Viking Sky position, adrift off Norway Coast and evacuating Passengers & Crew

[Hlitner]

24 minutes ago, Gail & Dan said:

no set time they need to find answers for sure, 

the fact 4 independent engines  fail seems odd or a engineering failure 

Not sure why you continue to think that 4 engines "failed."  History of cruise ship power failures tells us that most of the time (not all) the failure is due to electrical bus issues such as a major failure in a power panel.  The Viking Sky, like most modern cruise ships, uses electric motors to drive their props.  The "engines" are simply large power generators that provide the necessary electric power to drive the engines and other systems.  The engines must be housed in at least two separate and independent engine rooms.  Yes, in theory all 4 can fail due to a major fuel contamination issue, but these fuel systems have some redundancy built-in which makes that unlikely.  And even if a fuel bunker were to somehow get contaminated there are multiple fuel bunkers.    It is too bad that ChengKP75 is not around (he is apparently at sea on a tanker) since he is the true expert here on CC....when it comes to these engineering issues.

 

I seem to recall when Carnival had a ship completely disabled in the Gulf of Mexico it was due to a major electrical failure.  There was some talk about changing SOLAS standards to require new ship designs to have some real redundancy in their electrical systems/panels....but not sure if any changes have actually been finalized.  Where is Chengkp75 when we need him :).

 

Hank

[Outerdog]

5 minutes ago, broberts said:

 

An emoji is usually helpful in establishing the tone of a comment. As it was offered there was no context to suggest anything other than the plain meaning of the sentence.

 

Cruise Critic - where anyone can bicker endlessly about anything at anytime. What a time to be alive!

[Lottie A]

1 minute ago, broberts said:

 

An emoji is usually helpful in establishing the tone of a comment. As it was offered there was no context to suggest anything other than the plain meaning of the sentence.

Really? My granddaughter uses emoji's ....I don't tend to at my advanced age but let's move on. 

 

From a passenger onboard....they will have room service food tonight. Deck 7 is completely closed off due to damage and the Ents team will be doing a Beatles show tonight. Now that's what I call "the show must go on"! Well Done again Viking. 

[AncientWanderer]

10 hours ago, Paulchili said:

I am trying to understand why people cruise to Norway in February.

 

 

DH and I have close to two years of cruise sea days "under our belts," and I particularly have wanted to do a Northern Lights cruise.  DH has resisted -- because of weather and seas and lack of daylight in the North Sea in winter.  I've booked and cancelled twice -- absorbing the cancellation fees!  I also thought to watch for the reviews of this new route by Viking and see how it goes!  Oh boy......

 

Watching this event unfold has been a "wake-up" call.  Yes, all travel has some danger, and we've certainly been places that were dicey, but I for sure am reminded to respect Mother Nature and the way she has things arranged "out there."   I don't really need  to see the Northern Lights from a cruise ship, just because that's my favorite mode of travel.

 

Anyhow, thank the Good Lord these folks are in safe harbor, and RESPECT for Norway's excellent rescue responders.

[AF-1]

Yes two thumbs up for Norway's rescue and hospital crews

[Clay Clayton]

1 minute ago, Lottie A said:

Really? My granddaughter uses emoji's ....I don't tend to at my advanced age but let's move on. 

 

From a passenger onboard....they will have room service food tonight. Deck 7 is completely closed off due to damage and the Ents team will be doing a Beatles show tonight. Now that's what I call "the show must go on"! Well Done again Viking. 

Really?  The brits they just interviewed on Norwegian tv said they had been told they were being flown home tonight...surprised that they would keep passengers aboard but maybe there aren't enough hotel rooms in Molde. 

[zitsky]

43 minutes ago, FredT said:

 

 

Sorry, but I agree with  notladjr.   You have far more danger driving to the grocery store than you do getting on a cruise ship (or airplane, or train) While no one is expecting you (or anyone) to "accept that",  to obsess over an exceedingly rare (and bizarre) incident is what is absurd.

 

I get your point but some people are more scared of bad weather than others.  I guess you would say they shouldn't cruise.  But most people don't prepare themselves for that 1 in 100 chance of bad weather.

 

I went around the tip of South America.  We had some bad weather but nothing that bad.  I slept through the worst of it.

[pretzlaff]

On Royal and Celebrity there seem to be an entire deck of lifeboats.  I see very few on this one.  Doesn't look like all pax could have gotten in lifeboats had they needed to. 

[Gail & Dan]

3 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

Not sure why you continue to think that 4 engines "failed."  History of cruise ship power failures tells us that most of the time (not all) the failure is due to electrical bus issues such as a major failure in a power panel.  The Viking Sky, like most modern cruise ships, uses electric motors to drive their props.  The "engines" are simply large power generators that provide the necessary electric power to drive the engines and other systems.  The engines must be housed in at least two separate and independent engine rooms.  Yes, in theory all 4 can fail due to a major fuel contamination issue, but these fuel systems have some redundancy built-in which makes that unlikely.  And even if a fuel bunker were to somehow get contaminated there are multiple fuel bunkers.    It is too bad that ChangKP75 is not around (he is apparently at sea on a tanker) since he is the true expert here on CC....when it comes to these engineering issues.

 

Hank

its a Fact the engines failed of coarse the are generators  I believe diesel electric drive was stated?? and this is merely a guess until such time as the Investigation is over  that will tell the tail 

[Clay Clayton]

1 minute ago, pretzlaff said:

On Royal and Celebrity there seem to be an entire deck of lifeboats.  I see very few on this one.  Doesn't look like all pax could have gotten in lifeboats had they needed to. 

As opposed to 2500-5000 passengers, there are only 930 on Viking ships. 

Edited March 24, 2019 by Clay Clayton

[geocruiser]

Very happy to see the ship along side in port.  Watching the live feed from the port.  Very nice to see all the local people come out to greet and support the PAX and crew.

I wish I could understand the language from the web cam.

[broberts]

13 minutes ago, Outerdog said:

 

Cruise Critic - where anyone can bicker endlessly about anything at anytime. What a time to be alive!

 

Autological 

[Outerdog]

9 minutes ago, pretzlaff said:

On Royal and Celebrity there seem to be an entire deck of lifeboats.  I see very few on this one.  Doesn't look like all pax could have gotten in lifeboats had they needed to. 

 

I'm pretty sure some super-smart people made sure the ship didn't sail without sufficient lifeboat capacity for all souls onboard. Ya know what I'm saying?

Edited March 24, 2019 by Outerdog

[Dekksguten]

4 minutes ago, Outerdog said:

 

I'm pretty sure some super-smart people made sure the ship didn't sail without sufficient lifeboat capacity for all souls onboard. Ya know what I'm saying?

She wouldn't pass inspection or be allowed to sail the Norwegian coast (or anywhere for that matter) if she wasn't outfitted with enough lifeboats. 

Were kind of big on regulations. 

Edited March 24, 2019 by Dekksguten

[BarbarianPaul]

10 hours ago, Paulchili said:

I am trying to understand why people cruise to Norway in February.

It’s not some impossible to solve conundrum. Why do people cruise to Antarctica? The Drake Passage can be quite rough. Or Greenland and Iceland? It’s fun, unique, and adventure and in this case there’s of course the northern lights.

 

This particular cruise my wife and I are definitely interested in taking, and probably will in the future. I don’t think rough seas and engine blackouts are limited to any particular time of year or geographic location. 

[marlebone]

Thanks to all who have written in real time.  All of us Cruisers are interested and there has been very little information elsewhere.

[TrumpyNor]

Live footage from the gangway on board the Viking Sky plus from the pier in Molde (some commercials in between the footage, but it is what it is...):

https://www.vg.no/nyheter/innenriks/i/OporkO/viking-sky-har-ankommet-molde-endelig

Edited March 24, 2019 by TrumpyNor

[Hlitner]

10 minutes ago, pretzlaff said:

On Royal and Celebrity there seem to be an entire deck of lifeboats.  I see very few on this one.  Doesn't look like all pax could have gotten in lifeboats had they needed to. 

I am afraid you are getting into an area that you apparently have little knowledge.  The minimum lifeboat capacity (including large inflatable life rafts) are dictated by the International Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) regulations which must be complied with by all modern cruise ships.  These regs are very complex and cover all kinds of safety issues.  All cruise ships actually have extra lifeboat capacity (to cover the situation when some lifeboats are damaged or not usable for other reasons).  Ships also are certified to carry a specific number of souls which is why many cruise ships are unable to use all their extra berths (3rd 4th in a cabin) on a voyage in order to make sure they do not have too many folks for the boats/rafts.

 

My knowledge of SOLAS is rusty but I seem to recall ships must be able to handle at least 75% of all souls in rigid lifeboats with life rafts (these are very seaworthy and often contained in the large white cans you will see on the outside of the decks) having the capacity for the remainder of folks.

 

Getting into the lifeboats is another issue and one which has caused DW and I some minor concern.  We posted earlier that we got caught in a Hurricane when cruising on the old Celebrity Meridian back in 1992!  That cruise was just a simple itinerary going from NYC to Bermuda.  Hurricane Bob came up the east coast and took a course that was not predicted by any of the weather folks.  The morning after leaving NYC (Aug 92) we awoke to seas well over 10 meters and hurricane winds.  At the time it was obvious that using lifeboats would have been near impossible since the fierce winds would have made it impossible for folks to even stand at their stations to board the boats.  We were in that storm for about 12 hours and did fine.  Another ship owned by RCCL (Nordic Prince) was also caught in the storm and suffered significant damage (including a large dent in her hull) and many of her passengers chose to immediately fly home...once that ship reached Bermuda.  

 

Hank

[jakob71]

 

Today, from the well known Norwegian newspaper, Aftenposten:

                                                                                                      

Viking Sky went out in bad weather. Hurtigruten ships remained in port.                                                          

In the storm that hit the west coast of Norway on Saturday, Hurtigruten however, decided to rather fly its passengers from the city of Trondheim to the city of Bergen. Their ships remained in port.                                                                                                        

The newspaper also writes that Hurtigruten usually passes Hustadvika twice daily, over 700 times a year. It is seldom such bad weather occur, that Hurtigruten choose to stay in port.

 

However, I would like to mention that the ships of Hurtigruten are smaller than Viking Sky, but on other hand, the Captains on the Hurtigruten ships are well known with the difficult weather conditions that can occur along the coast of Norway in the Autumn and the Winter time.

 

Also, for many, many years, Hustadvika is known for being one of the most difficult places in Norway to pass for ships in stormy weather.

[CharTrav]

20 minutes ago, pretzlaff said:

On Royal and Celebrity there seem to be an entire deck of lifeboats.  I see very few on this one.  Doesn't look like all pax could have gotten in lifeboats had they needed to. 

I've been on the Sky. Their lifeboats have sufficient capacity to handle everybody. They're arrayed on both sides of the ship. The question is the sea conditions. Which clearly were deemed bad enough to be declared not worth the risk, especially given the availability of alternative safer albeit slower ways to get pax off the ship. Given the choice between a lifeboat bouncing around in dangerous sea conditions and a helicopter ride, I'd choose the latter. 

[Jim Avery]

I think the Captain did his job extremely well. Does anyone know which Captain is onboard?

[powerdog]

Is there redundancy in the VO fleet, such that they could substitute one ship for another on upcoming cruises?

Edited March 24, 2019 by powerdog
Clarity

[Hanoj]

26 minutes ago, AncientWanderer said:

 

 

DH and I have close to two years of cruise sea days "under our belts," and I particularly have wanted to do a Northern Lights cruise.  DH has resisted -- because of weather and seas and lack of daylight in the North Sea in winter.  I've booked and cancelled twice -- absorbing the cancellation fees!  I also thought to watch for the reviews of this new route by Viking and see how it goes!  Oh boy......

 

Watching this event unfold has been a "wake-up" call.  Yes, all travel has some danger, and we've certainly been places that were dicey, but I for sure am reminded to respect Mother Nature and the way she has things arranged "out there."   I don't really need  to see the Northern Lights from a cruise ship, just because that's my favorite mode of travel.

 

Anyhow, thank the Good Lord these folks are in safe harbor, and RESPECT for Norway's excellent rescue responders.

Gives an interesting insight into why other cruise lines have not shown “guests this part of the world like we (Viking) can. Norway’s landscapes in the winter are truly magnificent.” At least not this time of year. Quote is from Chairman Hagen commented to media when plans for this itinerary were unveiled. Can’t help but wonder if this is hubris from a neophyte ocean cruise company all “go, go, go” to reinvent this industry. 

[sasmmb]

Watching aftonbladet.se which has a live feed from the port side. Announcement made (sounded like cruise director) that passengers should meet in the atrium at 6:45 and busses will start leaving at 7:00.

 

Direct link https://www.aftonbladet.se/tv/a/282446 2 commercials and then continuous feed. Sometimes they switch to the port cam from other side.

Edited March 24, 2019 by sasmmb

[Paulchili]

10 minutes ago, BarbarianPaul said:

It’s not some impossible to solve conundrum. Why do people cruise to Antarctica? The Drake Passage can be quite rough. Or Greenland and Iceland? It’s fun, unique, and adventure and in this case there’s of course the northern lights

There are some important differences in examples you cite.

To see Antarctica you MUST sail there - that’s the only way to see it. There are no land trips to Antarctica. In addition, you do it in their summer. Ditto for Greenland & Iceland.

To see Northern Lights you do NOT have to sail to Norway in February/March - you can see them from land in many places in N. America, Iceland and Scandinavia.