Cruising
 

The Costa Concordia tragedy is a reminder of the dangers of the sea. Over recent years, bigger and more luxurious ships have been built to cater for the desire of people to experience a life on the ocean wave, and its staggering to think that the Costa Concordia had over 4,000 passengers on board.

Personally, the thought of going on a cruise fills me with horror. Confined in an enclosed space for days on end with thousands of other people.....being told where and when you are going to put unto port...... queuing for hours to get ashore as all 4,000 people want to go ashore at the same time........ having your bags searched on re-embarking so that any illicit booze you bought ashore can be confiscated to make you pay inflated on board prices for drinks........

And the so-called highlight of the cruise, dining at the Captain's Table. As someone once said, "I paid a fortune for this cruise, and I'm expected to eat with the bloomin' crew!"

I think I'll stick to terra firma!

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Your choice gynn, we love cruising, as fer the highlight yeh mention rubbish, we have never dined at the captains table, Its a personal choice like everything on board, We were on the Concordia 3 Jans ago, so the news yesterday was very sad, To be honest i never think that much about folk who knock things they have never tried, Small minded springs to mind,:rolleyes:

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Maybe my opinion of cruising has been formed from watching 1950s and 60s films like Carry on Cruising and the Doctor films....

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Yeh well it is a long way from the living room to the high seas.:rolleyes:

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I went on two cruises when I was 19 and 20 1965/66 Cruising wasn't fashionable then, but it sure as hell spoils any other kind of holiday after that, but how the hell that ship ended up like that god only knows, I think they've arrested the captain this morning which sounds like it was an unavoidably accident

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My cruising days are sadly over,,,,We had some wonderful cruises,,,with P&O,,,,I never felt scared even going through The Bay of Biscay in terrible weather conditions,,,,,This tragedy just dosnt bear thinking about,,,,

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I have never been on a cruise. It doesn't appeal to me. I like to travel to where I am going as fast as possible......spend more time at the destination.
I do appreciate though, that they are a great way to relax, to unwind and to socialise.

It is sad to see such a great ship lying on its side......and think that people have lost their lives in pursuit of what should have been a fine holiday. My thoughts are with those who have lost a friend or a relative in this tagedy.

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youve been watching Onslo on Keeping up Apearances

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Costa Concordia accident: Pictures of cruise ship sinking off coast of Italy 'in Titanic-like scene' | Mail Online

Posted this link for those like me that are a bit in the dark about this story.:(

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Ya GC I went through the Bay of Biscay in a force 9 gale, there were very few people up for breakfast that morning I can tell you, got told of by one of the ships officers for standing on the front of the games deck and ducking everytime a wave lashed ofer our heads hitting the bridge, thing he said we were Flipin mad or words to that effect:D

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That's it! Nail on the head! And Hyacinth changing her outfit every 5 minutes. :):)

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I can't swim. Going on a canal boat brings me out in a nervous sweat, so I can't get a relaxing holiday cruising.

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Thats a valid reason to me.

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Ah, we're talking about boats ........ thought the LGBT had infiltrated the site & posted in the wrong section. :D


Now who else can I offend before the thought police/PC Nazis start screaming for me to be strung up.

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But you are not supposed to swim, hon. That's the point of being on a ship.;) You might be surprised to know that I can't fly, yet I still get on planes.

What I'm trying to figure is: how drunk or stoned do you have to be, not to notice Italy is in the way:confused: Maybe the Captain, or whoever the hell was on the bridge, is related to the skipper of the EXXON Valdez.:beer58:

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i cant swim either Margaret,,,,but you will go when your number is up....no choice ....lol
Although my late hubby who would not fly said.It might be someone elses number up,,and he didnt fancy going too

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:D:D:D

Those great main drag (no pun) scenes in American Graffiti came to my mind when I read the title. Oh for the days when I went trolling for broads in my Cougar XR7 convertible, 8 track blaring away.

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Eric, I have a very pictorial imagination...but, that is a picture no artist could paint :)

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You have to imagine about 40 years ago.;)

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Yes, I was around then...can do that...bloody hell, Eric...... the babe magnet:D

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Sorry....I forgot it was Sunday...pardon the mild expletive...perhaps I should have said 'Blood and sand' :)

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Aw, thanks hon. Most people would have given all the criedit to the car;)

But ... to get back on topic sort of: why are folks referring to this accident as a "tragedy"? So many things these days are deemed tragedies that "tragedy" has lost all meaning. Somehow, a cruise ship ran into Italy. A few folks died. Admitedly, and I'm not without sensitivity or compassion, this is terrible for their families, loved ones, and friends. But a tragedy?

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for the families it is a tragedy(they went on holiday and died)...for the rest of us it is just an accident that we are far removed from.....it is all relative Eric.

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I guess if you had lost someone you cared greatly about, you would see it differently.

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The point I was trying to make was that, for the media, everything is becoming a tragedy, to the point where "tragedy" is now meaningless, a term thrown out whenever something bad happens.

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I love it when at the safety demo they tell you to cross your arms, hold your nose and then jump thirteen floors or more (150 feet?) into a force 10 gale! Better than bungy jumping!
I can't work out how holding my nose helps, although crossing my arms must be better than crossing my fingers.
Then they tell you the little whistle is to summon help! You're in the middle of the Atlantic surrounded by 30 foot waves and icebergs but don't forget your whistle.
I still risk it, I like cruising and I look after my little whistle!

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It is certainly a disaster - but I'm sick of this accident being compared to the Titanic, nothing else is on the news at the moment in Italy. It isn't remotely similar except that a ship hit something that it shouldn't have. Oh, and according to the British ambassador the English passengers behaved with typical British stoicism which is sinilar i suppose. I imagine the general pandemonium there seems to have been was mainly down to the Italians -no good at queueing up and behaving in an orderly fashion.

My parents have been on the Concordia and over the years have cruised their way round much of the globe. They gave up a couple of years ago as the air conditioning gave them both bronchitis and they ran out of new destinations. It seems to be a popular type of holiday and for older people is a good way of travelling and seeing different places. Doesn't appeal to me though I must admit.

They didn't actually bump into Italy, but into some rocks between the Isle of Giglio and the coast of Tuscany then tried to get into a port. Amazing when you think of the sophisticated technology they have onboard - the inquest will hopefully find out what really happened but much suspicion falls on the Captain and his first officer. The truth will come out in the end and I dread to think of the insurance costs of an accident like this one.

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Yes, I got your point Eric.

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It seems that some have already decided where the fault lies. The Captain and First Officer have been arrested.
I wonder if they will end up in prison.
For many years, here in aviation, we tried to have a no blame, positive safety culture. But now, like everything else, we blame...
If the ships officers made mistakes, will we learn anything by sticking them in jail?

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Probably won't learn much at all ... but, in this media mad world, there seems to be a need for a fall guy. And the only place they seem to look is on the bridge, or on the flight deck.

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Very true Eric, we live in a blame culture world.
When accidents happen, very rarely is it one event, more likely several things contribute to it, 'the Swiss Cheese effect' when all the holes line up.....
Sad really

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True Eric, I still believe in accidents and human falibility. We all make mistakes and even the most sophisticated technology can fail or be affected by outside agents.

People die every day in the strangest of circumstances - there isn't always a reason or a person to blame. Responsibility is hard to pin down at times and the genuine fatality through accident has become a rarity with the American "blame" culture.

For people in positions of responsibility it's a kind of lottery - bad day at the "office" - you could be the scapegoat.

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I've been giving this issue a little thought ... maybe it's not only the blame culture. It could also have to do with the general trend to simplification ... dumbing things down .... that we find in the news. To go back to the Exxon Valdez: sure the skipper was drunk; but was there any in depth analysis of the wisdom of transporting oil through those waters? Any question of tanker design? Did any talking head wax poetic about a US economy dependent on fossil fuels? One finds a simple, yet dramatic story something the dumbest viewer can swallow ... then the media runs with this for a while until the next "tragic event." "Pilot error" and "careless, drunken navigators" are much more newsworthy than things which need a little thoughtful analyisis on the part of the viewer. Nothing turns folks off these days like being asked to think beyond the superficial.

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That's because we've all got used to the "ready meal", pre-packed perfectly shaped fruit and veg etc, etc.

Life ain't perfect, people make mistakes and accidents happen.

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We were going to book a Baltic cruise this week, to St. Petersburg, but my travelling companion doesn't fancy life on the high seas now.

Back to the drawing board, after weeks of planning.

Terrible, what's happened in Italy.

Still, there's one good thing, it didn't happen in British waters. The ship would have been stripped bare by scavengers by now.

As happened to the Napoli, when it got beached off Sidmouth, in 2007.

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Thing is wi this un though,the ship aint sunk, agree wi Eric n B.G. about media n all that crap, but my reckoning is that the fact the ships accessible the cause must surely be easier to identify in the long run.?

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Mummy thinks that table, hanging from the roof, won't take the weight of me...and Shelley Winters.

http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:A...04Ve-GmxC2_SUl

:eek::D:eek:

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I don,t mind cruising, wife enjoys it and so long as I can stay away from all that food I'm O.K. My "ship" is a 16ft clipper and two paddles in the middle of "nowhere". Favourite cruise has to be Vancouver to Alaska, happening again in August, hope we have a good "driver" lots of rocks on the way.

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Appears the Captain was showing off.

Cruise disaster: Captain 'neared Italian rocks to greet friend on shore’ - Telegraph

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I don't suppose the friend was very impressed.

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I actually think that allowing solicitors to advertise on TV was a big mistake, think it was the Major government that brought that in, since then we now have claims culture, their is no longer an accident, there is always somebody to blame. I think that Graham Swann has a lot to answer for in accidents are us society of today, if you do something stupid there's nobody to blame but yourself, well that's what it was but not anymore

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No suppose he got that sinking feeling:rolleyes:

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Oh please think again,You must go to St Petersburg ,That Hermatage Palace is so beautiful,,,,,That was such a fabulous cruise ,we had to go back there a second time,,x

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I would suggest as an alternative that you look into going on the Orient Express - could be the trip of a lifetime -I know I'd love to do it. That's me thinking "Agatha Christie" adventure/murder mystery in an exotic location though:D

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The Hermitage is the only major gallery I haven't been to. I think it'd be exciting to sail there.

Will go sometime, but by myself.

Back to the drawing board for now.

A restful summer holiday, that isn't as hot as the Med.

:confused:

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G you could slum it with us in Llandudno. :)
(I'm saying that, though it isn't booked yet)

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Lake Garda -plenty of boat trips available on the lake to replace the cruise:D

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Once went on holiday to Llandudno as a girl -is there still a little fun-fair on the pier? Loved the ghost train:D
Is it the Great Orme which we had to walk up -seem to remember finding fossils too...will have been about 9 at the time.

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Yes, there is a little bit of a fun fair on the pier........and it would have been the Great Orme you walked up.......quite a pull up there and bracing at the top.

Flickr: margaret.pilkington47's Photostream
Check out my Flickr Pics there are quite a few taken in Llandudno.
Might bring back some memories.

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You've taken some wonderful photos Margaret, remembered many of the places and the cable car -had forgotten that. Took a steam train trip up into the mountains somewhere too.

A proper English beach holiday,complete with rainy days spent indoors playing board games and cards , is NOT slumming it. Only had a few that I can remember - In Cornwall a few times, Llandudno once. But they hold special memories and the rainy days were only a few.

Do you use a simple digital camera or is it a reflex digital? You seem to have a real eye for a subject.:)

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I have a very good compact point and shoot camera and two 'bridge camera's'.
the bridge camera's are not quite DSLR's(the do have interchangeable lenses - which the compact camera's don't have) but they have more flexibility than the point and shoot camera's.
Thank you for your lovely comments about my pictures. If you get a chance to look at my blogs, they are illustrated with some of the pictures. Some of the stories will have you crying with laughing too.(I like to think I can write and take pictures....deluded, plain deluded)
I think the railway journey you took was probably on the Welsh Highland Railway.....from Porthmadog to Blaennau Ffestiniog and then on to Caernarfon.
It is a lovely scenic trip if the weather is kind, but foul if the mist draws in.

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I prefer Cruising more relaxing n cos i can swim a bit, I sure as hell can't fly.:D

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Looks like the Captain is in deep dodo, on the news this morning a phone call between the coast guard and the captain was played, he left the ship with passengers still on board, and although the coast guard actually ordered him to go back on board he seemed to refuse

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Hes Actually saying now, he fell into the lifeboat n was unable to get back out,:rolleyes: Which is different from "I was one of the last to leave the ship" which he told prosecutors the other day.:mad: Seems yeh learn summat new every day. Crap must have the same bonding power of superglue.

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The Coast Guard was really losing his rage during the call, he was yelling at the guy ordering him to go back on the boat:rolleyes:

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I've fallen down and been unable to get up too ... drinking too much will do that to you:rolleyes: Just heard on the news that the good captain has a new nickname: "Chicken of the Sea".

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iv entered the Mediterranean lotto this week.Apprently the top prize is a double cruise coz last weeks was a rollover ;)

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I was amazed how someone so called professional could captain a ship this size and trip into a life boat.
I have just been watching the worst plain landings ever, doesn't give much hope. Think I'll be going camping this year.
That's if the the rain doesn't flood the campsite and drown everyone.
Must stop being so sinicle* ;-)

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Are yeh gonna walk to the campsite?:rolleyes: Most means of transport are relatively safe,Sea,Air,Rail, are all safer than car travel. if yeh concerned about human error,yeh will never go anywhere?:confused:

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Coppice always did it for me Cashy

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Well me late brother did once go to the"Imperial Hotel" fer his july holidays, me mam went nuts,:rofl38::rofl38::rofl38: True story that Stevie.

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Sounds like a` man on a mission` Cashy. how old was your kid?

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was 71 so he woulda been 18.:D

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Would she have rather he had gone to the Commercial cashy:D:D

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We have been on three cruises and loved it. You don't have to go on a ship that is umpteen storeys high with several thousand passengers. There are plenty of smaller ships around that are small enough to go where the big ships can't. We have been above the Arctic Circle twice.

Surely being told where and when you are going to put unto port - you choose a cruise for the ports of call - well we do at least - and as for having your bags searched on re-embarking so that any illicit booze you bought ashore can be confiscated to make you pay inflated on board prices for drinks - that's news to me.

And the captain's table - you think that with that many passengers everyone gets a chance to do that - think again!

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Gynn is wrong it aint 4000 passengers its oer 4000 on board wi oer 1000 of em crew. Fact we were on it 3 years ago.

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cashman, I'm sure I'm missing something here!
What was special about the 'Imperial Hotel'? Or should I not ask?

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I got an invitation to dine at the Captains table on the first cruise I went on, it was pushed under the cabin door, it just said to Mr John Farrer MBE on the envelope, it just so happened that I knew the purser from a buzz up the previous night so I showed him the invite, it appears there was another distinguished gentleman on board called Mr. John Farrar MBE I missed out on the top table for sake of an "e":D

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Must of been using the same flamin' keyboard as you Jay. :D

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Dave, keep telling ya there's nout wrong with the keyboard, its the numpty using it that's the problem, besides they were typewriters in those days not keyboards:D

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Gordon..........It was his local.:D

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used to work on the cruise ship,great job but bloody murder on your day off,as we couldn't escape the bloody passengers,always asking stupid questions like wheres the front off the ship or when do you use the lifeboats,i had an american couple who made my life hell for 2 weeks,always complaining and moaning,so on the last day i got their door key whilst they were at breakfast and put firey jack in their swimwear,they have never moved faster in their lives,thought that they had got a skin infection, one to the lads

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Do you think that perhaps you are not well suited for a job in customer services?

It's just a shame he wasn't caught in the act, it would have appeared that he was fondling the ladies swimwear, I wonder what the penalty would have been for a pervert on the high seas?
A damned good flogging? Walk the plank? Perhaps, hung from the highest yard arm?

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Na Less Keelhauling would have been better:D

Perhaps that's what caused this latest capsize then?
The ropes getting tangled up and the crew pulled the ship over?
If so, then the Captain is innocent.

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Costa Concordia divers find eight bodies in wreck off Italian coast | World news | The Guardian Still finding bodies.:(

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Wonder how many are still missing it doesn't say in the article, must be heart wrenching for those people who still don't know what's happened to family members

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Well this arrogant obnoxious captain has been sentenced to 16 years, justice for once has been done,

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Is he the one who said he 'accidentally' fell in to a life boat? What a coward.

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Thats the one, we met him years ago n hes been the only one me missus never took to.

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Or, as he is known on this side of the pond: "Chicken of the Sea.";)

Had to laugh at some of the news coverage, tho'. It went something like this: "Investigators believe he may have been sailing too close to the shore.":eek: Well no shiite Sherlock.

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..but did you see the news report on this last night? Under Italian law, he has been released pending an appeal, and this will be a long drawn out process. It might be years, if ever, before the captain sees the inside of a prison. :mad:

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No never seen that, not really justice then just disgraceful.:mad:

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Didn't Berlusconi pull something like that for years?