Luckily, the cruise ship above had just left port when it ran aground and capsized with 4,234 people aboard. As it is, there are still 69 people missing after a Costa Concordia cruise began a 7 day Mediterranean cruise from Italy.
If this ship had been further out to sea there would be lots more people missing and dead. There are reports that the ship leaned so much, that the lifeboats on one side of the ship were completely useless.
Yikes! How do these thing happen. I'm praying for a miracle for those still not found!
ReplyDeleteI went on a 7 day cruise back in '88, had a blast, I was one of the few people who didn't get laid and lost quite a few pounds. So much to do, I'd recommend it to anyone except stuff like this happens... Side note: I'm surprised the Captain's dick didn't fall off he had so many women after him and I was left with the impression he did them all.
My Mom goes on cruises all the time, I'd like to , just haven't yet.I hope they find everyone okay.
ReplyDeleteI have a fear of heights and realized I can't go in deep water in a small boat after realizing that down is down.
I've been on quite a few cruises and always had a wonderful time (except the time I picked up the Norwalk virus). This won't scare me off. I absolutely love cruising.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking about going to Europe on a cruise instead of flying, cause I have a dog I want to bring and I am also scared of flying - but this just scares the s**** out of me, especially since I would not afford a otp cabin and this would be RIGHT there by the water. *sigh*
ReplyDeleteI will not be telling my husband about this! He is an unwilling cruiser although he always has fun. Actually, the last cruise we went on was on Costa.
ReplyDeleteThen the morning news lied their asses off--they said everyone was accounted for, and that only 3 people had died.
ReplyDeleteScary!
@ linnea - if you are looking to cruise to Europe as a form of transportation, look for a repositioning cruise. They are often great deals. We were looking at a 13-day transatlantic from USA to Europe starting at $599 per person.
ReplyDeleteAs far as bringing your pet, I *think* that most cruise lines only allow service dogs, but you'd have to check with the individual line, of course.
This is awful...
ReplyDeleteMango - thanks! I will look into that. We are moving back to Europe and want to do what is best for the dog... (and me :)
ReplyDeleteThe Captain has been arrested for abandoning ship and manslaughter.
ReplyDeleteLinnea, the QE2 will take dogs and cats. Check with the various lines, because the boat cannot dock in England or your dog is subject to the 6 month quarantine.
ReplyDeleteThere is new air service in North America for pets, and I recall that they hoped to expand. Wonder if enough people contacted them, they might do a charter flight to Europe.
This is tragic. I hope they find all the missing people - alive.
ReplyDeleteBoat accidents scare me more than usual these days because both my daughter and nephew work on ships.
I never wanted to go on a cruise, the Titanic disaster had a profound effect on me as a child so I was never comfortable on any boat.
ReplyDeleteMango,what is a repositioning cruise exactly.
ReplyDeleteAnd not for nothing Enty, but if they were further out to sea, I don't think they would have struck land and tipped over.
Didn't another Italian-run ship sink or wreck not long ago whereon the Capt and crew abandoned ship?
ReplyDeleteHell--I ain't NEVAH going on any Italian cruise anythings...
But now that I recall, maybe those previous shipwreck abandoners were Greek...I'm trying to remember.
Regardless, the only boat I want to be on is mine or our friends', in waters we are all knowledgeable of, and the boat is one I know how to drive myself!
We were just looking at taking a cruise in March, but after seeing this, maybe we'll just wait awhile. My heart goes out to everyone & their families. What a sad story.
ReplyDeleteBubbles - repositioning, I believe, is when ships turn around and chart a new route, sort of. One of my friends has done this a number of times - flies to London or Italy, then cruises the Mediterranean for a few weeks, at about half the cost.
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ReplyDeletehttp://www.corriere.it/gallery/cronache/01-2012/costa-concordia/3/tragedia-giglio-gigante-costa-inclinato_4ea8800c-3e92-11e1-8b52-5f77182bc574.shtml#1
ReplyDeleteEnlarged pix slide show of sunken cruise ship . It's a must see.
Enty if this ship had been further out to sea , this wouldnt have happened. This ship ran aground.
ReplyDeleteStill it's horrible what happened. I read that most of the crew was Chinese and didnt speak Italian while most of the passengers were Italian so communication was poor. People were wrestling for life jackets too. It's a shame, but most ship voyages are perfectly safe and enjoyable. That is unless you are like me and get really seasick!
Since the ship's safety drill was scheduled for the next day there was mass confusion.
ReplyDeleteI too get really seasick Lulu G, but have been on a few cruises. The fact that the safety drill wasn't done the first day on board, before people had dinner, is a big no no! When I was in my 20s I went on a P&O cruise from Australia. The cabin crew were Indonesian. I asked for a band aid and one of them held up a condom, I was horrified. Since then I have been on NCL and Royal Caribbean. I loved NCL, would go on them again in a heartbeat. Royal Caribbean was good, but not as good as NCL in my opinion.
ReplyDelete@feraltart- I tried a 3 day cruise to nowhere once out of NYC, I had a patch and I could so tell that I would have been violently ill without it. Those patches have icky side effects, at least for me but they do work.
ReplyDeleteI would have been terribly frightened if any of the 'medical' staff couldn't understand what I was saying. Granted asking for a bandaid might not have required a trained medic. I think you made the right choice to stick to the other cruise lines.
I cannot believe there was no drill the first day, that is clear negligence.
Stupid question.. this isn't the same ship or line that the Real Housewives of NJ went on a couple of seasons ago is it?
So.. latest news is the Captain of the ship has been arrested for manslaughter......
ReplyDeleteIf anyone is interested, I answered my own question.. RHWNJ cruise was on same cruise line, different ship. And this line is owned by Carnival.
ReplyDeleteThe ship had only been at sea for a couple hours before they ran aground so there actually was not a lot of time to have the drill.
BUT..
The ship was 2.5 miles off route when it struck a rocky sandbar, according to the Italian Coast Guard. Local fishermen say the island coast of Giglio is known for its rocky sea floor.
Yet another reason for me to never go on a cruise. I hope they find every one safe and sound.
ReplyDeleteI was horrified reading some of the accounts of the passengers. The captain/crew did little to nothing to notify the passengers of what was going on. Last I heard 50 people are still unaccounted for. Since there were so many Italians on board, they are hoping that some made it safely to land & contacted family. What an absolute nightmare.
ReplyDeleteThat picture is awful. So sad.
ReplyDelete@Bubbles - Surfer pretty much nailed it. If a cruise ship has been running a, say, 7-day Caribbean cruise all winter and it's time for the line to take the ship to Europe for a 7-day Med cruise, they have to reposition the ship. That cruise is not something they can heavily advertise like their 7-day whatever, because it's a once a year thing, so it's a way of selling cabins since they have to move the vessel anyway.
ReplyDelete"or your dog is subject to the 6 month quarantine."
ReplyDeleteI thought they had recently relaxed the quarantine rules for pets? Also, some airlines will now let you buy a seat for your pet. If I ever had to fly with my dog, it'd definitely be worth the cost to do that.
They found two survivors who were stuck on the ship, and are working to get them out. I hope they find a lot more of the missing passengers.
Tipped over/keeled over. Hitting a reef ain't capsizing. Is this drivel really from Enty. Who will really be blogging tomorrow for the GG's?
ReplyDeleteWe just came back New Year's Day from a week-long cruise. Even though we made plenty if Titanic jokes we felt very safe. As soon as we got on board we had a lifeboat/life jacket drill.
ReplyDeleteI can't imagine the terror these people felt. the photos remind me of The Poseiden Adventure.
p.s. Maybe the captain should've been paying more attention to the news. Didn't another cruise ship run aground in the Bahamas just a few days ago? Should've heeded that warning!
ReplyDeleteThe latest word on the BBC site is that the South Korean honeymooners have been rescued & are safe; 3 people are known dead (2 passengers & 1 crew member), and 41 are unaccounted for, but the belief is that they made it to shore and are in private homes right now; a number of passengers were taken to locals' homes, so that's not impossible. (I'm also guessing that, if most of the missing are Italian, they may have called their families once they made it to shore and just hauled ass home; my own bed would look reeeeeeeally good to me if I'd just been rescued from a capsized cruise liner. Here's hoping they're all safe and accounted for soon.
ReplyDelete@ Robin - your post made me laugh (the part about your bed looking reeeeeally good). Thanks.
ReplyDeleteCan you imagine the horror? These poor people - it was pitch black outside. What a nightmare. I hope they find a lot more people alive.
Damn.
ReplyDeleteThere are times I really don't mind being broke and years away from affording travel. This is decidedly one of them.
I hope they find the missing alive, well and dry!!
I don't know all the details so forgive me if I am wrong. But why the hell did the captain leave the ship and how did he do it? Even if he got scared it's not like they were in the middle of the sea and the ship was going down in a couple of minutes. So what was the rush to leave? Was he drunk?
ReplyDeleteCruises are BAD BAD BAD for the environment. Don't spend your money on traveling on feces/bacteria boats. get off your asses and walk during your vacations!
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ReplyDelete@The Bitch... thank you for the link to the slideshow.
ReplyDeleteThere's something SO WRONG about seeing a ship on it's side like that.
Latest as per the BBC: Another survivor has been found on the ship, an Italian crewman w/a serious leg injury; he's been taken away by a helicopter, presumably to a hospital. The number of known dead is still 3; number of unaccounted for is down to 17; divers are in the water searching as we speak, and the captain is in Deep Shit (TM) up to his eyeballs now--he's claiming that the chart said he was in deep water, but obviously either it or he was wrong. Considering that there were over 4K people on board, it could have been so much worse...now let's just pray the unaccounted are accounted for & are alive and doing as well as can be expected. (Audrey: I didn't know cruises were bad for the environment--are they just discharging raw sewage straight out of the boat? Yuck...)
ReplyDelete@ Mooshkie
ReplyDeleteYou are correct. The UK relaxed them for some countries, including the US and Canada provided a lengthy list of regulations is followed. But the pet must arrive by airplane cargo only. Not by private plane, ship, cabin etc. Anything other than cargo, all bets are off.
As for flying pets in the airplane cabin, that can happen only if the carrier can fit under the seat, AND your pet us under a certain weight. So that leave cabin travel to most cats and small dogs only.
Here is the link to the pet airline I mentioned in my first post
http://www.petairways.com
Scary. I hope they find the missing. I will never go on a cruise and I'm thisclose to never flying again as well.
ReplyDeleteWell, sounds like cats still get a better deal than overweight people on airplanes! Har har.
ReplyDeleteLol Maja.
ReplyDeleteYeah, unfortunately my dear dog is going to have to travel cargo. 15 hours in a crate. That is so horrible, but there is just no other way of doing it. I would gladly pay for another seat or two for him, but he is too big to travel in the cabin. And Pet Airways doesnt fly to Europe... unfortunately.
ReplyDeletelinnea, go to your vet and they will give you some meds to knock your pet out for most of the journey, it's really the best for the animal because they will be asleep and not upset/scared.
ReplyDeleteThe Daily Beast just reported the bodies of an elderly couple, suited up in life jackets, were found in one of the ship's restaurants.
ReplyDeleteTipped over/keeled over. Hitting a reef ain't capsizing. Is this drivel really from Enty. Who will really be blogging tomorrow for the GG's?
ReplyDelete^^^^^^^^^
EXCUSE ME Aly ?! Drivel ?! So what it's 'not capsized' it's still a BFD & people have been killed due to negligence.
I hate cruises. I went on one through the Greek Isles, and I just don't get it! WHY would you want to spend the majority of your vacation on a boat with other Americans when you can be on LAND, actually exploring foreign countries and their cultures, restaurants, people, etc. I just don't see the point. I got to spend less than 8 hours on Santorini, one of the most beautiful places on earth, just to go back on that damn boat to hang out with other Americans, eating American food, and doing what? Drinking at the make shift "disco" and taking an aerobics class on the lido deck? Never again.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you Jolene Jolene. I'd rather explore a country and sample local flavors than sit on a ship.
ReplyDeleteJolene: I am with you on cruising. I do not see th point. I want to see the flora and fauna of a place and cruising with a buncha Americans to foreign sites defeats the purpose of travel for me. Nothing wrong with people who enjoy them. They (cruises) just ain't my cup o' tea.
ReplyDeleteOne of my friends on site posted a terrifying photo on facebook. If you were in a room, with the boat so terribly tilted like that and the door on the wrong side, the door might as well be on the ceiling. I hope they don't discover too late that there are many people trapped but at this point still alive. I hope they are searching for just such trapped tourists.
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