Cruising

Costa Concordia in better days, before you had ever heard of her

You likely know that I am a veteran cruiser. Ransom and I just sailed in October, leaving, in fact, from Civitavecchia, the same port of departure of the doomed Costa Concordia. Our route took us in a different direction, but both cruises were to stop at some of the same ports, including Cagliari and Palma de Mallorca. We did. She, obviously, did not.

As I've read the news stories and watched the videos for a week now I've thought many things and felt many emotions. Was this mainly the fault of an arrogant and careless captain? Does the company share the blame for poor choices and training? Does the ridiculous size and top-heavy structure of modern cruise ships invite this kind of calamity?

There have been so many contradictory stories that it's impossible as yet to parse it all. It seems obvious the captain waited too long to call "Abandon ship," but isn't it likely that he thought, at least at first, that he could get the situation under control? Could he have imagined such an outcome from a passage he had safely made repeatedly?

Of course the saying is "better safe than sorry," and that takes me to the passengers. One intriguing video showed well bundled-up passengers next to others lightly clad in evening wear. Who were these people? Were the ones wearing coats experienced cruisers who knew the drill and took immediate action, while the others were new to cruising and couldn't fathom there could be danger? Was one group given good advice by their steward, the other bad?

What would we have done had we been in the dining room and felt the collision? Knowing us, I would have argued for going immediately to the cabin while Ransom might have wanted to wait. Who won the point might have been life determining.

If there's a lesson here it might well be that we cannot put our fate totally in another's hands. We need to take responsibility for our lives, follow good advice and ignore bad. The trick, of course, is to know which is which, but from my years of sailing I'm pretty confident in believing that if you hear a crash and the ship starts to list, it's time to get on some warm clothes, grab your passport and phone and head to the life boats.

As tragic as the loss of perhaps thirty-some people is, it is remarkable to look at the Concordia lying on her side and realize that over 4000 people got off safely. This could have been far, far worse.

Costa Concordia in an image you know far too well