The ship has 408 pax and 314 crew. All electrics out and only able to contact adjacent vessels by handheld radios. French Marine Rescue picked up satellite distress signal.

Gas tanker Gimi is alongside. Apparently waves have smashed the bridge area.

quote:

---

Originally posted by sread:
Found her -- http://www.cybercruises.com/voyager.htm -- ex-(Royal) Olympic Voyager, now chartered by IberoJet Cruises of Spain. Fastest cruise ship afloat apparently (or was until today!)

Some news agencies are wrongly saying it's RCCL's Voyager Of The Seas. Voyager is in the Caribbean.

---

I just found her on Equasis: www.equasis.org

Edit: I have just found a picture I took of her at Hamburg, when she was being completed, in 2000.

[ 02-14-2005: Message edited by: Sea Wanderer ]

Here the latest news:
A cruise liner with more than 700 people on board - most of them Spanish - has been crippled by a severe storm in the western Mediterranean.
A French-led rescue is under way to reach the stricken Voyager, now about 100 km (60 miles) from Menorca.

Several people suffered minor injuries and the ship has lost all engine power, a spokesman for its owner, V Ships of Monaco, told the BBC News website.

It was sailing from Sardinia, on a voyage from Tunis to Barcelona.

The spokesman said the crew were battling to restore engine power and a liquefied gas tanker, the Gimi, was on the scene after receiving the distress call.

Battered by storm

A high wave smashing through the windows of the bridge and damaging electronics is thought to have caused the power cut.

The distress call from the ship said it was taking on water and was in "terrible condition," UK coastguards reported.

They received the message just after 0900 GMT on Monday via the Gimi.

The French coastguards told the BBC that the ship was not on fire and not in danger of sinking.

Two tugs - one Spanish and one French - are travelling to the stricken vessel and hoping to tow it into a French port, they said.

The V Ships spokesman said they would be there within 14 hours.

Several aircraft have also been sent to the scene.

Most of the passengers are Spanish and the ship is chartered to the Barcelona cruise firm Iberojet, the V Ships spokesman said.

"When she does get some engine power back, the crew will turn the vessel into the weather. It is pretty rough out there, so I'm sure it isn't particularly comfortable. Any vessel will be being knocked around a lot," the spokesman said.

The ship, registered in the Bahamas and owned by Horizon Navigation, was built in 2000.

from BBC

quote:

---

Originally posted by desirod7:
Apparantly both of these ships have flawed bridge desgins: too low down and too far forward.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by desirod7:
Apparantly both of these ships have flawed bridge desgins: too low down and too far forward.
Why are there not redundant controls in the engine room?

How can power from the bridge completely knock out the powerplant?

---

1. The hull form is quite O.K., alos the structural strength is superior to oldr vessesl. Please not again the "old ship" / long bow ... is better discussion.

3. Of course you can control her from the engine room. But I agree that the redundancy aboard ships is not as good as it could be. Such an incident should not leave a ship without any control for a too long time; also there have been quite a lot of black-outs during the last years.

I think that if two ships of the same design get in trouble within weeks from each other in high seas, at different sides of the world, that is not coincidence anymore.

It is not often you hear that kind of news from rather new cruiseships. Somewhere there is a connection, if not in the design, than in the designated way of handling the ship. The coincidence si too big to be a coincidence.

quote:

---

...

I think that if two ships of the same design get in trouble within weeks from each other in high seas, at different sides of the world, that is not coincidence anymore.

It is not often you hear that kind of news from rather new cruiseships. Somewhere there is a connection, if not in the design, than in the designated way of handling the ship. The coincidence si too big to be a coincidence.

J[/QB]

---

It probably is conicidence. (..my earlier psoting is just speculation, nthing more...)

Here is an uncomplete list of recent black-outs I remember:

- ms Europa lost power & manouvrability during her "trials" in the baltic

- Some years ago one of the Grande Navi Veloci ferries has been drifitng for some hours in the Med.

- The Millenium had quite often problems

- the Bremen had a black-out after a freak-wave hit and damaged her (also, another expedition vessel has been hit by this storm)

- Hanseatic had the same problem, but not as severe

- a HAL ship (the Amsterdam ?) had a blackout during a storm, causing her to roll severly

- the falling apart QE2 obvioulsly encountered several power failure recently (O.K. she is not new..)

quote:

---

lasuvidaboy wrote:
I found a site that has an incredible photo of Carnival Triumph taken during a storm

---

For a larger version: click here.

Amazing image. Just goes to show you why QM2 was built the way she was for day-in and day-out rough weather. Not to say that most modern day cruise ships aren't capable of riding storms out but wouldn't it be better on something that had a boat/promenade deck higher up and less exposed decks?

******

quote:

---

Originally posted by lasuvidaboy:
She is just digging her stubby nose in! Imagine the much smaller and lower Explorer/Voyager in a similar storm.

---

I can see the temptation in asking if this is the Wrath of the Greek Gods. However, it totally amazes me that the glass is fitted on modern bridges which is allowed or known to break!! WHY? Modern heat tempering and even bullet proofing glasses are available, as well as specialist types of coated polycarbonate sheet, most of which are virtually - pardon the pun - bullet proof. I know this as I sell such products for a living.

Can someone enlighten me why this old practice (glass) is maintained under SOLAS; after all, no bridge means virtually no ship control!

quote:

---

Originally posted by bulbousbow:

For a larger version: click here.

Amazing image. Just goes to show you why QM2 was built the way she was for day-in and day-out rough weather. Not to say that most modern day cruise ships aren't capable of riding storms out but wouldn't it be better on something that had a boat/promenade deck higher up and less exposed decks?

******

Cheers

---