Carnival Triumph

[ARoss]

Lke many folks, I've been following (how can you avoid it?) the travails of the Triumph. It's supposed to get to Mobile tonight (4/14) but it's interesting that neither it nor its tows seem to show up on the AIS chart anywhere in the Gulf. Even with almost no power you'd think they would keep their nav systems going!

 

[Stelaine]

I guess they figure the smell is an early warning device. I would hate to have the lowest balcony. You thought sea gull poop was bad!

 

[Rusty]

If you are looking at something like marinetraffic.com, I would speculate that there are no receiving stations in the Mobile area or they are still out of range. Marinetraffic.com relies on volunteers on land for their information. With no volunteer receiving stations within VHF range, nothing appears in that area on their site.

The entire Mobile area appears rather empty and I was unable to find a station listed that I could identify as being in that area.

 

[markpierce]

Heard a tow chain/cable broke and another tug is to be sent out. So, instead of arriving this evening, the ship will arrive tomorrow?

That's got to be a tremendous blow to whatever remains of the passengers' and crews' morale.

Hope everyone had a good Valentines Day.

 

[Jolly Time]

This is the same boat my Dad and Mom booked for all 19 of my family members on a Christmas Cruise celebrating his 80th birthday last year!! Sure glad I'm not on there this week!! Jolly Time

 

[MurrayM]

Went on a cruise once, and felt sorry for how the crew had to force smiles onto their faces despite their living/working conditions and for how badly many of the self absorbed passengers treated them. My thoughts are with the crew...

 

[markpierce]

Went on a cruise once, and felt sorry for how the crew had to force smiles onto their faces despite their living/working conditions and for how badly many of the self absorbed passengers treated them. My thoughts are with the crew...

Went on a cruise, ONCE? Depends on the particular ship, as well as one's preconceived notions. Most all I've been on are happy to please and to BE THERE.

 

[swampu]

The Triumph takes five generators -- with one on backup -- to power the ship, and 80 percent of that energy is needed to simply push the massive vessel through the water, Herring said.

Read more: Moor delay: Carnival

I know I'm not the smartest person in the room but this guy says that it has 5 generators and 80% of the 4 that run all the time runs the propusion. That means all of the generators are down. Looks to me like the lights are on the crapper as well as the **** pump?

 

[Tom.B]

There is no excuse for how this was handled.

 

[FF]

There is no excuse for the initial design. just cheap construction .

Hard to believe a single failure would cripple the ship.

It has happened before , a number of times , do these folks never learn from past dead in the water fun?

 

[CaptTom]

I've cruised several times, and would do it again. I even got a norovirus once, but recovered within 12 hours and had a great time.

Fire on a ship is one of the worst things that can happen. Even on a metal ship, you have oily rags, fuel under high pressure, hot exhaust, laundry rooms with lint and hot dryers, rope lockers, etc.

The newer ships are typically built with two independent engine rooms. Still, there's usually a common electrical switching panel, and if there's a fire in that compartment, most everything is off line.

There are smaller generators to power emergency lighting and bridge navigation and communication systems. Remember the pictures of the Concordia with all the deck and nav lights on?

Sounds like they even got an elevator, the potable water system and some of the heads working on Triumph.

It seems odd that they don't have sufficient backup generator capacity to run the basic life-support systems like the waste water system. Even if they only backed up a few heads in each area of the ship, they could avoid the inevitable "fecal matter" references that we read in the paper every time there's a crippled ship.

 

[CPseudonym]

There is no excuse for how this was handled.

Tom every time this happens I think the same thing.

I'd love to take a cruise someday as it looks fun. Then I see the way the cruise industry has zero ability to handle emergencies at sea and put my credit card back in my wallet...

 

[sunchaser]

Lets see now,

• too much food
• too much booze
• too little exercise
• norovirus
• fire at sea
• sinkings
• crowded ports of call

Wow, what fun

 

[CaptTom]

Lets see now,

• too much food
• too much booze
• too little exercise
• norovirus
• fire at sea
• sinkings
• crowded ports of call

Wow, what fun

I thought the first three things were the plusses

As for crowding, it all depends on what you like to do. We HATE crowds. We tend to avoid the pool and sundeck during the day, where everyone else is. We have the whole rest of the ship to ourselves. Then, at night, everyone else is in the casinos and bars, and we have the run of the deck.

Sometimes we take shore excursions, but more often we wander off on our own and explore the places the crowds don't get to. Also, we look for cruises with a lot of "at sea" days.

The norovirus thing is an issue, but I survived one pretty well. At the end of that cruise, I didn't hear a lot of complaining. Nobody left in an ambulance.

Again, a fire at sea is probably the worst thing that's likely to happen. Maybe I'll look at the design of the ship a little more closely before I book my next cruise. Two engine rooms would be a plus.

 

[ancora]

Bear in mind that these ships all sail under a "flag of convenience" to avoid adhering to the strict standards of U.S. ships. For these companies, the bare minimum is enough.

 

[RickB]

Went on a cruise, ONCE?

That's all it takes most people.

Most all I've been on are happy to please and to BE THERE.

What cruise lines don't want you to know - CNN.com

 

[Sailor of Fortune]

I think your a little off base there Ancora. They fly other flags for crewing purposes mostly. I'm not saying it is not economic driven (it certainly is), but to make it sound like these are rust buckets plying the US tourist games is WAAYYY off base.
All these ships are "classed" and can not do business otherwise. Insurance, ISM compliance and public perception of the operation make it so.

It is kind of like saying after a plane crash:" These things are not fit to be flown".
Knee jerk reaction to a situation. Many pleasant trips, thousands of people transported on great vacations don't make the news.

 

[CaptTom]

The CDC does in-depth inspections of cruise ships entering US ports. Here's the "green sheet" score card:
Green Sheet Report

They lose points for the most trivial infractions. Yet still some ships get a 100. Check out the rest of that site if you're interested in this sort of thing.

 

[FF]

The Jones Act keeps these ships from being US flagged.

They would need to be BUILT in the USA , at multiples of what it costs elsewhere.

 

[markpierce]

NCL ship Pride of Aloha (formerly the Norwegian Sky), served the Hawaiian Islands without visiting a foreign port, was built in Germany. Its registry was changed to USA and the crew American to allow this.

 

[Larry M]

Bus carrying Carnival Triumph passengers breaks down

Bus carrying Carnival Triumph passengers breaks down | The Sideshow - Yahoo! News

 

[Giggitoni]

Time to buy a lottery ticket...

 

[Nsail]

Mark,

Didn't the NCL endeavor in Hawaii fail because of the high cost of employing Americans?

And, if I remember correctly, it was extremely difficult finding enough American workers that were willing to work as hard as these crews need to.

 

[CaptTom]

Actually, the hull was started in the US as part of a failed plan by ACL to expand Jones Act cruising. It was bought by NCL and finished overseas, Germany I think, but was granted a special exception to run under Jones Act rules even though a lot of it was built overseas.

 

[markpierce]

Actually, the hull was started in the US as part of a failed plan by ACL to expand Jones Act cruising. It was bought by NCL and finished overseas, Germany I think, but was granted a special exception to run under Jones Act rules even though a lot of it was built overseas.

Believe you're referring to the Pride of America.

 

[markpierce]

Mark,

Didn't the NCL endeavor in Hawaii fail because of the high cost of employing Americans?

And, if I remember correctly, it was extremely difficult finding enough American workers that were willing to work as hard as these crews need to.

What I do know from "testimony" from many NCL on-ship personnel, was that Americans didn't like the 12-hour-a-day, 7-days-a-week work schedules. They weren't happy, and that reflected negatively on the passengers' treatment and enjoyment.

 

[MurrayM]

Some needed perspective;

 

[RickB]

but was granted a special exception to run under Jones Act rules ...

Just to clarify, it is the Passenger Vessel Services Act that restricts the use of foreign flag passenger vessels in US coastwise trade.

The Jones Act, or Merchant Marine Act of 1920, regulates the carriage of cargo or goods between US ports and provides for the rights and protection of seafarers.

 

[FF]

but was granted a special exception to run under Jones Act rules even though a lot of it was built overseas.

"we have the best congress money can buy" Will Rogers.

 

[ancora]

Foreign ships...the captain of the Concordia was the first one off the ship to "better coordinate the rescue efforts" so he said.:lol: