- Most ships use a heavy fuel oil, commonly called "Bunker C" which has to be pre-heated before it can flow freely and be pumped to the injectors on the engines.

 

- Engine rooms have fire suppression systems designed to extinguish fires quickly.

 

- Two things had to happen for a major fire. (1) hot fuel escaping into the engine room and (2) the fire suppression system had to fail.

[GradySRQ]

I just checked out the CNN live feed. It might be an optical illusion but 2 observations..

Those seas are kicking WAY up and the ship is listing fairly hard to starboard.

[Cruiser 4 Life 66]

Tow line snapped, they're adrift again. D'oh!

[berryberry]

Thanks for the update Clinty, and for sticking with this thread after the undeserved flaming you were given earlier this week.

 

Lesson for Carnival: your communication sucks if a family member can get better info from the media and Cruise Critic than an actual pax onboard.

 

Agreed - Kudos to Clinty and I hope he gets apologies from all those who flamed him and accused him of being a liar before

[declansdad]

Then the Captain should be fired, he should have known the conditions..Doubtfull reason.

 

 

From what I understand it wasn't windy and there was no forecast for wind gust like the one that hit. Hardly the fault of the captain.

[berryberry]

tug line broke - I doubt they are able to dock until tomorrow.

 

poor passengers - the Carnival nightmare continues

[Half Pint]

I'm watching live video of the ship coming in and it appears to be listing pretty heavily to the starboard side.

 

Is that an optical illusion?

[jonbgd]

I think they just said either a tug boat or the tug line had broken. Another night on ship now? Poor people. This is just one thing after another.

I just hope no one was injured when the line snapped

That can decapitate someone if in close enough proximity

[Rasvar]

These passengers are getting more than their fair share of bad luck. Seems like everything that could break in the wrong direction has. Seems like they are at a casino table where the dealer keeps getting blackjack.