Yesterday all of the major news stations were airing updates on the latest Carnival cruise ship fire. "Cruise from hell, "nightmare cruise" and so forth were the headlines.
It was like deja vu hearing the stories of loss of power, no air conditioning, hot cabins, cold food and toilets on the Triumph that did not work.
ABC aired a rather sensational program yesterday, with images of the disabled ship bobbing like a big cork in the water, passengers literally crying that they want to go home, and accusations by other passengers that Carnival risked innocent lives by ignoring prior engine problems.
It may seem like the end of the world to many passengers on the entirely unpleasant cruise ship as well as to the concerned families back home. If the fire had spread, it might have been the end for the passengers. But It seems that most people have forgotten about an identical engine room fire which disabled the Carnival Splendor cruise ship back in November 2010. After everyone received a full reimbursement of the fare and flight expenses, it seemed like everyone forgot about the cruise from hell.
There was no Congressional investigation and no calls for a fleet wide inspection of the engines on Carnival’s ships.
Will this latest Carnival cruise fire be as easily forgotten?
I posted images of the ABC special here. Click on each photo for a larger image and the captions.
You can read our initial article about the fire here, and our article about prior engine problems on the Triumph here.
Photo credit bottom – Lisa Hirtz via ABC News