You are right, you'll be fine. Make sure you know where your life vest is though. Maybe they should do the emergency drill before the ship leaves the dock.

I was just thinking about your cruise tonight, Glenda. I thought it was drawing near. Did you hear the interpretation of the conversation between the Coast Guard Captain and the Captain of that ship? It just left me speechless. Yes, I'm sure you will be safe. No need to worry. Just make sure the Captain isn't from Italy.

Will be interesting what happens to the captain plus the crew that left the ship with the life jacets before the cruisers.

No worries-you can bet the captain will be extra careful on your cruise!!

I prefer the good old terra firma but you're a good seafarer Glenda get ready for a great time !!

I would think cruise companies know that they're all under the microscope because of the (alleged) actions by this one captain. I think you wrote elsewhere that you've been in these drills before? I also think that if they somehow don't do the drill, you'll be the first one to stand up and MAKE them do it!

(And don't do what one poor entertainer on board that cruise ship did: He had his life jacket on, and some say he helped a few children secure their's, but he decided to go back to his cabin to pack his violin. A fatal move. Nothing is as valuable as you!)

Where are you cruising to this time?

I know you will have a wonderful time and return to us safe and sound, Madam Glenda! I can't get over the captain, now he tripped and fell into a lifeboat, LOL! What a coward, he can't even face his own responsibility. Carnival is doing web conferences with travel professionals for the next several days, it should be interesting.

You will be happy and safe, Glenda!

My father and brother are going on a Western Caribbean cruise next week, and then they are scheduled for a 22-day transatlantic/European cruise in April--which includes Italy. I asked Dad if he was concerned, and his response was "I'll be 90 years old in May--nothing scares me anymore." He has a great attitude!

Wanda, I love your Dad's attitude. Glenda, have a good time and don't worry! As they say in France, Bon Voyage!

I'm not worried. But I'll definitely pay more attention when we have our safety drills.

Wow, Wanda, I'm in love with your dad. My mom is 94 and just as feisty. Maybe we can get them together if he doesn't mind an older woman.

Glenda, have a wonderful trip. As others have said, you will be extra safe now. If you fall off the ship, try to land in a lifeboat, like the Italian captain.

one reason i think if i took a cruise, it would be on a smaller ship...

Go and rest easy. This Captain was just plain stupid and if anything, this will make all the Captains more observant.....

Wanda, your dad's a jewel...and he has a great sense of humor.

Glenda, I admit I did think about you and your upcoming cruise but like Lisa said, every cruise line will be VERY careful, for a while at least. I've only been on two cruises but on both there were mandatory drills (no excuses for not attending) to tell you exactly what to do in case of an emergency and answer any questions. They did it early on, like the first day aboard ship. What that captain did was unexcusable in more ways than one.

Go and enjoy and think about us while you're lounging around with an umbrella drink while waiting for your 4-course dinner. Sigh! Wish I like cruising.

dedtired, I am sorry, but your mother is too late to go after my father.

My parents were blissfully, happily married for 63 years. When Mom passed away 3 years ago, my father renewed his friendship with his childhood sweetheart (she lost her DH 4 months before my mother passed). She was a lifelong friend of Dad's sister, and her mother was his mother's best friend.

They live over 2,000 miles apart, but talk on the phone at least once a day. She has come to visit him several times, and they have taken a number of cruises together. It is not a romance, but they care about each other and enjoy each other's company. My brother and I--and her children--are thrilled that they have each other. My father will continue to go on cruises several times a year as long as he possibly can. Although he is almost 90, he is in excellent health and active. I am so blessed...particularly because I have always been "Daddy's Girl"!

There's more to come out of all this. The captain looks like a jerk, but he's just the 'face' of the disaster.

Seems the cruise line *regularly* sent ships through that narrow waterway and sailed close to the island. This guy got unlucky and he or whoever was on the bridge struck a rock. Then he did what he thought would help, turning to port to get the ship close enough to shore to rest on the bottom -- not sink -- so that rescues could take place.

You can't stop a huge ship like this by 'putting on the brakes' after the hull is breached. He used the momentum to get closer to shore. Ater that...I don't know, but he does sound completely dazed and disoriented on the tapes.

We don't know if HE was on the bridge when the ship struck the rock. Some reports have said he was doing the social part of his job, eating with 'select' passengers at the captain's table.

DH and I have never chosen to sail on one of these mega-ships, not for safety reasons, but because we like smaller vessels with fewer passengers. It's bad enough to hit a port along with 2000 others -- and hope yours may be the only ship in port that day.

Well, what makes that captain a jerk much more so than path he took through the waterway, is that he jumped ship and left all his passengers and crew on the boat with no direction or leadership! You don't abandon your ship when you're a capt. You don't save yourself first. If there had perhaps been some leadership, then maybe they could have got more people evacuated in an orderly way. He may not have been able to stop the ship in it's path, but maybe he could have helped save a few more people who were entrusting him with their safety and their lives.

What a coward.

"Just make sure the Captain isn't from Italy."

The Captain may have been a jerk and a coward, but that has nothing whatsoever to do with being from Italy. There are jerks and cowards from every village and city on Earth. To lump all Italians into a bad category just because they're Italian isn't fair, and isn't smart.

I loved the cover headline on one of the New York tabloids: "Chicken of the Sea"!

Be sure to take photos of your food! I remember you did that before on a cruise.

I agree that Captains are under the microscope, so I imagine they will be extra safe. You'll be having fun.

My DD is leaving for Italy at the end of May and will be cruising the islands there in June. I'm feeling that the cruise will be as safe as can be now that this has happened. DD is 16 and this is her first cruise. Guess I'm thinking more about mother nature and other stuff involved in that area.

You will be fine. Pay attention. If Celine Dion starts singing, go look for a lifeboat. ;)

I was at the movies, yesterday, and a huge billboard was up advertising the return of Titanic in 3D.

What timing!

Remember, they don't write about all of the cruise ships that have successful cruises, just as they don't write about all of the airplanes that take off and land safely. Just know what to do in case of an emergency, and you will do fine.

I don't have a problem with cruising :o)

Just have fun and enjoy yourself!

We got back from our cruise ten days ago and I am already planning another!

After what happened I did tell DH that I would pay more attention to the muster drill and the airline safety precautions!

Where are you going this time, Glenda? Watched 20/20 early this morning and it was about all the bad things that happen on cruise ships. I started to fall asleep so didn't see all of it but they were saying a lot of partying, fights, drunken idiots falling overboard, etc...Don't think it happens as much as they report, though.

Kathleen, it's according to when and where you are going.

Been to Cozumel a number of times, and twice during spring break, and that is NOT a great time to go, if you are a senior, want peace and quiet.

Caribbean, I've never had an unpleasant experience.
Alaska, twice, very upscale, quiet, pleasant, once on Celebrity and this past summer Golden Princess, which the latter was my favorite ship.
Mediterranean cruise, fantastic! Carnival Freedom
Fall foilage cruise, wonderfully quiet, almost too quiet :o)

Those that go out of the port of Mobile, in my opinion are big time party, especially spring and summer.

I've never witnessed fights, had people go overboard, but have seen drunks on spring break, college students as well as adults, and moreso when leaving port, which is big party time on the poolside deck.