Fires on Cruise Ships
I watched a Netflix documentary a few weeks ago about a Carnival cruise ship that caught on fire. The documentary is called Trainwreck: Poop Cruise. Typical of Netflix's oeuvre, the production quality of this 55-minute program was so bizarre and eerie that it left me with more questions than answers, including, how common are fires on cruise ships anyway?
Briefly about the documentary: the engine room fire burned through the ship's electrical cables. The flush mechanism on all toilets on board was tied to the electricity, hence the name Poop Cruise. For a #1, the four thousand passengers were asked to pee in their showers; for a #2, they were given red plastic bags to use. It took five days for tugboats to arrive from Mexico to pull the drifting ship. Tension from the towlines caused the vessel to list dramatically, overflowing sewage onto carpeted hallways, cafeterias, decks, and staircases. Passengers say the smell was so horrific, the ship descended into animal farm-style chaos, and passengers hoarded blankets, mattresses, chairs, and drinks from the open bar (which worsened the sewage problem) as they all moved onto the top decks for fresh air.
The fire on Carnival Triumph burned so hot that engineers had to wait several days until deck C stopped glowing red before they could get close enough to inspect it. It was caused by faulty flexible fuel lines that ran through the engine room and leaked fuel. These lines should have been retrofitted with an additional cover, but the ship was overdue for maintenance by over a year, despite nine fuel leaks from the lines occurring over the past two years.
I learned from several websites from law firms that represent cruise ship passengers that engine fires are not uncommon on cruise ships. Engine rooms have many hot surfaces that can cause explosive fire. A cruise ship is as long as a skyscraper is tall, and operates somewhat like a city. Anything that can happen in a city can happen on a cruise ship, especially fire. In 1999, Tropicale's engine room caught fire. It spent two days without propulsion before being towed back to shore. In 2010, the generator room on the Carnival Splendor caught fire. In 2015, Carnival Pride reported a "flameless fire", reporting smoke but no fire aboard. Also in 2015, the engine room of Carnival Liberty caught fire. In 2019, Carnival Legend's engine room caught fire. In 2019, Carnival Sensation denied that a fire had even occurred, claiming it was a "smokeless event", though passengers reported smoke "so thick you could not see". In 2022, Carnival Freedom suffered a fire within its tunnel, and videos of the incident spread widely on TikTok.
These are just a few incidents from a single subsidiary of Carnival Corporation. Carnival Cruise Line's parent company, Carnival Corporation, also operates Princess Cruises, Costa Cruises–which you may recall from the famous capsizing in Italy, which resulted in the deaths of 32 people–, Cunard, Holland America, and other smaller fleets, in total operating 39% of the world's cruise ships. Owner Ted Arison founded the company in 1972 after his partnership with his co-founder at Norwegian Cruise Lines deteriorated. In 1990, Arison renounced his U.S. citizenship to avoid estate taxes. He died nine months before he was able to meet the requirements for the benefits of his renunciation to be realized. This was not too disastrous in the long run, however, as his family is now the wealthiest in Israel.
While Carnival is an American and British company, cruise lines are incorporated in foreign countries, such as Panama, the Bahamas, Bermuda, and Liberia, and operate under Flags of Convenience. The flag ships fly under determine the labor laws applicable to the vessel, as well as regulations governing ship construction, fire protection systems, life-saving devices, and more.
Unlike airlines, which the FAA closely regulates, there is no federal agency governing cruise ships. Ships that dock in American ports are required to undergo a U.S. Coast Guard inspection every 12 months; however, these inspections are typically conducted under strict time constraints. The International Maritime Organization, which sets international regulations for cruise ships, is a United Nations organization. As such, it cannot impose fines or criminal sanctions and has no authority to enforce any guidelines it sets. This obligation of enforcement is the responsibility of the flag states, like Panama, where Carnival Cruises operates.
For Carnival, Panamanian incorporation not only helps avoid regulatory scrutiny but also alleviates the burden of labor costs on board. A cruise ship loaded with 4,000 people can have as many as 1,500-2,000 working crew members, from cooks to cleaners to captains. It would not be possible to operate an affordable cruise ship while paying workers minimum wage salaries congruent with American or British labor laws, so the cruise industry needs to rely on foreign workers, mostly young men from the Philippines. Luckily, cruise ships offer a means for foreign workers to work abroad indefinitely and visa-free, earning as little as £0.75 per hour when accounting for overtime work, which can be as much as 80 hours per week. This marginality can attract the wrong elements; this year alone, there have been seventeen arrests for crew possessing, creating, or distributing child sexual abuse material.
This kind of carelessness strikes me as a disaster waiting to happen. Though they've since changed it, Carnival's ticketing at the time of Triumphs Poop Cruise stated it ‘makes absolutely no guarantee for safe passage, a seaworthy vessel, adequate and wholesome food, and sanitary and safe living conditions’, which is disturbing on a vessel where, when things go wrong, they can go wrong very quickly. I'm reminded of the MS Estonia, which sank within 10-20 minutes of its first mayday call, killing 852 people. The gravity of the disaster was primarily attributed to Estonia's crew, whose passive attitude delayed the alarm. Those who survived were the ones who recognized the gravity of the situation before the official Mayday alert was issued.
It takes a lot of soul searching to try to understand what kind of sick, depraved soul would ever get on a cruise ship, and I'm not even talking about the fires anymore. More concerningly, maybe than anything, this year, the Trump administration laid off the workers from the CDC who inspect cruise ships. I recommend even less than before getting in one of those communal hot tubs or leaning in too close to a buffet. This is where the true danger lies. But maybe I'm just not built for it. Online on Reddit, responding to one passenger who had experienced a fire on their boat, an anonymous user comments: "You overreacted and let it ruin your vacation... A small fire is by no means a huge, life-threatening emergency. I’m sorry your anxiety and fear got in the way; that’s a real shame."