Celebrity Constellation hits Costa Magica

[jj6961]

I didn’t see this article on the Celebrity board, if it’s already here please excuse 

 

A Celebrity Cruises' ship hit another cruise ship earlier today after high winds broke the moorings and pushed the ship into another vessel. Celebrity Constellation was moored at the Port of La Spezia when high winds caused the ship to break away from her moorings and hit another cruise ship.  A video posted on Facebook by the cruise page Crucero Fun shows the Celebrity ship hit Costa Magica. The video can be seen below: After the moorings of the cruise ship broke and send the vessel adrift, three tug boats assisted in moving Celebrity Constellation away from the Costa ship.Read More Here: https://cruisefever.net/cruise-ship-hits-another-ship-due-to-high-winds/
 

[KateDen]

We are currently on the Constellation. Here is what I posted on Facebook earlier:

 

As I wrote earlier our ship, Celebrity Constellation, had to find safe harbor in La Spezia yesterday due to high winds and rough seas. This meant we missed Portofino and Livorno, our final ports before our return to Rome. 

 

We were supposed to leave for Rome at 3:30 pm today but at 3:00 our ship broke its moorings during a squall and hit the Costa Magica behind us. We were in our cabin on the stern of the ship, but thought that perhaps the ship was leaving early and that the crash was thunder, something we had heard all day. I took a photo during the squall right around the time we became unmoored. You could not see the Magica right behind us through the rain. 

 

Our ship, now unmoored, was floating in the harbor. Tugboats surrounded us and prevented more damage from occuring. 

 

We were waiting to see when we would leave for our trip back to Rome. It wasn't until 10:30 tonight that an announcement was made that we wouldn't sail due to the storm along the coast. Those who wanted to leave could take buses that would arrive later tonight to take the 4 1/2 hour trip to Rome. We are staying on the ship since we don't fly home until Wednesday, plus there is flooding throughout the entire area and staying here seems like a safer option. 

 

This is a rather exciting (almost) end to our vacation! 

[jj6961]

6 minutes ago, KateDen said:

We are currently on the Constellation. Here is what I posted on Facebook earlier:

 

As I wrote earlier our ship, Celebrity Constellation, had to find safe harbor in La Spezia yesterday due to high winds and rough seas. This meant we missed Portofino and Livorno, our final ports before our return to Rome. 

 

We were supposed to leave for Rome at 3:30 pm today but at 3:00 our ship broke its moorings during a squall and hit the Costa Magica behind us. We were in our cabin on the stern of the ship, but thought that perhaps the ship was leaving early and that the crash was thunder, something we had heard all day. I took a photo during the squall right around the time we became unmoored. You could not see the Magica right behind us through the rain. 

 

Our ship, now unmoored, was floating in the harbor. Tugboats surrounded us and prevented more damage from occuring. 

 

We were waiting to see when we would leave for our trip back to Rome. It wasn't until 10:30 tonight that an announcement was made that we wouldn't sail due to the storm along the coast. Those who wanted to leave could take buses that would arrive later tonight to take the 4 1/2 hour trip to Rome. We are staying on the ship since we don't fly home until Wednesday, plus there is flooding throughout the entire area and staying here seems like a safer option. 

 

This is a rather exciting (almost) end to our vacation! 

 

 

Glad you are safe.  The video definitely looked like it was very foggy.  Hope there wasn’t too much damage to either ship.  

[TommyD3]

Looking at the video it appears that the bow of the Costa ship collided directly with the huge glass window at the back of the MDR. I can even see debris flying from the Connie onto the front deck of the Costa ship at one point in the video. Can anyone onboard confirm if the rear window in the MDR was completely smashed ???

 

That obviously would be MAJOR damage !!!

[KateDen]

We are finally moving at 4:30 am. We were in the MDR last night and there were no windows broken, nor did I hear of any such damage. I did see broken glass in the Oceanview Cafe where some of the food containers fell. Our cabin is center aft and as far as I know any damage to the ship itself was minimal. I didn't see any visible damage to the Costa ship either.

 

It wasn't foggy yesterday, it was a squall that came up suddenly. I have a photo but it's too large to post. It suddenly started raining very hard and it almost looked like night. It cleared up within a half-hour or less. I'm going back to sleep now. 

 

Kate

[Missaims]

Thank you for posting this - it’s good to know that the ship is now moving I hope damage is minimal and you make it back ok to Civitavecchia safely.

 

I’m on the 11th sailing with my partner so will be keeping an eye on this.

[Missaims]

3 hours ago, KateDen said:

We are finally moving at 4:30 am. We were in the MDR last night and there were no windows broken, nor did I hear of any such damage. I did see broken glass in the Oceanview Cafe where some of the food containers fell. Our cabin is center aft and as far as I know any damage to the ship itself was minimal. I didn't see any visible damage to the Costa ship either.

 

It wasn't foggy yesterday, it was a squall that came up suddenly. I have a photo but it's too large to post. It suddenly started raining very hard and it almost looked like night. It cleared up within a half-hour or less. I'm going back to sleep now. 

 

Kate

 

Thank you for posting this - it’s good to know that the ship is now moving I hope damage is minimal and you make it back ok to Civitavecchia safely.

 

I’m on the 11th sailing with my partner so will be keeping an eye on this.

 

[MCazer]

When the line snapped, we were in our stateroom (1130 aft) and we listed a bit, at which time my husband yelled for me to come see that water cascaded down our wall behind and onto our couch and bed.  We pulled things away as fast as possible and called maintenance.  

 

Right after we we hung up, we went on balcony to watch in surprise as we hit the Magica.

 

we hear from friends on a lower aft cabin that the winding cleaning equipment aft was left on the Costa ship, and our gangway went into the water.  And luckily no one was on it at that time.

 

 

[excitedofharpenden]

5 hours ago, TommyD3 said:

Looking at the video it appears that the bow of the Costa ship collided directly with the huge glass window at the back of the MDR. I can even see debris flying from the Connie onto the front deck of the Costa ship at one point in the video. Can anyone onboard confirm if the rear window in the MDR was completely smashed ???

 

That obviously would be MAJOR damage !!!

I think you mean that the stern of Connie collided with the bow of Magica.  Your post sounds like one of those funny insurance claim statements. Lol

 

Phil

Edited October 30, 2018 by excitedofharpenden

[Sailor Taylor]

My goodness, glad to know everyone is safe. 

[KateDen]

They are not making any general announcement s but I spoke to an officer and she said we are supposed to arrive between 1:30 and 2:00 and that we have to make our own transfer arrangements. I don't know what that may mean as far as disembarking and for those who will be getting on the next sailing. 

 

Kate

[MCazer]

They just made an announcement that we should arrive at 2:30pm and that they want everyone out of their cabins at 10:30am! Not looking forward to that 

[chengkp75]

7 hours ago, TommyD3 said:

Looking at the video it appears that the bow of the Costa ship collided directly with the huge glass window at the back of the MDR. I can even see debris flying from the Connie onto the front deck of the Costa ship at one point in the video. Can anyone onboard confirm if the rear window in the MDR was completely smashed ???

 

That obviously would be MAJOR damage !!!

Even if all the windows in the MDR on the stern were broken out (which by reports none were), that still would not be "major" damage.  It would be the equivalent of a minor fender bender.

 

It appears from the video that they were able to drop the anchor and it had fetched up and was holding with a very heavy strain, and they were working to haul back on it when the allision happened.  A momentary strike and then the ship is moving forward on the anchor chain.  While both ships will have cosmetic damage, most of it will likely not be repaired until next scheduled dry dock, with the exception of a new window washing track/frame for Constellation.

[PAGA]

We’re boarding today. Received text/email from Celebrity boarding now begins at 4pm & sail at 10pm

[nixc]

I have to say that I think Celebrity really messed this up terribly - the freakish bad weather can’t be helped, however there is no excuse for the shambolic lack of communication.

 

The collision with the Magica happened around 3:30pm but the captain didn’t make a formal announcement until 20:30 and we were given no assurances as to the general status of the ship or when/if we would be sailing. The staff were extremely unsympathetic to people’s concerns about getting home safely.

 

In fact as of dinner time all staff were sticking to the party line that we would dock normally in Citivechia this morning which was so patently untrue it was actually pretty insulting to guests’ intelligence.

 

At 22:30 the captain made a second announcement that people could disembark between 23:00–1:00am for a free transfer to Rome Fiumicino Airport  OR stay onboard as the ship would move as soon as possible once the high winds died down (yep that’s half an hour’s notice of a pretty major decision). 

 

I’m one of the people who decided to get the coach, staff were obviously tired and stressed but that doesn’t excuse how hostile and unpleasant they were to guests. As the initial announcement said we could disembark from the gangway at 11pm myself and several others went straight to Deck 1 to disembark at 11 only to discover that this time was wildly  inaccurate as we weren’t able to leave and board the coach until after midnight.

 

We arrived at the airport at 6am after a long, stressful and unpleasant end to what should have been a lovely trip.

 

This should and could have been handled better as even our iphone’s Weather app was showing terribly stormy conditions in La Spezia - so much so in fact that my partner opted to disembark early on Monday and miss the crazy weather 

 

Edited October 30, 2018 by nixc

[KateDen]

We are on the ship and headed toward Rome. We are supposed to dock around 2:30 and they are providing free transfers to the airport and Rome hotels. I agree communication could have been better but I think they wanted to have complete information. Still any communication would have been better than none. I'm just happy we fly out tomorrow.

 

Kate

[cruise47]

I am just happy everyone is safe and the Connie is OK.

[ECCruise]

We are on Azamara Pursuit and were docked at Civitavecchia.  We were scheduled to sail Sunday (28 October) afternoon for Olbia but the weather prevented us from sailing.  Yesterday (Monday) afternoon a 70 kt gust tore us from our moorings but thankfully, although doing a 180 uncontrolled turn, hit nothing in a very crowded port.  Tugs held us hard alongside for the rest of the day, and we were scheduled to sail for Bastia last evening.  Port authorities would not let us leave, so Bastia got canned, too.  We moved to a "safer" pier last night and sailed for Livorno this morning in moderate (~4 meter) seas. Probably passed Constellation on their way to Civitavecchia but didn't see them. 

It was a crazy storm throughout lots of Continental Europe.

[excitedofharpenden]

3 hours ago, nixc said:

I have to say that I think Celebrity really messed this up terribly - the freakish bad weather can’t be helped, however there is no excuse for the shambolic lack of communication.

 

The collision with the Magica happened around 3:30pm but the captain didn’t make a formal announcement until 20:30 and we were given no assurances as to the general status of the ship or when/if we would be sailing. The staff were extremely unsympathetic to people’s concerns about getting home safely.

 

In fact as of dinner time all staff were sticking to the party line that we would dock normally in Citivechia this morning which was so patently untrue it was actually pretty insulting to guests’ intelligence.

 

At 22:30 the captain made a second announcement that people could disembark between 23:00–1:00am for a free transfer to Rome Fiumicino Airport  OR stay onboard as the ship would move as soon as possible once the high winds died down (yep that’s half an hour’s notice of a pretty major decision). 

 

I’m one of the people who decided to get the coach, staff were obviously tired and stressed but that doesn’t excuse how hostile and unpleasant they were to guests. As the initial announcement said we could disembark from the gangway at 11pm myself and several others went straight to Deck 1 to disembark at 11 only to discover that this time was wildly  inaccurate as we weren’t able to leave and board the coach until after midnight.

 

We arrived at the airport at 6am after a long, stressful and unpleasant end to what should have been a lovely trip.

 

This should and could have been handled better as even our iphone’s Weather app was showing terribly stormy conditions in La Spezia - so much so in fact that my partner opted to disembark early on Monday and miss the crazy weather 

 

You just never know how bad it's going to be. Reports on the Seabourn board about Odyssey encountering 7 metre swells on the way up past Rome and Corsica to Monaco on their disrupted itinerary is another example. 

 

As for your comment about the crew.  You know a lot of the issue is the terrible way guests speak to them?  I've seen it many times first hand.  Whilst I have sympathy for people who's arrangements have been messed up, I have zero consideration for the folk who turn aggressive, confrontational and unreasonable. They just make a bad situation worse. 

 

Phil 

[Belgian fry]

First, this was an accident caused by freak weather conditions which came pretty much out of the blue. These things happen, but I'm sure the cruise line did its best to keep everyone safe.

Second, it takes time to make alternative travel arrangements for several thousand people.

Third, crew are given an official line to stick to. They may know they are talking bulls**t and know that you know they are talking bulls**t, but they still have to give you that line or be disciplined.

I am just grateful that everyone is OK, to be honest. I don't know if you have seen the news but at least 10 people have been killed by this freak episode. Italy and Corsica have been very severely affected.

I realise it's not fun, but at least you are safe

[Jim_Iain]

Wow.   It must have been a mess.   Reading on another site that those with early flight were offered an option of disembarking at 2:00 AM for a 5 hour trip to Rome and the Airport.

 

 

Looks like Venice is faring worse with 75% of the city under water

 

http://time.com/5438141/venice-italy-severe-flooding/?utm_campaign=time&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&xid=time_socialflow_twitter

 

 

Edited October 30, 2018 by Jim_Iain

[excitedofharpenden]

15 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

Wow.   It must have been a mess.   Reading on another site that those with early flight were offered an option of disembarking at 2:00 AM for a 5 hour trip to Rome and the Airport.

 

 

Looks like Venice is faring worse with 75% of the city under water

 

http://time.com/5438141/venice-italy-severe-flooding/?utm_campaign=time&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&xid=time_socialflow_twitter

 

 

To be honest, dramatic though it looks, Venice experiences Aqua Alta regularly although the level this time is higher than usual. The winds have been particularly bad further east toward Rome/Naples and Corsica/Sardinia. That is where most of the lives have been lost.  Not Venice. 

 

Phil 

[Kumarrr]

I was there.. . . most of the crew were firm, but friendly in trying to be fair. (I'd like to hire the one lady-- as my school principal---she was definitely "in charge". I like the fact that they made sure people went to "the end of the line" when they arrived on the scene LATE. If ONLY they had given us more information, things like: 1) How long the journey from La Spezia to Rome was expected to take (considering the weather)---that would have helped us make a better informed decision, whether or not to leave the ship early. .  AND 2) The chaos of 900+ people decending on Guest Relations all at once-- to sign up for the bus ride. I felt SO BAD for so many elderly, dragging heavy luggage, waiting in long lines. We were surprised they didn't treat it like a large shore excursion--it could have been less chaotic--- to invite those wishing to go--- to gather in the the large theater. . . and simply hand out tickets-- numbered, or blue, red, etc. . . Then--- go back to your stateroom, and when we call for Blue--- or RED---- THEN---"come on down!"     Hindsight--- is always perfect. I just hope Celebrity LEARNS from this experience. It certainly ended a weather-perfect vacation---with a bang!  PS-- why did it take so long for them to realize the ship was drifting--- the video shows how far we drifted. . . . Was someone sleeping at the controls?

[chengkp75]

Getting a ship underway is not like turning the key in your car.  Getting enough power on line for propulsion, and then getting propulsion/thrusters on line can take 5-10 minutes in an emergency.  At first, the crew would be concentrated on getting more mooring lines out, while the engineers were getting the power up, but the crew needed for mooring are not just standing around waiting to handle lines, they will be doing other jobs and will need time to get to the mooring stations.  Then, once the lines let go, they worked to get the anchor down, which they succeeded doing.

[Scotswoman]

22 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

Getting a ship underway is not like turning the key in your car.  Getting enough power on line for propulsion, and then getting propulsion/thrusters on line can take 5-10 minutes in an emergency.  At first, the crew would be concentrated on getting more mooring lines out, while the engineers were getting the power up, but the crew needed for mooring are not just standing around waiting to handle lines, they will be doing other jobs and will need time to get to the mooring stations.  Then, once the lines let go, they worked to get the anchor down, which they succeeded doing.

Thanks for this information, which helps to put things into perspective. Sorry so many people had a stressful end to their cruise. I hope you all managed to get home safely!

Morven