THE CHAIN LOCKER
DISNEY FANTASY - click photo for USA Today story
I'm sure you've seen this story: The cruise ship DISNEY FANTASY picked up four men from a raft floating near Key West last week. The 130,000-ton cruise ship had gotten underway from Port Canaveral on Saturday and was en route to Grand Cayman when the rescue occurred. Click on the photo for a typical brief rundown of the incident from USA Today. And here is another story from Maritime Executive.
"The men were brought aboard the ship and provided with medical attention along with food and water. We are proud of our Disney Fantasy crew members, who skillfully demonstrated their training and commitment to maritime protocols around saving lives at sea," Disney Cruise Line said in a statement.
The ship continued to Mexico, then the Bahamas, and finally back to Port Canaveral, where apparently the men, identified as Cubans in some of the stories, were turned over the the US Coast Guard.
Here's the thing: in spite of waiting almost a week for further developments in the press, I've not seen any! I guess that illustrates the difference between a "good news" story vs a "bad news" item.
We're still hearing about the STAR PRINCESS incident where two men died; the only survivor, Adrian Vasquez, was picked up alive, by chance, after drifting helplessly for 1000 KM over a month's time from Panama to near the Galapagos, in their disabled fishing boat FIFTY CENTS. Adrian's two friends, Fernando Osario and Oropeces Betancourt, died after the trio were passed up by the cruise ship in mid-ocean. STAR PRINCESS ignored the three in spite of their frantic signaling; and the crew were also alerted by passengers who spotted the fishermen. But somehow the information never got to the bridge (click "Adrian Vasquez" & "Fishermen Ignored" in the Categories column on the right side of the page for details and links). That was a bad news story, indeed.
So I'm very glad to read this good news story, and to see that in this case the bridge team were apparently alert and came promptly to the rescue. More details are lacking, and I hope we're able to find them out, even if good news isn't as compelling for news media to publish as the other kind! Please let us know if you have seen any news sources with more details, as this is a story I'd like to follow up.
Were you near the action during this rescue, aboard DISNEY FANTASY or another vessel - or can you tell us anything about what has happened since? Please comment and help us to learn more about this successful rescue!
"The men were brought aboard the ship and provided with medical attention along with food and water. We are proud of our Disney Fantasy crew members, who skillfully demonstrated their training and commitment to maritime protocols around saving lives at sea," Disney Cruise Line said in a statement.
The ship continued to Mexico, then the Bahamas, and finally back to Port Canaveral, where apparently the men, identified as Cubans in some of the stories, were turned over the the US Coast Guard.
Here's the thing: in spite of waiting almost a week for further developments in the press, I've not seen any! I guess that illustrates the difference between a "good news" story vs a "bad news" item.
We're still hearing about the STAR PRINCESS incident where two men died; the only survivor, Adrian Vasquez, was picked up alive, by chance, after drifting helplessly for 1000 KM over a month's time from Panama to near the Galapagos, in their disabled fishing boat FIFTY CENTS. Adrian's two friends, Fernando Osario and Oropeces Betancourt, died after the trio were passed up by the cruise ship in mid-ocean. STAR PRINCESS ignored the three in spite of their frantic signaling; and the crew were also alerted by passengers who spotted the fishermen. But somehow the information never got to the bridge (click "Adrian Vasquez" & "Fishermen Ignored" in the Categories column on the right side of the page for details and links). That was a bad news story, indeed.
So I'm very glad to read this good news story, and to see that in this case the bridge team were apparently alert and came promptly to the rescue. More details are lacking, and I hope we're able to find them out, even if good news isn't as compelling for news media to publish as the other kind! Please let us know if you have seen any news sources with more details, as this is a story I'd like to follow up.
Were you near the action during this rescue, aboard DISNEY FANTASY or another vessel - or can you tell us anything about what has happened since? Please comment and help us to learn more about this successful rescue!
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