Cruising? Carnvial Triumph stranded at sea

Cruising?  I have taken two cruises and we are booked for another transAtlantic cruise in April.  The first cruise we took was Carnival, second MSC and now we will travel with Holland America. Cruising can be a wonderful experience, however situations occur and we should all be aware. We were in Cozumel Feb. 1-8 and spoke with passengers on the Triumph, they were enjoying the cruise. Thankfully they got off before this cruise started on Thursday, what a difference a week makes! 

Here are two of the reports on the latest cruise ship disaster.


Carnival Cruises also announced Wednesday it will cancel 12 trips aboard the Triumph through April.

By Hannah Sampson

hsampson@MiamiHerald.com

As tugs continue to pull the fire-disabled Carnival Triumph to land, Carnival Cruise Lines said it has canceled another 12 sailings aboard the stricken vessel.

Tuesday night, the company’s president and CEO, Gerry Cahill, said only the Feb. 11 and Feb. 16 Caribbean voyages had been axed. But Wednesday afternoon, the Miami-based cruise operator said the Feb. 21 through April 13 sailings were also being canceled.

Parent company Carnival Corp. estimated that the financial hit from the canceled trips and repair costs would be eight to 10 cents per share, or $64-$80 million, for the first half of 2013.

Carnival said guests whose trips have been canceled will get a full refund of their cruise fare, non-refundable transportation costs, pre-paid shore excursions, tips, government fees and taxes. They will also be entitled to a 25 percent discount on three- to five-day cruises or 15 percent discount for six- to seven-day sailings.

The 2,758-passenger ship, which launched in 1999, is based in Galveston, where it sails four- and five-day trips to the Caribbean.

Triumph departed Thursday with 3,143 passengers and 1,086 crew. It was scheduled to return to port early Monday after a weekend stop in Cozumel, but fire broke out Sunday morning in the engine room. The cause of the blaze, which was put out by automatic systems, is still not known.

The ship lost propulsion and had to rely on emergency generator power, leaving passengers with a limited number of working bathrooms and no air conditioning. Guests have reported long lines for food and said they were forced to use bags as toilets.

Two tugs are towing the ship to Mobile, Ala., with a goal of reaching the port by Thursday. The company said Wednesday afternoon that it had dispatched a third tugboat, from Port Fourchon, La., to help. That boat was expected to get to the ship by Wednesday evening.

Carnival has lined up more than 1,500 hotel rooms in New Orleans and chartered more than 20 flights to get passengers back to Houston. Bus service directly to Houston and Galveston will also be provided. Late Wednesday, the company said it would add to the compensation it had already offered passengers aboard the disabled ship. In addition to the previously announced full refund of the trip, transportation expenses and most shipboard purchases, as well as credit for a future cruise, Carnival will give each person $500.

“We know it has been a longer journey back than we anticipated at the beginning of the week under very challenging circumstances,” said Carnival Cruise Lines President & CEO Gerry Cahill in a statement. “We are very sorry for what our guests have had to endure. Therefore, in addition to the full refund and future cruise credit already offered, we have decided to provide this additional compensation. I look forward to welcoming everyone to Mobile tomorrow and have mobilized our full resources to assist and support them as they travel home.”

In a similar case, the Carnival Splendor was set adrift in the Pacific in November 2010 after an explosion in a diesel generator. It was out of service for about three months; the company estimated the loss at $56 million.

Tim Conder, a Wells Fargo analyst, said in a note Monday that he estimated the impact from the Carnival Triumph fire could be between $40-$80 million, or five to 10 cents a share, for the quarter.

“While this incident represents a string of similar occurrences over the last several years, we believe this incident will most likely be more of a negative PR event, especially during the Wave season,” Conder wrote in the note to investors. “We believe that management will place additional efforts to better identify and install preventive measures to avoid future similar incidents and related negative PR.”

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/02/13/3232314/carnival-triumph-out-of-commission.html#storylink=cpy

 and more on the conditions-

 Carnival Triumph Passengers Facing Tough Conditions Aboard Stranded Cruise Ship

Posted: 02/13/2013 4:29 pm EST  Huff Post

Passengers aboard the stranded Carnival Triumph cruise ship are facing increasingly dire conditions, several news outlets reported on Wednesday.

"Elderly and handicap are struggling, the smell is gross," Ann Barlow texted from aboard the ship, according to ABC News. "Our room is leaking sewage."

Barlow's husband Toby told CNN that sewage was running down the walls and floors and passengers were asked to urinate in showers. Air conditioners were off and food lines reportedly took more than three hours.

Adrift in the Gulf of Mexico since Sunday, the Carnival Triumph remains without power since a fire in the engine room damaged the ship's propulsion system, though none of the ship's more than 4,000 passengers were injured in the blaze, Reuters reported. And while the vessel has an emergency generator, conditions have grown dreadful.

“The worst part is the bathrooms,” Donna Gutzman told NBC News. “There’s no water. You can’t really flush so everyone’s going in little plastic baggies and putting it outside their rooms,” she added.

Another Carnival ship brought supplies to the Triumph on Monday, delivering the distraught passengers food and other goods, according to the Associated Press. Brent Nutt, whose wife Bethany is trapped aboard, told the AP that according to his wife, some of the bathrooms were working but the ship was dirty in general. "There's water and feces all over the floor," Nutt described. "It's not the best conditions."

The AP reported on Wednesday that Carnival Cruises disputed the passengers' accounts of disgusting ship conditions.

Fortunately for those trapped aboard, the nightmare may soon be over, as the Carnival Triumph will be towed to Mobile, Ala. and is expected to arrive there on Thursday.

 

DISABLED SHIP FINALLY REACHES LAND

MOBILE, Ala. — The first buses carrying passengers from a disabled cruise ship are pulling away to take them to next stop on their odyssey.

The cruise ship terminal in Mobile, Ala., was raucous late Thursday as passengers streamed off the Triumph.
What was supposed to be a pampered voyage changed for the worse when an engine fire Sunday knocked out primary power to the ship.
After, the trip was marked by overflowing toilets, food shortages and foul odors.
Carnival said passengers have the option of a seven-hour bus ride to the Texas cities of Galveston or Houston or a two-hour trip to New Orleans. Some also can stay in Mobile.

"Sweet Home Alabama!" read one of the homemade signs passengers affixed alongside the 14-story ship as many celebrated at deck rails lining several levels of the stricken ship Triumph. The ship's horn loudly blasted several times on its final docking approach as some gave a thumbs-up sign and flashes from cameras and cellphones lit the night.

About an hour after the ship pulled up at 9:15 p.m. Central, a steady stream of passengers began making their way down the glass-enclosed gang plank, some in wheelchairs and others pulling carry-on luggage. One man gave the thumbs up.
An ambulance pulled up to a gate at the bottom of the gang plank and then its lights went on and it pulled away.
As the ship pulled up, some aboard shouted, "Hello, Mobile!" Some danced in celebration on one of the balconies. "Happy V-Day" read one of the homemade signs made for the Valentine's Day arrival and another, more starkly: "The ship's afloat, so is the sewage."
A few dozen relatives on the top floor of the parking deck of the terminal were waving lights at the ship as it carefully made its way alongside. Those about were screaming, whistling and taking pictures.
Hundreds gawked from dockside at the arrival at the Alabama cruise terminal in Mobile, the state's only seaport, as the Triumph docked.
Taxis were lined up waiting for people, and motorists on Interstate 10 stopped to watch the exodus of passengers from the cruise ship.
Some still aboard chanted, "Let me off, let me off!"

It took six grueling hours navigating the 30-odd-mile ship channel to dock, guided by at least four towboats. Nearly 900 feet in length, it was the largest cruise ship ever to dock at Mobile.

It will take up to five hours for all the 3,000 passengers to be off, Carnival has said.

In texts and flitting cellphone calls, the ship's passengers described miserable conditions while at sea, many anxious to walk on solid ground.

Carnival said all passengers have the option of a seven-hour bus ride to the Texas cities of Galveston or Houston or a two-hour trip to New Orleans. Some also can stay in Mobile.
Up to 100 buses are standing by to take the passengers to their next stop. Galveston is the home port of the ill-fated ship, which lost power in an engine-room fire Sunday some 150 miles off Mexico's Yucatan peninsula.
It was the end of a cruise that wasn't anything like what a brochure might describe.

 Carnival CEO Gerry Cahill apologized at a news conference and later on the public address system as people were disembarking.

"I appreciate the patience of our guests and their ability to cope with the situation. And I'd like to reiterate the apology I made earlier. I know the conditions on board were very poor," he said. "We pride ourselves on providing our guests with a great vacation experience, and clearly we failed in this particular case."

While the passengers are headed home, Triumph will head to a Mobile shipyard for assessment, Thornton said.

Earlier Thursday – four days after the 893-foot ship was crippled in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico – the passengers and crew suffered another setback with towline issues that brought the vessel to a dead stop for about an hour just when it was getting close to port.
As the vessel drew within cellphone range Thursday, passengers vented their anger.
Renee Shanar of Houston was on board with her husband, who she said has heart trouble. They were told they will be among the first to disembark, she said.
"I don't believe them; they've been lying to us from the beginning," Shanar said.
Disgusted by the foul air and heat on the lower decks, many passengers hauled mattresses and bed sheets onto the top deck and slept there, even staying put in a soaking rain. As the ship approached the coast, a slew of Carnival workers removed the bedding and took it downstairs.
"Today they cleaned the ship, they're serving better food, covering up basically, but at least they're making it more bearable," said Kalin Hill, of Houston, who boarded the Triumph as part of a bachelorette party.

In a text message, though, she described deplorable conditions over the past few days.

"The lower floors had it the worst, the floors `squish' when you walk and lots of the lower rooms have flooding from above floors," Hill wrote. "Half the bachelorette party was on two; the smell down there literally chokes you and hurts your eyes."
She said "there's poop and urine all along the floor. The floor is flooded with sewer water ... and we had to poop in bags."

The company disputed the accounts of passengers who described the ship as filthy, saying employees were doing everything to ensure people were comfortable.

Some travel agents said cruise prices and bookings have not been affected by the disabled Carnival ship, but others in the industry say it's too early to tell.

Thelbert Lanier was waiting at the Mobile port for his wife, who texted him early Thursday.
"Room smells like an outhouse. Cold water only, toilets haven't work in 3 1/2 days. Happy Valentines Day!!! I love u & wish I was there," she said in the text message, which was viewed by The Associated Press. "It's 4:00 am. Can't sleep ... it's cold & I'm starting to get sick."

Carnival said the original plan was to tow the ship to Progreso, Mexico, because it was the closest port, but by the time tugboats arrived, the ship had drifted about 90 miles north due to strong currents, putting it nearly equidistant to Mobile. It was also logistically easier for the company, which said costs were not a factor.
Carnival has canceled a dozen more planned voyages aboard the Triumph and acknowledged the crippled ship had been plagued by other mechanical problems in the weeks before the engine-room blaze. The National Transportation Safety Board has opened an investigation.
Passengers were supposed to get a full refund and discounts on future cruises, and Carnival announced Wednesday they would each get an additional $500 in compensation.

Plushnick-Masti reported from Houston. Associated Press writers Bob Johnson in Montgomery, Ala., and Melissa Nelson-Gabriel in Mobile contributed to this report.

Senior Trip Advisor Reviewer.