Cruise ships to be used for 6 months

[cancunkid]

Updated: 2:00 p.m. ET Sept. 3, 2005

Federal officials are chartering three of Carnival Cruise Lines' ships for six months, part of a plan to provide shelter for as many as 7,000 people displaced by devastating Hurricane Katrina.

The three ships — the Ecstasy, Sensation and Holiday — will be pulled from regular use starting Monday.

Ecstasy, normally ported at Galveston for four-and five-day cruises, and Sensation, normally in New Orleans for similar trips, will both be pulled Monday and are scheduled to dock and house Katrina refugees in Galveston, Texas.
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The Holiday, which normally sails four- and five-day Mexico cruises out of Mobile, Ala., will be pulled Thursday and likely docked in Mobile, Ala.

Approximately 920 crew members will staff the 70,367-gross-ton Ecstasy and Sensation, with about 660 running the 46,052-ton Holiday. The Ecstasy and Sensation can each take 2,606 total passengers, while the Holiday can hold 1,800.

"We sincerely apologize to those guests whose vacations have been impacted by these voyage cancellations," Carnival's chief executive officer, Bob Dickinson, said in a news release. "This inconvenience ... will provide desperately needed housing for thousands of individuals affected by this tragedy."

Shortly after Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast, federal officials asked Carnival, the world's largest cruise line, whether their ships could be used as emergency shelters.

Carnival spokesman Vance Gulliksen said Saturday from Miami, where the corporation is based, that it does not disclose the price of charter contracts, and it would be difficult to tell precisely many trips will be canceled.

"I can't put a number on it, but we are displacing people to accommodate the FEMA charter," he said. "You're looking at tens of thousands."

A spokeswoman for the Federal Emergency Management Agency did not immediately return a telephone message Saturday seeking comment.

All guests with canceled bookings will get full refunds and the opportunity to rebook on any Carnival ship with a $100-per-person shipboard credit.

Because of the deployments, the Elation, which operates seven-day cruises from Galveston, will offer a one-time six-day voyage departing Sunday, then take over the Ecstasy's four- and five-day Galveston program starting next Saturday. Guests will receive a 15 percent refund and a $50-per-person shipboard credit. The ship's five-day cruise, scheduled to leave Monday, has been canceled.

[therealashe]

I wonder how they will decide who gets to stay on the cruise ships? I'm thinking we'll hear more racism discussion when it comes time to actually start placing families on the ships.

[cancunkid]

I would honestly guess they will more likely be used for officials and out of state crews instead of evacuees.

[vbhoutex]

I would honestly guess they will more likely be used for officials and out of state crews instead of evacuees.

Won't do them any good if they are located in Galveston. Galveston is 350 miles from NO.

[ericinmia]

I know the owner of carnival cruise lines, and personally i feel bad to a degree... for i know these ships are going to be abused horribly.
One of the most important things for any ship especially lavish cruise ships is to maintain them 24/7/365. It is going to take a lot of work, considering how these 'refuges' have been treating everywhere they go. Look at the newly used Astrodome... covered in trash and is already a mess.

I'm glad there is somewhere for the people to go, but i don't think these people have the morals, or care to respect these hundred million dollar ships that will have to return to use eventually.
-Eric

[NC George]

I'm glad there is somewhere for the people to go, but i don't think these people have the morals, or care to respect these hundred million dollar ships that will have to return to use eventually.
-Eric

Sad, but true. Some Habitat for Humanity homes in our area look like they are 20 years old after 2-4 years of occupancy. Broken windows, doors, siding falling off, holes in walls, etc. These are homes the people own and built with their own bare hands, how well are they going to care for something they have no stake in?

[ericinmia]

I'm glad there is somewhere for the people to go, but i don't think these people have the morals, or care to respect these hundred million dollar ships that will have to return to use eventually.
-Eric

Sad, but true. Some Habitat for Humanity homes in our area look like they are 20 years old after 2-4 years of occupancy. Broken windows, doors, siding falling off, holes in walls, etc. These are homes the people own and built with their own bare hands, how well are they going to care for something they have no stake in?

Agreed... i build habitat homes in 'overtown' in miami. It is sad how quickly the house goes down hill. The other day i drove by "in my nice car, so not a drive by scenario" one of the houses i had helped build. The guy comes out as a pause to give it the look over, and yells to me... "N*****a what you staring at, get the **** on out of here before i kick your ass." I was APPAULED, especially since this guy only saw me and my car on the job for weekend after weekend for what seemed like forever.

Its not a racism thing, its a class, enviroment, and upbringing problem.
-Eric

[MBismyPlayground]

I think it would be nice to house the survivors from MS on them, to try and make up for the lack of attention by the media as well as aid there. And still they are acting decent and human.

[BroncoChuck]

good news for fisherman!

6 months from now they will be have be sunk as artificial reefs since there is no way they will be repairable after 6 months of abuse and looting on the ship lol

woohooo i love america!

What ever happened to TENT CITYS!????? There has to be some place out side the damage area that is flat and either clear or can be cleared, fenced off and have basic needs put in. IT IS NOT OUR RESPONSIBALITY TO HOUSE 1 million displaced and unemployeed people. ...

Trust me I feel for them (see also been there done that in Ivan) but damn the MAJORITY of people here are going to ruin these ships.....

[cancunkid]

I think it would be nice to house the survivors from MS on them, to try and make up for the lack of attention by the media as well as aid there. And still they are acting decent and human.

Just said on NBC the ships would be used for up to 7000 evacuees. I could wish for my family they were headed to MS but they truly have been dropped from the media radar. Debris doesn't make a very exciting story.

[jburns]

good news for fisherman!

6 months from now they will be have be sunk as artificial reefs since there is no way they will be repairable after 6 months of abuse and looting on the ship lol

.

After they pump all those millions of gallons of toxic soup into the gulf there won't be any fishermen.

[schmita]

This is another really bad idea. I said so BEFORE the Superdome disaster because I remember Homeless Shelters in NYC back in the 80's and early 90's. Crime, depravity etc. And it happened.

Same thing will happen with the cruise ships. Not a racist thing, 67% of NO is black. It's a class thing. Most people will have resources or families to stay with. The ones that don't will be on the cruise ships.
Most of those cabins are 300 sf. So?
Tempers flaring, feelings of being "stranded" even if not true.
This is another disaster.
I feel that if the Honorable Governor Blanco called for the PCA the Army would have already done so much more for the people of Louisiana than all of these bs stop gap things.
I totally blame her for this disaster. But I guess you guys already know that.

[huricanwatcher]

i would like to know who is going to foot this bill?......... and then to just throw those ships away after total degredation of them...

so much for tax relief every again..... i see major recession falling upon the rest of the country.....

[cswitwer]

Can we say PTSD????

Maybe you nearly drowned when your house was filled to the roof to water. You trudged for a mile up to your neck in water. You ended up waiting around forever as the water keep rising and chasing you. You were surrounded by water, but not a drop of it to drink for days on end. Trapped and confined by water all around you, no way to get out.

And now they want to put them on a cruise ship???? Surrounded by water, trapped on board in cramped cabins???

I would go insane!

[inotherwords]

A really bad idea. Primarily because there's no place to go. You'll see people pitching themselves over the side.

The best thing to do would be to take ten families each and assimilate them into a moderate to large sized community and let the people in the area lovingly take care of them. They can do that with ten families. With a thousand, not so much. With ten thousand, no way.

This "mass" housing will not work, even as a temporary solution. These folks need to be re-integrated into the community in a dignified way, and that's by moving a few of them at a time and letting the communities gather together to help.

[Cookiely]

The first thing that came to my mind was the FEMA trailers and how some were totally destroyed in a short time. But I did read where the ships would be fully staffed to clean and run the ship so maybe it won't be so bad. Also, they would have to triage the people most likely to psychologically handle six months on a ship which I think would be older people. Senior citizens are used to being at home and not have as much outside stimulation.

[frankthetank]

Horrible idea. THese people are going to rip these ships apart. These people can't stay in the Astrodome forever. If i was carnival i would strip these ships down to about nothing, before handing them over. The rooms are tiny on these ships. WHo gets balcony? Who gets porthole? inside cabin? There are going to be some pissed off people. I'm guessing you'll need plenty of armed officers aboard also.

[Mattie]

I promised I wouldn't post another negative comment - and tihs is NOT intended to be negative - but it is FACT! Some of the refugees that we are taking in in the North Texas area are now being sent back to the bigger shelters (Astrodome - Houston - Reunion Arena - Dallas) because they have a criminal history (One of them, just tonight is a sex offender - has three priors - and has been deemed not to be able to stay in a shelter in our county). Hope against hope that they will be very selective in allowing these people on a cruise ship. These people have been through enough and we have got to figure out a way to protect those who have suffered and weed out those that are less disirable. (IMHO again)

Did you know from what I can find out that there is very little that we can do except to return these people to the street? They have 30 days to register when they move - but where have they moved to! Would you want to be on a cruise ship in close quarters still uncertain of what each day will bring? I personally think it's a bad idea.

I think that after these people have been settled, determined that they have absolutely no resources and cannot fend for themselves - no family - etc. - have no criminal background that needs to be addressed (have you given thought to those on parole that can really get lost in the system now?) that ALL 50 states agree to spread these survivors out? Out localized economy cannot sustain such influx for a very long period of time and I believe that we will begin to see failures and requests for government aid that may or may not be available in places that have borne the brunt of this assistance.

This gives everyone an equal playing field to a degree (no - it's not their home - no, they don't have the same comforts they had), but it allows our country to remain strong and not have several other poor areas (see economics for Louisiana area as a whole - very poor generally speaking - median income is less than the nation - Mississippi lower) seek federal aid and assistance. Let's join together as a nation and support these people. It might not be their first choice, OR their second, but we can better accomodate them if they do not permanently locate in local cluster areas that will struggle because of their acceptance of their duty to house/feed/clothe/provide assistance to in some cases (Baton Rouge) double their current population. This gives them a firm footing and if by choice, with jobs and as a productive citizen, they choose to relocate closer to the homeland of Louisiana, then that would only boost the economy in that region. They would be able to purchase/rent houses, feed themselves, etc. without competing with our own struggles that we had prior to New Orleans being devastated.

Even our large cities are having trouble maintaining our own people that are in need. We can certainly accomodate a FEW more, but not 20,000+.

Just thoughts to ponder - no flaming, no critisism, just plain old economic thoughts.

[Eye10TX]

I saw one of the televangelists on Trinity Broadcast saying that Carnival Cruise Lines had told him he could come get 3000 mattresses for evacuees and then Franklin Graham's Samaritan's Purse organization had trucks to go get them--they were going to take them from TX into LA. Maybe that's a better idea than a whole ship.

[GalvestonDuck]

And now they want to put them on a cruise ship???? Surrounded by water, trapped on board in cramped cabins???

I would go insane!

Surrounded by water? Trapped on board? They're going to be docked here in Galveston. I'll give ya that we're an island...surrounded by water. But they're going to be able to deboard and go all around the island, breathe, walk, visit, and so on and the kids can go to school. They're not going to be cruising around the GOM, locked in cabins. It will be like a large hotel.