Ditto again.

I would think once you reach the point of capsizing, even a very tight, stable ship would roll over just as quickly.

Cruise ships are engineering compromises. So are commercial aircraft and passenger cars and our iPhones and houses, etc. I wouldn't go so far as calling them death traps.

Unlike ships engineered to traverse the open ocean like the ocean liner Queen Mary 2 or even the Titanic, your typical cruise ship is intended to stay in calmer waters. That's not a design flaw, that's simply its intended environment. Ferries may sometimes encounter rough water beyond its intended limits, too, but that doesn't make them intentionally dangerous either.

Cruise ships could be designed to be more stable, sure. But would they be as popular when most of the cabins are in the interior of the hull and have no windows or balconies? If prices were much higher because there are fewer paying customers per ship? If there were fewer amenities, such as topside pools? If the risk of sea sickness were higher because a more stable ship rolls much more quickly back and forth with the waves? It's all a compromise. I wish my car were as safe and as robust as the Presidential limo, but it's too expensive, too big, too fuel inefficient, etc. so I would never pay for a car like that.

There is also the problem of rogue waves. Rogue waves can even occur in so called calm seas, although even the Gulf of Mexico can sometimes have some choppy seas..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Queen_Mary

I told my wife the other day that there's no way I'd set foot on a cruise ship without bringing food and water with me. And anything else I think I'd need for that duration underway.

To ask a stupid question (maybe not so stupid since I actually served in the Navy onboard a Navy ship and spent a fair amount of time at sea) - couldn't they just use the bathroom over the side?

(not to say that any member of the US Navy has ever performed such an action <snickering>)

I suppose in theory you could, but anything besides a male #1 would be entirely impractical and unimaginable given all those people onboard. The way you wrote your question is awkward. I can certainly imagine throwing waste overboard if that's what you mean.

I'm reading reports of a very responsive crew attending to the needs of passengers - doing their level best, without power. That's good, or at least better than the Costa Concordia evacuation. Sorta like they might have drilled for this scenario. There are accounts of bariatric patients needing assistance going up and down stairs, continued cooling of meds, and other common everyday urgencies that have to be attended to, or a bad situation gets worse real fast. I'd say that someone on board was in command and paying a lot of attention to customer service. I'd be interested after hearing more whether this assistance extended below the water line, to the second, third or fourth class passengers (or whatever their equivalent is).

And I'm sorta curious about disposing of sewage as well. What did they do with the bags, did crew members collect them, and stow them? I find it strange that they would leave them in the hallways. Was there any disposal at sea, or dumping directly into the bilges? Inquiring minds want to know...

+1 on that one. If I cannot bug out on my own two feet...

And yeah I'm the guy who always has a torch on him.

In today's Washington Post:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/...ry.html?hpid=z2


Passengers ill-suited for loss of cruise control


"...I have cruised, and I loved it, and so I say fondly: A cruise ship’s passenger log is comprised entirely of the exact demographic that is least prepared for a cruise to go to pot. A cruise is a giant boat full of your mother-in-law. Your mother-in-law does not belong in the wild."


.

LOL. I just literally CHOKED on my lunch Dagny! There are several good one liners in that story.

They were 150 miles from the Mexican Peninsula. Why did they tow the ship all the way back to Mobile to offload the passengers and most of the crew instead of a flight out of Cancun?