For those who follow Travel N Relax on our Facebook site, you will know that we just returned from a fabulous Panama Canal cruise on Royal Caribbean’s Vision of the Seas.
During that trip we took an all ship tour which led us to many of the behind the scenes spots that one often will not see on a cruise ship. One of the stops we made was on the bridge, where the official displayed to us the ship navigation systems and advised us on how the bridge crew navigates around other cruise ships.
Given the current affairs of the day, it now seems almost prophetic looking back that one of the statements that this official jokingly made was that “…when navigating around other ships we generally try to stay about 3 miles away. However, if it’s a Carnival ship we then try to double that and stay at least 6 miles away.”
Cruise Ship Accident in Cozumel
As you have likely seen from your online news sources, and other news outlets, there was an incident the other day in Cozumel Mexico where the Carnival Glory slammed into the Carnival Legend while the Glory was steering to dock. In this process, the back end of the Glory slammed into the Legends nose thus slicing through the back of the Glory, where the ship’s Platinum Restaurant sits, and resulting in six passengers sustaining minor injuries. Thankfully, the Glory narrowly missed also hitting Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas which was also docked nearby at the same time.
Cause and Effect of the Mexico Cruise Ship Accident
While an investigation into the cause of the accident is currently taking place, Carnival’s official statement is blaming “spontaneous wind gusts and strong currents,” as being the reason for the accident.
After assessing the damage on both ships Carnival also believes that “there are no issues that impact the seaworthiness of either ship.” As such Carnival advised its guests to enjoy their day in Cozumel and both ships continued on their normal itineraries as if no incident had ever even occurred.
Carnival has also announced that rather than fix the gaping hole now in the back of the Glory the ship will have no down time and will just continue to sail the normal holiday sailings in the weeks ahead.
Is a Cruise Vacation Safe?
To the regular consumer following this news story, this story may cause questions regarding the level of safety that a cruise vacation might afford. Indeed, a question that we been asked after this incident is …. Is a cruise vacation safe?
For Travel N Relax, this is a critical question since one of the elements we focus on when planning our guest’s vacations is destination safety and security. To our our professional travel advisers, nothing is more important then assuring that all of guests remain safe during their travels. As such, we put a good deal of effort into our research on each trip that we help plan, to assure that guest safety and security will be met during your travels.
With this particular cruise ship incident, we do confess to having several questions running through our minds regarding the operation of this particular cruise vessel. Among these:
- For a port that had nine other ships docking the same day, why did only this one vessel have issues with these supposed “winds guest and currents?”
- If the wind guests and currents were so severe, should not safety have come first and perhaps another way to dock be found? Perhaps a more skilled crew member could have been put in charge of docking.
- What is the level of training that this crew received?
- Most concerning to us though is why Carnival seems to be putting profit before safety in continuing to operate future cruises with this ship while it maintains the level of damage that it has. By not fixing the issue could not the damage become more severe thus leading to potential future safety issues?
All of that expressed, we also fully recognize that this incident only occurred with one cruise line. Many other cruise lines are out there which offer quality service and strong safety elements. To say that a cruise vacation is unsafe based only on the actions of this one ship would be reckless and wrong. It also would not reflect our true feelings.
Travel N Relax does truly believe that a cruise vacation is safe and we will therefore continue to promote this type of holiday.
How Travel N Relax Can Help You Plan the Perfect Cruise Vacation
With that noted with all travel, there are always elements that need to be looked at and evaluated as your travel is planned, and cruise travel is no different in this regard. When planning a high quality vacation, it is vital to also look beyond just price, and to look at the individual suppliers and evaluate each suppliers record based their known history. Knowing that a supplier has a quality safety record helps to assure your own safety when traveling.
When you work with Travel N Relax, your professional certified cruise travel adviser is fully trained in these skills and will help guide you to the perfect enjoyable and safe vacation – whether by land, or by sea!
At Travel N Relax we have the tools and know how to keep you safe and evaluating our suppliers whom we recommend to you is just one small element of the many steps we take to assure your safety.
Indeed, when working with a cruise vacations travel agency like Travel N Relax you will get the benefit of having guidance and help on which cruise options and cruise lines are best for you. As well, you will gain the value of having a professional certified cruise travel agent assist you in selecting shore excursions and making other pre-cruise and post-cruise arrangements that will assure that you have the maximum enjoyment on your trip.
We invite you to discover the difference in working with a professional family and cruise travel agency like Travel N Relax and seeing the value that such a relationship can provide to you.
Give us a call today at 303.317.6945 to let us take care of all the details while you and your family truly Travel N Relax!
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