Welcome to Cruise Talk the Internet's most popular discussion forum dedicated to cruising. Stop by Cruise Talk anytime to post a message or find out what your fellow passengers and industry insiders are saying about a particular ship, cruise line or destination.
>>> Reader Reviews >>> CruisePage.com Photo Gallery >>> Join Our Cruise Club.
Latest News...The Liverpool Waterfront will be the setting for an unforgettable celebration on June 3, as iconic Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli joins a stellar line-up of performers to celebrate Queen Anne's maiden call to its spiritual home.Bocelli will be joined by an impressive line-up of Liverpool's finest talent, including the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and performers from the Liverpool..
Latest News...Oceania Cruises, the world's leading culinary- and destination-focused cruise line, has welcomed its 1,250-guest ship, Marina, back into service after undergoing an all-encompassing refurbishment, which includes the addition of three new dining options. Guests aboard Marina can now enjoy the culinary delights of Aquamar Kitchen, the new wellness-focused dining venue, which debuted to great acclaim on...
Latest News...Celebrity Cruises takes the suite life to new heights with new premium and personalized enhancements for The Retreat, providing the most elevated experience at sea. Offering more perks and amenities than ever before, The Retreat isn't just a suite. It's the most elevated experience at sea, period. "At The Retreat, the world really does revolve around our guests," said Laura Hodges Bethge..
quote:Originally posted by eroller:Another thing that surprises me is that rocks could do such damage when the ship was hardly moving.
They are indeed delicate. Ships are VERY heavy - even when they are slow they contain a lot of kinetic energy - you can deform a lot of steel with that.
Think of it this way. A cruise ship weighs a lot and if all thatweight is concentrated on a small point (a rock) it will pierce itlike a can opener. On a much smaller scale having been aroundsailboats most of my life you ought to see the damage a stileto highheel on a 120 lb woman can do to a teak deck
Tim
International Maritime Law states that ALL watertight doors must be closed when in reduced visability, restricted waters and when leaving or entering port, an exception can be applied for for an individual door in for instance a passanger area, however more recently built ships are not allowed to have pax areas in any place a watertight door would be as they are in themselves very dangerous, many a dead crew member trying to squeeze through when they were closing have found this to their cost. So pax areas are all above the watertight door areas.
The last ship I worked on with doors in pax areas was the Sea Princess (Mona Lisa) and although they applied for a permit for the 1 door to remain open it was refused.
I believe QE 2 has a couple but would not have thought a ship as new as Sea Diamond would have any doors in pax areas.
quote:Originally posted by Cunard Fan:Dont't the Voyager and Freedom class have water tight doors in Public spaces like the Royal Prominade though?
No - the Royal Promenade is even above the main deck. Don't confuse fire doors with bulkheads.Modern ships harldy have spaces - not to talk about accomodations - accessible for passengers below the bulkhead deck.Ferries are nevertheless an exception - also more recently built vessels have passenger accomodations pretty low in the hull - and Birka Princess - although built for short cruises - was still a RoRo ship.
I think I'd welcome some clarification, please. I'm getting a feeling that the 'watertight doors' referred to in this thread occur only below the waterline - is that correct? And that these are supposed to be closed at certain times?
And following on from that, presumably the large, massive doors that I've seen along the corridors on the passenger deck levels of the ships I've been on, are not 'watertight doors' in the meaning of this discussion? Certainly these doors were always open whenever I saw them. They seemed to have special recesses into which they were, umm, recessed when open. What's the nature of these doors? (Ships would be Sinfonia, Galaxy, Norwegian Jewel, i.e. recent ships.)
Watertight doors are below and just above sea level, so where a deck for instance does have portholes but it is only just above sea level it would have these doors, they are hydrolically powered and although they can be operated locally they are normally operated from the bridge or in an emergency the engine control room, as they close the operate a small bell with a flick that rings it as a warning and flashes an orange strobe light, they cannot be stopped by jamming a table or something similar, your arm or leg would simply be cut off they are so powerful, because they are hydrolic they are not dependent on electrical power, if you opened one an alarm would ring on the bridge.
The doors you see in public areas either lay flat against the bulkheads so they are almost hidden or recess into the "wall" often with a small flap to hide it - these are firedoors and again are operated either locally by using a small switch on the adjacent bulkhead or from the bridge or engine control room. They are self closing but held open by an electro magnet, hitting a button on the bridge releases them all right across the ship seperating it into seperate vertical fire zones. These do not have to be closed when coming into port etc and would not hold or control flooding etc. You might see these on embarkation closing off the cabin areas as the cabins are not yet ready for occupation. Both systems are tested regularly.
quote:Originally posted by santa naria:the qe2 has watertight doors in pax areas 4 and five deck.the aft and forward ones are closed when ship is entering or leaving port or in foggy conditions.
QE2 does not have watertight doors on 4 Deck. Unless new watertight doors have been added in recent years, the watertight doors only extend up to 5 Deck*.
Brian
*For those not familiar with QE2, the numbered decks are numbered from top to bottom rather than from bottom to top as in a building.
One thing is for sure the authorities are going to be all over Louis' training programmes, how they are monitored, safety records etc to asertain whether they are responsible for failing to train or monitor performance or allowed bad habits to become established etc.
Obviously if these 5 chaps are found guilty they deserve to be punished as poeple died and others traumatised but I do feel for them, it was evidentally the Captains first voyage as full Captain.
[ 04-10-2007: Message edited by: joe at travelpage ]
quote:Originally posted by Ernst: Birka Princess - although built for short cruises - was still a RoRo ship.
Birka Princess was not a ro-ro vessel.
quote:Originally posted by recab:Birka Princess was not a ro-ro vessel.
But she had a (small) garage and a ramp for cars? Or not?
quote:Originally posted by Ernst:But she had a (small) garage and a ramp for cars? Or not?
Yes, she did have a garage for passengers who did not want to leave their cars ashore. Access was through a side port. I have had my car parked onboard many times.
That still does not mean that it was a Ro-Ro ship.
According to Bill Mayes' book 'Cruise Ships', it was a garage for about 20 cars, but it was removed during het major refit in 1998.
Willem
Two French passengers were missing Saturday and an official in the prosecutor's office told CNN charges against the captain and crew could be upgraded if they are declared dead.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/04/07/greece.cruiseship/index.html
More Rescue Videos with interior and lifeboat footage(in Spanish)...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6r4ugbamPc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lby_alpQ1Ag
quote:Originally posted by geno-er:One thing I don't understand. If she was coming into port, isn't there supposed to be apilot onboard? I have heard nothing about this????
Mind you that there is no port in Santorini for ships of this size - she would have berthed at ta pier. Also, she called there pretty often - could be that the captain had a pilot license. (like on ferries)
Michael Hipler
It seems from Michael's report that she was already past the point of no return and going down before they even started to tow her off, regardless of reports that she had stabilised.
Here is a report from one chap who did descend a Jacob's ladder. There are so many conflicting stories around from passengers let's hope the bridge recorder can reveal what actually happened. I am wondering why it wasn't possible to take this off before she sunk? Accusations about the crew have been made, typical, yet other reports say how brilliant and helpful they were. It must be hard for those crew who did all they could to assist passengers to then be slammed by the press.
Pam
quote:Originally posted by PamM:It seems from Michael's report that she was already past the point of no return and going down before they even started to tow her off, regardless of reports that she had stabilised.Here is a report from one chap who did descend a Jacob's ladder. There are so many conflicting stories around from passengers let's hope the bridge recorder can reveal what actually happened. I am wondering why it wasn't possible to take this off before she sunk? Accusations about the crew have been made, typical, yet other reports say how brilliant and helpful they were. It must be hard for those crew who did all they could to assist passengers to then be slammed by the press.Pam
I am not surprised by the conflicting stories. Just have a look on Tripadvisor about any hotel anywere in the world. Some customers give 5 Stars while others give 1 promising that they will never ever go to that hotel again.
On the news today,
Louis Heartquarters (Chief Captain) were informed about the incident almost immediately and told the Captain to move the Sea Diamond as close to the island as possible (mentions a place where the depth is 40m). The company also told the Local Port Authority about the decision. However, irrespective of this, the Authority did not authorise this move and decided to move the ship where it meant to be her final home.
[ 04-10-2007: Message edited by: Panos ]
quote:Originally posted by Panos:[QB]Louis Heartquarters (Chief Captain) were informed about the incident almost immediately and told the Captain to move the Sea Diamond as close to the island as possible (mentions a place where the depth is 40m). The company also told the Local Port Authority about the decision. However, irrespective of this, the Authority did not authorise this move and decided to move the ship where it meant to be her final home.QB]
Everybody does what is best for them.
Ultimate Bulletin BoardTM 6.1.0.3
More Vacation & Cruise Specials...