The Carnival Cruise Failure - An Indictment of the Entire Cruise Ship Industry

Late last night, the Carnival Triumph finally came into port in Mobile Alabama and began disembarking passengers after being stranded at sea aboard due to an engine room fire.

Even the towing was not without its own problems. Just within view of shore, a tow line snapped and left the ship again stranded before it could be reattached.

There were 4,200 passengers and more than 1,000 workers on board the ship when the fire killed the power to the ship.

These are floating cities that rely on their power systems to operate pretty much every system, from propulsion to water and sanitary sewer systems (the toilets, wash rooms, refrigeration and freezer systems, etc.) You would think that backup systems would be able to kick in to handle the key power systems should the main systems go down, but you'd be wrong.

The backup systems can't - and it's not because those systems don't exist. It's because they'd cost money that the cruise lines and their engineers have deemed to be unnecessary and would otherwise cut into their profit margins.

Cruise ships have gotten progressively larger, which means that when the cruise ships lose power, ever larger numbers on board are affected. The Carnival Triumph is among the largest of the current fleet of cruise ships.

Larger ships are on the drawing board, but they too will have a similar problem.

Fire is an all too common event on board cruise ships, and that's one of the reasons that cruises always start with mandatory drills at the start of their cruises - to familiarize passengers with the location and how to deal with emergencies at sea. Engine room fires happen all the time, as do the loss of power.

The Triumph is just the highest profile of these fire events in recent years, but there's very little that the IMO (the international organization that oversees safety on board shipping) can do that would improve conditions on board ships should they lose power. Their recommendations don’t come with the kind of enforcement powers we associate with the US Coast Guard (which itself is woefully undermanned and can’t conduct much more than annual surveys on board the cruise ship plus their initial certification).

The problem isn't just confined to Triumph, or even the Triumph class of cruise ships. Backup systems apparently can’t handle the kind of load necessary to run vital public health systems (plumbing, ac, etc.) That has to change, and that’s going to cost a whole lot of money to a cruise industry that thrives due to sub-par compensation to its workers, working ships to within an inch of their existence, and doing everything possible to keep the boats in service even after public health incidents (norovirus outbreaks) that could continue into the next cruise because there’s really no way to properly clean the ships thoroughly if they’re already taking on passengers for the next cruise within hours of the end of the prior cruise.

I’m waiting for the National Parks Service (or an amusement park) to hit back at Carnival’s current ad campaign showing how smooth their park experiences can be compared to the Carnival Triumph one.

Thing to remember is that when a cruise goes okay, it’s one thing, but when a cruise ship has problems, things can go wrong in a real hurry and cause huge problems.

Carnival’s hoping people have real short term memories, and that it wont affect bookings. They’re already hurting because of the Costa Concordia. This wont help them and their bottom line. I fully expect the lawsuits to come rolling in - especially now that they’re talking about $500 cash to passengers, which barely covers salary losses and other losses incurred by the extended time on board, plus the decrepit conditions.

Meanwhile, the Triumph will be out of service for the better part of this year to deal with cleaning up the huge biohazard mess left behind in the wake of this week's cruise mess.

More Bodies Recovered From Costa Concordia As Questions Pile Up

Five more bodies were recovered from the Costa Concordia as rescue crews blasted holes in the hull of the ship to better gain access to areas of the ship that were previously hard to access.

New reports from Italian media outlets show that the captain, Francesco Schettino, did abandon ship before the passengers were safely rescued and that he refused to return to the ship even as he was ordered to; he's been charged in connection with those actions. In fact, Italian Coast Guard officials swore at Schettino to remain on board, and appeared to be exasperated with his actions:

Authorities in the port of Livorno seemed to believe the captain had abandoned ship with passengers still on board, a report in the Italian newspaper Corriere della Serra suggests.

"You get on board! This is an order!" the Coast Guard official instructed Capt. Francesco Schettino.

"You have declared 'Abandon ship.' Now I'm in charge. You get on board -- is that clear?" the port official said.

Schettino says at one point that he wants to go back on board, then refers to "other rescuers" and says something about a lifeboat being stuck.

Italian prosecutors confirmed that the quotes match ones in a transcript they were using in their investigation.

It still doesn't quite explain why the ship was so close to the coast and why it was off-course compared to the normal Costa routes. There were some reports claiming that the captain was making a close approach to the island on behalf of some member of the crew, but that still doesn't explain why they got that close - did the sonar function properly and did the crew use it to chart the course?

Some reports, unconfirmed as they are, claim that passengers saw the captain drinking prior to the accident. I have to think that the Italian authorities carry out some form of drug testing, but I haven't seen reports to confirm that. However, if there were delays in when any of that testing was done, it would reduce the chances that they'd find that he was indeed DUI.

At the same time of the desperate search and rescue operations, crews are looking to prevent an oil spill. The Costa Concordia carries 2,300 tons of fuel, and if it leaked, it would damage Europe's largest marine sanctuary.

Costa Crociere SpA, which operated the stricken Costa Concordia, has hired Smit Salvage, a unit of Royal Boskalis Westminster NV, to remove the fuel. Smit personnel and equipment have begun to arrive in the area and company divers hope to inspect the ship in the coming days, said Martin Schuttevaer, director of investor relations for Boskalis. The company plans a conference call today to brief the press on their plans.

Time is critical to removing the 500,000 gallons of fuel as deteriorating weather and shifts in the boat’s position increase the risk of a spill. Search and rescue operations had to be suspended for four hours yesterday after the Costa Concordia moved position in rising seas off the Italian island of Giglio.

“Ill weather is the greatest risk to the environment right now because high waves might move or break the ship causing fuel to leak,” Alessandro Gianni, campaign director of Greenpeace Italy operations, said in a phone interview. “Containment barriers that have been placed around the ship don’t work in high waves.”

Weather conditions since the accident have been calm, though a storm front is forecast to move into the area on Thursday.

The ship struck a reef off the island of Giglio on Jan. 13 after the captain overrode a pre-programmed route to sail close to the island, hours after the vessel left a port near Rome with 4,000 passengers and crew for a Mediterranean cruise. Six people are confirmed dead and rescue workers are still searching for survivors in the partially submerged cruise liner.

Costa Concordia Likely To be Scrapped Following Deadly Shipwreck

Rescue crews continue searching the ruin of the Costa Concordia off the coast of Italy for survivors or casualties. The death toll has risen as another victim was found inside the stricken ship.

There are also increasing concerns that any further movement of the wreck could cause some of the 500,000 gallons of fuel on board to leak into the pristine waters off Giglio. The waters are a protected dolphin sanctuary.

The confirmed death toll rose to six after searchers found the body of a male passenger wearing a life vest in the corridor of the above-water portion of the ship. Sixteen people are unaccounted for, including two Americans, identified as Gerald and Barbara Heil of White Bear Lake, Minn.

Chances that they would be found alive three days after the ship was speared by the reef and toppled to one side are growing slimmer.

The chairman and CEO of the cruise line said the captain made an unauthorized change-of-course that led to the deadly crash against a reef.

The Costa Concordia, which is operated by a subsidary of Carnival Cruise Lines, is likely to be scrapped following the deadly grounding off the Italian coast.



The ship's captain, Francesco Schettino, is under serious scrutiny and he allegedly left the ship before all personnel and passengers were safely removed from the ship. Moreover, it appears that the ship deviated from the typical course though the waters off the Italian coast to get much closer to the island of Giglio. That was a fatal error in judgement, as the ship struck underwater obstacles and eventually was run aground and now lists precariously to one side.

The captain at the helm of Costa Concordia is “heartbroken” by accusations that he wrecked the luxury liner and fled in a lifeboat, his attorney said Monday.

Capt. Francesco Schettino is “dismayed, saddened by the loss of life and extremely disturbed by what happened,” lawyer Bruno Leporatti said after visiting the captain in prison.

However, he added that Schettino is “comforted by the knowledge that he maintained the clarity of mind in the emergency to bring the ship to shallow waters, saving many lives.”

Schettino, 52, faces charges of manslaughter, shipwreck and abandoning ship while his passengers were still on board.

Investigators will benefit from black boxes on board the ship to help determine actions taken leading up to the fatal incident.

Costa Concordia Runs Aground Off Italian Coast, Capsizes and Casaulties Reported

The video and photos coming in from the Italian coast are remarkable. A luxury cruise ship, the Costa Concordia, capsized after running aground, and there are at least three people dead with dozens missing. Divers are going through the ship looking for survivors and casualties.



How could the ship have possibly run aground when the ship has the latest in navigation and sonar gear that should prevent this kind of accident? Those questions will require investigations, but the more imminent question is how could the crew have done such a poor job in getting everyone off the ship safely.

The ANSA news agency, quoting the prefect’s office in the province of Grosseto, reported that the authorities have accounted for 4,165 of the 4,234 people who had boarded the liner.

By morning Saturday, the ship was lying virtually flat off Giglio’s coast, its starboard side submerged.

Passengers complained that the crew failed to give instructions on how to evacuate and once the emergency became clear, delayed lowering the lifeboats until the ship was listing too heavily for many of the boats to be released. An evacuation drill was only scheduled for Saturday afternoon, even though some passengers had already been on board for several days.

Helicopters plucked to safety some 50 people who were trapped on the ship, some survivors were rescued by boats in the area, and an official said some people jumped from the ship. Coast guard rescuers were continuing to search the ship.

“It was so unorganized, our evacuation drill was scheduled for 5 p.m.,” said Melissa Goduti, 28, of Wallingford, Conn., who had set out on the cruise of the Mediterranean hours earlier. “We had joked ‘What if something had happened today?’ ”

Another passenger, said Valerie Ananias, said, “Have you seen ‘Titanic?’ That’s exactly what it was.” Ms. Ananias, a 31-year-old teacher from Los Angeles, was traveling with her sister and parents on the first of two cruises around the Mediterranean. They all had dark red bruises on their knees from crawling along hallways and stairwells that were nearly vertical, trying to reach rescue boats.

“We were crawling up a hallway, in the dark, with only the light from the life-vest strobe flashing,” her mother, Georgia Ananias, 61, said. “We could hear plates and dishes crashing, people slamming against walls.”

She choked up as she recounted the moment when an Argentine couple handed her their 3-year-old daughter, unable to keep their balance as the ship lurched to the side and the family found themselves standing on a wall.

“He said ‘take my baby,’ ” Mrs. Ananias said, covering her mouth with her hand as she teared up. “I grabbed the baby. But then I was being pushed down. I didn’t want the baby to fall down the stairs. I gave the baby back. I couldn’t hold her.

“I thought that was the end, and I thought they should be with their baby,” she said.

There were complaints by passengers that the crew didn't know how to lower the lifeboats and that as the ship listed to one side, no one knew what to do. There are also indications that safety exercises were not conducted, despite the ship being at sea for several days under the current cruise.

UPDATE:
Fixed Headline to properly refer to the Costa Concordia; not the Contra Concordia.