Refloating the Costa Concordia

Every time I go on a cruise, someone will always mention the Concordia disaster to me, mainly to ask if I'm scared that something similar will happen to me.  I've sailed more than 250 days in a relative short period of time (given that I've only been cruising for 5 years) and I've never felt in the slightest bit unsafe at any point.  From the mandatory pre-cruise muster drill (something I've always seen from the very first cruise I took) to the staff and crew training drills that I've seen when I've stayed on board, safety has always always seemed a priority on the ships I have been on.

It's perhaps because of that, that when the Costa Concordia went down it seemed so shocking.  The loss of life in an environment that I've only every seen as a place of relaxation and fun still doesn't seem real.

Since then, there's been a massive effort to refloat the ship.  From the engineering to lift the ship upright or parbuckling to the subsequent attaching of the sponsons, the culmination of all this work starts tomorrow as the refloating starts before the ship is towed to Genoa where it will be dismantled.

Let's hope this operation goes well and we can draw a close to this part of cruise history.

And then perhaps I'll just be asked if I'm bored on sea days...