July 19, 2006
Cruise Out of Control On Way Back to NYC
There are places you don't want steering problems to occur: Your car, your plane, and your cruise ship holding thousands of people. But yesterday, the Crown Princess cruise ship tilted so far to one side that over 60 people were injured (2 critically, 16 seriously). The ship, which had left the Brooklyn cruise terminal last week for the 9-day Western Caribbean cruise (and was on its way back to NYC), had just left Port Canaveral in Florida when somehow the computer steering system caused the malfunction. Passengers panicked, and a city firefighter told the Daily News, "There was no doubt in my mind that the boat was going under," while another city resident told the AP, "People who were in the pool were shoved out." But worse is probably that the ship's captain "sounded terrified" while speaking on the PA system.
Princess Cruises is reimbursing passengers for the trip, plus the cost of their travel from Florida back home. But overall, to paraphrase Martha Stewart (who christened the ship in June, this is not a good thing - who wants a 113,000 ton cruise ship falling to one side?
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Wow. I wish I was on board. That sounds fun.
seeing as cruises are packed to the gils with old people, i doubt the rocking of the ship was that violent. just silly old people falling down and overreacting.. WHAT'S NEW?
A list of 30 degrees (according to NBC)? You know a lot of people started thinking of The Poseidon Adventure.
I've heard estimates between 30 and 40 degrees.
They're very lucky they didn't capsize. (On that note, I always thought these huge boats were immune to this sort of thing by virtue of being extremely bottom-heavy)
scary.....
"Steering Problem"? These boats are supposed to have Gyroscopes to help prevent this sort of thing.
Hope those people get out of the hospital soon.
I am supposed to be on this ship for the 8/16 sailing, but now that is in question. According to what people on board were told, the ship experienced a 12 degree list that was the result of a sharp turn. The sharp turn was due to a malfunction of the autpilot - which means this is more of a software problem then an actual mechanical problem.
And for those who think it was just old people grumbling about too much motion, the first hand accounts are pretty chilling - "water in the pools being emptied and barreling down stairwells," "slot machines in the casinos falling over," "TVs in the cabins falling on the heads of people."
How good of Princess Cruises to not charge people for the trip. How very noble of them.
A throng of personal injury lawyers is salivating as I write this...
There's a part of me that is intrigued by cruises... but then I hear stories like this...or stories about the Norwalk virus being found on board or stories about honeymooners disappearing and then I decide to stick to a day trip to the shore.
Well, you see, this wouldn't have happened if Captain Stubing was still driving the ship. Maybe they were running the ship's computers on Windows. But seriously, if it were me, I would have pulled the plug on the computers after a few seconds, or at least killed the engines. No speed=no turn=no list. Then again, it's easy to be an armchair captain, so I'd better shut up now.
cruise ships are scary, there are always these accounts of murders being covered up in international waters, divers being left behind, etc. I'll pass.
Oh, right, like New York isn't scary. There are always these accounts of people being pushed onto subway tracks, stabbed or power-sawed by lunatics for no reason, shot by gang members firing wildly into crowds, blown up by suicidal divorced doctors, targeted by Al Qaeda, etc.
Yup, you can't beat the safe feeling NYC gives you.