Shoring Up After Mishaps at Sea

“I thought it was an earthquake at first,” said Elaine LaMarr of La Canada Flintridge, “the way the ship lurched so sharply to one side and then straightened up again.”

LaMarr had booked passage for the June 19 Alaska cruise aboard Princess Cruises’ Star Princess as a birthday surprise for her husband, Don. They had not expected to be jolted out of bed shortly before 2 a.m. June 23 when the vessel struck Poundstone Rock in the Lynn Canal north of Juneau.

None of the 2,226 passengers and crew members was injured or had to be evacuated, according to the U.S. Coast Guard, and the ship was escorted into nearby Auke Bay, where Coast Guard divers inspected it for damage. But for the LaMarrs and the other passengers, their cruise, scheduled to last seven days, was over after less than four.

This was the latest in a series of four cruise ship mishaps in one month--three groundings and an engine room fire--that have interrupted sailings. There is no connection between any of the June incidents, but it’s interesting to note that all involved vessels built since 1987, rather than ships in the industry’s aging fleet.

What can a passenger expect in recompense when his or her vacation cruise is so suddenly and rudely interrupted?

Michael P. Smith, senior vice president of marketing for Majesty Cruise Line, whose Royal Majesty ran aground off Nantucket on June 10, said in an interview that his cruise line, like others contacted for this story, has no fixed policy on incidents of this sort.

“These are extremely rare and unfortunate incidents. It’s only a fluke to have three groundings in such a short period of time. If you go back to the 25 years previous, you’ll see that cruise lines have an outstanding safety record.”

Smith and Majesty Cruise line’s president, Paris G. Katsoufis, flew to Boston and apologized to passengers. Boston-area passengers were given a free one-night cruise off the Massachusetts coast aboard the Royal Majesty on June 24.

The ship ran aground off Nantucket Island not far from where Cunard’s Queen Elizabeth 2 ran aground in August, 1992, but on a different shoal.

None of the Majesty’s 989 passengers and 500 crew was injured. However, 2,197 passengers booked for the June 11 and June 18 sailings had their vacations canceled. The ship renewed its Bermuda itinerary June 25.

A U.S. Coast Guard spokesman said the vessel was 15 miles outside the main shipping channel; the Coast Guard was still investigating the matter at press time Wednesday. Smith said the ship’s Global Positioning System is believed to have malfunctioned. The company has since replaced the original one and added a second one as a backup.

Passengers aboard the grounded ship received a 25% credit toward a future three-, four- or seven-night cruise. Passengers booked on the canceled June 11 sailing were offered one of three options: a full refund and a 25% discount on a future cruise; a free three-night cruise if they re-book the Bermuda sailing in 1995, or a $200 on-board credit and guaranteed 1995 rates if they re-book a Bermuda cruise in 1996.

Passengers booked for the June 18 sailing were notified of its cancellation on June 15, and given an opportunity to re-book for the same period aboard several different Bermuda-bound ships.

The third grounding involved the brand-new American Queen steamboat on a pre-inaugural cruise with 285 non-paying passengers, mostly travel agents and writers. The boat ran aground June 18 in the Ohio River near Hawesville, Ky., when Capt. John Davitt intentionally landed it on a sandbar near shore in the pre-dawn hours to wait for publicity photos to be taken in the morning, a standard procedure.

But the 418-foot vessel, believed to be the largest paddle-wheel steamboat ever built, was not able to return to the main navigation channel when time came for the photo session because the river level had dropped faster than expected due to dam control work upstream by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The steamboat was freed June 21 after three days of tow-barge tugging, dredging and rising waters. There was no structural damage to the vessel nor injuries to any of the passengers and crew, although many were ferried across the river to Troy, Ind., then bused to Cincinnati for flights home.

Because the passengers were guests of the steamboat line, compensation was not an issue in this case. A representative for the line said that any such incident with paying vacationers aboard would be handled individually, a discretionary call depending on the incident.

Another cruise came to an abrupt halt at 1 p.m. June 18 when a fire broke out in the engine room aboard Carnival Cruise Lines’ Celebration. The ship was off San Salvador Island in the Bahamas, about 370 miles southwest of Miami. Although the fire was put out and there were no reported injuries to the 1,760 passengers and 667 crew members, the main engines were shut down, cutting off electricity, and thus air conditioning. Many of the sweltering passengers opted to sleep on deck during the nearly two-day ordeal.

Disembarking in Miami June 22, several passengers voiced less than enthusiastic comments. Wire service reports quoted one passenger, Lee Lobban of Orlando, Fla., as saying, “The crew . . . did not know what to do.”

Alexis Palios of Myrtle Beach, S.C., reportedly clutching a $1,000 refund check from Carnival, said: “The crew just went downstairs and didn’t tell us anything. It was not organized.”

A Coast Guard inspector who last checked out the Celebration May 20 was quoted as saying the propulsion should not have been lost. “It was a well-designed vehicle. It appears they had an electrical failure that should not have happened.”

After two days aboard the damaged vessel, passengers were transferred to another Carnival ship, the Ecstasy, which canceled its June 19 itinerary to assist the Celebration. The Ecstasy spent two days sailing back to Miami while passengers from the Celebration were treated to an open bar.

After propulsion was restored, the Celebration sailed for repairs to Freeport, Bahamas. Celebration passengers were promised a full refund, plus a free seven-day cruise at a later date.

Passengers aboard the canceled Ecstasy cruise were given full refunds and a 50% discount on an upcoming three-, four- or seven-day cruise.

Meanwhile, Don and Elaine LaMarrs, passengers on the rock-stopped Star Princess in Alaska, complained that announcements aboard the ship were at first confusing and contradictory. When it was clear that the passengers would be disembarked, they claimed that some of the stewards began hurriedly handing out tip envelopes.

But disembarkation was orderly, they said, with some on-board activities and entertainment continued as passengers were taken off. By midday Saturday, July 24, many of the passengers had gotten, via a Princess-chartered flight, to Seattle. They were restricted to one piece of hand baggage each, with a promise that the rest would follow shortly.

A Princess spokeswoman said the captain distributed a letter on board before passengers disembarked. The apologetic letter describes briefly the nature of the damage, the reason passengers had to disembark, and the logistic difficulty of flying 1,500 passengers out of the small Juneau airport.

“Details for compensation for this unfortunate incident will be finalized and communicated to you as soon as possible upon your return home,” the letter said.

The Star Princess sailed from Auke Bay under its own power on June 25 to a Portland shipyard for repairs. It is expected to return to service July 24.

Passengers on the cruise that ran aground will be given a full refund and a 50% future cruise credit, as well as a $250 on-board credit. Passengers on the four canceled sailings will have all money on deposit returned and a 50% discount on a 1995 or 1996 Princess cruise, plus a $250 on-board credit.