Regular cruise-ship passengers, like frequent flyers, often dread the safety demonstration. Maybe they hope that something interesting will happen to spice up a dull first-day routine.
If the 2,515 passengers onboard the Majesty of the Seas on Monday thought this way, then they got more than they bargained for.
The cruise was delayed when the US Coastguard in Florida decided that the ship’s safety gear didn’t pass muster. They singled out some life jackets that were “showing their age”, according to this report in The Telegraph.
Replacements arrived on Tuesday and the ship set sail.
Now there are worse things in the world than to be stuck on a cruise ship at port — although, presumably the gamblers were getting nervous because the casino couldn’t open until they were in international waters — and I guess we should applaud the authorities for doing the right thing.
And now we can add fatigued life jackets to the list of things that can wrong on a cruise. That list already includes norovirus, ships breaking free from their mooring, and people being stranded at the dock.
