Topic: Carnival orders safety review across all cruise brands

Following the Costa Concordia tragedy Carnival Corporation have decided to carry out a major review of it's safety and emergency procedures.

The announcements comes after amateur videos footage, shows a female crew member telling passengers "We kindly ask you to return to your cabins, or go for a walk in the hall, if you like."

She says that she is relaying a message from the commander.

"We'll resolve the electrical problem that we have with the generator. Everything will be fine. If you want to stand here, it's fine.

"But I'm kindly asking you to go back to your rooms, where you'll be seated and tranquil. Everything is under control."

It is believed that the delay in evacuating the ship has cost 11 lives with 21 people still missing.

Carnival, who own Costa, P&O, Cunard and Princess Cruises, admitted that the tragic accident had "called into question our company’s safety and emergency response procedures and practices".

Micky Arison, chairman and CEO of Carnival Corporation & plc, said: "While I have every confidence in the safety of our vessels and the professionalism of our crews, this review will evaluate all practices and procedures to make sure that this kind of accident doesn’t happen again."

The review will be led by Captain James Hunn, a retired US Navy Captain and currently the company’s senior vice president of Maritime Policy & Compliance.

Hunn and senior health and safety executives from each of the lines will review all safety and emergency response policies and procedures, officer and crew training and evaluation, bridge management and company-wide response and support efforts.

The cruise line is also bringing in outside industry-leading experts in the fields of emergency response organisation, training and implementation to conduct an audit of all of the company’s emergency response and safety procedures and to conduct a thorough review of the Costa Concordia accident.

Following the recent incidents have your views changed about the safety of cruise ships or do you still consider a cruise to be the safest form of holiday?

Having a revue is one thing implementing change is another! After all the horse has already bolted ? What they need to do is look at is how Senior members of the Ships crew are trained & selected. And to immediately stop all unnecessary detours of there ships for sail pasts et.
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Personally, I still feel cruising to be safe and I also consider Air travel to be safe. I don't think Carnival have any choice in making this decision as it should be standard practice to carry out a review following any accident/incident.
I do wonder though when this ship and its crew were tested throughly on evacuation procedures or actions to be taken in the event of an emergency.
PM

I feel cruising to be safe, unless in the Indian Ocean, with its security issues.

I should also like to hear that Carnival are tightening up on their recruitment procedures.

I feel the review of the ships emergency drill procedure is long over due. I have been cruising for many years and of course over the years the ships have changed in size,number of passengers but the drill is still conducted (more or less) in the same manner. We have seen so many times passengers during the drill not taking any notice of the procedures. Passengers are still walking into the station long after the training has commenced or don't even bother attending. A roll call should be made at each muster station to ensure every passenger attends. This would of course make the drill longer but it is better to be safe than sorry.

QUOTE:

A roll call should be made at each muster station to ensure every passenger attends. This would of course make the drill longer but it is better to be safe than sorry.

On the big new ships (oasis, Epic, Allure) they do a full Muster Station roll call by using a bar-code scanner to read you sea-pass card. This is very quick.

The new emphasis is not on abandoning the ships (not wise when you have 6,000 passengers) but on 'safe return to port' of the ship - the ship itself being the lifeboat. (See my Oasis post/video)

This of course did not work for Concordia.

QUOTE:

Following the recent incidents have your views changed about the safety of cruise ships or do you still consider a cruise to be the safest form of holiday?

The last loss of a big ship in peace time was the Titanic, one hundred years ago.

I rest my case.

(There's always room for improvement, though).

I still think cruising is a very safe option, in fact have just booked a cruise to the eastern med in August with Cunard who have never lost a ship in peacetime yet.

I can think of several steps that should be taken straight away.
1. A water prove battery operated light fitted to all cabins.
2. More inflatable life rafts to be carried for when life boats can't be launched.
3.Immediate action to be taken to stop cabin doors from self locking.
4. Stop any further launches of new ships until a major review of all safety aspects has been undertaken.

QUOTE:

I can think of several steps that should be taken straight away.
1. A water prove battery operated light fitted to all cabins.
2. More inflatable life rafts to be carried for when life boats can't be launched.
3.Immediate action to be taken to stop cabin doors from self locking.
4. Stop any further launches of new ships until a major review of all safety aspects has been undertaken.

1. a battery back up in the light would be no problem making it water proof would be expensive difficult to maintain and of little use.
2. The problem is getting into the life rafts they go out on a cable with people already in them so the same problem as a lifeboat throw them in the water and it is difficult to climb in.
3. Good idea but how do you stopp people entering your cabin it the power is cut?
4. I don't think the design was a problem just the joy rider taking his own route taking manual control and turning to late. You can't block manual as you may need it.