weltfrieden

I was vacationing in Alaska many years ago. On the day before I was scheduled to fly out of Anchorage, the Exxon Valdez spilled 38 million gallons of crude oil. That was one vacation I would never forget.

Randeman

Since the ship was pretty close to the mainland, rescue attempts would have been quicker than if the ship had been right smack dab in the middle of the Atlantic. Regardless, had the ship been lost I agree that most everyone would have died. While it would not have had the "romance" of Titanic's sinking, it would have been an epic, horrific disaster. The jury may or may not be out on the way it was handled by the captain, but kudos to him and his crew that there wasn't a loss of life.

People who hear of Anthem or Concordia or some other event and then say "that's why I will never take a cruise" absolutely crack me up with their illogic. They won't go near a ship, but think nothing of getting into a car or an airplane where they are much more likely to be involved in an accident. A young colleague of mine recently mentioned that he wanted to take a cruise, but was a little apprehensive being at sea if something terrible happened. My response to him was to the effect of, 'since 1912, how many ocean liners/cruise ships have sunk with a loss of life? Now compare that to automotive and aircraft crashes since the same year.' It's just silly.

YVR Cockroach

I don't think it's the possibility of a disaster but how one evacuate a ship with so many souls. On the few new(er) cruise ships I've been on (all <2,000 pax and assume about 50% of that in crew), I can't imagine an orderly and calm evacuation unless the ship is absolutely level and slowly settling into the water (or if not, on fire but still able to evacuate in an orderly fashion). The Costa Concordia loss probably didn't have greater loss of life as the ship came to rest on its side and was very near land as well.

Next "cruise" I'll be on takes me from East Asia to west coast North America. Only 24-26 crew, maximum of 10 passengers, enough space and immersion suits for all in either of the 2 lifeboats. If it came to evacuation, I'd imagine one has a better chance on that than a cruise ship on the same route.

piper28

And yet, statistically, your odds of actually making it without sinking are probably greater on the large cruise ship . (And god, I really hope I didn't just curse you with that.)

DanJ

Another storm brewing off Cape Hatteras and now RCI is bringing the Anthem back to New Jersey 2 days earlier. I wonder how many complaints we hear about the vacation being cut short.

trooper

An icebreaker could be sunk by a berg in the same way as the Titanic (too many compartments filled) ...they are only very strong in limited areas...although the hulss are of course strengthened more than average ships...

You know HOW they "break" ice (with strict limits on how thick)?

They ride up on to it and break it with the ships weight..... so those bow areas are heavily built.....

MJonTravel

Several, I'm sure. Cruising out of the northeast in the winter is a whole different animal than further south, I think. I heard there is a touch of noro outbreak onboard too.

YVR Cockroach

Lots more freighters than cruise ships. The line I sailed on probably has more container ships than the number of "large" cruise ships worldwide, and that is before the NOL (and APL) acquisition. Ironically, the only major incident was one of their then-cruise ships (Ponant) being hijacked by pirates.

The CMA CGM Libra is actually pretty much the same length and beam as an Oasis class ship, and that isn't even nearly the largest container ship though the ship is only 6 years old. The newest container ship can carry 60-90% more (we're talking difference of over four thousand 40' containers).

I still wager it's safer on a freighter: The ship was equipped with fresh and salt water systems for fire fighting as well as argon and CO2 systems (444 45 Kg canisters IIRC). Steel is also a lot less flammable than aluminium. Lots of ventilation dampers everywhere to suffocate fires. There's 10 holds and the watertight doors between them are meant to be shut and locked tight all the time (access normally required only when loading/unloading). Only issue is much less crew (normal minimum complement is 24 officers and crew) to fight a fire.

As for evacuation and survival, the Libra at least has more than enough lifeboat capacity on each side of the ship for everyone on board (with quite a bit of water, food and pyrotechnics in each) just in case the ship is listing and boats cannot be launched on one side, enough life rafts (also equipped with food, water and pyrotechnics) on each side for all onboard.

You also report to alarms with your immersion suit, not just a life vest which is better suited for recovering corpses.

As I already mentioned, I have looked at lifeboat capacity on cruise ships and have figured out that there is not enough for a full-capacity ship so someone has to go in the rafts (assuming they inflate), assuming all lifeboats can be launched.

I made it home on the Star Princess which was reportedly almost lost to a fire just over 10 years ago (order to abandon ship was almost made).

jonsail

The Coast Guard and Navy would seek to enlist any commercial ships nearby as well as offering what assistance it could. But in big waves it is always going to be dangerous getting from one ship to another.