Re: Splendor Fire. passenger's perspective
We were on this cruise. John's blog gives wonderful insight to what happened on the Bridge and the emotions he went through. I'll paste here my report that we sent out to friends and family; this is from two passengers' perspective.
MIKE AND CHARLOTTE CRAVEN’S FOUR FUN DAYS AT SEA
Aboard the Carnival Splendor
November 7 – 11, 2010
We set out for a relaxing post-election cruise and got the adventure of a lifetime! With 31 cruises under our belts, this was by far the most exciting.
You need to know that, in spite of news reports, there was neither a piece of Spam nor a Pop Tart in sight. Everybody we met was in good spirits, seeing humor and ironies as they developed; we still wonder how and where TV crews found the handful of grumblers they interviewed.
Irony #1 wasn’t evident until later, but we arrived at 12:30 pm on Sunday, November 7, and joined a line of 3299 fellow passengers to snake our way around the Long Beach Cruise Ship Terminal, waiting for a 4:30 departure. Embarcation was delayed 2 hours while the Coast Guard made its annual mechanical inspection. As we departed at 6:30, Cruise Director John Heald announced that we’d passed with flying colors. Two days later the Coast Guard arrived to protect our dead in the water ship until we were tied up to the San Diego pier, but we did wonder if any of the guys who came onto our ship didn’t take a few minutes to see which of their fellow Coast Guard members checked off engines and generators as A-OK.
Our cabin, which I had thought would be fairly large when booking, was actually a tiny triangular shaped one tucked into the starboard aft corner, but the huge wrap-around balcony provided the best views of the next four days’ entertainment at sea!
As we pulled out of Long Beach harbor they announced there would be a free bottle of wine for anybody who called within 10 minutes to book in the Pinnacle Steak House, an extra-charge restaurant on Deck 12. What a meal! Not just because it was our last cooked meal for four days, we enjoyed the lamb chops, filet mignon and other four courses that were absolutely delicious and well worth the $60 charge. After a leisurely meal we proposed a toast to a relaxing Mexican Riviera cruise with a bottle of champagne from Mitch & Jenny, on our balcony before retiring.
Just before 6 am Monday we both awoke and used the restroom, having no idea we wouldn’t be able to use it again for 39 hours! At 6:10 the ship shuddered terribly for 30 seconds or so, and all went quiet. I peeked out back, and said, “Mike, we’ve stopped. We’d better get dressed.†Just then an announcement was made, “Alpha Team, report to the engine room,†and shortly after that John Heald, the Cruise Director, announced there was smoke coming from the engine room, we’d lost all power, and passengers should report to the open decks. The emergency alarm sounded, and we all poured into smoke-filled halls. Not regular smoke, it smelled like burning plastic.
We headed for a buffet breakfast, staked our claim to a table on the aft Lido deck out by the pool, and made a bunch of new friends as we awaited John’s hourly updates. Various updates explained that toilets would not operate because the vacuum line had been melted; that food could not be cooked but there would be plenty of food; that we were operating on emergency backup generators so lighting would be dim, elevators would not work, there was no casino, no outside communication, and the only interior communication was through the emergency announcement system; and each announcement thanked us for being patient and understanding. John also said an Ever Green cargo container ship was nearby and would stay with us till we were out of danger.
It went without saying that the pools would not be open, but the sun was out and deck chairs were full. That day we learned more than we’d ever thought existed about the inner operations of a ship through John’s announcements.
His informative announcements for us were interspersed with crew announcements, such as “Hotel Manage, Food & Beverage Manager, Spa Manager, Shop Manager, report to the Bridge immediately.†Half an hour later they’d announce, “All food & beverage servers report to one lounge; all cabin stewards report to another lounge; all shop personnel report elsewhere: etc, where they would receive instructions on what their work was for the day. The Black Pearl Dining Room became the crew’s dining area, and the Splendido Showroom is where they’d grab an hour or two’s sleep when they could.
At lunchtime Mike beckoned us all into the Lido buffet, saying, “You’ve gotta see this!†Not wanting to lose our table, we went in shifts to see a bucket brigade of deck hands, food & beverage servers, cabin boys, entertainers, shop girls, pool boys and all other crew handing each other watermelons, trays of sandwiches, cases of water bottles, containers of salads, and everything else we were going to have for lunch. We followed that brigade all the way from the Lido buffet on deck 9 down to the galley on deck 2. This line continued for every meal for the next three days so that we could eat. And after every meal the same line handed stacks of dirty dishes and bins of dirty silverware downward, to be stowed away out of sight and smell.
There was a group of 150 magicians aboard on a convention. By 10 am there were out in force, plying their tricks to entertain all children, as well as any adults who would return a smile. The kids loved it! How many up-close magic tricks by professionals had they seen?
At 6 hours we realized the seriousness of 3200 passengers roaming around with no working toilets or running water, but there was plenty of hand sanitizer around. John assured us that the engineers and plumbers were working to re-establish the vacuum toilet system and running water first. By then, they hoped the heat and smoke would dissipate from the engine room enough to assess our mechanical situation. By 12 hours the fore and amidships cabins had toilets and running water, but those of us with aft cabins would “have to wait a bit longer.†John’s British humor was cracking through. Mike discovered that the toilets in the spa on deck 12 were clean; we suspected most people didn’t care for the climb.
At 15 hours, the Captain announced in the last update of the day that the Chief Engineer had determined he would not be able to restart the engines and that there was no point in using the second set of engines because all the wiring had burned and there was no redundancy. We’d remain on the emergency power generator, that an Ever Green cargo ship on the horizon would remain nearby till we were out of danger, that two tugs had been dispatched from Ensenada, where we would be towed; four more tugs would arrive a day later, and a Mexican Navy patrol boat and a Coast Guard cutter would be with us in the morning. So ended our first Fun Day at Sea, as Carnival calls it.
Time was measured, not by the clock, but from 6:10 am Monday. We retired at 15 hours, waking with sun streaming into our cabin at 24 hours (6 am Tuesday). From our balcony we could see the Coast Guard cutter starboard and the Mexican Navy patrol boat port side, along with the Ever Green container ship on the horizon. John had promised two tugs from Ensenada, or Enchilada, as he called it.
His first announcement of the day was that one of the tugs’ engines had burned up enroute, but that the other tug, The Chihuahua, would be hooked up with a tow line by 30 hours. We had come about 200 miles down the coast on our own power, and were carried by the current another 60 miles south during the 30 hours we were adrift at sea. Irony #2 was that, although the little tug was named the Chihuahua, it thought it was a pit bull! By noon it had latched onto our 110,000 Gross Registered Ton liner, headed north at 4.2 knots and continued to do so alone for 18 hours. Another tug, the Coral, followed behind.
That and the magicians were our entertainment for the morning. At noon the ship’s entertainers began with anything that did not require amplification: jazz bands, pianists, guitarists, and of course the conventioning magicians.
The first two days it was difficult to tell passengers from crew. In the darkness of Monday’s call to duty, crew members grabbed whatever clothing was closest and reported to their stations so they wore shorts and tee shirts just like us. Tuesday was the same; many of us had no showers and the crew was still in street clothes, but they looked much better groomed than most passengers. However, the uniform of the day for many passengers was the white bath robe from their closets to keep warm.
Tuesday was one entertainment-filled day. Each announcement gave us more of our unexpected program. Four more tugs were to arrive by noon, as was the aircraft carrier, the USS Ronald Reagan which “happened to be on maneuvers in the area.†Since Mike and I had attended the commissioning of the Reagan at Port Hueneme, we were eager to see her again. Later John told us provisions had been flown to the Reagan and its helicopters would replenish our food and water supply with 20 drops of 3 pallets each, for a total of 60 pallets, to get us by until we arrived at “Enchiladaâ€.
The Reagan showed up on schedule at 30 hours and stationed itself between the Coast Guard cutter and our aft balcony cabin. What a sight all those aircraft on its decks were from our perspective a few decks above! For safety reasons, the amidships pool area, where the drops were to be made, was cleared, but during a trek to the spa toilet Mike found a door on deck 12 with a tremendous view of the drops. It was quite an operation; the helicopter would pick up two or three pallets, fly around, hover till the deck was cleared, lower itself to make the drop, and then return to the Reagan for another load. Meanwhile, deck boys scrambled out and pushed all the pallets to one side and around into a lounge for storage. The 40 foot by 40 foot drop area had to be completely cleared by the time the copter was ready for the next drop.
But wait, there’s more! Although a Coast Guard helicopter had been patrolling our perimeter all day, the Reagan sent another helicopter up to circle during its presence. And still more! An unscheduled air show included a Coast Guard fixed wing plane circling us, as well as pilots from the Reagan who got in some “touch and go†practice. At 36 hours we had quite a flotilla, with the Chihuahua in the lead, followed closely by the Carnival Splendor, the Coral, the Reagan, with the Coast Guard cutter and the Mexican Navy patrol boat bringing up the rear, and the Ever Green cargo ship back on the horizon! If I had only brought my camera!
On a stroll through the casino on the way to the spa toilet, we discovered they had figured out how to operate black jack tables for those with no interest in the entertainment at hand—not using Sail ‘N’ Sign cards, but that unheard of thing called cash! Dinner that night contained many things the Reagan had delivered, starting with huge shrimp, crab salad, Spring Mix green salad, wraps made from cocktail shrimp and avocado, and roast beef on rye sandwiches. It just didn’t get any better than that! Our supply of clean plates, bowls and silverware had been depleted, so we appreciated the new foam plates, plastic glasses and utensils, and paper napkins. Too bad they couldn’t have dropped buckets of hot coffee! Just FYI, Carnival will reimburse the US government for all of this; it won’t be out of your tax dollars.
It got better. John announced that they had finally established contact with Carnival headquarters in Miami, and that all of us would be refunded the entire cost of our cruises, as well as all air costs to and from the cruise, whether booked through Carnival or not, and they’d throw in a free cruise certificate for good measure. Additionally, we’d be towed to San Diego, not “Enchiladaâ€, because they feared a customs nightmare with 3299 passengers of various nationalities arriving in 55 buses at the border all at once. Further, they’d put up anybody who wanted up in either San Diego or Los Angeles hotels for a night, and they were already booking return air, or they’d bus us back to Long Beach to pick up our cars and they’d pay the parking fees. Plus, anything we’d charged to our Sail ‘N’ Sign cards would be erased. The last one made that Pinnacle Dining Room dinner even better.
At 36 hours the bars opened for the first time, and everything was on the house. We guessed they’d realized all that beer wouldn’t be good when it got hot because of no refrigeration, but the poor bucket brigade had to haul it up to a lot of bars for the better part of the night. We figured the heavy beer drinkers were amidships and forward cabins with toilets because it was a heck of a long trek during the night down the 1000 foot corridor and up four decks from our cabin on deck 8 to the spa toilet, which only a few people had still discovered. We retired early, and somebody later knocked on our door. I mumbled, “We’re asleep,†but a boy in a blue jumpsuit popped his head in and asked, “It’s OK I flush toilet? It working now.†I replied, “Come on in!†After a welcome whoooooosh, the guy departed and said, “I solly to disturb you sleep.†I said, “Any time!†As Mike and I tested it, we re-defined a luxury cruise as one with flushing toilets. Life was good at the end of our second Fun Day at Sea.
We awoke at 48 hours, dashed out to the balcony and spotted another tug, the Shiztsu. Are they all named after small dogs? The Shiztsu’s tow line was already attached and it was pulling east to counter the current, while the Chihuahua continued to pull north. Together, they pulled us at the grand rate of 8.7 knots for 24 hours. The Coast Guard cutter followed on the port side and the Mexican Navy’s patrol boat followed starboard. A check from our balcony showed that the Reagan, the Ever Green cargo ship, the Coral and the Coast Guard fixed wing plane had disappeared, but the rest of our entourage was intact. We’d picked up a blue and white Cessna that circled us for the better part of the day, and two Tractor Tugs, the Millennium Dawn and the Edwin Campbell from Portland, as well as the Beauport, a tug replenishment boat. We were quite a parade!
This day’s entertainment paled in comparison to the day before, but we ate, drank and enjoyed the situation. Most people were in very good humor and we certainly made a lot of new friends. The Captain announced that the Chihuahua and Shiztsu had done so well that he estimated we’d arrive at the San Diego harbor about 9 am Thursday (instead of late Thursday night, as he’d previously estimated), but that it would be a very dangerous and slow trek from there to the pier so his estimated time to start disembarkation was noon. He said it would go fairly quickly because US Customs and Immigration had decided we’d not go through a re-entry process since we’d not touched foreign soil. By afternoon we’d all received written instructions for Thursday, along with our free cruise certificates and luggage tags that had our disembarkation numbers; ours was 29. We busied ourselves packing, and then went up for our salad and sandwich fare before heading for the entertainment in the Centrum. So ended our third Fun Day at Sea.
Since we had a balcony cabin we had plenty of light and good air circulation with the balcony door open. Those in ocean view cabins also had plenty of light, but no air circulation, and those poor people in inside cabins lived in pitch darkness with no air circulation. Most of them did one of three things: the best they could with their door propped open by a chair; took their duvets and camped out in the corridor outside their cabin; or picked up and moved down to a sofa on one of the lounges on an inside deck. Air throughout the ship was not smoky by the end of the first day because they opened every outside door (big and small) to let the smoke blow out, and those doors remained open for the duration.
The crew took care of handicapped passengers, as well. I saw room stewards carrying hospital-type potties to cabins of people in wheel chairs and they also delivered meals to their cabins. If they desired, stewards would bring wheelchair bound passengers up to the Lido deck, and they also assisted those with walkers up the stairwells. Other passengers pitched in, and I saw many offering help to those who needed it.
Food has been discussed so much that it needs a mention. From Monday through Thursday we had no hot food, but we had good and nutritional food. No Spam. No Pop Tarts, but lots of fresh salads and fruit for every meal, along with either cold cereal and milk (breakfasts) or sandwiches (lunches and dinner). Our sandwiches were made of whatever bread was next in the pantry: white, rye, wheat, hot dog buns, hamburger buns, pita, dinner rolls, and tortilla “wrapsâ€. They were filled with whatever was next in the refrig: tomatoes, lettuce, onions, pickles, yellow cheese, white cheese, Deli roast beef, ham, cold meat balls, cocktail shrimp, peanut butter and/or jelly. And all of that food was delivered up 7 decks by the bucket brigade. We were thrilled and certainly didn’t go hungry, although we didn’t gain anything, either.
The sun woke us up at 72 hours (6 am Thursday). Had it been three days? We discovered two more tugs, the Saturn and the Spartan from San Francisco. Just before we entered San Diego harbor the four additional tugs hooked up their tow lines, all along the starboard side, positioned for their jobs for our journey through the channel. By this time it was a zoo out there. We had police boats, Harbor Patrol Boats, another Coast Guard cutter, several coast guard patrol boats, and a ton of onlookers in sailboats wherever they could park. The additional cutter was in the lead, followed by the Chihuahua, and, and, and. I looked down to see all the tugs lined up alongside the Splendor, as close as they could get to our ship; at a signal they all moved in unison around to a position of 45 degrees and then further with their noses to the Splendor, and we all moved together in that formation through the channel to the pier at the San Diego Cruise Ship Terminal. As we reached the pier, the Chihuahua and Shiztsu moved out, while the Millennium Dawn moved to the stern, and we were finally secured. Just then I heard a toot of a horn and looked up to see the Chihuahua and the Shiztsu heading back to Ensenada with some Harbor Patrol escorts. Everybody on our part of the ship yelled a loud Thank You. This trip through the channel might have been dangerous, but it sure didn’t take as long as estimated; it was only 9 am, and disembarkation began in short order, although our number wasn’t called till noon. Each cabin’s occupants were escorted by a crew member, who took our luggage to the stairwell, where he turned it over to the bucket brigade, operating in reverse--handing every one of our bags over to the next person from, in our case, deck 8, all the way down to deck 0. Once on the dock our bags met up with us, and we were on our way through the terminal to a bus headed for Long Beach. As we departed, we saw TV crews from every station west of the east coast, including MTV and Univision—we counted 29 vans with antennas.
On the way I turned on my cell phone to find a message from Mike’s brother, “Hey, guys! The next time you decide to go camping, take a tent, not a boat!†Then we called Jessica, who was concerned that we hadn’t had the relaxing cruise we’d longed for. Oh, no, we said; we got plenty of rest. We also called Mitch & Jenny, who agreed to come over at 7 and bring dinner. Our only instruction was, “No sandwiches.â€
Somewhere along the line the Cruise Director made it clear that the crew's tips were protected. Even though our Sail 'N' Sign Accounts were wiped away to zero, he said Carnival Cruise Lines has an Emergency Tip Protection Account from which all crew members would be paid their normal tips, not just for this terminated cruise, but also for future cruises cancelled because of the fire.
Thursday evening I saw an interview on NBC news with a crew member who said that the company was putting the crew and staff up in San Diego hotels with a generous per diem for meals. I'm sure that their hotels were not of the same class that passengers were put up in, but, nonetheless, wherever they were it didn't smell like burning plastic, it had have plenty of light, and they had hot showers.
We really feel that Carnival Corporation did every single thing it could have done and more, and we believe they are rewarding the crew and staff for a job well done.
All in all, this was a never-to-be-forgotten vacation. We learned a lot, we grew to respect crew and staff much more than ever before, and we appreciated the tremendous logistical effort the entire staff (both on the ship and on shore) went through to ensure our safety, well being and comfort, in that order. We also were grateful for the beautiful weather and calm seas, we were grateful that nobody brought Norovirus aboard, and our hats are off to Captain Claudio Cupisti, Cruise Director John Heald, and the captain of the little tug that thought it could, the Chihuahua. Oh, yes, we’ve already booked our free cruise—same place, same time next year. About the only thing to add is my favorite saying, "Life is not the way it's supposed to be. it's the way it is. the way you cope with it makes the difference." (Virginia Satir)
