# Mega Cruise Ships: Tragedies Waiting To Happen? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 10, 2011, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mega-cruise-ships-tragedies-waiting-to-happen/570937 "2011-02-10T20:12:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mega-cruise-ships-tragedies-waiting-to-happen/570937/21 "2011-02-11T17:13:07Z")
If you go to my cite about the **Yarmouth Castle** tragedy, you’ll find that many of the sorts of things the OP was concerned about have, in the past, caused such accidents. The open ventilation _did_ cause the fire to spread rapidly on the YC, for instance. As a result of that tragedy, new safety regulations were passed, and the Safety of Life at Sea regulations were beefed up. They’ve been improved since, as well: > **[SOLAS Convention](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Convention_for_the_Safety_of_Life_at_Sea)** > > The International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) is an international maritime treaty that sets minimum safety standards in the construction, equipment and operation of merchant ships. The International Maritime Organization convention requires signatory flag states to ensure that ships flagged by them comply with at least these standards. > The current version of SOLAS is the 1974 version, known as SOLAS 1974, which came into force on 25 May 1980. As of April 2022\[update\], SOL... ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mega-cruise-ships-tragedies-waiting-to-happen/570937/22 "2011-02-11T17:14:34Z")
We do have RORO ferries here. The Cape May-Lewes ferry, the Washington State ferries and some of the Long Island ferries are probably the largest of these. ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mega-cruise-ships-tragedies-waiting-to-happen/570937/23 "2011-02-11T17:15:53Z")
**ralph124c** , just curious, since it’s your OP: Do you feel that the maritime nations should restrict the size of cruise ships, or force their retirement after 20 years, or something else? ---
**Author:** ![Goggles03](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c68b51/32.png) [@Goggles03](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Goggles03)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mega-cruise-ships-tragedies-waiting-to-happen/570937/24 "2011-02-11T17:16:04Z")
“Actually last Feb we pulled out and passed through a cat 2 or 3 hurricane level storm on the way down to the Caribbean. It was not a hurricane per se, it just had the wind speed without the cyclonic effect. We did have 40-50 foot waves. Remember the snow storms of the time?” How did the ship, crew, and passengers react to those monster-sized waves? ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mega-cruise-ships-tragedies-waiting-to-happen/570937/25 "2011-02-11T17:25:41Z")
> [@Mr.Moto](#): > > We do have RORO ferries here. The Cape May-Lewes ferry, the Washington State ferries and some of the Long Island ferries are probably the largest of these. Not to mention the Staten Island Ferry, and ferries in Alaska and BC. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mega-cruise-ships-tragedies-waiting-to-happen/570937/26 "2011-02-11T17:42:06Z")
I don’t know about Alaska and BC, but the Staten Island ferry only carries passengers. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mega-cruise-ships-tragedies-waiting-to-happen/570937/27 "2011-02-11T18:18:41Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > I don’t know about Alaska and BC, but the Staten Island ferry only carries passengers. The Staten Island ferry did crash into port a few years back. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mega-cruise-ships-tragedies-waiting-to-happen/570937/28 "2011-02-11T18:21:02Z")
The point is that it isn’t a RO-RO ferry. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mega-cruise-ships-tragedies-waiting-to-happen/570937/29 "2011-02-11T18:43:45Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > The point is that it isn’t a RO-RO ferry. It is when I’m there. I’m always rollin’. ---
**Author:** ![fifty-six](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@fifty-six](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fifty-six)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mega-cruise-ships-tragedies-waiting-to-happen/570937/30 "2011-02-11T19:06:28Z")
The alaskan ferries are huge. Like a smallish crises liner. And they carry everything. As for relying on the crew. On one of my travels to the north Bering sea and far Aleutian islands the captain gave a safety speech. He had been doing this for twenty years. He gave all the regular safty speeches. We drilled in survival suits. And rafts and overboard procdurs. Twards the end he said. I have never been in a real life or death situation n. You all must knowthese things. I could end up blubbering in the corner and the small scientist over there may take the lead. Every time I have traveled the aleutions safty drills were important. I know what to do to save myself and others Just because there is trained captain and crew on civilian ships does not mean they wont freek out and make tragic mistakes. I have never been on a cruise ship but I imagine a top level safety briefing would be imporant early in the cruise. ---
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mega-cruise-ships-tragedies-waiting-to-happen/570937/31 "2011-02-11T19:11:20Z")
> [@Mr.Moto](#): > > It is when I’m there. I’m always rollin’. I always knew there was a reason I hatin’. ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mega-cruise-ships-tragedies-waiting-to-happen/570937/32 "2011-02-11T19:27:15Z")
A couple of general points. To reiterate what other posters have said: disasters can and do happen. the most recent one I can remember was the sinking of the [MS _Sea Diamond_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MS_Sea_Diamond) after running aground off Santorini, in the Mediterranean. The sinking took some fifteen hours and the two people missing and presumed killed were apparently lost in the initial moments of the accident. The other thing I wanted to address was **Sage Rat** ’s assertion that had the _Titanic_ had sufficient life boats for all it’s passengers they would all have been saved. I believe this is very unlikely, even if the original double boat davits had been retained as Andrews had wanted: The last boat launched from the _Titanic_ was launched at about 0205, and there were still two more collapsible lifeboats that were not launched properly before the ship sank. Many of the boats were launched under capacity, too, in at least one case because there was no one else on the boat deck at the time that the boat was ready to be lowered. One of which was lowered with a total of twelve people aboard, while having a capacity for 40. (Starboard #5) It’s facile to blame the loss of life with _Titanic_ on the relative dearth of space aboard the lifeboats, but I think an examination of the actual loading of the available lifeboats shows that there wouldn’t have been sufficient time to get more than three or four more boats off before the ship’s angle would have made lowering more boats impossible. Now, had those extra boats been available, more of the people who went into the water might have been able to find safety. The two collapsible life boats that were not lowered both had survivors who used them to stay mostly out of the water until rescue. (In one case by standing on the hull of the overturned lifeboat, with all the men aboard it knee deep in the near freezing water.) But there still would have been massive loss of life. One thing that looking at accounts of the sinking of many of the ships mentioned here will show is that most ships do not sink on an even keel. _Andrea Doria_ took so extreme a list so quickly that one side of her lifeboats were unable to be used. Of course, anyone who starts to get nervous about the idea of being aboard a cruise ship because of the potential for disaster might want to consider just how high up they’ll be willing to go in a skyscraper, because of the difficulties in getting out of such buildings in case of fire. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mega-cruise-ships-tragedies-waiting-to-happen/570937/33 "2011-02-11T19:34:10Z")
Wasn’t it just a few months ago when a big cruise ship lost all power for a few days in the Americas? Not as bad as sinking, but a serious disaster nonetheless. ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mega-cruise-ships-tragedies-waiting-to-happen/570937/34 "2011-02-11T19:36:14Z")
Yes. I wouldn’t call it a disaster, for all that it was an extremely unpleasant situation for all involved: No lives were lost, after all. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mega-cruise-ships-tragedies-waiting-to-happen/570937/35 "2011-02-11T19:56:04Z")
> [@Goggles03](#): > > “Actually last Feb we pulled out and passed through a cat 2 or 3 hurricane level storm on the way down to the Caribbean. It was not a hurricane per se, it just had the wind speed without the cyclonic effect. We did have 40-50 foot waves. Remember the snow storms of the time?” > > How did the ship, crew, and passengers react to those monster-sized waves? It was no big deal, a few people were a bit seasicky, but you get that on any cruise. Not much roll was really felt, gimpy me on crutches around my room had no trouble getting around at all - nothing really happened. Oddly enough, winters in the mid atlantic often have heavy winds and seas that never make it all the way to land. Once we hit and passed the gulf stream the storm cell pretty much ended. That was the feb that had all the east coast snow storms, which we were glad to miss. Heck, I was in a balcony cabin just above the line of lifeboats in Explorer of the Seas, level 6 and all we got on the windows was spray. There is so much put into stability that it takes a hell of a lot to get the ship to do more than light rolling. You could probably find some discussion about it over on cruisecritic if you wanted to search. ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mega-cruise-ships-tragedies-waiting-to-happen/570937/36 "2011-02-11T19:56:38Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > Wasn’t it just a few months ago when a big cruise ship lost all power for a few days in the Americas? Not as bad as sinking, but a serious disaster nonetheless. The Carnival Splendor. Towed to here in San Diego for repairs. The USN had to helo out some grub. Now in 'Frisco for additional repairs. > **[Carnival Splendor sails again after repairs made at dry dock - California Beat](https://www.californiabeat.org/carnival-splendor-sails-again-after-repairs-made-at-dry-dock/)** > > The cruise ship that caught fire 150 miles south of San Diego and stranded a boat load of tourists on the Pacific is set to sail again after undergoing weeks of repairs at the Port of San Francisco. ---
**Author:** ![Brandus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@Brandus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brandus)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mega-cruise-ships-tragedies-waiting-to-happen/570937/37 "2011-02-11T20:36:21Z")
The real tragedy is that we’ve created these resource hogging, sea polluting, dolphin killing (probably) floating abominations so sheltered Americans can be dumped out in a Caribbean tourist trap and felt like that have “traveled”. ---
**Author:** ![smoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@smoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smoke)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mega-cruise-ships-tragedies-waiting-to-happen/570937/38 "2011-02-11T20:55:48Z")
^-- Yosemite Sam? ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mega-cruise-ships-tragedies-waiting-to-happen/570937/39 "2011-02-11T21:32:17Z")
I’ve never been on a cruise. What do you do in one? It seems all you do is eat, gamble, and watch shows, like a floating Vegas casino ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mega-cruise-ships-tragedies-waiting-to-happen/570937/40 "2011-02-11T22:48:49Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > Thanks-this is a good example. The captain of this seagoing accident and his officers were amonth the FIRST to abandon ship! The bandleader stayed on board and organized the evacuation of the passengers-the capatin’s reaction? “I gave the order to abandon the ship..so there was no need for me to stay on board”-really courageous of you, “captain”! Yeah, that’s not an accurate account of what happened. The captain didn’t abandon ship until over 3/4 of the passengers had been evacuated. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mega-cruise-ships-tragedies-waiting-to-happen/570937.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mega-cruise-ships-tragedies-waiting-to-happen/570937.md?page=3)