The Grand Princess is now at a complete stop outside of Galveston. A U.S. Coast Guard cutter has been alongside and just boarded 3-4 people off of the ship. Rumors among the passengers are that a patient had a heart attack, or a diabetic coma, and a galley staff member may have been injured or burned during the drastic turn to port.
Passengers are at the purser's desk requesting to leave the ship but we are not headed to port at the moment.
There is substantial damage to the ship's stores with broken glass, toppled displays, etc. They have now reopened the galleys and the cruise director states that the show at 8:15 PM will still go on.
People are now calmed down and are beginning to have nervous laughter after this incident. The crew immediately began to clear the damage and debris in a very professional manner, but the stores are still closed.
We still do not know if the cruise will continue as planned or if there will be modifications of the intinerary. The captain has not yet announced anything new.
We are wondering now why the captain did not announce to the passengers that he was going to turn the ship around, why we were turning, and why was the turn to port so drastic that the ship listed so much. Perhaps there was a malfunction at the helm and they did not mean to turn so quickly. We are now moving again and the ship is not listing. We do not know where we are headed and the crew on deck is not quite sure either.
Didn't Grand have the dreaded 'pod' trouble in the summer last year, where, IIRC, the software was doing the opposite to what was requested on one of the steering pods that caused all sorts of problems during her Mediteranean season......?
Doing a sharp turn with the ship heaving over and doing damage does sound slightly symptomatic of a pod doing the opposite to what was requested or running away.
I hope its not caused too many injuries or damage this time, if indeed it is a misbehaving dangling thing again. At least in the Med, she was running slower and missing ports and requiring help from tugs to dock and not doing sharp turns.
If they can get to Mahahual on time on Monday and keep the rest of the itinerary, then people will let this slide. If not, I think an investigation will be in the cards.
There was MUCh damage to things... Tables and chairs tossed about, licquor and perfume bottles crashed to the floor in bars and ships. crystal broken in gift shops, and even artwork in the auction area was damaged.
This information leaves me very nervous. We are booked on the Grand in about 13 days. You can bet I'll be following this thread with great interest. CP please keep the information coming.
Right along with this our son, the airline pilot, informed us that the pilots of the the airline we are booked on have taken a strike vote, which may impact our flight to Houston. Maybe this just isn't going to be our trip. Our only option at this point is to wait, watch and hope for the best.
I'm another eyewitness--currently wide awake at 2:00 a.m. in the Internet cafe aboard the Grand Princess. I came to check in (unable to sleep) to read any other passenger reports.
I can verify what has been posted already, and add a few details. My husband and I were viewing art in the art gallery on deck five. The turn was so sharp and sudden that all easels and art fell to the floor around us.
Having lived in California, we instinctively headed for an archway. Turning to look back in the central area of deck five (near the tour desk), we observed most chairs and tables upended. Passengers were knocked to the floor.
In the small circular bar near the tour desk, the stock of liquor fell to the floor and shattered. At the bar, a young woman in her twenties, who had been knocked from her bar stool, clutched the bar rail and curled up in a fetal position.
At this point, my husband and I were sheltering in a corner near the tour desk. Two crew members attempted to open the security door into the tour area, but could not open the door. One, a man, jumped the counter.
A passenger approached the remaining crew member--a young woman. "What just happened?" he asked. "That's what we're trying to find out," answered the staffer.
Slowly, the angle of the floor receded closer to normal, but remained at a defined "lean" for some time.
All around us, passengers were on the floor, dazed. Crew were professional and helpful, but this was no mild event--people had been throw from their chairs.
We returned to the art gallery on our way to the rear stairs. The gallery staffer commented, "That's $200,000!" as he stacked the sprawled canvases. One original oil, a Quaini that we had admired just minutes earlier, was gashed open with a tear more than a foot long.
We returned to our stateroom in time to hear the bridge announcement, telling us that the turn was made in order to return an ill passenger to Galveston.
Our stateroom, on deck 9, was on the lower end of the ship. Not only were all items placed on desk and table on the floor, our balcony chairs and tables had been tossed into the railing, and water had splashed up to the level of our balcony door.
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Grand Princess in trouble or at least just had an opps!
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Wow! I hope everything will be OK...
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