Eight Unbelievable Cruise Ship Disasters
The larger the ship, the bigger than potential problem when something goes wrong.
A Carnival cruise ship lost power following an engine room fire that claimed five lives and left thousands of passengers and crew members adrift in the Gulf of Mexico. The fire struck early Sunday, and the passengers will be on the ocean until Wednesday, when they return to U.S. shores.
Until then, they'll have to cope with a lack of running water, sewage containment issues, limited food availability, and of course a lack of power, according to a report by CNN. All passengers aboard the ship, however, are reported safe. Previous passengers aboard the ship noted that the Triumph had experienced propulsion issues during their time aboard, according to NPR.
For its part, the cruise line has offered all passengers full refunds and vouchers good for future travel. Carnival has also issued an apology.
Although mishaps on cruises today don't compare with the disasters aboard pleasure cruises during the 20th century (most famously, the Titanic), cruises in the 21st century seem to face the same laundry list of issues that has plagued seafarers for generations.
You wouldn't think a lifeboat would be dangerous, given that it's a critical survival tool in a time of need.
During a safety drill on a cruise ship in Spain's Canary Islands, a lifeboat fell 65 feet due to equipment failure and onto a team of crew members. Five people were killed and three were injured. None of the passengers were harmed.
Given that the cable was unable to support eight crew members during a safety drill, some passengers expressed concern over whether the craft, with a capacity of over 150, would be safe to use in an emergency situation, according to an Associated Press report.
In what seems like a throwback to the 18th century, the Seabourn Spirit was forced to confront, of all things, a pirate attack in 2005. With around 100 miles separating the ship from the coast of Somalia, the 302 passengers and crew aboard the ship were assaulted with machine gun fire and rocket-propelled grenades from two pirate boats.
The ship's crew used evasive manuevering and a Long Range Acoustic Device (LRAD), a sonic weapon that direct loud noises to a focused area, to repel the attack. Only one crew member was injured and all passengers aboard the ship were reported safe.
After the attack, the ship docked for repairs in Seychelles, then continued along its predetermined course.
Given the close proximity of thousands of strangers on a ship, it should come as no surprise that disease outbreaks can be a fairly common occurrence. And the larger the vessel, the bigger the outbreak.
In 2010, an outbreak of norovirus aboard the Celebrity Mercury infected 350 passengers. The disease, commonly known as the stomach flu (though the term can be applied loosely to a range of ailments), meant that hundreds of passengers were stricken with fever, vomiting and more during part, if not all, of their 11-day excursion.
In what seems like a throwback to the 18th century, the Seabourn Spirit was forced to confront of all things a pirate attack in 2005. With around 100 miles separating the ship from the coast of Somalia, the 302 passengers and crew aboard the ship were assaulted with machine gun fire and rocket-propelled grenades from two pirate boats.
The ship's crew used evasive maneuvering and a Long Range Acoustic Device (LRAD), a sonic weapon that direct loud noises to a focused area, to repel the attack. Only one crew member was injured and all passengers aboard the ship were reported safe.
After the attack, the ship docked for repairs in Seychelles, then continued along its predetermined course.
The Costa Concordia disaster that occurred in January 2012 may be the most infamous modern cruise gone awry, even if it wasn't the most deadly. The ship, which carried more than 4,000 passengers and crew members, ran aground against a reef in Isola del Giglio, Italy.
The collision initially caused a blackout and, after the captain's failed efforts to take control of the situation, eventually capsized. After an evacuation that took more than six hours, rescuers discovered that 32 people had died from the accident. Despite the fact that the wreck occurred over a year ago, two of the bodies aboard the ship at the time of the accident have not been found.
Efforts to salvage the ship are still underway, and the Costa Concordia is expected to be cleared by this summer.
Storms have been a threat on the high seas since ancient humans first cast off from land. Even with the size and safety equipment available today, major disasters can still occur.
Though technically not a cruise ship, the Princess of the Stars ferry experienced one of the worst disasters of any passenger vessel in history. The ship, which had a capacity of nearly 2,000 people, had 862 passengers and crew on its manifest when it left Manila, Philippines, though investigators suspect additional unregistered passengers may have been aboard.
On June 21, 2008, the ship capsized while sailing in rough seas. A full day would pass before rescue ships would make it to the site of the wreck. Only 48 survivors managed to escape the disaster. The vast majority of those aboard the ship have never been accounted for.
The Le Joola disaster, which took place in 2002, is the deadliest passenger ship accident in the 21st century.
Built to hold a maximum of 580, the Senegalese ferry was overloaded more than three times over. When the ferry capsized at 11 p.m. on Sept. 26 off the coast of Gambia during a storm, no one could have expected that only 64 survivors would live to tell the tale. The death toll is estimated at 1,863 people, 361 more people than were killed in the Titanic disaster.