(3/21/05) Cruise ship damages reef and almost runs down dive party

[oversea]

I was on the Norwegian Dawn and Star (sister ships) These damn things can maneuver better than my 16' Donzi. They have Azipods and bow trusters. They can literally turn on a dime.

 

[KaBoOm]

Good, Andrew, they're crowded enough. As for me, I really enjoyed my last cruise with Carnival. They took amazing care of me and my family. My only complaint is that I gained 8 pounds in 4 days and it has been very hard to lose. You are right that they are amazingly inexpensive. I paid less for 4 of us to go on the cruise than it would have cost for hotel alone in a nice beach town.

Sorry, I didn't mean to make it sound like the service on board sucks or anything. I've never been on a Carnival cruise, so who am I to judge. It's just these kind of things that seem to happen more frequently on Carnival than on Princess or RCI. To each their own I guess....

Andrew

 

[Chaseh]

At least you all have avoided the plagues that spread on these boats.

I'll stick to a six-pack boat and a 250hp outboard or the like.

I can eat till I'm sick at home if I want.

 

[Web Monkey]

Although I don't know anything specific about the accident, it's partially the fault of whoever operates the port.

In most other areas, a local pilot comes abord to bring the ship in, in order to avoid running into anything sensitive.

Terry

I've never been there but it's hard to believe the cruise ships would be that close to the divers on the reef.

We were diving the Panama City Beach Jetties the other day and this huge tanker Star of India went overhead through the pass. It took about 9 minutes for it to pass and it was so loud. I've never experienced anything like that in the water. It never occurred to me that I could be SUCKED UP IN THE PROPELLERS! That would make for a bad day, but even a bad day diving is better than most days doing anything else...

I wonder what fines will be incurred if any for damaging the reef and if the divers have any recourse?

 

[miketsp]

..snip..
I wonder what fines will be incurred if any for damaging the reef and if the divers have any recourse?

Why should the divers have any recourse? There was no mention of anybody actually being injured?
If they all got out undamaged then they've all had a thrill and got a story to tell.
Or is it only fun if you find somebody to process?

It would be quite different of course if somebody was killed or injured.

 

[archman]

Why should the divers have any recourse? There was no mention of anybody actually being injured?

If a boat operating in unauthorized waters nearly ran me down, I'd be pretty ticked. I'd definitely see that they received a hefty fine for attempted manslaughter, unintentional or no. Professional reprimand to the navigating officers too.

Endangerment of life and reckless behavior, that's what it comes down to regarding the ship.

 

[miketsp]

If a boat operating in unauthorized waters nearly ran me down, I'd be pretty ticked. I'd definitely see that they received a hefty fine for attempted manslaughter, unintentional or no. Professional reprimand to the navigating officers too.

Endangerment of life and reckless behavior, that's what it comes down to regarding the ship.

I was interpreting the original post as "resource" = "way to get personal compensation".

Obviously I agree with a public sanction in the event of professional negligence. Fine / jail / loss of certification etc.
What I don't agree with is the American way of expecting to be able to retire off a situation like this with multi-million compensation payments.
To a non-American, many of the compensation settlements we read about in the USA just seem out of all proportion.

To me that's what the poster was implying. Maybe I'm wrong.

 

[Wijbrandus]

This happened in Mexico.

No one is going to sue and actually get money.

 

[archman]

This happened in Mexico.

No one is going to sue and actually get money.

Yeah, and most of the cruise lines (Carnival too I think) are homebased outside the U.S. too, to avoid many regulations and taxes. So if an american diver sues the cruise line, it likely goes to the mexican courts. Much simpler legal system. I wonder if any american divers were in the affected party, and if so, if they realize that american laws won't apply. In a place like Cancun/Cozumel, it's easy to forget you're international.

 

[MarkH]

A cruise ship on the Inside Passage-Alaska run hit the Ogden Point breakwater here in Victoria, British Columbia last year. The pilot blamed it on high winds. The breakwater is the most popular dive site in the city. There were no divers close to it when it hit, but some went down after and brought up big chunks of one of the propellors. They engraved the name of the cruise ship on it and a piece is on display at the nearby dive shop.