Cruise Ship Accident, As Told by a Passenger

On March 1, the cruise ship Ocean Princess hit what is believed to have been a submerged oil barge leaving port in Belem, Brazil, and began taking on water almost immediately. Los Angeles writer Eva Fremont was one of the passengers aboard. Here is her firsthand account of the incident:

“It was 3 p.m. and I was sitting on the Lido deck near the swimming pool as our ship sailed out of Guajara Bay on Brazil’s northeastern coast. Suddenly, passengers heard the captain’s voice over the loudspeaker: ‘This is not a drill. We have discovered a leak on the lowest desk. That level is under water. We are sending two divers down to check. Please remain calm.’

“It was then that we realized that a sharp thud we heard about 20 minutes before--and the fact that the ship had begun listing shortly thereafter--was ominous. After the thud, the vessel had turned sharply toward shore and seemed to settle into the sand.

“Soon after his first announcement, the captain informed us that we had 15 minutes to pack our luggage and report back to the Lido deck. My husband, Bill, and I raced to our room on a lower deck and threw our belongings pell-mell into suitcases.

“Back up on the Lido deck, it was 4 p.m.--scheduled tea time aboard ship. There, in a bizarre scene out of ‘Alice in Wonderland,’ the stewards were passing out trays of sandwiches to the life-jacketed passengers, perhaps to preserve some semblance of normalcy. By 5 p.m., a giant ferry came alongside our ship, and we began disembarking. We were a sartorial sight: Many were still barefoot and dressed in bathing suits from the afternoon, one woman wore a bathrobe, one elderly gentleman sported a coat and tie. With great care, the crew carried several of the older people down the ramp to the ferry. Next came the luggage, lowered hand-to-hand down a human chain.

“A few words of farewell in English and French from one of the ship’s officers and the ferry inched away. As it did, so did our dreams of a 17-day Amazon adventure.

“We were transported to the dock and waiting buses, which whisked us back to Belem and various hotels the passengers stayed in for two nights until being transferred, by chartered airplanes, back to Miami. On our way to the Belem airport, we passed the Ocean Princess for the last time. Even in the distance we could see that by now the rising waters had covered not only our deck, but the two decks above.”

Postscript: Fremont and her fellow passengers were given full refunds by Paquet Cruises, the French company that owns the ship. A company spokesman said that after repairs, the Ocean Princess is expected to resume service Dec. 17.

Travel Quiz: On what island is Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, located?

Trade Center Hotel Update: The World Trade Center’s 22-story New York Vista Hotel will remain closed for at least six months for repairs sustained during the Feb. 26 bombing, according to a spokesman for Hilton International, the company that manages the Port Authority-owned lodging. No hotel guests or employees were killed, but one employee was injured in the explosion, centered in a parking garage below the hotel. Rooms on the hotel’s above-ground floors were not damaged, but the explosion destroyed some facilities that house the hotel’s support system below, such as its laundry and storerooms. Previously booked guests, including business travelers who use the hotel because of its proximity to New York’s Financial District, are being referred to the Hilton’s Reservation Service (800-445-8667) for rebooking at other Manhattan hotels. The Trade Center’s observation decks and popular Windows on the World restaurant, on the 107th floor, will reopen when the towers do, probably in April.

Most of Kenya Game Park Reopens: Most sections of Kenya’s Amboseli National Park--closed in January because of flooding--have reopened to visitors. One of the park’s two airstrips remains damaged from the rain, so most tourists are entering via another airstrip near the Amboseli Serana Lodge, or by car from the Tanzanian border. Some game-viewing roads remain closed due to flooding from rains that continued throughout February; work on them is expected to continue into April. All of the tourist lodges, including the Kilimanjaro lodge, have reopened.

Quick Fact: Nearly half of all U.S. adults now say they have gambled in casinos at some point in their lives, up from 32% in 1989. The cause: the proliferation of riverboats, casinos run by American Indians and other sites. (Source: Survey by the Home Testing Institute, Yankelovich Clancy Shulman and Communication Development Co.)

Nonstop to the English Countryside: British Airways will begin nonstop transatlantic service March 28 linking Los Angeles with the city of Manchester, in northwest England. The 10-hour, 25-minute route will provide easy access, five days a week, to the northern English countryside, as well as to the city England is promoting as site for the 2000 Olympics. Round-trip, advance-purchase fares will begin at $639.

Russian Past Canada: The Russian airline Aeroflot is moving its refueling stop on overseas flights from the Gander airport in Newfoundland, Canada, to Bangor, Me., because of changes in Canadian transit visa requirements, according to an Aeroflot official. Passengers who want to disembark at Gander must now have a special hard-to-get transit visa, a requirement aimed at ending the tendency of Aeroflot passengers to seek asylum at the airport. More than 2,600 passengers stayed behind last year. Gander has been a major refueling stop since the early days of overseas aviation. Officials at Bangor International Airport do not anticipate Aeroflot passengers seeking asylum there, since flights scheduled for refueling in Bangor will be bound for U.S. destinations. Most Aeroflot passengers seeking asylum in Canada were on flights bound for Cuba and South America.

Comparatively Speaking: Hotel cost for one person in February, 1993, versus August, 1992, in Amsterdam: about $210 in February versus about $225 in August. In Barcelona: $228 versus $245. In Brussels: $208 versus $207.50. In Hong Kong: $262 versus $243. In London: $256 versus $283. (Source: Runzheimer International.)

Quiz Answer: Java.