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[Varche]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16558910

Pretty amazing that the death toll is so low. I once went on a cruise around the Med and I wouldn't have wanted to be woken up in the dark by abandon ship with it listing.

It will be interesting to see the recovery and repair job in weeks to come. I bet people booked won't be cruising on that ship for quite a few weeks!

[TheBoy]

I think it took a while to go over, which helps, along with how close captain got it to shore before finally going over

[Tony H]

The death toll has risen considerably as the day has rolled on  I find it incredible how in these days of modern navigational equipment tradgedies like this keep on happening.
I can motor out on my 20 foot long boat over twenty five miles, find whats left of a ship that was sunk WW1 that measures less than 100 feet long, and choose weather I drop my fishing line over the bow or the stern of the rusting hulk, all this done with a GPS plotter that cost me less than two hundred quid 

[Rods2]

Sad to see lives have been lost, due to navigational error.   

That is one big hole in the side of the ship. 

I'm surprised ships like this don't have double skinned hulls below the waterline.

The causality rate per passenger mile for ferries and cruise ships is about the same as driving a car, so they are nowhere near as safe as flying or train journeys.

[Terbs]

I have been suprised tonight, that on the TV, after an accident like this, they are advertising cruises almost every 20 mins.
Out of respect for the dead, I thought they could have resisted for at least one night

[Rods2]

These are comments made by the liners owners:

Mr Onorato added: "We will be working in full transparency with Italian authorities" to understand the causes of the disaster.

He said normal lifeboat evacuation had become "almost impossible" because the ship had listed so quickly.

Frightening that a modern cruise ship can take on water and capsize, so quickly, just imagine if the same thing happened in deep water, say by hitting a iceberg, you would have Titanic mkII. 

Why don't they have double skinned hulls, below the waterline? This is a major disaster waiting to happen. It doesn't matter how many lifeboats you have, if you can't launch them you are in a worse position than the Titanic, which at least managed to launch about half of theirs. 

This might alter peoples views on cruising, unless they can prove that the same thing will not happen again by improving safety standards. Ferries with their large open decks, now have to be fitted with anti-capsize devices, which are normally traverse bulkheads.

[Plomien]

The fact that the life boat drills with passengers wasn't done earlier shocks me after working on cruise ships/ferries for 3 years there was normally a talk before leaving port.
Admittedly the listing of the ship didn't help with the releasing of the lifeboats didn't help the situation but the fact that the captain left the ship before evacuation was completed is a real no no in the shipping evac procedures.
I saw this morning though that 3 people have been found alive onboard which is a good thing but why hadn't crew been checking all cabins on their way through to abandon ship which is standard procedure as well.

[TheBoy]

The fact that the life boat drills with passengers wasn't done earlier shocks me after working on cruise ships/ferries for 3 years there was normally a talk before leaving port.
Admittedly the listing of the ship didn't help with the releasing of the lifeboats didn't help the situation but the fact that the captain left the ship before evacuation was completed is a real no no in the shipping evac procedures.
I saw this morning though that 3 people have been found alive onboard which is a good thing but why hadn't crew been checking all cabins on their way through to abandon ship which is standard procedure as well.

Some passengers are saying there had been talks and drills 

Usual media BS somewhere I guess

[TheBoy]

Additionally, from my basic A Level physics and basic A Level engineering design, cruise ships will alway be pront to capsizing.

Relatively shallow hulls, with massize structures on top, always be top heavy....

[jyr001]

Credit to the captain for getting the ship to shallow water - although there are now allegations that he didn't exactly hang about getting off the boat himself -  this could have been so, so much worse. I suppose it's a bit of a dilema what to do in such circumstances. Abandon ship when there's still a chance of making shallow water, with the risks this must also have presented. It can't be easy to get so many off a ship of that size in darkness even before it starts listing badly but the crew must have some idea of the seriousness from the on board telemetry. This also obviously raises the question of how well they plan for such emergencies and how well practised the crew are in controlling such a situation.

It took my wife about six months to pursuade her mum to go on a Norwegien cruise last year - which she loved - but I wonder whether her plans for a cruise to the Med this year and now going to be on hold.

[mindaz]

captain was the first who escaped from the ship   

anyway it is very sad 

[Varche]

Well I am a suspicious beggar at the best of times.

What is the likelyhood that the ship was on auto pilot guided by a 50 euro GPS system.? Only person on or near the bridge was a Philipino boy on brass polishing duties but having a fag outside.* IF GPS can send countless vehicles down a none road into a ditch in broad daylight near my aunts house.

* That was my experience when I went up to the bridge of the cruise liner I went on.

[Vamps]

Listening to the news it sounds, to me, that the key card system for cabin doors needs sorting, power cut and the doors remain locked, even from the inside you can not get out............How stupid is that? those poor people trapped in their cabins.....

[albitz]

A terrible and shocking thing to have happened in Western Europe in this day and age.It sounds like the captain is going to have his own cabin with bars on the window for a few years.
I was peed off yesterday by all the headlines saying it was just like the Titanic.It wasnt.I know they like to sensationalise things but thats ridiculous.
The  Titanic was the biggest passenger ship the world had ever seen,and was on its maiden voyage when it sunk. It was in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean,not 100 yards from land.It was carrying over 2200 passengers of whom over 1500 died. Hardly on the same scale.

[Marks DTM Calib]

The press reporting quality has been pretty piss poor as usual.

They are making statements like 'cruise ships are not suppoed to list like this'. Well you media muppets, if the ship has a pointed hull and is sat on the bottom then its going to!

The journalistic quailty we see these days is realy bad