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

[mnocket]

6 minutes ago, Magnelasagne said:

https://www.vgtv.no/video/173673/her-blir-cruiseskipet-truffet-av-monsterboelge

video showing huge waves, furnitures flying around and parts falling from the roof😳 

 

I have no words.  Can't even imagine what it's like to be there.

[Magnelasagne]

https://www.vgtv.no/video/173671/dereck-og-esther-var-paa-cruiseskipet-vi-var-kjemperedde

interview with an older british couple. «The staff was exellent»

[Aplmac]

3 hours ago, Cyber Kat said:

Yikes!  That's the ship we are booked on

for our Trade Routes of the Middle Ages in the fall of 2020. 

 

I was happy because it was one of the newer ships. 

Guess that doesn't mean much!

.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV_Viking_Sky#History

[Aplmac]

5 minutes ago, voyageur9 said:

... you can see anchor chains in long-distance photos (while it was still light)

holding ship -which is pitching and yawing in heavy seas.

.

What I saw on Facebook was NOT pretty!!

We had better hope those two? anchors hold

becoz the way she's rocking is not encouraging.

Relentless winds not helping the situation either!

 

 

[GeezerCouple]

4 minutes ago, Aplmac said:

.

What I saw on Facebook was NOT pretty!!

We had better hope those two? anchors hold

becoz the way she's rocking is not encouraging.

Relentless winds not helping the situation either!

 

 

 

This would have been closer to the start of the emergency, right?  It's still a bit light (or is that the camera somehow?).

 

GC

[voyageur9]

port side anchor chain visible (about 1600 local)

[GeezerCouple]

3 minutes ago, voyageur9 said:

port side anchor chain visible (about 1600 local)

 

What is the vertical structure in the forefront of the photo?

We have a theory, but we aren't sure...

 

GC

[gatour]

5 minutes ago, voyageur9 said:

 

 

Viking Sky has some power (lights are on) ... but is anchored close (less than 4 kilometres off rocky headlands) in high wings and heavy seas .... so it may just be auxiliary diesel running generators rather than main engines. Clearly insufficient power to drive ship offshore. 

I am not sure if cheng has posted on this forum but he is a regular poster on the Royal Caribbean/Carnival/NCL boards in regards to ship engineering:  propulsion etc..  I hope he finds this thread. 

 

A bit of background on him.  He is a longtime Chief Engineer working on cargo ships, I believe he is currently on a tanker.  However he has done a stint on a NCL cruise ship.

 

I am gonna try to channel him...

 

Modern cruise ships have two engine rooms that are independent of each other, each containing enough diesel engines to power one "screw" and enough of the hotel services to make things somewhat bearable.  A vast majority of cargo ships only have one screw.  The reason why cruise ships have 2 screws (or multiple azipods) is because of speed.  To drive a cruise ship at 19 knots (a typical cruise ship) speed requires 2 screws (not sure on how many azipods are needed)  Cargo ships go at about half that speed and some now even going slower.

 

So my opnion is that there was some event which caused both engine rooms to go offline.  Since then they have been able to get one engine on-line, thus getting one screw turning and hotel services going in some limited matter.

 

Again this is my opionion based on what cheng has posted in past when other cruise ships have had propulision issues

 

I really hopes he finds this thread (he may be working, he logs in when he can) and give everyone his opinion on his in-depth knowledge. If he does, and disagrees with any of the above, I would definitely take his opinion over mine.

[myersburg]

Does anyone know how many engines on Viking Sky?

[Saab4444]

She is now driving away from the cliffs with 6 knots.

[Atocha Shipwreck Gal]

4 minutes ago, GeezerCouple said:

 

What is the vertical structure in the forefront of the photo?

We have a theory, but we aren't sure...

 

GC

Is this some kind of marker attached to rocks?

[Captain_Morgan]

VOC ships have 4 x engines.....2 x large and 2 x small

 

the structure in the photo is likely a marker and/or buoy of some kind

[Saab4444]

4 minutes ago, myersburg said:

Does anyone know how many engines on Viking Sky?

Four

[Aplmac]

10 minutes ago, voyageur9 said:

port side anchor chain visible (about 1600 local)

.

Hopefully they have paid out metres and extra metres of anchor chain

on both anchors? because that's the only hope now for the ship

in these bloody-awful sea and wind conditions!

[Hlitner]

4 minutes ago, myersburg said:

Does anyone know how many engines on Viking Sky?

She has 4 main Diesel Engines.  

 

Hank

[lanceholt]

3 hours ago, Captain_Morgan said:

Just for the record, very few passenger ships have the capacity to have a helicopter land on deck, therefore the most common practice is a hover and hoist.

 

Furthermore, the ship itself is certainly the best 'lifeboat' given the fact its not a Concordia situation where the ship is sinking, and with all due respect i think the mention of future cruise credits as a concern is a bit callous but maybe that just me🙄

AGREED....Please stop such comments.

 

[Hanoj]

5 minutes ago, gatour said:

Again this is my opionion based on what cheng has posted in past when other cruise ships have had propulision issues

 

I really hopes he finds this thread (he may be working, he logs in when he can) and give everyone his opinion on his in-depth knowledge. If he does, and disagrees with any of the above, I would definitely take his opinion over mine.

I hope to learn more about how this occurs and hope cheng finds this thread.

 

Is the cruise industry, and perhaps Viking in particular, growing too fast that there are not enough sufficiently skilled engineers and other staff on the ships to avert such problems?

 

Might such problems like today with the Viking Sky be due to management decisions or insufficient maintenance? Or, might it be random? I haven't the experience or knowledge to do more than ask questions. But, there seems to be a human component to such incidents and Viking has had several mechanical incidents in its short history and on its relatively new ships, this being the most severe and dangerous.

 

Pardon me if some feel this is not the appropriate forum for such questions. I desire the safety of those affected by this crisis. 

 

My DW and I are schedule to embark the Viking Star for our second VO cruise soon. I'm having doubts about it, and I get that stuff happens. 

[TrumpyNor]

Sorry that I have been absent for the last 1,5 hours. I just checked the latest Norwegian news, and they now report a total of 9 passengers to hospital with injuries - and 3 of them are reported to be serious but doesn't give any details in that regard, and two have been transferred to Kristiansund hospital and one of them has been transferred (by air) from Molde hospital to the larger Bergen university hospital.

 

Latest report is that 139 persons have  been evacuated until now.

Edited March 23, 2019 by TrumpyNor

[adjjb12]

Prayers for everyone on board to get evacuated safely. 

[azdrydock]

looks like she has been on a steady course for the last hour and now appears to be turning to the south west possibly heading toward Molde, Multiple tugs close behind which indicates Sky is under control on it's own 

[just_dont]

Sorry that I have been absent for the last 1,5 hours. I just checked the latest Norwegian news, and they now report a total of 9 passengers to hospital with injuries - and 3 of them are reported to be serious but doesn't give any details in that regard, and one of them has been transferred by air) from Molde hospital to the larger Bergen university hospital.
 
Latest report is that 139 persons have  been evacuated until now.

As rough as conditions are, especially having seen some of the videos from onboard, it's amazing there aren't more serious injuries.
Thanks for providing local updates.
Prayers.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

[ditmar2007]

8 minutes ago, TrumpyNor said:

Sorry that I have been absent for the last 1,5 hours. I just checked the latest Norwegian news, and they now report a total of 9 passengers to hospital with injuries - and 3 of them are reported to be serious but doesn't give any details in that regard, and one of them has been transferred from Molde hospital to the larger Bergen university hospital.

One of the three is a 70 yo with a fracture, one is a 90 yo with several fractures, according to Danish news.

The storm is so severe that it's pushing cars off the road in Norway.

 

[jiminyC_fan]

Thank you TrumpyNor for keeping us all informed.  I pray for the safety of all passengers and crew. 

 

Personally, I will wait for the facts and experts rather than guess and judge what may have caused the engine failure.  At this point, it's too early for anyone to know. 

 

 

[TrumpyNor]

Just now, just_dont said:

As rough as conditions are, especially having seen some of the videos from onboard, it's amazing there aren't more serious injuries.
Thanks for providing local updates.
Prayers.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk
 

 

Both the weather conditions and the darkness (it is now almost 10 pm local time in Norway) makes the rescue operation take time - the rescue "forces" (not certain what they are called in English, sorry!) just announced that it might take all night and some of tomorrow as well to get everyone to safety. 

Edited March 23, 2019 by TrumpyNor

[matadams4u]

Fun fact - nothing from the US State Dept and both twitter accounts for the US Embassy in Norway are inactive.  Meanwhile people trying to get info on family on twitter.