Liability, awards and settlements

11.1, Crown Princess, judgement

US: improper training and bad steering by a Princess Cruises ship’s second officer caused passenger (cruise) Crown Princess to tilt suddenly in 2006, injuring almost 300 people, the National Transportation Safety Board determined. The NTSB said the Crown Princess ’ captain and crew failed to realise how fast they were going in shallow water, which threw the vessel off course. The second officer disengaged autopilot to correct it, then steered the wrong way, the board determined. Princess Cruises apologised to passengers and said it has already made changes requiring further navigation training for crews and better oversight for deck officers. The vessel was headed from Port Canaveral to New York City to close a 10-day Caribbean trip on July 18, 2006, when it suddenly tilted up to 24 degrees, hurling passengers and objects about the vessel. The captain should have been on the bridge at the time, the NTSB said.