Oh my gosh. What a night and I do not mean a great one. We had left Galveston and had gone to eat at 5:30 and around 6 we started hearing things crash and the ship started listing starboard and then chair and people started going over, and dishes and glass ware wash sliding off of tables. We stayed seated and held on. A lot of passengers and a few crew member broke and ran for the doors. Shops damage was fairly major. Perfume shop and the LLadro stores were trashed. Captain came on and said that there was a medical emergency and we were going back to Galveston. Several people were hurt from broken glass and one had a tv in their stateroom fall on them. People were snapping pictures and yelling lawsuit. It was very scary. But probably not that bad. The cruiseline lost a lot in broken dishes and alcohol. Heard on cabin was flooding because half of the pool emptied. I have been cruising for 20 years and this is the first time that I was actually scared. We were in the Deck 5 dining room (michelangelo) and we could see water going by the starboard windows we were lising so hard.
Oh my gosh . I hope you make it back ok. Let us know what you know. I looked on the bridge cam and I can see by the direction of the sun that she is heading north, back to Galveston...
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Michael
on the Ecstasy On the Snoozeman Cruise
Good people sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.
Hope that by the time this story ends there weren't too many hurt, and the cruise goes well.
I remember being on the Grand once, when the ship listed very badly. I was in the casino, and remember hoping all the chips were going to roll toward me.
As you all can see in my signature, I was on the Grand in November of '04. Mechanically, she was a great, sound ship. We had absolutely no problems whatsoever withthe ship the entire time. Our group was only unhappy about the service and the demeanor of the staff. I am glad all was fine when I went.
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Michael
on the Ecstasy On the Snoozeman Cruise
Good people sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.
I am booked on the February 18 Grand sailing from Galveston - as a first time cruiser this news makes me pretty nervous. Does this kind of thing happen very often? Does it indicate something is seriously wrong with the ship?
I was sooo looking forward to my cruise - now I am freaked out! Do any of you experienced folks have any insight?
I was just speaking with a friend whose father is on a Holland America ship in the same area and apparently for the last day and a half they ahve had very, very heavy seas with a lot of unhappy passengers.
This list wasnt due to weather or sea conditions... There was a medical emergency on board and the captain did an emergency u-turn manuever to head back to Galveston where it met the US Coast Guard to remove the passenger who had had a heart attack (as well as a couple others who were injured plus family members). This turn, with no warning to the passengers or crew, is what caused the very significant and dangerous list. Something like 23 people were hurt because of it. Scary situation...
The turn was so sharp because the ship was in restricted waters because of oil platforms. There was an oil platform in front of the ship at the time it turned around.
It seems like the captain could have done an emergency stop, used the propulsion to turn on a dime as they do when they turn around in the channel to dock, then started back towards Galveston.
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Michael
on the Ecstasy On the Snoozeman Cruise
Good people sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.
1 persons life does NOT take priority over the ship
And if you were that one person, would you still feel the same way?
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SS Norway (12 times) '85 - '97; Radiance OS 06/01; Island Princess 11/04, Grand Princess 11/04/05, Golden Princess 7/21/06, Golden Princess 2/24/07, Explorer of the Seas 12/23/07, Island Princess 11/15/08
The person had a heart attack and the medical facilities onboard are equipped well enough to sustain this passenger for another minute while they give a warning to the passengers and crew before making this turn. It was in restricted space so the turn was probably necessary to avoid oil platforms but they could have told everyone to hold on. And maybe to avoid standing near the balconies or railings? As a result many people were injured and it very well could have resulted in another death had someone been in the wrong place at the wrong time.
No one here on these boards knows what the circumstances were when the order was given to turn back to port. We do know what happend during and after the turn.
If you stop and think about it, why would it be necessary to make any announcement "to hold on"? It is obvious that if that announcement was given, the captain would be expecting a hard list that would cause danger to passengers and crew. He would not intentially do that.
So there is more to it. Some day we might know what the full story is.
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SS Norway (12 times) '85 - '97; Radiance OS 06/01; Island Princess 11/04, Grand Princess 11/04/05, Golden Princess 7/21/06, Golden Princess 2/24/07, Explorer of the Seas 12/23/07, Island Princess 11/15/08
I know there is an "official" term for this kind of turn, but can't remember what it is. (Besides a hard turn to the right?) Does anyone know?
I think this just proves how seaworthy this ship is. mj said that the starboard windows in the dining room were under water, yet the ship apparently was up righted very quickly.
As Kuki said, this is a very isolated incident.
And I agree with Irish, if the Captain knew what was going to happen, he/she definitely would have given notice to the passengers and crew to "hang on".
I like to think that no one is made a Captain without knowing what they're doing! If I thought otherwise, I'd never cruise again!
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Fern
"A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour."
Carnival Inspiration 2002 Carnival Elation 2004
Grand Princess 2004 NCL Sun 2005
Sun Princess 2006 NCL Dream 2007
Caribbean Princess 2007 NCL Dawn 2008
Island Princess 2008 Island Princess 2009
Golden Princess 2009 Carnival Conquest 2010
Grand Princess 2010 Island Princess 2011
Grand Princess 2011 Carnival Magic 2012
He could have used one of these turns which are usually used for a man overboard situation. However, both will do a 180 and put you back on the opposite course.
Scharnow Turn
Williamson Turn
Also there is the Steady Turn Capability of a ship in inverting direction, under the action of steering controls in restricted stretches of waters. The turn diameter is between 3 to 7 times the ship's length. The Grand is 951 feet in length. So the turing diameter is somewhere between 2853 feet and 6656 feet. I would guess that the diameter is somewhere in the middle.
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SS Norway (12 times) '85 - '97; Radiance OS 06/01; Island Princess 11/04, Grand Princess 11/04/05, Golden Princess 7/21/06, Golden Princess 2/24/07, Explorer of the Seas 12/23/07, Island Princess 11/15/08
And I agree with Irish, if the Captain knew what was going to happen, he/she definitely would have given notice to the passengers and crew to "hang on".
I like to think that no one is made a Captain without knowing what they're doing! If I thought otherwise, I'd never cruise again!
I think this contradicts itself... because if the Captain didnt know what was going to happen when he executed that type of turn... should he have been made Captain since he didnt know what he was doing?
I do believe that he knew what he was doing... the captain knows exactly how a ship reacts to any given manuever. So I still think a warning was due.
Now I would never stop cruising because of this incident... I definitely think the captain knows what he is doing... and I agree we dont know the entire circumstance in which the incident occurred. But it never hurts to talk about it...
The Williamson Turn was what I remember. I'm also aware after a few cruises that if the Captain addresses the whole ship at any time besides his/her usual morning information, you'd better pay attention!
Rachelle,
While I agree that the Captain should know what he/she is doing, we are dealing with the ocean, which is very unpredictable. This kind of turn would probably be one of the first things any sailor would learn.
Even with the best equipment you can't be sure what will happen. No Captain will intentionally risk a ship or passengers. That would be very bad PR! (And very bad for the Captain!)
I also agree with you that it's very interesting to speculate about what really happened, and since we'll probably never know, all we CAN do is speculate.
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Fern
"A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour."
Carnival Inspiration 2002 Carnival Elation 2004
Grand Princess 2004 NCL Sun 2005
Sun Princess 2006 NCL Dream 2007
Caribbean Princess 2007 NCL Dawn 2008
Island Princess 2008 Island Princess 2009
Golden Princess 2009 Carnival Conquest 2010
Grand Princess 2010 Island Princess 2011
Grand Princess 2011 Carnival Magic 2012
I have to say that this has been quite a cruise. Now what we heard was that the Captain was not on the bridge. He was having dinner with his sister. My problem was that is they knew that they were going to make this turn why did they not make an announcement and warn us. Even this morning some of the passengers were talking law suits and wanting the captain fired. We the way I feel is that travel is an adventure. Sometimes good and sometimes not so good. But you have to roll with the punches. Some passengers that were not injured physically wanted cruise refunds for being traumatized. Well guess what. I have had scares about as bad driving or riding in a car. If you walked away you just chaulk it up and say TY God AND move on.
Did not get off ship this morning scratch that afternoon until 12:30. Too windy to come in and then it took 4 tugs to come in. But made it to Dallas by 7:30 after fighting through the Houston traffic. Sucked even on a Saturday. We will leave here on Monday.
MJ,
How was the rest of your cruise other than the turning incident? What about the port change from Grand Caymen? Please give us a review. We are going on the Grand April 1st.
I can tell you,if you were NOT there,you cant imagine how scary this situation was. I am all for the captain turning the ship around for the sick lady..
What I have a problem with,is the FACT that NO ONE told us what was going on.If they had said,we are going to make a turn around,at least we would have had SOME idea of what was going on.Instead,we had NO clue for some VERY long seconds as to the ships turning.
I can tell you first hand that many of us thought the ship was going down.I spent over 2 hrs trying to help calm my very scared neighbor.I thought she was going to have a heart attack.
The local news report said 40 ppl were injured.I can say I KNOW this is a low count.Most of us did not seek any treatment.I had a nice bump on my arm that is still very sore and bruised with a knot in the middle of it.But,I knew it was NOT broken,so I would never go down and take up the crews time.But,Ive had a bad bruise in the past that became a big enough problem for me later that I had to seek emergency room care...
If you could have been there,Im sure some of you would have a different take on things.The pictures dont tell you half the story.
I will say this..I would have NEVER believed the crew could have gotten the ship back together as fast as they did.They did a great job! Many areas looked like a war zone.I did get a few pictures,but they were taken after the clean up.
I will continue to cruise,but if Im trying to decide which line to take,and one of them is Princess...I will probably choose the other line.Would I ever sail Princess again,of course! But,they will probably be second choice for awhile..
Feb 4th cruise - This was my post on the cruise criticboard.
Especially for the new cruisers on the Grand Princess that might be nervious.
The ship was great, never felt crowded, easy to find a seat at any event or show. We had anytime seating and the staff seemed to have an attitude of arrogance, go figure. It was hard not to be sarcastic at times especially with the waiters. We did find better service on the third night and booked that table for the same time each evening for the rest of the cruise. The food was better typically in the buffet than in the dinning room but with the better waitstaff we never went wanting. If they even thought we wanted more of something or wanted to try more than one item in each course they brought it without asking. The $20 tip we gave each evening probably helped. There were six of us so the extra couple of bucks each per night was worth every cent for the great service.
As a group we had several complaints but nothing to discourage another trip on this ship. The captain made a full speed 180*-U turn on the first evening, about 2 hours into the trip that put the ship up her side. Everything not bolted down crashed to one side of the ship including tables, chairs, TVs, dishes, and passengers, My wife fell and slightly hurt her wrist, but it didn't really affect the rest of her trip.. I don't think too many people were injured seriously, but it should have been a lot more. After this incident everything went a lot better. Our only other big complaint, which is somewhat looking for a fault, was the ice cream bar was only open from 3:30pm - 4:30pm. Any other time you had had to pay, only ship I've ever seen without free ice cream. Also the coffee ...... (saying it was terrible is being very kind) no kidding.
Over all we all agreed it was a great ship and the itinerary, about 10 hours in each port, fit us perfectly since all six of us are divers. Highly recommended - after many cruises on several different ships and lines.
Have fun and if you see old U-turn kick him in the butt for me........
Live From the Grand
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