It’s been a busy January as the cruise ship industry has been dealing with accidents, incidents and other issues.
First, some good news…
A private plane flying to Hawaii ran out of fuel, the pilot ditched the plan and was then rescued by a Holland America cruise ship.
From KCRA News in Tracy, California… Jan. 26…
“The pilot of a single-engine airplane from Tracy ran out of fuel over the Pacific Ocean en route to Hawaii — but he was able to ditch the plane in the water and then a cruise ship came to his rescue, the U.S. Coast Guard said Sunday.
Coast Guard Chief Petty Officer Kurt Fredrickson said the pilot was picked up by the cruise ship Veendam, which belongs to Holland America.
“Watch standers at the command center identified a couple of courses of action and one of those was a cruise ship,” said Fredrickson. “It turned out having the pilot ditch near the cruise ship was the best course of action.”
Not all stories have ended up so well.
The cruise ship Boudicca had an engine fire.
The first news reports began on Jan. 25 like this one in the UK’s The Telegraph.
“A fire in the engine room of a cruise ship carrying more than one thousand people is being blamed for power cuts which left the vessel “listing” and “in pitch black”.
The blaze at 4am GMT led passengers aboard the Boudicca to don life jackets as it drifted off the coast of Casablanca, Morocco, for around five hours.
The ship’s owners later issued a statement claiming Boudicca was fully operational and had five of its seven engines running.”
Serenade of the Sea, a Royal Caribbean cruise ship, experienced flooding issues while in New Orleans
“After a ruptured water pipe and problems with navigational equipment temporarily docked a Gulf of Mexico-bound Royal Caribbean cruise ship, the Serenade of the Seas was cleared for departure Sunday (Jan. 25) afternoon, a spokesman for the New Orleans Coast Guard said.
The flooding momentarily left some areas of the boat without power, including the main theater, medical facility, gymnasium and the television sets in guests’ staterooms, according to a statement from Royal Caribbean.”
Why so many cruise ship news stories?
Over the last 2 years, the news media has covered more cruise ship accidents, incidents and mishaps if far greater detail. Also, passengers tend to ‘report’ details of these incidents with greater frequency as well as they are able to upload and post images and other details on social media.
Because our law firm represents passengers and crew members who have been injured or hurt on cruise ships, we actively follow new reports from news channels and the cruising community.
Questions for a cruise ship injury law firm? Please call our Miami offices at 800-905-2891.