Brian Dixon
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
costa allegra sister ship of costa cordia is now adrift in the indian ociean after a fire broke out near its generaters thus losing all power.no injuries are reported to the crew and passengers.seems to me that costa cruise ships seem be cursed or somthing simaler.
Guest 640- Registered: 21 Apr 2007
- Posts: 7,819
Oh dear! lets hope this doesnt end in another tragic situation. The Costa Allegra sounds familiar...could be one of our visitors here in summer months. The Costa ships always look so beautiful and inviting, but sadly they are having a bad run.
Guest 718- Registered: 28 Jun 2011
- Posts: 195
Costa Allegra has visited Dover before. At less than 30,000 tonnes she is much smaller than the huge pre-fab behemoths of today. Originally built as a container ship in 1969 she converted for cruising between 1990-92.
But .... as Simon Calder said on the news - had it not been for the Concordia disaster this incident would have gone un-noticed.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
1400 capacity i believe and about a thousand onboard.
that surprised me about it's history, i always assumed cruise ships were custom built,
Guest 663- Registered: 20 Mar 2008
- Posts: 1,136
Oh dear their ships do not seem to be having much luck, but as has been said if not for the concordia this would not have got air play.
Guest 696- Registered: 31 Mar 2010
- Posts: 8,115
Apparently there are more Somali pirates than sharks infesting the Ocean.
Jan Higgins
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 5 Jul 2010
- Posts: 13,888
I do hope the superstition of things happening in threes does not happen here.
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I try to be neutral and polite but it is hard and getting even more difficult at times.
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Guest 640- Registered: 21 Apr 2007
- Posts: 7,819
Well done with the excellent picture John, I was hoping you would have one. It seems the ship is now being towed by a french trawler according to news reports. The nearest land is a relatively small island, several hundred miles away though, with a tiny airport that can only take small planes..so evacuating people home will take time but at least they will be alive.. A fire in the engine room did the damage. There are 31 Brits onboard but overall 1,000 passengers, none have been allowed to return to their cabins for fear of what happened in the previous Concordia case. All remain in the public areas.
Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
Very odd this, the chances if it happening must be very remote - but it did.
I wonder if the French tug-boat (surely a trawler wouldn't be strong enough Paul would it ?) is claiming salvage rights ?
Roger
Guest 640- Registered: 21 Apr 2007
- Posts: 7,819
I feel sure they said trawler on R4 Roger so hopefully they were accurate, but its probably one of those big ocean going trawlers...Ive seen several of these types up close, they are as strong as...well as strong as old boots. The ship in difficulty isnt a huge one as I remember it as seen in Johns picture, but of course still big enough....but Im sure towable by said trawler.
Dont know about the salvage rights aspect, maybe they are just lending a hand in the true spirit of the mariner.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
courtesy of the daily mail what are the odds on this happening?
A father has spoken of his disbelief at hearing his daughter is stranded on the Costa Allegra just weeks after his son was trapped on its sister ship the Concordia. Mark Thomas's son James, 19, was hailed a hero for forming a 'human climbing frame' to help terrified passengers escape from the Concordia when it hit rocks off the Italian coast in January. esterday the 48-year-old was told his daughter Rebecca, 23, was stranded on the Allegra - which was last night drifting in the Indian Ocean in an area targeted by pirates.
Guest 718- Registered: 28 Jun 2011
- Posts: 195
Something odd here ..... On 16 Feb. I was cataloging a load of old photos, including the one I posted. As the Allegra's sister ship Costa Marina had been withdrawn from service and sold I thought it would be just a matter of time before the Allegra would also be up for disposal. For no other reason except a whim I put a similar picture dating from 2005 up on Shipspotting (a very large enthusiast's site) and thought no more about it. Then, just over a week later this ship, to which I hadn't given the slightest thought for years, suffers this calamity.
Premonition ?? ..... Am I psychic in my frail dotage ?? ...... Nah! - just mental!
Poor old Costa has suffered some very bad press lately. The tragedy of the Concordia cannot be compared to this incident, but nevertheless the usually uninformed media hysteria will doubtlessly run it's course.
I'm reminded of the Achille Lauro which suffered an engine room fire off Somalia in 1994. Here the ship burned out and finally sank. Since then huge improvements were made to fire control systems, and in the case of the Costa Allegra they seem to have worked well.
Guest 703- Registered: 30 Jul 2010
- Posts: 2,096
We were on Fred Olsen's Balmoral when a similar event occurred in the middle of the Baltic. A relay went wonky and the power supply to the cooling for the engines and main generators went down. Fortunately the engine room crew quickly shut off both engines and the generators before damage was done but one engine was stopped slightly before the other resulting in a very impressive and quick 360 degreee turn and lots of steam being vented from every available orifice.
Took about 3 hours to get it sorted during which time the ship was on battery power only but the bars were free - if they hadn't got it sorted there would have been several hundred very merry passengers to evacuate.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
things do not improve in the cruise ship industry with another one now adrift south of the philippines with 1001 passengers on board after a fire disabled its engines.
5 crew have been injured on the "azamara quest", owned by royal carribean cruises.
Brian Dixon- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
all so has 60 brits on it as well,the cruise industrie is having a bad time at the mo.
