"anthem of the Seas" stupidity

Passengers petrified as cruise ship sails straight into monster storm - 9news.com.au

I'm guessing that Royal Caribbean will be looking for a new Captain and possibly other senior crew as well. And perhaps they should get help with their recruiting and appointment processes

Its hard to say - could be the word from above was to do it and the captain was following orders. Ultimate command/Ultimate responsibility and all but the bean counters are always involved. From the news coverage it seems like the passengers are having a bad day but are in no danger. I'm wondering what the $$ of damage sustained to the ship are at the end of the day.

2 words....Cruise Director. Captain "almost" has control of a cruise ship.

Uh oh, here we (might) go again with the mean old corporations callously drowning women and children at sea.

Looks like one of our previous trips on the Queen Mary 2 -- but then that ship is a graceful fortress that was custom designed for the rough Atlantic. Then there was the rough night on Holland America in the Gulf of Alaska. We thought about sleeping on the floor at one point, but eventually we just took the extra pillows out of the closet and built ourselves a roll-off barrier as if we were on a heeling sailboat, and moved crosswise across the bed to counteract the pitching (rolling? can't remember now). Oh, and I had to take all the loose hangers off the closet pole because they kept sliding and clanging back and forth.

You know on a cruise you can never win. If the captain forges ahead and keeps going, a thousand passengers will turn green and complain about rough weather. If you turn around or skip ports, then a thousand passengers will complain about a missed trip.

Titanic all over again.

What do you expect? Stay ashore if you're scared of the sea. Gee, the outing was free and you get 50 percent off the next cruise? Nice!

Some people complain of the slightest movement on a ship. Unbelievable! If there is no motion, why go to sea?

markpierce said:

What do you expect? Stay ashore if you're scared of the sea. Gee, the outing was free and you get 59 percent off the next cruise? Nice!

Some people complain of the slightest movement on a ship. Unbelievable! If there is no motion, why go to sea?

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Easy, its cheap and there is tons of stuff to keep the kiddos busy.

We cruised with RC last November. The Captain decided to enter port early due to an ill passenger( no not gastro, that was the next cruise). Cruise Director sounded seriously peeved about it saying it was the Captain`s call. Barring BS, Capt was the decision maker.

psneeld said:

2 words....Cruise Director. Captain "almost" has control of a cruise ship.

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Wait a minute. Are saying that Julie McCoy trumps Captain Merrill Stubing?

Turned around

Cruise ship that sailed in Atlantic storm headed back to Florida | Alaska Dispatch News


Have to say that the video reflects a normal crossing in the Queen Charlotte crossing or Dixon Entrance during common 45 +knot winds. Great fun in a 50+year old ferry The Ferry to Kodiak has even more and rougher seas. Both ferries are smaller by far than this behemoth.
Bet there will be tons of law suits over this whimpy sea story.

On the other hand, here we go!!!



Al-Ketchikan

Just think of the ride they would have had in a Liberty Ship (put together in a few days) in years gone by!!!

Northern Spy said:

Wait a minute. Are saying that Julie McCoy trumps Captain Merrill Stubing?

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What do you think? And he had more hair than me....

My niece was pretty far up in a small cruise line and she told me a few things that were hard to believe.

Ultimately, I am guessing it is similar to having an Admiral aboard his/her flagship with a ship's captain.

For military ops where going in harms way where casualties are expected is understandable...not sure cruise ship pax ever should be put in harms way.

And if anyone here thinks 2 authoritative figures with different agendas/responsibilities will always come up with a safe compromise....well the world is living proof of your guess....

With the El Faro disaster still fresh in everyone's mind, it was the right decision.

Not really the best arrangement having ships leave from NY and head all the way south in the dead of winter, but there is a market for those that don't want to fly. With that said weather is not an EXACT science, yes much better then in the past.
Want to lower the risk, cruise out of NY in May or fly to Miami!

RC said the weather was unexpected but our local weather man said called BS and said the near hurricane force had been predicted continuously for 48 hours.

The thing I don't quite grasp is the Cruise Lines apparently not grasping or caring about the damage to future business when they make poor decisions. I fault them often on safety issues, whether it's refusal to tow to the nearest port, refusal to return to port when 80% on board are sick or going out or continuing a trip when conditions are too bad. However, they can give all the half price deals they want and that won't get passengers to return. Half price is nothing as many cabins sell for that or less regularly. So, they're giving them nothing. The trip was free? Yeah. Miserable, scary, and you're not going to charge me? There is an apparent industry philosophy that there are an endless number of future passengers so the loss of a few doesn't really matter.

We were just on a RC cruise to the eastern Caribbean. Halfway there a passenger needed emergency surgery. The Capt worked with the main office to come up with a plan to divert to a port (Grand Turk) in the middle of the night and life flight the guy back to Ft Lauderdale. Later, the Capt had a question and answer session where he said he had the final say on any plan. It was his decision to divert vs, helo, or offload onto another boat. I know it had to cost some money because they jacked up the ship speed from 16 to 23 kts for the 10 hour run. I would cruise RC again.

FF said:

Just think of the ride they would have had in a Liberty Ship (put together in a few days) in years gone by!!!

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At the height of production Kaiser was launching liberty ships at the rate of one per day.

If you care to read about a true disaster about ships sailing into heavy weather, read Halsey's Typhoon. During WW2, Admiral Halsey turned his fleet directly into the path of a typhoon. Four destroyers went down, 90-foot waves breaking on the decks of carriers. If it hadn't been wartime and if Halsey hadn't been so revered a commander, he likely would have been subjected to a court-martial.

A relative took 25 family members on a cruse over this past Christmas. Bad weather forced the ship to abandon their stops and they puttered around for 5 days doing zig zags in the Caribbean. These types of weather or mechanical malfunctions are not uncommon and receive no press unless spectacular outcome.

Watching the cruise ship i landings in different ports has cured me of these short hop excursions. But I would enjoy the CA to Australia trip on the Queen Mary.

Our recent RC cruise was 16 nights Perth(west coast) to Sydney(east coast) but via NZ, largely circumnavigating the south island.
A recent article in Afloat magazine here dealt with the design of cruise ships to increase accommodation at the expense of traditional ship and hull design. The one exception the author noted were Cunard ships, which he observed retain a long bow section.
April 2015 we had a Carnival cruise ship stuck off Sydney for 3 days, in weather so bad the Harbourmaster refused permission to enter the harbour with what would have been huge following swells. It would have literally surfed its way in. Too bad, they would have been great pics.
If you go big ship cruising, you have to expect some weather.

Itinerary adjustments due to weather and mechanical complications for cruise ships can be expected at least 20% of the time. Leastwise, that's been my experience. Gee, how many times have I heard that small-boat operators need to adjust their agendas due to circumstance? Isn't that part of the mystery of the seas?

catalinajack said:

If you care to read about a true disaster about ships sailing into heavy weather, read Halsey's Typhoon. During WW2, Admiral Halsey turned his fleet directly into the path of a typhoon. Four destroyers went down, 90-foot waves breaking on the decks of carriers. If it hadn't been wartime and if Halsey hadn't been so revered a commander, he likely would have been subjected to a court-martial.

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Apparently, my father's destroyer towed "half" a destroyer (it had been blown in half so cleanly that the watertight integrity kept the rest afloat) through that typhoon. He said they all wanted to cut it loose, but they persevered.

Ken

A bit of bad weather on a cruise goes with the territory. Ultimately that's all that happened with Anthem of the Seas, with a few injuries and a some minor damage.

The point I was hoping to make is that to when a hurricane is forecast and your scheduled departure and route takes you directly into the path of that hurricane, do you simply go ahead or do you enact Plan B?

The Royal Caribbean head office / Captain / Cruise Director stupidity was to not change schedule or routing. A prima facie case of gross negligence in my view, and I'd love to see the injured passengers to take it to court so it can be established just who took the decision. Whoever it was failed seamanship 101. Something like 4500 passengers and crew on board and someone decides the near new huge ship can handle a bit of wind and a few waves? Hurricane? Piffle.... man up! That someone needs to be outed...

And yes, 50% discount on future cruises has zero net present value until RC tells the truth on the incident.

Lots of cruises change itinerary due to weather, and it is the responsible thing to do. Recently there was a couple who flew from Hobart to Sydney to take a cruise to Fiji. Well, weather was bad so the cruise line said we are going in the opposite direction and cruise to Hobart instead. The couple from Hobart still took the cruise - the destination isn't the major part of cruising for most people anyway, its the experiences onboard they really want.

BandB said:

...However, they can give all the half price deals they want and that won't get passengers to return...

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Oh sure they will. Dangle a low price in front of people and they develop amnesia. I remember the president of a major airline was caught making some insulting wisecrack about packing people into plane seats no matter how badly they were treated, as long as they offered the lowest price. It made a splash for about five minutes and long term had no effect on booking numbers. How many times have you heard people say, "I'll never fly (X) airline ever again!" - but they always do.

kthoennes said:

Oh sure they will. Dangle a low price in front of people and they develop amnesia. I remember the president of a major airline was caught making some insulting wisecrack about packing people into plane seats no matter how badly they were treated, as long as they offered the lowest price. It made a splash for about five minutes and long term had no effect on booking numbers. How many times have you heard people say, "I'll never fly (X) airline ever again!" - but they always do.

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Not always.
I had a work colleague whose flight in 1st class was so bad he wrote the airline a complaint letter, adding that he would never fly with them again. The airline replied with apologies, and enclosed 2 1st class round the world tickets. Which he sent back, asking, "Didn`t you read my letter?"

BruceK said:

Not always.
I had a work colleague whose flight in 1st class was so bad he wrote the airline a complaint letter, adding that he would never fly with them again. The airline replied with apologies, and enclosed 2 1st class round the world tickets. Which he sent back, asking, "Didn`t you read my letter?"

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I would have kept the tickets but used them with one of the alliance partner airlines instead of the offending airline.

Insequent said:

I would have kept the tickets but used them with one of the alliance partner airlines instead of the offending airline.

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Good thought. The person was a Sydney QC who had appeared for Government bodies at several Aviation Inquiries. I wonder he didn`t think of that, maybe the tickets were limited to the particular airline, or maybe he just had too much money . You`d have to have prised the tickets out of my clenched hand.

You can say that again...

"And if anyone here thinks 2 authoritative figures with different agendas/responsibilities will always come up with a safe compromise....well the world is living proof of your guess....:"


Like NASA launching a shuttle with out of temp limits on O rings?

But there was a consensus !