Many of the worst injuries were caused when gambling machines crashed over on top of people.posted by smackfu at 8:29 AM on September 8, 2010 [6 favorites]
There is a misconception in some cruising circles that modern cruise ships are top heavy, which probably stems from the fact that they simply look top heavy compared to the ocean liners of the past, which had lower more balanced profiles. In contrast, new ships are very tall with up to fifteen decks and many look more like office blocks than ships.posted by beagle at 10:07 AM on September 8, 2010 [1 favorite]
There is also a myth that modern cruise ships have poor sea keeping abilities. The reality is that today's cruise ships are in fact very stable. They have all of their heavy plant such as engines, generators, tons of fuel, water and provision stored in the lowest decks, deep within the hull. In addition, ships like the QE2 and the 'Voyager' class have the uppermost decks constructed of lightweight Aluminum. Therefore their center of gravity is much lower than it actually appears to the naked eye; hence they are in fact very stable. I understand from several maritime engineering sources that modern cruise ships can actually recover safely from a list of as much as 40-50 degrees.
As for sea-keeping qualities, although many modern cruise ships have a shallow draft and were never designed for the weekly rigors of the North Atlantic or winter crossings; they do have very good sea-keeping qualities. In addition, there shallow drafts allow them to get into ports that the old ships could have never have achieved.
A fact that I find fascinating is that the original 1934 'Queen Mary', which was of course purely designed for crossing the North Atlantic, was recorded as listing by 45 degrees in an Atlantic storm! Even if it had been possible to walk down a passenger corridor at that moment, you would need one foot on the floor and one on the wall. In contrast the 'Crown Princess' reportedly listed about 15-18 degrees.
A number of items that were, in theory, permanently fixed broke free of their securing arrangements. These included such items as a grand piano, a bank of gaming machines in the casino, and heavy office equipment such as photocopiers, many of which were being used by passengers to steady themselves against the motion.So I guess that complicates the negligence case a bit.
P&O say they will defend themselves in court against Lisa Dolan and explained that the event occurred during freak weather and have since taken the necessary safety precautions on-board the Pacific Sun.Isn't "having since taken the necessary safety precautions" an implicit admission of guilt?
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posted by the cuban at 7:45 AM on September 8, 2010 [2 favorites]