Princess Chatter

"There are several remaining mysteries.

** A major criticism of rescued passengers was that they were not told what to do and the crew was noticeably absent during the crisis.  While a few crew members helped evacuate people, most passengers report that they didn’t see crew or the crew didn’t know what to do.  Seven bodies were found at muster stations (where passengers meet to board lifeboats) in life jackets.  This is the procedure passengers are told to follow during lifeboat drills, although crew weren’t present to tell them how to proceed.

** Costa Cruises CEO said Concordia made a close pass of Giglio Island last August although not closer than 500 meters.  However several days ago the British shipping journal Lloyd’s List Intelligence said that its satellite tracking information indicated that Costa Concordia sailed within 230 meters in August, even closer than it did last Friday.

** Costa Concordia is on a fixed itinerary, sailing each week to ports in France, Spain and Italy and passengers embark and disembark in each port.  The ship’s lifeboat drill was scheduled the following morning and roughly 600 passengers who boarded that day in Rome didn’t know how to proceed in an emergency.  At present maritime law stipulates cruise ships must schedule lifeboat drills within 24 hours of leaving home port.  Should laws be changed so than drill must take place before the ship leaves the port of embarkation?

** When Costa Concordia listed and sank into the water, most lifeboats couldn’t be launched.  Should cruise lines be required to build ship with lifeboats sitting on deck instead of hanging over the side on davits?

** Why did the crew tell passengers to return to their cabins or walk in the hall, that it was an electrical problem — after water began pouring into the vessel?

** There was a 45 minute wait between the accident, when passengers were told it was an electrical problem, and the order to abandon ship was given.    During that time the situation deteriorated rapidly.  Why weren’t passengers immediately told to return to their cabins, get life vests and proceed to muster stations?"

http://travel.usatoday.com/alliance/cruises/shipcriticblog/post/2012/01/Costa-Concordia--Unanswered-Questions-Remain/608734/1

"The owners of the sinking Italian cruise liner Costa Concordia were not aware of unsafe practices involving ships coming close to shore to give tourists a better view, Costa Cruises chief executive Pier Luigi Foschi told a newspaper on Friday.

Costa has suspended Schettino and declared itself an injured party in the case, in which the captain is accused by prosecutors of multiple manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning ship before all the passengers were evacuated."

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Latest-News-Wires/2012/0120/Costa-Concordia-owners-deny-knowing-about-captain-s-near-shore-salutes

"The Corriere della Sera newspaper reported that investigators had established Captain Francesco Schettino spoke on three occasions to the ship's operator, Costa Cruises, via its emergency unit before the evacuation began.

Investigators wanted to know whether the 68 minutes that elapsed during the course of these calls was because Mr Schettino had underplayed or underestimated the gravity of the damage sustained by the liner, or because Costa Cruises, a subsidiary of Miami-based Carnival, had been reluctant to sanction a decision to evacuate that might cost it millions of euros in compensation, the paper said."

http://www.smh.com.au/world/costa-talks-compo-for-cruise-ship-survivors-20120120-1qa8e.html

"The search for people still missing from the Jan. 13 wreck of a luxury cruise ship was temporarily suspended Friday because of a shift in the position of the 114,500-ton vessel resting on the rocky coast of the island of Giglio."

"Officially, the search was for survivors continued, although there was little hope of finding any of the 21 missing people alive."

"Electronic recordings and accounts from passengers, crew and port authorities show that Schettino waited about an hour before calling for an evacuation of the ship."

"Investigators are awaiting the results of toxicology tests to see if Schettino was under the influence of drugs or other substances at the time of the accident."

"Environmental Minister Corrado Clini said he would propose laws Friday that would require liners to keep about two miles away from shore. That would  prohibit cruise ships from plying the waters of the Grand Canal of  Venice, as well."

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/world_now/2012/01/shipwrecked-costa-concordia-shifts-halting-rescue-work.html

Six days after the 114,500 tonne Costa Concordia capsized off the Tuscan coast, hopes of finding anyone alive on the partially submerged hulk have all but disappeared and the cold waters around the ship have become noticeably rougher."

http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/01/19/time-running-out-to-search-for-costa-concordia-victims/

"Speaking at the quayside on Giglio, he said companies likely to bid include Smit Salvage, an arm of Dutch group Boskalis-Westminster, Titan Salvage, owned by U.S. group Crowley Maritime Corp and Denmark's Svitzer, owned by Maersk."

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/19/us-italy-ship-salvage-idUSTRE80I20N20120119