Crippled cruise ship secured to Ala. terminal after breaking loose; shipyard

MOBILE, Ala. – The crippled cruise ship whose sewage-filled breakdown in the Gulf of Mexico subjected thousands to horrendous conditions tore loose Wednesday from the dock where it’s being repaired, lumbered downriver and crunched into a cargo ship. Tug boats maneuver around the Carnival cruise ship Triumph as she rests against a dock on the east side of the Mobile River after becoming dislodged from its mooring at BAE Shipyard during high winds Wednesday.Wind gusts near hurricane strength shoved the 900-foot Carnival Triumph free from its mooring in downtown Mobile, Ala., where the ship was brought in a five-day ordeal that began when an engine fire stranded it off of Mexico in February. Hours later, four tug boats used several mooring lines to secure the ship to the cruise terminal.A 20-foot gash about 2 to 3 feet wide was visible about halfway up the hull from the water and it wrapped partway around the stern. Underneath the gashed area, two levels of railing were dangling and broken. Electric cables that had been plugged in on shore were dangling from the port — or left — side of the ship. Carnival said damage, though, was limited.

Crippled cruise ship secured to Ala. terminal after breaking loose; shipyard worker missing Star tribune
Crippled cruise ship secured to Ala. terminal after breaking loose Washington Post
Cursed Carnival cruise liner secure after breaking free from dock WAFB
Carnival cruise ship Triumph breaks free from moorings, crew jump for lives NEWS.com.au
Carnival defends safety record in letter to senator USA Today

Carnival cruise ship to be towed after fire


CNN
(CNN) — A Carnival cruise ship in the Gulf of Mexico with more than 4,200 passengers and crew will be towed to port after a weekend engine fire left it dead in the water, a cruise line official said. The U.S. Coast Guard cutter Vigorous arrived to aid the stranded ship early Monday, the Coast Guard said.

Carnival cruise ship to be towed after fire strands it in Gulf of Mexico CNN Travel
Carnival cruise ship in Gulf of Mexico to be towed after engine fire Miami Herald
Carnival cruise ship adrift off of Mexico after fire in engine room Fox News
Carnival cruise ship on emergency power after fire USA today
Carnival Cruise Ship Adrift Following Fire ABC News
Carnival cruise ship floats in Gulf of Mexico after engine fire, will be towed CNN

Survivors of the Costa Concordia disaster mark first anniversary of capsized

Baltimore Sun
Survivors of the Costa Concordia disaster marked the first anniversary of the capsized cruise ship that left 32 dead. “After a year we are still traumatized,” said Violet Morreau, a survivor from France. Survivors of the Costa Concordia disaster and relatives of the 32 people who died returned to the Italian island of Giglio on Sunday to mark one year since the luxury cruise liner capsized.A boat ferried the visitors close to where the 290-metre-long (950 ft) ship hit rocks before keeling over on its side off the Tuscan island, where it still lies now.

Survivors of the Costa Concordia disaster mark first anniversary of capsized Baltimore Sun
Lanterns lit for victims of Costa Concordia USA today
A year after Costa Concordia shipwreck, cruise industry emphasizes safety Miami Herald
Survivors mark a year since the Costa Concordia disaster BBC News
survivors and islanders mark disaster’s anniversary. A gathering in Giglio pays tribute to the 32 people who died in the Italian shipping disaster one year ago The Guardian

Costa Concordia captain says owed apology

Gazzetta del Sud english
Rome, November 16 – The captain of Italia cruise liner Costa Concordia that hit a Tuscan island in January killing 32 people on Friday said he expected an apology from all those who called him ‘captain coward’ for abandoning ship. “All I read about me are indecent falsehoods,” Francesco Schettino told Il Giornale daily. “There is evidence that tells a completely different story…they want to make me out as a coward but that’s not so. I didn’t abandon ship”.

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Costa Concordia’s Captain’s Culpability in Crash and Deaths Weighed by Judge

Daily Beast
Francesco Schettino, the erstwhile captain of the Costa Concordia—the ill-fated cruise ship that still lies in a heap off the Tuscan island of Giglio—faced his accusers and a handful of passengers in a closed-door preliminary hearing in Grosseto. Schettino was the captain of the Costa Concordia when it crashed into an outcropping off Giglio last Jan. 13. Thirty-two people died. Few dispute that Francesco Schettino was responsible for wrecking the Costa Concordia. The tougher question for a judge bringing charges is who is most responsible for the botched evacuation and 32 deaths, Barbie Latza Nadeau reports.
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Costa Cruises sailing back to profitability

USA TODAY
Bookings at Costa Cruises are bouncing back from the sharp drop seen in the months after the Costa Concordia accident, and the brand should be back to profitability by next year, according to executives at the line’s parent company. Carnival Corp. vice chairman Howard Frank told Wall Street analysts Tuesday that consumer research shows the perception of the Costa brand is gradually improving in each of the line’s major markets. .
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Experts: Blunders, delays contributed to Costa disaster

ROME– Court-appointed experts have pointed the finger of blame primarily at the captain of a cruise ship that ran aground off Italy, but also faulted the crew and ship owner for a series of blunders, delays and security breaches that contributed to the disaster and the deaths of 32 people.
The Costa Concordia ran aground and capsized Jan. 13 off the Tuscan island of Giglio after Capt. Francesco Schettino took it off course in a stunt.
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Costa Concordia wreck draws new wave of ‘disaster tourists’

USA TODAY
This week’s news that the capsized Costa Concordia won’t be moved from its watery grave off Italy’s Tuscan coast as quickly as planned comes amid a boom in day-trippers eager to get a glimpse of the doomed cruise liner. The ship ran aground near Giglio Island last Jan. 13 with 4,000 people aboard; 32 were killed. Locals say hotel bookings and vacation rentals are down on Giglio, in part because of Italy’s economic crisis. But the picturesque island – so off-the-beaten-track that most guidebooks mention it in passing, if at all – is drawing a new breed of visitor.
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