Carnival ship suffers damage from storm

[smokeybandit]

https://crew-center.com/carnival-sunshine-experiences-severe-storm

[WAAAYTOOO]

A bit dramatic but the photos of the flooded hallway looks pretty bad.  Glad no one was injured. 

[USFFrank]

Wonder if Carnival needs to hire a chief meteorologist now.

[smokeybandit]

The situations seems quite similar to what led RC to hire JVF

[USFFrank]

1 hour ago, smokeybandit said:

The situations seems quite similar to what led RC to hire JVF

And now that he's available............

[Geezer Of The Seas]

There but for the Grace of God go us all............

Questions

This storm was a known quantity, particularly the winds and seas. Unfortunately heading toward the coast of the Carolinas so evasion options were limited. I understand scheduling, logistics, & financial pressures, but maybe a diversion to Jacksonville or even delaying return to Charleston by 12-24 hours might have been options to consider? That was to put it mildly, nautical though not epically so.

The captain, like an airline captain, is the ultimate authority on the ship and decision maker. Think Carnival will call him/her on the carpet?

According to Wikipedia, the vessel once wore the mantle of "world's largest".........in 1996. A veritable dinghy now. 

 

[JasonOasis]

18 hours ago, USFFrank said:

Wonder if Carnival needs to hire a chief meteorologist now.

They don't need a chief meteorologist they need to pay attention to the ones at the national weather center.  

That storm was forecasted days in advance and it was meandering off the coast of Northern Florida, Georgia and South Carolina for a day or two but the forecast from the national weather center did call for it to move out by Sunday evening.  Even though the storm was never forecast to become any thing tropical and it never did become tropical it was forecast as a severe thunder storm and wave height was forecast as well.  Not to Monday morning quarterback Carnivals decision to push through the storm but I do have to wonder why they didn't just delay the ships arrival.  I know that would have cost money but look at the alternative look at what happened where the entire lower decks and crew cabins flooded. Even though the ship was never in any danger until all of that is cleaned up what is the crew supposed to do? 

[smokeybandit]

I'm curious how bad this damage actually was. They did not cancel the next cruise and left only a few hours late.

[ScottD]

I know the passengers are saying they are mostly upset because they heard nothing from Crew or Captain all night long, when it was the worst of the storm. Other than "hold on to the railings", they were never informed of severity of the storm. WHICH leads me to believe that it really wasn't dangerous...just a little rougher than usual. OR they just didn't want to cause a panic at 3am. 

[twangster]

16 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

I'm curious how bad this damage actually was. They did not cancel the next cruise and left only a few hours late.

I don't think it was that bad, just traumatic for some guests. 

Pipes on ships break sometimes.  The flooding video I saw appeared to be a water or drain pipe that let loose. That happens on a ship.   The storm may have played in a role in this pipe letting go when it did but the storm may have just accelerated the inevitable.  Ship happens.

It's not like it was seawater that was entering the ship.  

4 hours ago, ScottD said:

I know the passengers are saying they are mostly upset because they heard nothing from Crew or Captain all night long, when it was the worst of the storm. Other than "hold on to the railings", they were never informed of severity of the storm. WHICH leads me to believe that it really wasn't dangerous...just a little rougher than usual. OR they just didn't want to cause a panic at 3am. 

A news crew sticks a mic in front of a debarking guests and it won't take long for one of them to say something they can use on the news.  I'm sure they didn't include the responses from folks who said something like "It was a bit rough but oh well, we are home now, all is well".  Drop a fishing line with a worm on a hook and sooner or later something will be nibbling at it.  That's pretty much was the local news folks do.  

[PPPJJ-GCVAB]

There were plenty other ships that also sailed through that area while heading back to the East Coast ports.  Although no one heard about their experiences…they were larger ships so most likely handled the rough seas and winds much better.

@twangster you are so right about the news media and how they fish until they get the response they want and that’s the one that is let loose all over the internet!  Having grown up in the late 50’s and 60’s…I know enough not to pay attention to a lot of today’s media frenzy!  I am also on no social media sites…perhaps I still want to live in the society where not being in touch every second with everyone and everything was a peaceful way of living!

[cruisellama]

Quite a mess.   Damn the torpedos full steam ahead.

[bobroo]

Reminder to self: Ask during the "It's a ship, not a boat" argument; I've been on a lot of boats in my life and it is common knowledge that anything can get wet at anytime, including interior spaces. Guess that's not true for ships???

 

[teddy]

Time to start the bilge pump I guess.  

[Geezer Of The Seas]

18 hours ago, teddy said:

Time to start the bilge pump I guess.  

I saw another video of the Sunshine's perils on The Weather Channel's website. Whoever was filming was pointing toward the bow. Kinda looked like the Time Bandit or Cornelia Marie on the Bering Sea in an old episode of Deadliest Catch..............

Where's Captain Phil Harris (RIP) when you need him? 

[D Alt]

On 5/30/2023 at 8:42 AM, PPPJJ-GCVAB said:

There were plenty other ships that also sailed through that area while heading back to the East Coast ports.  Although no one heard about their experiences…they were larger ships so most likely handled the rough seas and winds much better.

@twangster you are so right about the news media and how they fish until they get the response they want and that’s the one that is let loose all over the internet!  Having grown up in the late 50’s and 60’s…I know enough not to pay attention to a lot of today’s media frenzy!  I am also on no social media sites…perhaps I still want to live in the society where not being in touch every second with everyone and everything was a peaceful way of living!

But since this particular ship sustained so much damage, is this indicative of Carnival and how they maintain ships?  or perhaps just the older ones?

Should all of that have happened? 

[PPPJJ-GCVAB]

1 hour ago, D Alt said:

But since this particular ship sustained so much damage, is this indicative of Carnival and how they maintain ships?  or perhaps just the older ones?

Should all of that have happened? 

I’m thinking maybe the ships that do not weigh as much as the larger ones…and partly due to age as well?  The Sunshine weighs 102,853 GT while the Oasis (which I do believe experienced some of the effects of the storm) weighs 226,838 GT.

No I do not think what happened should have happened but as others have said ships cannot change course very quickly as they move so slowly.  However, that storm system sat in that area for days!  So someone should have realized the waters were quite angry and something bad might occur.  I do feel badly for the passengers that truly were affected by this nightmare and I am really glad I was not on that ship!