Cruise Ship Runs Aground - Gives Us Titanic Flashbacks

GG Staff | 03/13/2008 - 14:01 | 2 comments

American, Japanese and Russian among tourists scrambling to safety near Athens

We're not sure how a cruise ship runs aground, but a Greek ship carrying 313 passengers did near the island of Poros, south of Athens. Actually I do have a theory how a ship the size of an apartment building misses the dock, but it involves tequila and 1-900 numbers.

Titanic FlashbackApparently the ship hit a barren inlet early this morning and began taking in water, which sparked the evacuation of passengers and crew. Since it happened during daylight hours, the evacuation has been surprisingly smooth. There are no reported injuries, but the ship is still taking on water.

The Giorgis had been on a 1-day, 3-island cruise. Hmm, this is starting to sound more like a replay of Gilligan's Island than the Titanic.

"Everyone is fine and in surprisingly good spirits," Poros Deputy Mayor Stamatina Mitsopoulou said. Passenger lists will be checked and cross checked to make sure no one is trapped on board before allowing passengers to be transported to Piraeus later tonight.

Last April, a Greek cruise ship that was carrying more than 1,500 passengers hit a rocky reef while trying to dock on the island of Santorini. The boat later sank and 2 French tourists died in the accident. The captain and 5 senior crew members of that ship were charged with negligence and violating international marine rules.

Guess that means tequila isn't allowed on the bridge?

Wonder how they'll compensate passengers today? What would you want for compensation?

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Comments

•The easiest way to find

Submitted by International Tour Operators Delhi (not verified) on Wed, 04/23/2008 - 08:09.

•The easiest way to find the best deal is by comparing rates and prices of competitor companies. Come up with a short list of preferred options. •How about the idea of cruising during off seasons. This will save your money quite a lot. •Always confirm booking from the agent or main web sites rather than the cruise lines. •Try taking advantage of advance specials. •During peak seasons rates of tour packages generally sore high, it would be a nice step if you go in for advance booking. Look for what are known as repositioning cruises. •Companies move their ships from various locations during peak seasons and relocate them to destinations about to begin a peak season. Often, there are great discounts to be had by booking a holiday on these ships during the relocation phase. •You can also get special discounts from various travel and tour sites if you are traveling on short notice. Now on to the fun!

I was on this exact ship in

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 04/08/2008 - 11:55.

I was on this exact ship in November, 2007, and the captain ran aground on that trip, too! That time it was at night, but only about 100 yards from the pier. The event was a big joke. All the passengers were asked to move to one end of the boat to see if it could float off the reef. That didn't work. There was absolutely no organized effort to offload people. In fact -- in a hilarious scene off one side of the boat, an old man had rowed out to the boat and was yelling, "I have room for 2 people!" It was quite comical. There were no announcements when they started offloading everyone. They took people back to the pier, loaded us on a large ferry, and we returned to Piraeus. This operation obviously has some problems.

Cruise Ship Runs Aground - Gives Us Titanic Flashbacks