i'm in a much less forgiving position with Carnival.
They broke one of the prime rules - and laws - of the sea.
as others have noted - they should have spotted that vessel in distress from their bridge. think about the height of the bridge above the water - they have a huge advantage. as i said earlier, their seamanship is either in serious question, or there is some kind of "secret protocol" going on where the captains have been told not to stop for "suspicious" boats.
I don't know what they knew or when, or what rules they have been ordered to operate under. It would not surprise me one bit that they have been ordered by national authorities not to stop for anything on the high seas, fearing terrorism.
it may be true that it would take time to turn a cruise liner.
A lot longer than you think. Several hours anyway.
but surely they could figure out some way to get a few supplies (blankets, water, rations) to another vessel in distress.
How would you propose doing so with whatever resources they may have available? do they have any means to send out a small boat and retrieve it?
or = as someone said - at least a radio call reporting a problem. but i would think that the laws of the sea would require them to perhaps do more than just make a call. if they are the closest vessel, and seaworthy themselves, it seems like they should be required to respond.
I am inclined to agree they are required to at least notify the proper authorities. Beyond that, I don't know what if anything they even could do, assuming they wanted to do more. That also assumes someone in responsible control had any inkling of what was really going on.
I am not sure that it is a good idea to risk a large passenger liner full of people in a rescue attempt in the open ocean. It sounds cold, but there are hard realities in life.
No doubt the stories made up by the PR flacks after the fact make it sound worse than it may actually be.
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