Cruise Line: Ship Tilt Caused by Human Error

Jason · August 5, 2006

ORLANDO, FLORIDA (AP) -- Human error caused a cruise ship to abruptly tilt at sea last week, sending furniture and debris flying about the boat and injuring 240 passengers, a cruise line official said. Though federal investigations continue, Princess Cruises president Alan Buckelow wrote in a letter to passengers that "the incident was due to human error and the appropriate personnel changes have been made."

The letter, dated Monday, was posted on the company's Web site. Phone calls to the company seeking additional comment were not immediately returned.

The Crown Princess unexpectedly heeled to its side last week shortly after departing Port Canaveral, where it had stopped before a scheduled return to New York to complete a nine-day Caribbean cruise. The ship tilted an estimated 16 to 18 degrees, seriously injuring at least 20 people after passengers and objects tumbled.

The ship immediately returned to Port Canaveral, on Florida's east coast, but departed again for New York two days later and picked up a new load of passengers for a similar, shortened cruise.

"We express our sincerest apologies for this regrettable event, and fully understand that this was a distressing experience for all who were on board," Buckelow wrote in the letter.

JoeyandDavid · August 5, 2006

this is the second time human causes this type of incident.. I think .. they need more training...

TVLady2 · August 6, 2006

My brother an his wife were on this cruise. He was in the pool when it happened. He was thrown out of the pool into the railing and hung on for dear life. He though his life was soon to be over. He received a sprained wrist. He said when the ship uprighted there was only a foot of water in that pool that was left. He loves to cruise and he said he will sail again.

teacp · August 6, 2006

OMG how awful for him............glad to hear he only had a sprained wrist........glad it hasn't soured him on cruising...........

jtutak · August 6, 2006

Two sides to every story, read this review by a passenger. http://mysite.verizon.net/don2738/cpreview.html

rogue · August 6, 2006

I was also going to post that site. It's amazing how much scaremongering goes on in the press about cruise ships these days. I'm sure that for those aboard the Crown when it tipped this was a horrendous situation. Lots of people got injured, some seriously, but to read some of the media reports from around the country, this was a tremendous disaster at sea. Some compared this to the Poseidin Adventure. Some reported an 80-90 degree list. Some even reported that there were people thrown overboard from the incident.

Almost every first hand report that I have read from people who were passengers at the time of the tip stated that, until the incident, this was a great cruise. Almost every one of these people said that they would go back on this ship even after this incident. The crew also was generally praised for the way they handled the situation.

Read the review from one of the passengers, and get another point of view.

http://mysite.verizon.net/don2738/cpreview.html

jbond · August 6, 2006

I'll bet you could find people who sailed on the Titanic say it was great until we hit that iceberg. :wink:

That was a very interesting website. She seemed to be a very unflappable kind of person with a sense of humour. Enjoyed reading it.

I'm a little surprised that human error can still cause this kind of problem. With all the computer controlled devices out there, I'm amazed that there isn't some kind of control that would limit turn rate dependent on speed and /or limit roll angle by over riding commands. It's old technology in the aerospace industry.

schatje · August 7, 2006

I agree with Jbond, where are the safegards!

It must have been devastating for the person that was held responsible, knowing the error hurt people.

SCIROCCO · August 7, 2006

Hi Jason! :grin:

Looks like they are going to have to check the Bridge Personell like they do the Airline Pilots to see if theve been Drinking before Operating a Cruise Ship! :tongue: :wink: :grin: