Has Royal Caribbean Lines learned its lesson? Just days after a passenger filed a lawsuit against RCL for knowingly sending the cruise ship Anthem of the Seas into a winter storm off Hatteras in early February, the cruise line cut short cut short the latest cruise on Anthem of the Seas to avoid a storm brewing off Cape Hatteras on the US East Coast. RCL tweeted yesterday:
#AnthemoftheSeas will head back to Cape Liberty immediately to avoid a severe storm & provide guests with a comfortable journey back home.
— Royal Caribbean Group (@NewsfromRCgroup) February 27, 2016
Later on Saturday evening, they tweeted again:
We've been closely watching a large storm off the coast of Cape Hatteras. We want to be extra cautious when it comes to weather in the area.
— Royal Caribbean Group (@NewsfromRCgroup) February 27, 2016
In a previous post, we asked, “Why did Anthem of the Seas sail straight into the storm?” Perhaps, RCL has learned its lesson.
Are there any “regulatory rules” that attempt to prevent a ship from sailing into potentially dangerous weather? There are rules to help once a problem develops, lifeboats, PFDs, etc. – but nothing to head off a weather induced issue BEFORE it happens?
It doesn’t seem there were any in place here, or in the case of the El Faro or the Marine Electric – all of whose departures could have been delayed until the weather improved.
Weather conditions and vessel types being so variable, I can’t imagine that any regulatory agency could possibly codify when to tell a ship owner to stay in port.
The Coast Guard does have the authority to shut down a port in case of severe weather, which would stop all ships from sailing. They can also prevent ships which do not meet safety standards from leaving port. El Faro’s near sister-ship, El Yunque, had been under a “no sail” order in late Summer due to deteriorated davits. Beyond that, the Coast Guard doesn’t have nor does it want jurisdiction over the course a ship’s master might set to avoid (or sail into) a hurricane or other bad weather.
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To Rick Spilman -You wrote the anthem was seaworthy but it had propulsion damage and we the passengers were not told about it and our room was so noisy after the storm that I cannot imagine trying to sleep in that environment
For years, people have claimed that the modern cruise ships are unseaworthy. The leader of an international union claimed that the ships are “inherently unstable.” Others in the industry have claimed the ships are “too top-heavy.” The Anthem of the Seas made it through 120 knot sustained winds with 150 mile an hour gusts, which is pretty impressive. The damage to the azipod was related to the steering, (if RCL can be believed, which might be an open question.) The loss of the steering clutches meant that one of the two “rudders” was out of commission, which is indeed a serious problem. Nevertheless, the ship made it through some very severe conditions, which exceeded the international design criteria. I have no doubt that it was uncomfortable on the ship, but it made it into port under its own power. Why RCL runs winter cruises out of Bayonne right past Cape Hatteras is still a mystery to me.
Rick, that last post of yours was really interesting to me. How can anyone call these unstable with wind statistics like that?! Really impressive, especially given their broadside profile–that’s a LOT of winde pushing against the ship!