Cruise Safety

by Iva Skoch on

By now, everyone’s heard about the sinking of the cruise ship in the Aegean several weeks ago. But the post-disaster coverage did have some useful info.

USA Today reviewed some of the rules involving passenger safety, particularly safety drills with life jacket instruction within 24 hours of sailing, as well as requirements for how many life vests must be carried (15 percent more than the number of passengers).

It also provided some useful websites, including the detailed and informative CruiseJunkie.com, run by Canadian professor Ross Klein, which tracks illness outbreaks, marine accident reports, as well as even labor and environmental issues in the cruise universe. You can check out the record of a cruise company before you go. They also mention the flashy CruiseCritic.com, a broad-based cruise-travel site that provides general info and allows you to purchase packages.

Couple Falls off Cruise Ship, Strips Naked as “Survival Tactic”

by Willy Volk on

Recently, we mentioned that it was, relatively speaking, rather difficult to fall overboard while on a cruise ship. Hmm… try telling that to the young couple who recently plunged 50 feet off the side of a Grand Princess cruiseliner.

The unmarried couple — both in their 20s — fell over the 4-foot-high railing into the Gulf of Mexico. Surviving four hours in “shark-infested waters,” the couple was discovered by rescuers searching the waves with high-intensity beams. The man, who was naked when he was rescued, claims he removed his clothes in the water as a survival tactic. Apparently, the woman didn’t bother to lie, as it was obvious why they were naked.

In the understatement of the year, the news report claims, “It is not clear how the couple fell off the Grand Princess cruise-liner, but it is understood to have been an accident.”

High Seas: Prefer Murder or Suicide?

by Iva Skoch on

We’re not ones to fear-monger, but this story was surprising. Thursday’s The Guardian ran a story about the numerous passenger disappearances from cruise ships over the past few years. It turns out that at least 30 people have simply vanished from cruise ships in the past four years.

Considering the large numbers of passengers on cruises annually, and, while very regrettable,30 is not a large number. What’s shocking is how little is done to solve this disappearances or prevent them. Take the disappearance of a woman from a Celebrity Cruise in 2004. On the second day of the cruise, a steward told his boss that the woman’s cabin hadn’t been slept in. Apparently, nothing was done, and the steward continued to place chocolates on the bed each day, through the duration of the cruise. After the cruise was over, the woman’s things were boxed up and removed from the room. And no one notified any authorities. It wasn’t until her family made a missing persons report that any action was taken. The case is still not closed. Not surprising, considering how cold the trail would become..

Bigger AND Sicker

by Iva Skoch on

We reported that Royal Caribbean’s Freedom of the Seas was the biggest ship in the world. Now, it turns out that the size of the ship correlates with the size of the viral outbreak.

More than 380 passengers and crew succumbed to the norovirus on a cruise from November 26 through December 3. Then, the ship was cleaned up and set sail, only to stick 97 more passengers and 11 crew members with more than they bargained for on a cruise this past week.

The ship carries more than 3,900 passengers. Today, they set sail again, but with 45 more cleaning staff and 2 more doctors, and, hopefully, a few less viruses.

Cruising Antarctica

by Iva Skoch on

It used to be that people who wanted to get away from it all went to their summer homes. Today, they go to Antarctica. I suppose there are not many places left on this planet where you could experience the ultimate emptiness. Not many that could be reached via cruise ship anyway.

Several cruise companies offer the so-called adventurous trip to Antarctica, yet conveniently experienced in the comfort of a luxury ship. Indeed, people seem to want to experience emptiness, but they prefer being surrounded by excess in order to fully grasp it.

The travel section of The Sunday Times had a piece on Antarctica this weekend where the author is suggesting that Antarctica will not remain pristine forever, since there are some 50 billion barrels of oil beneath the Ross and Weddell seas alone.

Not sure if the invasion of cruise ships is much better that the invasion of oil diggers, but hey – we all want to see the march of penguins first hand, don’t we? Well folks, from the tip of Argentina, it’s an easy trip and from November to March is the best time to go.