I have never had the urge to go on an ocean cruise. I also wouldn't mind a river cruise where you can view the scenery along the shore, which you can see and swim to if needed.
That would be me. I do fine until I can no longer see land. My only exception to taking a cruise would be if I could do one that was geared towards astronomy. About the only Dark Sky place you could reasonably get to would be in the middle of an ocean.
That's would be fantastic, but with all the light from a ship that size you would have too much light pollution. You need a spot in the desert on a moonless night. I lived in the desert for quite a while and the stars there at night are awe inspiring
I can swim fine like most people, nothing exceptional but the mental requirement to swim for days or weeks is beyond comprehension for a land lover like myself. If it ain't broke leave it alone and as far as I can see there is nothing broke out there that I should worry about. Most of these floating love boats are full of germs and virus....... I pass
The latest update on the lost submarine is that they think that they are picking it up on sonar, and it sounds like the people inside the sub are thumping on the sides of the submersible. If this is actually them, then they are still alive and can possibly be rescued if they can locate them from the sound. The more I read about this, the worse it sounds, and it is amazing that the little sub has not imploded because of the depth it was going to. It is fitted with an observation port that is good to 1300 meters, but they were going down to 4,000 meters, so a LOT further than was considered safe to go with this submersible. Since it was supposed to be an 8 hour trip, and there are no bathroom facilities in the sub, people only carried a sandwich and bottle of water with them, making this extended trip really uncomfortable, at the very least. Whether they survive or not, I am thinking that huge lawsuits will come out of this expedition. They are bolted inside of the sub, so there is not even any way that they could get out, even if it were floating on the surface of the ocean.
The more I read elsewhere, the less confidence I have in the company who is running this show, and the less confidence I have in the submersible itself. I forget the timing, but it seems the issues began very early on in the dive.
It's a hell of an adventure until something goes wrong and it did. I wonder if there will be a Titanic Curse after this event.
They are probably already dead due to no oxygen. Yesterday they had only a couple hours left so they will slowly just go to sleep and that's probably better than implosion. Once they found that ship you know the money grubbers will swarm all over it until it is finally declared off limits to everyone. This is one of the least safe ways to spend your money, or that flight up and down into space. Implosion is a very quick way to die in such a small vehicle. Basically you won't know it happened due to the speed which it happens.
I thought I heard that no agency has the equipment to "rescue" the sub at those depths, even if they locate it. Those people are dead, even if they are clinging to life. I can only imagine the horror they are feeling if still breathing.
Our Los Angeles attack sub is rated to the public at 1600 feet. They would never publish the true depth but you could expect it to go deeper. At this time we have two in service with another 2 in production or not as yet certified to go into fleet service. You will never see one in certain parts of Asia due to the very shallow depths in that part of the world. Of course I'm speaking of war time not normal cruises, the cost would not justify sending it into an area that it could not defend itself. The Chinese Navy would have a hard time coming out of that area since it has but one exit point from the mainland into deeper waters. This is one reason Taiwan is so important to continue to help them stay free. It is hard to believe those people onboard that little submersible could be alive and in all probability they had a major failure of some kind that killed them immediately on their initial descent. It shows that money making was top priority and not safety so I doubt we see another one of these pay to see rides. I can see a mechanical device used to do that but it would be a much more costly adventure.
I have no desire to go on an cruise in one of the monster ships, as they are incubators for all kinds of diseases with 5,000 living on the ship. It is not like an aircraft carrier where things are set up to function, not for fun. As far as the submersible goes, I guess you pays your money and you takes your chances. It would be a miserable way to die waiting a couple days without food, water, or toilet facilities when you believe it is the end of your life. I suspect there were disclaimers signed before the dive that could exonerate the company that owns the vessel. I don't know though. I am surprised they didn't have an emergency plan to pump/blow the ballast tanks for an emergency ascent.
The more read about the company, the more disgusted I am. Experts in the industry warned of the shoddy design and construction standards. One of the company's engineers was so concerned that when he could not get anyone internal to listen he went to the government, so the company fired him and then they sued him. A father and son lost their $500,000 fee when their trip got canceled by the company because the company could not get the submersible to work. Another trip was cancelled when the submersible failed early on. The owner is proud of hiring young "visionaries" over experienced professionals. The submersible is operated via a gaming console and a controller you can literally buy off of Amazon. There lots of kibitzing about the integrity of the carbon fiber structure at those depths, especially after repeated dives stressing it (this is the 5th dive the submersible has made.) The sub has 7 bouyancy systems that should have automatically deployed and brought it to the surface in the event of a system failure. One concern is that the sub did not fail after it reached the bottom, so it would not just be laying there...it may have been carried by currents hundreds of miles away (although the banging belies that hypothesis, if the noise is the sub.) If the submersible DID make it to the wreck, the shoddy design has unprotected cables laying along its surface that could easily get caught on wreckage (or on anything else) either tearing at the cables or snagging it so it cannot move. edit to correct. The pics with the exposed cables were of earlier versions. They are covered in the current version. Even if they make it to the surface, they are stuck without air until help arrives. There is no "hatch" on the thing...the front is bolted on the outside. If rescue vehicles do reach them underwater, there are no hooks on the thing to tie ropes or chains to. The only way to get it out of the water is to try to fashion a sling around it...and no diver can operate at those depths.
A sonar expert claims the 'banging' heard by search and rescue vessels at the search site for the missing Titanic tourist sub is likely to be 'debris' and 'junk' from the iconic wreck.