Crown Princess (ship)

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Crown Princess
Crown Princess, Cockburn Town, Grand Turk Island, June 28, 2006
Status:	In Service
Placed in Service:	2006
Tonnage:	113,000 gross tons
Length:	951 feet
Beam:	118 feet
Decks:	19
Complement:	3,080 passengers, 1,200 crew
Registry:	Bermuda

This Crown Princess began operation in 2006. An earlier Crown Princess (entered service in 1990, left fleet in 2002) now operates as AIDAblu.

Crown Princess is the newest member of the Grand Class ships owned and operated by Princess Cruises. Her maiden voyage took place on June 14, 2006, departing Red Hook, Brooklyn, New York for Grand Turk, Turks & Caicos, Ocho Rios, Jamaica, Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands, and Port Canaveral, Florida. As of July 2006, the Crown Princess will be sailing from Red Hook, Brooklyn, New York to ports in the eastern and western Caribbean. Her "Godmother" is publisher, TV personality and ex-convict Martha Stewart.

[edit] Listing Incident

On July 18, 2006 at approximately 3:30 pm, one hour after departing her last port of call in Port Canaveral, Florida, the Crown Princess reported "listing" or making "heavy turns" to the port side, about 16-19 degrees from the horizontal. The Coast Guard was contacted shortly after and crews arrived within minutes to assist the troubled vessel. The cruise ship was on its way home to New York City, and the decision was made to return to Port Canaveral due to what was initially thought to be a malfunction in the steering equipment, causing a severe tilting of the ship and injuries.^[1] But a confidential source from the Coast Guard allegedly told a Florida television station that a junior officer "panicked," then took the ship out of automatic pilot thinking a meter was showing that the ship was turning too sharply to one side. But instead of turning the Crown Princess back to the right, the junior officer accidentally kept the ship in an even sharper left hand turn - similar to over-correcting in a car. This caused the massive 113,000-ton cruise ship to list severely, tumbling passengers, pool water and everything else on board into chaos. ^[2]

A number of passengers were critically injured, one suffering breathing difficulties after being hit in the chest by an airborne chair. Water from the four on-board pools poured into staircases and lift shafts. Most injuries were on the outdoor areas of Decks 15 and 16, where large beach chairs and tables hit and injured passengers. The other area that had many injured passengers was the balcony areas in the grand atrium. Many there were hit by falling objects and heavy marble tables. One woman with an extended hospital stay was thrown against the glass wall on Deck 15 and covered by pool chairs and water from the pool themselves, being trapped underwater for several terrifying seconds. One passenger said "Afterward it was like a war zone with people walking around bleeding." and another added "All the windows were smashed. The top deck looked like a hurricane had hit it." ^[3]

Amazingly, no passengers went overboard, despite the heavy list.

As of 8:30 AM PT July 19, Princess says that "approximately 240 passengers [were] treated onboard for various injuries such as abrasions, bruises and fractures, of which 94 were transferred to local hospitals ashore for evaluation and treatment."

This makes the incident one of the worst in the history of modern day cruising. The last severe incident affecting hundreds on a cruise ship was the capsizing of the M.S. Estonia in the Baltic Sea claiming 852 lives.

The matter was referred to the National Transportation Safety Board and United States Coast Guard for investigation. After an internal review by Princess Cruises, its president Alan Buckelew publicly stated that "the incident was due to human error and the appropriate personnel changes have been made." ^[4] With approval from the Coast Guard and the Bermuda flag authorities, the vessel returned to service. A full refund was given to all passengers on the ill-fated cruise, and a 50% refund to passengers on the following cruise which was set to depart July 20 but instead departed from Brooklyn on July 22. Since then, Crown Princess has resumed her normal schedule.