A few weeks ago, an engine fire on a cruise ship left over four thousand passengers and crew essentially stranded, dead in the water, onboard ship in the Gulf of Mexico. Once the initial fire was put out, no one was in any immediate danger, but there was no particularly safe way to get the people off of the vessel in the middle of the water, so the ship had to be slowly towed to port with everyone still aboard. The details are controversial, but the ship was left with only emergency generators providing minimal electricity. Food and other supplies were delivered from other sources, but there was no air conditioning, and basic sanitation was said to be a problem. It took almost a week for the ship to reach land.
The entire incident was covered by the news media. I watched live on television as the ship finally docked. Several of the passengers were interviewed by cell phone as they prepared to disembark. Most of the interviews that I heard were quite similar. The interviewer would ask the passengers about their horrible ordeal, and the passengers would reply that it really wasn't that bad. They stressed the fact that the crew did everything it could to alleviate their discomfort. When interviewers asked about the lack of food, the passengers responded that food was regularly delivered, and plentiful and quite good, though they mentioned having to wait in long lines for their food. The interviewers became frustrated, trying to get the passengers to complain and discuss their "hellish experience". Now and then, a passenger would agree that the experience was indeed horrendous, but most would dispute that idea and attempt to correct the interviewer.
This response was not universal. Some of the passengers complained bitterly about their experience. As I type, lawsuits are pending.
I got to thinking about my own experiences with being a stranded traveler. I am NOT saying I have ever experienced anything like being stranded on a cruise ship for a week. I was not there, and I do not know the details, and I do not know how bad it was. I am in no position to offer an opinion on their particular ordeal.
(I have elsewhere discussed my general position on those seeking monetary awards for "damages". Since any money awarded will come from insurance premiums and ultimately from the shared resources of the entire population, I continue to question why being stranded on a cruise ship entitles anyone to a large cash award.)
On more than one occasion, I have been stranded in airports. Once, while awaiting departure from Paris, a mechanical problem was found on board our plane (well, technically, a jet). The passengers had already cleared customs, and were kept in a large waiting room while they tried first to remedy the problem, then bring in a fresh aircraft. All in all, we were in that waiting room for six to eight hours -- not much of an ordeal, especially since we had access to bathrooms and water; I do not recall having any access to food, other than that already possessed by the passengers.
The thing that stands out in my memory about that experience, and others like it, was that the stranded travelers ended up falling into two groups. One group made the best of a bad situation, producing and sharing whatever they had to make the experience more pleasant -- food, drinks, playing cards, other games, even musical instruments. The other group sat glumly when they were not complaining or demanding that the situation be immediately rectified. Perhaps most interestingly, that group became quite irritated with those of us who were NOT complaining, and who were happily making the best of a bad situation.
I have happy memories of that day stranded in the Paris airport, and of another day stranded at the airport in Asuncion, Paraguay, and of a night spent stranded on a train in the middle of nowhere -- a train which did, by the way, run out of food and drink. All of those experiences were adventures for me, and all of those experiences also included glum, angry travelers complaining bitterly.
I must acknowledge that my personal experiences with being a stranded traveler never involved a feeling that I was being mistreated by those responsible for my well-being. When our plane was grounded due to a mechanical problem, I was GLAD that they had discovered the problem before takeoff. When our train had to remain motionless for hours while a team arrived to investigate a collision, I understood the need to wait for the investigators. Things happen.
I COULD expand this discussion into other areas of life, beyond being a stranded traveler, but I would rather not. The nice thing, in terms of discussion, about being a stranded traveler is that you really only have two choices: You can do your best to be happy, or you can be unhappy. There's not much else you can do. You generally cannot personally fix the airplane or the train or the cruise ship (although, in the case of the airport in Paraguay, I was eventually able to secure cold water for all the waiting passengers ... not by complaining, but by being helpful and friendly and using my minimal Spanish).
The rest of life gets more complicated.
Regarding the large amounts of cash being sought by some of the cruise ship passengers:
The passengers may have had horrible experiences; possibly worse than I can imagine. At the very least, they were deprived of their expected pleasure cruise, and kept at sea for longer than they expected to be there -- and their extended period at sea may have caused countless problems, including missed work, lost wages, and other unanticipated expenses. IF it can be shown that human error was involved in their misfortune, then the humans involved should be fined, fired, or otherwise penalized. Still, I fail to see where the large sums of cash are supposed to come from, or why the passengers are entitled to large sums of cash based on having had a horrible experience. Perhaps if human error was involved, they should at least be compensated for any monetary expense that they incurred. IF there was no clear human error -- if it was just a horrible accident -- then I believe we all should offer them our sympathy, but nothing more.
Life involves risk. When you sail on a cruise ship, YOU dramatically increase the odds of being stranded at sea. The crew and company executives have nothing to gain by you becoming stranded, and will strive to prevent it, but it may happen anyway. OR you may fall off the ship, or the ship may wreck, or you may have a medical emergency and be far from a hospital. All of these risks can be minimized by not boarding the ship in the first place. It's up to YOU.