Cruising The Past Cruise News Beleaguered cruise ship Carnival Triumph is due to dock, four days since it was stranded 150 miles off the Yucatan Peninsula after a fire erupted in the engine room.
OPINION: Decline and fall of traveling by ship demands new laws…
The abuse of passengers and the risks that they take from the moment they sign aboard any cruise ship will continue until there is new law and legislation that truly protects the rights of passengers.
Passengers must not be compelled to sign their rights away and must have the right to sue for every redress of every grievance. Until that happens ships will continue to tip over, catch fire and lose power making all on board miserable.
Of course the large cruise line operators will oppose this. But once they become liable for all of these incidents including criminal actions onboard, then and only then will the cruise lines take real action to prevent harm to passengers.
Why aren’t there multiple generator and pump systems on board modern cruise liners?
Why can’t waste systems continue to operate? Once an engine room is disabled why in the world aren’t there at least 3 or even 4 other stations on board from which alternate power can be generated throughout the ship?
Once new laws are in place and the risk transfers to the cruise line to operate safely and efficiently then and only then will we see new engineering that provides total safety and complete back-up for power systems throughout the ship.
No ship that docks in American ports should be exempt from responsibility and liability. The time for new maritime protection law is now.
Passengers with makeshift tents on the the deck of the Carnival Triumph cruise ship at sea in the Gulf of Mexico. The ship nearing Mobile Bay is without engine power and is being towed by tugboats.
After five days adrift, passengers tried to spell out the word “help” Thursday aboard the Triumph as the disabled ship was towed to harbor off Mobile Bay, Ala.
Cruise from Hell Ends…
Ship crawls into port.
MOBILE, Ala. – The disabled Carnival cruise ship Triumph is expected to reach port between 9:30 and 10:30 p.m. Central time Thursday night, a Carnival spokesman told an evening news briefing, but it could take up to five hours for everyone to disembark.
More than 4,000 people are aboard the ship, which has been without power for days after an engine fire. Only one elevator is working. Toilets are overflowing and food is scarce, passengers have told relatives and reporters by cellphone.
Buses will be standing by to take passengers to Galveston, Texas, or to hotels, the Carnival spokesman said, and members of the crew can either stay aboard or go to hotels. The repair assessment will begin Friday.
The ship’s trek to shore was delayed earlier in the day when towing equipment broke and, later, a tow line snapped.
A Carnival spokesman told the Los Angeles Times there had been no deaths or serious injuries aboard the Triumph since it left Galveston last Thursday on what was supposed to be a four-day cruise to Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula. The ship lost power off the Yucatan coast Sunday after an engine fire.
The Triumph, carrying 3,143 passengers and 1,086 crew, was being towed into Mobile by four tugboats stationed around the ship until about 1 p.m. Thursday, when a tow gear on the lead tug boat broke. A fifth tug officials had kept on standby was attached to the Triumph with a tow line that broke shortly afterward.
