This has not been a good week in the cruise industry. There has been a major fire which stranded the Carnival Triumph and a freak accident during an emergency drill that cost the lives of five crew on a ship in the Canary Islands. Many people have fear of cruises. Still, cruising is still among your safest way to get from point A to point B. So what’s the worst that can happen?
Sea Sickness on a Cruise
Just because you get sea sick on your cousin’s fishing boat, doesn’t mean you will get sea sick on a cruise ship. Most of the larger cruise ships make motion almost unnoticeable. Bring along some ginger pills or buy some sea band bracelets. Be careful with the patches that a lot of people where. It will make you sun sensitive, and adding alcohol can make you sicker than if you actually were sea sick.
Several years ago we got caught in a hurricane. Generally if there is a hurricane in your path, cruise ships will go around. This means your itinerary might be different than you expected, but you will miss the 100 mile per hour winds. In our case, the hurricane was so large that it covered almost the entire Caribbean. It was only a category 2 hurricane, so it didn’t get much attention back at home, but we had no choice but to go through the middle of it. Surprisingly, very few people got sea sick although looking out the window was a bit disorienting since the scene would change from all air to all water. Our daughter was in a stroller and we had to keep locking the wheels because she kept rolling away.
Fire on Cruise Ships
Fires on board a cruise ship make the news about once a year. Usually it’s a minor incident, but a major fire will shut down pretty much everything on a cruise ship. Backup generators keep emergency lighting and communications going, but that’s about it. You will be eating whatever they can make without electricity, and if it requires refrigeration, be cautious. Plumbing is the real nightmare of a fire. Ship toilets work on a vacuum system. Take the engines off line, and you take the generators out the equation. No generators, no working toilets. Without getting too graphic, it can get messy. I don’t know the actuarial numbers, but your odds of being on a cruise ship during a fire are probably 1 in 10,000 cruises. We’ve been several ships that have had fires, but in twenty years have never been on one when there was a fire.
Cruise Ship Sinking
One of my ancestors was a survivor of the Titanic so our family has that out of the way. I can only remember 2 sinkings of cruise ships that cater to the U.S. market in the last couple of decades. In both cases, there were no passengers on board. Both companies were in bankruptcy and there are some unanswered questions about how the ships sank. The one place in the world I would at least have the subject cross my mind is in southeast Asia. While not really cruises ships, the region has a history of over crowded ferries sinking.
Cruise Ship Crashes
Cruise ship crashes are actually reasonably common and rarely fatal. The likelihood of you being on a cruise ship that crashes is still minimal, but it does happen. And many times you might not even realize that it happened. Most times crashes take place during docking or in fog, and almost always at slow speeds. You may just think you docked and get down to the dock and find a large dent in the boat or part of the pier missing. Smoke stacks and bridges are often also common problems. The crash on the rocks by the Costa Concordia is a rarity both for the type of accident and the loss of life.
Lifeboats
Today’s lifeboats are designed to self right themselves in the worst of weather. There are always more life vests than passengers, and the likelihood of ending up in the water is slim to none. Depending on the ship you cruise on, you may find yourself in a lifeboat as a shuttle in ports where tenders aren’t available and docking isn’t possible for the ship itself. Most lifeboat accidents occur while the boat is being lowered. Passengers are never in the boat while this is occurring except in the most extreme situations. Generally, the lifeboats are lowered with a couple crew members, and passengers get on from a portable dock that is extended from the ship at water level.
Falling off a Cruise Ship
A couple times a year someone makes CNN by falling off a cruise ship. And yes it is generally fatal. If the fall doesn’t kill you, your time in the water probably will. Most of these incidents happen at night, and the likelihood of someone seeing it is pretty small. In general, you aren’t going to simply fall off a cruise ship or be blown overboard. In the event of bad weather, simply follow the safety instructions from the crew. Most falls are the result of drunken behavior, stupidity or a combination of both. Occasionally, foul play is involved, but this rare, and is usually a domestic dispute that ends badly.
Sexual Assault on a Cruise
Sexual assault on cruise ships happens enough that it is getting attention. It is probably no more common than those assaults that happen anywhere else. It just gets notoriety because you don’t expect it on a cruise ship. The complexity of sexual assaults on cruise ships comes from ship registries. We assume that because we get on a cruise ship in Miami that the laws of the U.S. apply on board. As long as you are in U.S. territorial waters that is probably true, but beyond that, the laws of the country of registration generally apply. As such, sexual assaults by crew members rarely see the inside of a court room. Luckily it doesn’t happen often, but when it does, it can be an extra difficult experience.
Disease on Cruises
Another news worthy event is an outbreak of something on a cruise ship. Food poisoning is a rarity, but it does happen. Generally a sick passenger spreads a virus just like they would anywhere else. The difference is that a cruise ship is a closed system so things spread relatively easily. Legionaries disease has happened a couple of times, but this is something that gets into air conditioning systems and even with regular cleaning is still a possibility. We have been on ships that have had outbreaks and there is generally no risk after the even takes place.
Summary
Just about anything bad that can happen in your home town can happen on a cruise ship. It’s just more likely to make the news on a cruise ship. Since most serious accidents and death occur within 5 miles of a person’s home, I recommend getting out of town as quickly as possible. The odds say you will have a wonderful time, and be back for future cruises.
