60 Injured After Carnival
Swerves Ecstasy For Buoy?
By Mike Groves
As bad decisions go [just one of many media quotes] this rates as a classic and on a gargantuan scale at that! Not suffice with ramming their cruise ships into the pier side every other week, Carnival have now taken it on themselves to ‘nobble’ the passengers in the middle of an ocean.
Their latest trick; as if you hadn’t heard already, was to swerve their 70,367-ton Carnival Ecstasy to avoid A BUOY, YES FOLKS you heard me right – a mere, unassuming and in all probability rubber BOUY! Now from my own experience I have never come across any BOUY that weighed in at around 70,367-tons, or even 500 tons, in fact I can’t recall a single BOUY that was so large as to force a huge ship to swerve for fear of a 'major' collision so what on earth possessed the Carnival Ecstasy bridge team to do so?
We could all understand if they had taken this course of action to avoid a collision with another vessel, or Whales perhaps or even an Ice Berg; okay granted that still didn’t work out for the Titanic but you get my point don’t you, this was a Buoy!! I know I’m repeating myself now but it is just frustration because this is by far, one of thee most idiotic maritime decisions I have heard of.
The swerve was so aggressive that passenger’s reported the following –
Cruise Critic reader Bigboataddict "I was on the promenade deck above the pool when the turn was made," writes Bigboataddict. "It did dump about half of the water from the pool and all of the deck chairs went to the starboard side with the people laying on them. Closed the buffets and grills and all shops. Had to clean up broken glass. There was beach bags and contents floating everywhere on Lido deck around the pool."
Another passenger reported that the ship listed 35-40 degrees, so much so that the ocean actually covered windows on the eighth deck!
One passenger reported many were terrified and had their life jackets on for genuine fear that the Carnival Ecstasy would not recover from the severe list. That must have been terrifying indeed.
Another passenger, Patrice Edwards told CBS affiliate KHOU in Houston that the boat rocked to one side and tilted for several minutes.
"We go to sleep, the next thing we know, [my husband] rolled and hit the floor, I rolled and hit the floor—the whole boat is going to the side," Edwards said. "Everything you can hear, everybody's cabin is just falling and crashing to the floor."
Edwards said she and other passengers were surprised, and didn't know what was happening.
"We get up, and I look out the door and everyone is running back to their rooms to get their life rafts. I mean the whole boat just shifted," Edwards said. "Everyone had their life rafts and that's when they were running with people on stretchers."
Carnival’s robotic spokeswoman, Jennifer De La Cruz was soon on top form stating 60 guests and one crewmember were slightly injured and that some unsecured objects aboard the ship were damaged. Well I wouldn’t believe anything she says because passengers have already made their own views quite clear.
So is Carnival seriously expecting us to believe that injuries were just minor, no matter some people were launched from one side of the ship to the other? I say this because one passenger told the media that she saw at least 500 injured passengers with some type of injury, adding the ship listed so severely passengers were tossed like rag dolls along with anything else not tied down.
Her version may well be disputed by the cruise line but knowing this company as I do, I find Carnivals other statements a little unsettling –
A spokesperson for the line tells Cruise Critic that the ship listed 12 degrees – passengers report 35-40
The injuries were described by Carnival as minor and all were treated at the ship's infirmary – passenger’s report up to 500 injured. How could the ship’s infirmary possibly cope with 60 injuries let alone 500?
Apparently this quick decision to swerve the Carnival Ecstasy was made to prevent mechanical damage to the ship? So what if it did cause damage, the damage would have been minor at best or one of the propellers would have suffered a scratch or even been bent at worst, but who cares! You just don’t swerve a 70,367-ton cruise ship with 3000 souls on board for a buoy!
In shipping terms hitting the buoy would have been a minor fender bender compared to all the injuries and potential loss of life that the cruise ship quite directly, and negligently placed its passengers and crew in.
Imagine those guests who were walking down the stairs or in the shower, their necks could have easily been broken. Passengers could easily have been crushed under shop displays, gaming machines or thrown through plate glass windows. Imagine the consequences for those standing or leaning up against the balustrades and who could have easily been thrown overboard – would anyone have seen them go over in the confusion? What of those passengers enjoying the swimming pool, surely many were swept out and across the decks? Finally we should also not forget those crewmembers who must have come exceptionally close to being injured - imagine how many engineers or galley crew came close to being severely burnt, scalded or even killed?
One press release from the company said, "Carnival sincerely apologizes for the distress and discomfort this occurrence has caused our guests. The safety, comfort and care of our guests and crew is our top priority." Pity the numb skull on your bridge didn’t, because he/she has injured countless passengers for the sake of scratching your paint job!
What I say to the passengers is this, Carnival has already released a press statement acknowledging they are at fault, "Carnival sincerely apologizes for the distress and discomfort this occurrence has caused our guests’ and indeed they have been grossly negligent, this act was wholly wrong and the company is accountable.
So before you fall into the trap of leaving things for too long and if I was one of those injured guests, I would raise a class action sooner rather than later. I know from personal experience that when it comes to honoring medical injuries they didn’t pay me a dime! They paid for travel to see their specialists to dispute my injuries but direct medical treatment – they showed no care towards me whatsoever.
So if you think they will help you out, then I strongly suggest you don’t hold your breath, the admission of accountability is already in the press release folks and I would ensure you hold them to it. And don’t forget to contact the USCG to see a copy of their report and if you were injured, request a copy of the ships medical book/report pertaining to you and also your CRP-I, Casualty Report Form.
The incident occurred as the ship was headed back to the port of Galveston, Texas while she was sailing off Mexico's Yucatan coast.
Editor's note: New reports are saying this buoy was actually a marker to indicate that a sandbar was on the otherside, and the "swerve" was to keep from grounding. Mike is going to follow up on that possibility.
60 Injured After Carnival Ecstasy Swerves For Buoy?
Cruise Bruise Asks, "WHY?"
By Mike Groves QGM
Cruise Bruise Security And Safety Advisor
April 28, 2010
