Cruise ship operators would prefer that their passengers exist in a hermetically sealed bubble, where they can enjoy the sea without ever having to be exposed to it; where their passengers can look up occasionally from drinking, dining and spending money in the onboard shops or at the casino to be reminded that the sea is still out there.
The sea doesn’t always cooperate. Last March, we posted about a large wave that smashed into a cruise ship in the Mediterranean killing two passengers. Less tragically, the cruise ship Pacific Sun got caught in bad weather off the coast of New Zealand in 2008. No deaths were reported but 42 of the 2403 passengers and crew onboard were injured. Recently closed circuit videos of the scene onboard made their way to the net and have been widely distributed. If you haven’t stumbled across it yet, it is both fascinating and terrifying.
ALARMING footage has emerged showing passengers and furniture being thrown
Additional video here:
http://gcaptain.com/maritime/blog/video-cruise-ship-hits-rough?17208&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed:+Gcaptain+(gCaptain.com)&utm_content=Google+Reader
Includes a forklift flying around. Comforting.
I suppose if the cruise line saw no need to secure tables, chairs and large cabinets, they obviously didn’t worry too much about fork lifts either. The Carnival spokesman said, “The incident was fully investigated and lessons learnt have been heeded, including the securing of tables and other furnishings aboard.”
Let’s hope so, though I note they don’t mention fort lifts.
This is what comes from building floating amusment parks instead of passenger ships suitable to go to sea in heavy weather. As to that idiot spokesperson for Carnival, the lessons were learned hundreds of years ago by seafarers. Now cruise lines are run by hotel persons sitting ashore and not too far from where I am sitting!! Imagine going to sea with unsecured ‘kit and gear’.
Good Watch.
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