The Costa Concordia is the exact size of the Emerald Princess. It may well be the twin of this ship; both Costa and Princess are owned by Carnival Cruise Lines (CCL), and it's not uncommon for sister cruise lines to share ship designs. To see a ship of this size run aground and sunk in a matter of a couple of hours is truly a sobering thing for those of us who love cruising.
Also astonishing is what took place about 5:45pm yesterday. We arrived at the dining room early, hoping to have a quick dinner and then run up to MUTS to watch the football games. We were beginning to eat when Captain Binetti came over the PA system with an announcement. We thought it was his usual 'welcome back to the ship and we hope you enjoyed your day in Antigua' message, and it did start out that way. But then he acknowledged the events with the Costa Concordia, expressed sympathy for those affected, and went on to stress that safety at sea is Princess' highest priority, and that the cruise line would continue to improve its safety standards based on the findings coming from the investigation of what happened in Italy.
That this announcement was made at all was surprising. Princess typically (and understandably) downplays public recognition of dangers at sea, and after the mandatory muster drill, we really don't hear about it except if we're on the ship when the weekly crew drill is held on a port day. We later learned that every passenger on every ship in the CCL family (and there were 217,000 passengers still on CCL ships yesterday) heard the same announcement at about the same time. What was shocking, and still gives me goose bumps, was that for the very first time I'd ever witnessed, there was complete silence in the dining room when the announcement was made. Not during the 'welcome back' part...typically not everybody listens to those announcements. But when the captain's tone changed, there was silence...no silverware jingling, no plates being set down, no small talk, no background music- nothing. Hundreds of diners and crew didn't make a single sound. I think the seriousness in which the message was received affected me as much as the message itself.
It will be interesting to learn what comes from an analysis of the Costa Concordia's black box. Several systems must have failed simultaneously to allow the ship to be 2.5 miles off course and that close to land. Human error almost certainly compounded the failure. I truly sympathize with everyone affected. But I also realize that cruising remains probably the safest way to see the world and those of us who truly love it won't be deterred.