No central agency oversees, inspects cruise ships
The cruise ship Carnival Triumph is moored at a dock in Mobile, Ala., Friday, Feb. 15, 2013. / AP Photo/Dave Martin
MIAMI A byzantine maze of maritime rules and regulations, fragmented oversight and a patchwork quilt of nations that do business with cruise lines make it tough for consumers to assess the health and safety record of the ship they're about to board in what for many is the vacation of a lifetime.
Want to know about a ship's track record for being clean? Want to assess how sanitary the food is? It's not that easy to find, in part because there's no one entity or country that oversees or regulates the industry with its fleet of ships that are like mini cities floating at sea.
In the case of Carnival Cruise Lines, the owner of the Carnival Triumph that spent days in the Gulf of Mexico disabled after an engine fire, the company is incorporated in Panama, its offices are based in Miami and its ships fly under the Bahamian flag — a matrix that is not unusual in the cruise line industry.
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For potential passengers seeking ship information, there's no central database that can be viewed to determine a track record of safety or health inspections. No one agency regulates everything from the cruise line's mechanical worthiness to the sanitation of its kitchens.
The U.S. Coast Guard inspects each cruise ship that docks in the U.S. every year for a range of issues, from operation of backup generators to the lifeboats. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention maintains a database of recent disease outbreaks and other health inspection information for cruise ships. Had Triumph vacationers looked up information about the cruise ship through those two agencies before boarding, they would have found mostly clean marks and few red flags.
Just what happened on-board the Carnival Triumph?
And when something goes wrong, as it did on Triumph, there are limits to how much the Coast Guard can investigate.
These are not new issues — they had been raised by members of Congress before the Triumph incident.
"This horrible situation involving the Carnival Triumph is just the latest example in a long string of serious and troubling incidents involving cruise ships," said Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., who led a committee hearing on cruise safety last year.
Last year, after the Costa Concordia ran aground off the coast of Giglio, Italy, Rockefeller held a Commerce Committee hearing to examine deficiencies in the cruise line industry's compliance with federal safety, security, and environmental standards and review industry regulations.
"As I remarked then, they seem to have two lives: One is at port, where the Coast Guard can monitor their operations; the other is at sea where, it appears once they are beyond three nautical miles from shore, the world is theirs," Rockefeller said in letter he wrote this week to Admiral Robert J. Papp Jr., the commandant of the Coast Guard. "The Carnival Triumph incident only serves to further validate this view."
Investigators searching for cause of cruise fire
The Triumph left Galveston, Texas, on Feb. 7 for a four-day cruise to Cozumel, Mexico. An engine-room fire paralyzed the ship early Sunday, leaving it adrift in the Gulf of Mexico. Passengers described nightmarish conditions on board: overflowing toilets, long lines for a short supply of food, foul odors, and tent cities where vacationers slept on deck. Tugboats slowly towed the 14-story vessel to Mobile, Ala. It arrived there late Thursday.
As CBS News correspondent Anna Werner reported, passengers praised the Triumph's crew, but they gave strong criticism to the Carnival executives, despite the company's offer of a full refund and $500 additional per person.
"It doesn't even cover people's loss in wages," said passenger Leslie Mulberry. "I think that's kind of laughable that they are trying to offer $500. That's nothing to Carnival -- $1.5 million is what it adds up to, which is nothing. They're laughing at that. "
Before a ship like the Triumph sets sail, it's possible — but not easy — to find information about past incidents and safety or health issues. The CDC's Vessel Sanitation Program is viewable online. The database shows recent disease outbreaks aboard cruise ships and how they were addressed.
Records for the Triumph show it was last inspected July 7, 2012. It scored 96 out of 100. The CDC considers scores of 85 or lower unsatisfactory. The lowest score the ship received was an 88, in 2009.
Carnival CEO will face heat for Triumph: Travel expert
The Coast Guard also has a database, known as the U.S. Coast Guard Maritime Information Exchange, with inspections and any deficiencies found aboard ships, dating to when the vessels entered service. A search on the exchange's website for the Triumph turns up its certifications for things like passenger safety and pollution prevention as well as inspections. No violations or red flags are immediately evident. Searching a little deeper, the most recent report shows a propulsion issue from a Jan. 28 incident involving a short in a connection box of one of the ship's generators.
But the cause of the fire that crippled the Triumph is still under investigation. Carnival spokesman Vance Gulliksen said Saturday that he could not comment yet on damage, timeline or estimated costs. In the meantime, the ship is expected to remain docked in Mobile to be cleaned and sanitized before it's back on open waters.
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I'd rather save up for a real cruise. Carnival is just shy of using cattle prods to organize their guests.
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Anybody that books passage on this ship is one sick puppy.
This was the light and short fun story of a crew ship mmbr. Ask me 4 details on my e-mail.
Of course we all know why; because it was cheaper for them to let the passengers just sit in their own feces than bring another ship out and transfer them at sea.
Or at least, couldn't they have flown in food and supplies, port o potties, etc. so at least they would be drifting in a little more comfortable accommodations. Red bio hazzard bags???? That's the best they could do?
In port, the ship is tied to a dock with big gang planks to get on/off the ship. You don't have that in the middle of the ocean. You can't place the ships next to each other. They have to keep big ships a couple thousand feet from each other so they don't accidentally collide. You have never seen two Navy ships within a 1/2 mile of each other. The current will move ships, so it is impossible to keep them near each other. In this case, one ship had no engines to maneuver it. Even dropping anchor wouldn't keep a ship in one position. And in the middle of the ocean, the water is too deep for anchors anyway. There is also no gangplank mounted on a ship to allow people to walk from one ship to another. The ship wasn't sinking, so everyone was safer staying on board.
My wife and I have cruised a half dozen times. Always a pleasant experience. Never any problems. We will continue to cruise again.
The moment neglect occurs, then there's room for improvement... the new normal is replete with issues of neglect, greed, corner cutting, counterfeit parts, cheaper materials, and other little aspects...