Watch Disney Cruise ship hammered by Sandy

[Texas Barbie]

This is why I only do theme parks! This and Norwalk.

 

[Robo]

Seriously? So I saw a guy walk pass a mirror who was, I just assumed, wearing shorts. So quick if you blink, you miss it. But now you've pointed it out, its become a 'deal'. You must have a trained eye when it come to naked guys

The original notes about it came from the comments on the CNN site.
I tried playing the clip at full speed on the site and it could go either way, just looking there.
So, I did some additional video sleuthing using my cache of video software.

Yes, I do have a "trained eye," but it's not from looking at naked guys...
I've been a professional TV videographer and video editor for a few decades.

And, I've learned long ago not to point a lens at mirrors or highly-polished, high-gloss anything with the camera
rolling.
The shooter on the ship was not quite as careful but, under the circumstances, I can understand.

 

[GillianP1301]

Be aware that there is full frontal nudity in that clip.

EDIT:
I have video software that allows me to convert, blow-up and step-through Flash video.
On a close frame-by-frame examination, I can say that he could be wearing black silk boxers.

But there are frames with motion smear where the shooter, mixed with the lamp components,
that appear to show more (or less) than may actually be there.

Seriously??? That's a lot of effort to prove an argument. But the bottom line is, who cares? This is not about the clothing or lack there of by the photog, it's about people being in a very scary situation on their cruise ship.

At first, I didn't think the pics of the ocean looked that bad, but the aftermath of the gift shop was very telling. Very fortunate that there were no injuries or death there.

 

[Robo]

Seriously??? That's a lot of effort to prove an argument.

There is no amount of applied effort...
or lack of applying effort...
that will not get criticized on a discussion board.

 

[goofy4tink]

Not trying to be argumentative, but really? It's amazing how many people are second guessing a well trained and surpremely experienced captain. Uncomfortable ride? Probably. Dangerous? Doubt it..unless you decided to leave your cabin and walk around. Besides...if I had doors crashing like that, and I had been told to stay in my cabin I would have taken that time to put everything away....there wouldn't be anything in my cabin to fly around. Things would have been stowed.
It amazes me to see how many people think that was a horrible decision on the captain's part.

 

[Steve's Girl]

Yet another reason why I don't think I ever want to take a cruise. Yikes!

 

[PoohsFan1]

Glad I am not on that boat..i would be sick sick sick

Same here . Besides the motion sickness, I think I would have major anxiety if I was going through that.

We were on a cruise this past January (non-Disney) and our boat was rocking so much because of the waters were so choppy (but nothing like what was on the video). Some days it was really hard to walk or just stand still. DH was in bed with motion sickness the first few days of our trip while the kids and I were o.k as long as we took motion sickness pills (DH took them too but they didn't seem to work for him). Luckily it got much better once we got to the Caribbean. This cruise was also a first for our family too...we will not be doing a cruise again in the winter time....at least not for a long while .

 

[Cyrano]

Moving to the Cruise bard.

 

[Ka-chow!]

Interesting comment from someone that was on board (and there were others onboard that commented, also).



The waves shown in the video were taken earlier in the day, the most dangerous waves (and large enough to capsize a ship that size) came in the middle of the night.

Very poor (and potentially life-threatening) decision on someone's part.

Like everyone, I Regret the passengers went through this. I've been through some bad oceans too.
But since you claim to know wave energy characteristics and ship ballast specs, and i'm curious, I'll ask. Exactly what size wave would reliably capsize the Fantasy???

 

[Postal68]

The Captain was very, very, very lucky the ship didn't capsize.

Are you also the Captain of a cruise ship? Your vast knowledge would be appreciated.

 

[justmestace]

What do you call it?

I call it "no big deal" since I wouldn't have even noticed, if you hadn't said something. Most of us don't have the technology you used, nor would we have bothered.
Why even point this out??

 

[disney1990]

The Captain was very, very, very lucky the ship didn't capsize.

What a nightmare that must have been for passengers (including crew).

Thank goodness no one went overboard or was injured.

I, too, was on this sailing. I talked with several Cast Members that said, if you thought this was bad, don't ever sail across the Atlantic. They said that this was nothing compared with what they experienced bringing the ship to the US from Germany.

 

[hulagirl87]

in the article it quoted a passenger saying that while he was in his room, a huge wave hit and the furniture slid across the room. Isn't everything bolted down? I have been on the Wonder twice and thought everything was, but am I wrong? I was on the Wonder during hurricane Isabel and that was pretty bad, but nothing like Sandy. I hope everyone is ok!

 

[quentina]

Tip: When you video tape in the nude, don't pass mirrors

Looks like a mess on the ship though. I hope everyone stays (stayed) safe.

I must say....I went back and watched again

 

[justmestace]

in the article it quoted a passenger saying that while he was in his room, a huge wave hit and the furniture slid across the room. Isn't everything bolted down? I have been on the Wonder twice and thought everything was, but am I wrong? I was on the Wonder during hurricane Isabel and that was pretty bad, but nothing like Sandy. I hope everyone is ok!

Nope. You can move the stool in front of the desk anywhere you want, the coffee table...or whatever it is they have on the new ships.....chairs in the larger rooms......not bolted down. Not to mention items on the desks and nightstands. And in the suites there are a LOT more items to go flying. Knick-knacks, glasses (wine and water glasses) and other decor.

 

[sayhello]

Like everyone, I Regret the passengers went through this. I've been through some bad oceans too.
But since you claim to know wave energy characteristics and ship ballast specs, and i'm curious, I'll ask. Exactly what size wave would reliably capsize the Fantasy???

Sayhello

 

[castmbr]

Goofy4tink. Had any of us been warned AHEAD of time or told to stay in our rooms before hand we probably would have lashed everything down. By the time we were aware of the enormity and told anything we could not even move across the room.

 

[Happy99]

my second though after thinking it was crazy to try and and go back to PC was why didn't they go up the other coast and dock in Tampa instead? Not their normal terminal but for safety sake they have changed terminals before

 

[wrensaver]

I too was there.

For all of you that said "it wasn't that bad" or "there was no danger" you are absolutely wrong.

In the morning, and in line, several cast members were talking with us about eating in their space (deck 2) and all the dishes coming out and hitting them, breaking all over the floor. Two said they were crying and one said he was screaming. Those who had been on the Atlantic crossing said Sandy was much much worse. Deck four was closed because of the waves coming over the side.

The captain did not come on the loudspeaker until 1 and 2 AM respectively. The first one was to tell us that we were experiencing more "motion" than they thought. The second (after the three giant waves that sent the furniture, dishes, glasses, everything on the desktops and on any flat surface crashing onto the floor) was that "the ship is safe" and "stay in your stateroom". When we were trying to grab things to keep them from flying, and I was literally walking UPHILL in my cabin like I was on a treadmill with angles you can set. The jackets on the posts were swinging 30 degrees each way.


My father (Cocoa native) tracking the boat on a maritme satellite website (we found out Saturday when we had lunch), and it reported 75 knot headwinds and waves of 12 meters. (39 feet). We hugged the coast of DR and Cuba then came up the East side of Florida hugging the coast. We moved more slowly - 10/12 knots at first then aftermidnight picked up to 15 knots to try to get home.

I have to say, I'm a Disney lifer. I was born in Orlando in 1971 and have been to the parks many times a year since then. In all the time I have ever been at Disney, I have never felt that there was a decision made that would compromise safety. And I also believe that the waves were way worse than expected. By the time the crew knew how bad things were, there was no way to turn back. However, I think the drive to get us back into port (and offloaded so a new group of paying passengers could embark) in this case overrode a decision that could have been made out of an abundance of caution. Yes we're all OK. Yes the most damage was on the ship - you should have seen the duty free liquor/perfume part of the stores, the smell was hideous - but what we went through, I feel like we were not as "safe" as everyone seems to think we were.

 

[justmestace]

Not trying to be argumentative, but really? It's amazing how many people are second guessing a well trained and surpremely experienced captain. Uncomfortable ride? Probably. Dangerous? Doubt it..unless you decided to leave your cabin and walk around. Besides...if I had doors crashing like that, and I had been told to stay in my cabin I would have taken that time to put everything away....there wouldn't be anything in my cabin to fly around. Things would have been stowed.
It amazes me to see how many people think that was a horrible decision on the captain's part.

Trust me, if you've never had the misfortune to sail in a storm of any magnitude, you have no idea. We were awakened in the middle of the night during a storm (not a hurricane like Sandy) and there was no way we could have safely walked around the room putting away all the things that could go flying, hit us, and injure us. In a suite, especially, there's a lot of glassware....not only decorations, but wine glasses and water glasses....all kinds of things. During the storm we were in, the patio door flew up out of its track, and my husband and I had to fight the wind and the curtains being sucked out the door, to get it back into place and pray the next time it popped out, the glass wouldn't shatter and spray us with shards. What could have been done ahead of time to either predict that would happen, or to do something to prevent it???? Disney is just DARN LUCKY that it was in the middle of the night, or there would have been a TON of injuries. And being the last night, most people had packed up all of their belongings, so they didn't have personal items flying through the rooms.

And it's exactly BECAUSE the Captain is so experienced, that they shouldn't have been sailing directly into a hurricane in the first place. If the other cruise lines made the decision that it wasn't safe to sail into it, then why didn't Disney??
Ane there WERE injuries....lots of them. Most of them were crew members, but I've read a lot of reports by now, and have heard about passengers also, with cuts, sprains, and bumps on the head.

What amazes me more than anything is the denial of "Disney lovers". If it were a Carnival ship that had been the lone wolf, sailing directly into a hurricane, the DIS Boards would have gone wild tearing them to shreds.