Cruise ship evacuated off Greek island

[lgeisz]

Yahoo has good footage of the ship going down if anyone is intereste.

[dubaihammer]

And if our Dubai poster cares to check, interested cruisers have also seen fit to post the same information on the Celebrity and Holland America boards and probably others I have not checked this morning. Matters of general interest such as this are not limited to just one cruise line - sorry:(

And if our San Diego poster would care to read my post properly, it was Yogimax that objected to the posting on the RCI board. I was standing up for the OP's right to post on this board.

[xpcdoojk]

Dubaihammer, most of us just ignore some posters. :D ;)

 

Would love to visit your area of the world before I take a dirt nap. :)

 

jc

[dubaihammer]

xpcdoojk, you are right, I should have ignored that post.

Dubai is an amazing place at the moment. It is growing so fast, it is like a city on steroids!! It is well worth a visit.

[Bargeo]

I'm wondering how all the lost passports will be replaced? And how long will that procedure take?

[Lisichka]

It seems there was a lot of time left to evacuate people before the ship sank or completely listed. I know panic can create a lot of problems in situations like that, and must somehow play in how 2 passengers ended up missing....

 

 

 

 

[pcur]

I read on Yahoo News last night that they have sent divers down to search the sunken ship, looking for the French man and his 16 yo daughter who are missing. They were in their cabin when it broke open. The wife managed to get out, and the other child was on deck, but the man and the daughter didn't get out, it seems.

[MrPete]

That is just SOOO sad. :(

[Madkitty]

now of all of a sudden the size of liberty scares me :eek:

[pcur]

now of all of a sudden the size of liberty scares me :eek:

 

They've got the captain and upper level staff going somewhere nearby for a hearing to find out what happened. I wouldn't be concerned about sailing on the Liberty. The newer ships actually have better emergency set-ups. This was an older ship, and not easy to evacuate.

 

I was puzzled by the "climbing down rope ladders" thing, because the pictures show a lot of them walking off on a ramp onto the tender lifeboats.

 

You can see from my signature that I've been cruising for about 34 years. Never had a mishap, but ALWAYS go to the lifeboat drills.

[MrPete]

I'm curious as to how many might have skipped the drill because they've "done it before".

 

Amazes me how anyone would even consider skipping one.

[jad7984]

now of all of a sudden the size of liberty scares me :eek:

 

Me too. Granted this was an old ship, but there are emergency plans in place on every ship. The thing is, nobody expects an emergency to happen. When the Crown Princess listed last July, the crew had no idea what to do. The passengers took over emergency operations.

 

If anything happened on the any of the Voyager or Freedom class ships, and the ship was listing badly, how would they be able to get nearly 4000 people off (incl crew)? It sounds like it would be a nightmare.:confused:

[leoandhugh]

dubaihammer, sorry that my post was not clear; I was not criticizing it, but merely trying to support your position by pointing out that it had already been posted on tne boards of 2 other cruise lines. Therefore there were obviously others who felt as you did, and I do, that it was of sufficient general interest to be posted. And the coverage of the last couple of days has certainly borne that out.:)

[Lisichka]

I was puzzled by the "climbing down rope ladders" thing, because the pictures show a lot of them walking off on a ramp onto the tender lifeboats.

 

Unfortunately a lot of pictures circulating on the web are pictures of passengers leaving the ship in a prior port (Piraeus). Like this one:

 

 

The reality of it was more like the one I posted above:

 

[Aprille]

The latest from the Associated Press:

 

Captain, Officers Charged in Sunken Cruise

[Sunny AZ Girl]

I was wondering why officers like the chief cabin steward and housekeeper were charged. Could it be related to proper evacuation procedures?:confused:

 

I read one news account that said that the woman who's husbband and daughter were missing claimed she had to swim out of the ship. It sounds as if the rocks were hit right at their cabin.:(

 

This could be all rumor, of course.

[Aprille]

I read one news account that said that the woman who's husbband and daughter were missing claimed she had to swim out of the ship. It sounds as if the rocks were hit right at their cabin.:(

That's what I read too. Sends a shudder down my spine just thinking about it. :(

[WestportMom483]

I am planning my first cruise on the Freedom this summer, and I'm very nervous to take a cruise. I have two young kids.

 

Can ANYONE tell me what the evacuation procedures are? What if my kids are at Adventure Ocean and something happens? Would they wait for me to pick them up or bring them right to the lifeboats? How in the WORLD would they evacuate 4,000 people from a ship safely if something were to happen?

 

I know I am being paranoid, but I'm afraid to cruise, I admit!!

 

Are there any former or current employees on a cruise ship that can help me out with a procedure that is in effect????

 

Thanks. :o

 

Katy

[pmshirl]

Don't you think it was possible to get a water crane to try to save the ship, since they did have 15 hrs before it sank? I know the 1st priority is the passengers and crew safety, and I am sure that all cruiselines have emergency evacuation plans for these type of incidents, but why let a $5B ship go down?

[pmshirl]

I am planning my first cruise on the Freedom this summer, and I'm very nervous to take a cruise. I have two young kids.

 

Can ANYONE tell me what the evacuation procedures are? What if my kids are at Adventure Ocean and something happens? Would they wait for me to pick them up or bring them right to the lifeboats? How in the WORLD would they evacuate 4,000 people from a ship safely if something were to happens.

All children under a certain age( I think the age is 12) on Rc ships will have wrist bands to wear for the entire cruise, and this is to alert the crew in case of emergency , that these children are under a certain age and need to be tended to for whatever reason there may be an emergency. I do not know what the evacuation plans are on cruiseships, but when you board the ship and before departure, you will have a Muster Drill, which explains how to use your life jacket, where to meet in case of an emergency, etc. All cruiseships have enough lifeboats for the pax that are on the ship, not saying that you will have access to them if there is a list on the ship that prevents them access, but remeber you can have accidents on airplanes, driving, walking across the street, and anywhere you may venture on a daily basis. I wouldn't get too excited over this incident, it is very common to happen even though it may at anytime.

[madforcruising]

Don't you think it was possible to get a water crane to try to save the ship, since they did have 15 hrs before it sank? I know the 1st priority is the passengers and crew safety, and I am sure that all cruiselines have emergency evacuation plans for these type of incidents, but why let a $5B ship go down?

 

 

A Water crane??? I´m not sure there is a water crane that could hold a whole cruise ship up:confused:

Anyway even if there would be some sort of equipment like this it´s probably not available at such a short notice at exact that place.

 

What do you mean by "a $5B ship"???

Would that be $5 billions?

I doubt that. I think the Freedom Class ships cost about $ 800 Millions.

I doubt a 21 year old ship would be worth that much.

[jad7984]

I am planning my first cruise on the Freedom this summer, and I'm very nervous to take a cruise. I have two young kids.

 

Can ANYONE tell me what the evacuation procedures are? What if my kids are at Adventure Ocean and something happens? Would they wait for me to pick them up or bring them right to the lifeboats? How in the WORLD would they evacuate 4,000 people from a ship safely if something were to happen?

 

I know I am being paranoid, but I'm afraid to cruise, I admit!!

 

Are there any former or current employees on a cruise ship that can help me out with a procedure that is in effect????

 

Thanks. :o

 

Katy

 

Hi Katy, we meet again!

 

You will learn of the procedures upon boarding the Freedom. About an hour before sailing, there will be a muster drill (which you and your family MUST attend) where you will put on your life jackets, proceed to your lifeboat station and the captain will announce instructions. He will also sound the general emergency alarm, which is very loud and something you can't ignore, even while asleep in your cabin. They do have plans in effect and, of course, it depends on the type of emergency. Fire is probably the biggest threat, but they do have crew on board trained to take care of that.

 

The only thing that I am worried about is the amount of people on the ship and, if the ship were listing, how would they lower the lifeboats on one side of the ship? I'd assume though that a ship the size of the Freedom would take a LOT longer to go down than this cruise ship would, and there would be many other ships there before you know it. I also doubt that RCCL would let a billion dollar investment sink to the bottom.

 

As for the kids center: I know that when the Crown Princess listed, the kids were kept in their area and the crew waited for parents to arrive to pick up the kids. I don't know what would happen if we had to abandon ship, but my guess is that those kids would be the first people on the lifeboats!

 

With this Greek ship, I don't think they even sounded an alarm (from what interviewed pax said) so RCCL is one step ahead of them already!

 

Don't worry about your cruise. You're going to have a blast!!!!

[Ula]

I am planning my first cruise on the Freedom this summer, and I'm very nervous to take a cruise. I have two young kids.

 

Can ANYONE tell me what the evacuation procedures are? What if my kids are at Adventure Ocean and something happens? Would they wait for me to pick them up or bring them right to the lifeboats? How in the WORLD would they evacuate 4,000 people from a ship safely if something were to happen?

 

I know I am being paranoid, but I'm afraid to cruise, I admit!!

 

Are there any former or current employees on a cruise ship that can help me out with a procedure that is in effect????

 

Thanks. :o

 

Katy

Katy,

You and your family will be very safe. Lines like RCI take safety and evacuation very seriously. They drill their staff often, and they work those life boats in drills during cruises .

On RCI I think the young kids wear arm bands with where they are supposed to be in an emergency. My advice, at muster try and stress the importance with your children on paying attention. Then maybe at supper go over the points not in a way to scare them but to make sure they understand.

Cruising is really very safe, especially on a major line like RCI.

[Sunny AZ Girl]

At our last muster drill parents were instructed to go directly to the lifeboat stations in case of an emergency. All children in Adventure Ocean would be brought directly to the station to meet up with the parents.

 

Once you are onboard I think you will feel very safe. While emergency procedures are in place this type of thing is very rare. Remember that thousands upon thousands of people cruise every year and shipwrecks are not a problem. The reason that this one made such a big news splash is because of the rarity.

[WestportMom483]

Thanks for fast replies.

 

But why were the people on this ship evacuated this way? Were there not enough lifeboats? I saw on the news that the ship had the highest level safety standards, but why do I see pictures of people climbing down a rope to get off the ship?????