Passengers suing cruise line for heavy seas

[Squatch]

:wtf: :wtf: :wtf:

Link

Passenger recalls terror on cruise ship as it was hit by 70-foot wave

A New Jersey woman testified on Wednesday that she still gets nightmares about an April 2005 cruise that was slammed by heavy seas for hours and eventually struck by a 70-foot wave.

"It's always about water," said Sandra Krahling, a passenger on the Norwegian Dawn cruise from Miami to New York. "I just remember seeing propellers coming out of the water. I open doors and there's water coming in."

Krahling is one of four people suing Norwegian Cruise Line for emotional damage from the cruise, which was forced to divert to Charleston, S.C., after windows broke, flooding 62 cabins.

The suit filed by Miami lawyer Brett Rivkind alleges Norwegian recklessly tried to sail through the storm to tape an appearance on the Donald Trump show The Apprentice, for which it had agreed to pay $800,000.

[trotsky]

1. Well, my initial reaction is also a "gimme a break" type deal.

But if the cruise line deliberately took on stormy seas to make this appointment, when they wouldn't have otherwise due to passenger safety, there's a legit complaint here. They endangered the whole ship doing so.

[Squatch]

4. Those ships are built to safely navigate heavy seas.

Just like airplanes are over-engineered for that 1-in-1,000,000 chance of catastrophic turbulence, cruise ships are built to take heavier seas than normal.

[trotsky]

8. That may be the case,

but why risk it? If a passenger were in a medical emergency, that might be a justifiable reason. To borrow your analogy, just because airplanes are designed to withstand monster turbulence doesn't mean they still don't try to avoid it.

[MonkeyFunk]

2. It seems to me

that they're not suing for heavy seas, but rather for the decision to try to sail through the storm.

[Selatius]

3. That's a tough call. If Norwegian is truly guilty of sacrificing ship safety for The Apprentice...

then they truly deserve to get hit with a civil lawsuit. Otherwise, I'm apt to think it's frivolous.

[BOSSHOG]

5. Which side will mother nature testify for?

[onenote]

6. Not sure why you'd say "WTF"

They aren't suing "for heavy seas" -- they are alleging that the cruise line recklessly chose a path through the stormy seas when they could've avoided it.

[Squatch]

11. The Norwegian Dawn has 2 diesel azipods

that are *under* the ship. I don't know how a passenger would see the ship's propellors and then be able to say this: ""I just remember seeing propellers coming out of the water."

[Ediacara]

25. I think she's talking about her nightmares

[theoldman]

7. With all the weather data available to mariners there is no

excuse for sailing through a storm, especially a cruise ship.

[GreenPartyVoter]

9. Was this considered a rogue wave, was it charted by the satellite

systems, and did the ship know it was coming?

[hobbit709]

10. This line

"I just remember seeing propellers coming out of the water." It's pretty difficult to see the propellers when you're on the ship.

[Squatch]

13. Norwegian Dawn has 2 azipods, UNDER the ship

Like these (the stern of the ship is to the right in this picture):

[Clark2008]

31. I'll help you out.

Here's a better picture for scale:

[kmla]

18. I think she was referring to her nightmares....

At least that's how I read it.

[Ediacara]

26. me too, I think she's talking about her nightmares

[rinsd]

34. Perhaps she should sue James Cameron, Leo DiCaprio and Co!

[Missy Vixen]

12. This ought to be interesting

DH and I cruised on NCL from Vancouver, BC to Hawaii in late September, 2001. The seas were so rough (20' and higher swells,) during our trip that fully half the ship was ill, including the captain.

I understand that we were out on the ocean; it isn't like sailing in a bathtub. At the same time, NCL was unresponsive to what we considered a dangerous situation. The folks on the "rogue wave" cruise got it a lot worse than we did, and believe it or not, I still have nightmares as well. I'm not going to sue, but it'll be a cold day in Hell before I ever cruise NCL again.

Julie

[MindPilot]

22. 20ft waves are nothing...the CAPTAIN was sick?!

that is just a little unnerving.

I was on a Caribbean cruise a few years back and we spent a few days running 20-30 footers. It *was* a little bumpy, but a steward told me over half the passengers were ill.

[Missy Vixen]

23. That's why we were a little freaked out

We evidently hit some kind of storm and were getting tossed around like we were in a much smaller boat. The ship's doctor ran out of anti-seasickness shots. If you start taking the anti-seasickness meds after the fact, you have to wait till they build up in your body for them to work. I couldn't figure out how the CAPTAIN could be sick. Didn't he do this all the time?

Typically, the Caribbean is very smooth other than hurricane season, so you all must have had a not-so-fun time.

I think part of the problem with cruise lines is that they keep insisting "oh, we have stabilizers" to first-time cruisers -- people don't realize that you still may be seasick, and don't know enough to start taking the proper precautions before they get on the ship. It also doesn't help when the cruise line decides they'd allegedly rather have $800K then actually avoiding putting ship and passengers in a dangerous situation. (Oops! My bad!) Our experience was that if they could make a buck, they would, and it didn't matter what it took.

Julie

[MindPilot]

33. Those stabilizers are the best thing ever!!

The cruise I just mentioned was on an older ship--launched the same year I was--so no stabilizers.
About six hours out, a bottle of champagne fell from a cabinet, broke and a piece of glass lodged in the executive chef's eye. It was too rough for the ship's doctor to deal with it, too windy to airlift the guy out, and to bumpy for a boat to come alongside so we had to turn around and get back to the mouth of the harbor so a boat could come take him in. Other than that it was a great trip.

I took a cruise to Cabo last summer on a new ship with the computer-controlled stabilizers. That thing literally bounced around more anchored in the bay than it did at sea. For about one 24 hour period we were running 10-20 foot waves. I had to line the horizon up with a horizontal piece of the ship to see if there was any movement. A big wave would be coming at us and I think "that one is going to kick our ass" but when the stabilizers were done with it, all I felt was a slight shudder.

[tammywammy]

36. I took a cruise last August in the Gulf of Mexico

It was a Carnival, it was awesome! It was pretty smooth water when we were out. I'd definitely do it again.

[Zywiec]

14. One of four people suing Norwegian Cruise

On a ship of a couple thousand, you're sure to find at least four, unstable people. It's probably two couples.

I'm sure they'll settle for a few cruises in the future.

[Missy Vixen]

24. We were offered half-off coupons after ours

We tore them up and registered mailed them back to the CEO of NCL.

Julie

[karlrschneider]

15. Interesting testimony from the article:

"questioned by NCL attorneys, she said she had no physical injuries from the cruise and did not see a psychologist or psychiatrist afterward, other than the expert ones hired in preparation for the lawsuit."

:eyes:

[dogday]

16. Sounds like a rogue wave....

From what I understand of these waves is that they come out of nowhere without any warning or notice. As long as the cruise line did everything they could to protect these people from this...

[Squatch]

17. Rogue wave simulator

Total amplitude of waves passing through each other is the sum of the amplitude of those waves:

[dogday]

19. Good size wave at 70 feet

I read the average waves are around 50ft and that 100ft is only heard of in fish tales... Good size.. They were lucky, it could of been worse....

[Lex]

27. Rogue Waves!!!

http://dode777.jeeran.com/announcement_page1.html

http://dode777.jeeran.com/rogue-wave,1.jpg

[uppityperson]

30. for scary pictures google "rogue waves" images.

[Marrah_G]

32. Last season on Dealiest catch one of the boats was hit by one

The camera's were rolling just filming some rough swells and then from the side came a massive wave, it threw the entire boat on its side. They rolled back up but thank god the crew was inside catching some sleep instead of on deck. The camera footage wqas scary as hell.

Rogue waves happen. It's the chance you take when you decide to stay in a massive hotel in the middle of the ocean. People these days are always looking for someone to blame. Sometimes mother nature throws you a curve ball and all you can do it duck. Those people ought to be grateful the damn boat didnt go down and they all survived.

[Buzz Clik]

20. Went on a fishing trip in the Gulf. I yacked the entire time.

I thought the friggin' boat would turn over.

Hello, lawsuit!

[Monk06]

21. Farley Mowat sez, "You're all a bunch of sissies" n/t

[cobalt1999]

28. idiots.

You go out to sea, you take what the sea gives. The boat was not in danger of sinking. Next time, stay at home and float around in your swimming pool. Bunch of babies.

[Wiley50]

29. I'm a sailor and think I have an idea what happened

They were coming up the coast with heavy seas prob front the east

Sounds like they took that 70 footer dead on the beam

You always try to take waves on either the fore quarter or stern quarter

Straight into them you can pitchpole and bury the bow

A dead on beam hit can roll you

if I had taken that 70ft on the beam in my boat

it would have turned me turtle and dismasted me

and probably I wouldn't have been hear now

[MindPilot]

35. Yeah the fact that it takes a 70ft wave abeam

and the major damage is some broken windows is a testament to how well those ships are designed and built.