Costa to the rescue!

Costa have had a bad time recently but I read something today that restored my faith in their crew.

On Monday morning, a burning fishing boat was spotted in the Southern Chinese Sea. While sailing from Hong Kong to Sanya Hainan Island, the First Officer on watch spotted the troubled boat and immediately gave the alert to the Master and Staff Captain who decided to alter the ship’s route in order to provide proper assistance and Costa Victoria rescued the crew members.

In total, 12 crew were rescued and medically assisted on board by the Costa Victoria crew.

Costa Victoria then actively researched the other missing crew members with help from a helicopter of Sanya Hainan Island Coast Guard which reached the area.

Due to the severe conditions unfortunately two others did not survive. After being granted clearance by relevant authorities, Costa Victoria was able to resume her route  towards Sanya Hainan Island, where she is scheduled to arrive as per her cruise itinerary.

It’s not uncommon for cruise ships to have to change their routes due to a number of reasons although they’re usually not this dramatic.  During my cruise on Ryndam back in August, we had to change our route due to a new oil rig being stationed in the North Sea which meant we arrived into one of our ports later than planned but these things can’t be helped.

Have you ever had a diversion on your cruise and what were the reasons?