The devastating fire in Carnival Splendor’s engine room that completely disabled the two year old cruise ship – and left the vessel drifting at sea with 3,299 passengers and 1,167 crew aboard – made worldwide headlines last week. We read about the emergency rations that the U.S. Navy dropped off, the challenges with non-working toilets, power outages and cold food, and watched on video as Splendor was towed to San Diego.
What we haven’t heard as much about is the story behind the fire itself – at least until now. In a Cruise Critic exclusive, we talk to Essex-based John Heald, Carnival’s storied cruise director, for a behind-the-scenes question and answer session (don’t miss Heald’s blogs about the experience as well).
Cruise Critic: What were the most important lessons you learned from the Carnival Splendor fire? Personally? Professionally?
Carnival's legendary cruise director, John Heald, was onboard Carnival Splendor when the fire broke out
John Heald: The most important thing that I’ve learned throughout this situation is that all of the drills and safety briefings we conduct each and every week — that admittedly some of us moan about — proved to be priceless. For everyone who sometimes ridicules the many safety briefings and lifeboats drills required of all crew, the Carnival Splendor situation reinforced just how important they are.
The Carnival Splendor situation gave me new insight as a cruise director and the role that I play during an emergency. Additionally now that I am a father, I also put myself in the position of all the moms and dads on board and tried to do all we could for the children, opening up our kids’ facilities, providing food stations, etc. And, finally, it gave me a newfound appreciation for our wonderful team, both aboard ship and at our shoreside offices. On board the Carnival Splendor, 1,167 crew members from 50 different nationalities came together and acted together as one, going above and beyond their job descriptions to help each another.
Cruise Critic: How has your career thus far prepared you for something so outrageously unusual as the Carnival Splendor fire and aftermath? Were there specific experiences that prepared you for this? If so, what were they and how did they help you?
John Heald: In 24 years at sea, I’ve been through a lot — but never so much at once! My experience certainly helped me get through the four trying days on board. The training both as a crew member and sailor I’ve received over the past 24 years helped me not only to better understand my role but also everyone else’s jobs, as well. Understanding what other employees are responsible for on board definitely helps me in my position as a cruise director.
Cruise Critic: Looking back, what would you do differently?
John Heald: Not sure I personally would do that much different. As I mentioned in my blog, I think I would have handled the location of the dining venues early in the cruise as we ended up with long lines but otherwise I can’t think of anything except for maybe packing more underpants.
Cruise Critic: What were you most proud of?
John Heald: Everyone on board not only performed their jobs admirably but did things outside of their job normal descriptions – dancers helping with suitcases, photographers bringing people up and down the stairs, even our President and CEO Gerry Cahill helping guests with luggage in San Diego. It was a massive, massive team effort and one that I am extremely proud of.
Cruise Critic: Will Carnival, not to mention other cruise lines, create new guidelines for preparing for this kind of emergency as a result of Splendor in terms of lighting, food reserves, etc.).
John Heald: I’m sure there are lessons to be learned from all aspects of this emergency but overall in the face of what happened everyone did a fantastic job. There were no injuries and everyone made it home safe – a true testament of our handling of the situation.
Cruise Critic: How many days of emergency provisions does Carnival typically keep onboard?
John Heald: We typically keep 7 plus two days of food onboard routinely and an extra day during the hurricane season in the Atlantic The problem wasn’t that we didn’t have enough food, it’s that there was no power to run our refrigerators or cooking facilities. Under normal circumstances we had more than enough food but without power, we had to request some additional provisions.
Cruise Critic: Why didn’t Carnival/captain evacuate the ship? We understand that other cruise vessels were within a day’s steam away.
John Heald: Although the conditions on board were certainly challenging, the guests were never in any danger and the ship’s emergency systems operated properly. The fire was confined to the aft engine room and did not spread to other areas of the ship. The U.S. Coast Guard will tell you that the very best life boat is the ship itself. You don’t abandon the ship unless it is in immediate danger and it wasn’t.
Cruise Critic: If passengers want to pack their own (limited!) emergency supplies, what would you suggest (flashlights? Etc.)
John Heald: I honestly can’t think of anything that guests would need to bring as everything that they would need is on board. Maybe for their own comfort — should this unlikely event occur in the future — they could bring a flashlight but again everything they need for their safety is on board. No Spam is served, though, so they can bring their own if they’d like!
Cruise Critic: Why such a fascination with skivvies?
John Heald: You mean underpants? Good question! It is a British thing passed on in the Heald family from generation to generation.
15 Comments
November 18, 2010 at 2:21 pm
I had the pleasure of meeting John onboard Carnival Splendor’s Inaugaural cruise and I have to say he is one of the best Cruise Directors I have ever met. If there was ever a person to take the lead in an emergency then he is it. Carnival are very fortunate to have him and he should give himself and the crew a huge pat on the back for the professional and calm way they dealt with the emergency.
Well done all.
Julie xxx
November 18, 2010 at 4:47 pm
John,
You did a fantastic job (IMHO) during the whole incident. Our family has been following your blogs, and have been totally immersed in your re-account. We will be first time cruisers on the Splendor next June, and hope we will get the honor and privilege to meet you!
November 18, 2010 at 6:54 pm
I have sailed twice with John Heald . He was the cruise director on our very first cruise. And again on the Liberty transatalintic. He is with out a doubt the best diector around. When I heard he was the director on the Splendar I knew the people were in good hands. A big shout out to the crew. Even on no trouble cruises the crew do a wonderful job thats why I and others keep coming back. The best vacations around!!!
November 18, 2010 at 8:47 pm
We have also sailed with John twice – once on the Triumph and once on the Glory. He is simply the best of the cruise directors. All of the passengers on the Splendor were very fortunate to have John on board during this incident.
November 19, 2010 at 12:42 am
My husband and I went on our first cruise on Carnival Glory this past September and it was wonderful! Our second cruise will be May 2011 on the Carnival Spendor. We hope to met John on this cruise and thank him for taking care of the guests so well.
November 19, 2010 at 2:48 am
Just wanted to say it was refreshing to see the head of Carnival, Gerry Cahill front and center during the crisis. He was very visible at news briefings and was forthcoming about what was happening. Mr. Cahill is to be commended for standing in front of the cameras every day and setting an example for other CEOs to follow.
November 19, 2010 at 3:20 am
We missed the whole fiasco by a mere 8 days. We got off the Splendor on October 31st. John was an awesome cruise director, as well as the entire staff of the cruise ship. I love cruising with Carnival, and can only imagine what everyone on that ship had to endure. There is no doubt in my mind that staff members handled the situation with finesse and professionalism. I feel bad for the guests because they didn’t experience the great time that we were able to have. I hope they give Carnival another chance because the company is truly top-notch in my book.
November 19, 2010 at 5:33 am
We have sailed twice with Sr. Cruise Dir. John Heald & agree 100% that he is the best cruise director you can ever find. We have also sailed on the Splendor from Pt. Everglades, FL for 17 days on the 1st leg of its South America voyage Jan. 2009 & have friends that sailed the complete 50+days of that entire journey & had no complaints regarding this ship. We are familiar with the ship and it is without a doubt and excellent one. The fire was a very rare/unfortunate incident and since there were no injured passengers or crew members, it can be said that the Carnival Officers & Crew should be commended for a superb job under the circumstances…. and John Heald should be on top of the list.
The Santanas of Miami Beach
November 19, 2010 at 1:37 pm
We sailed to the Baltic on Splendor July 2008. It was fantastic! Beautiful ship great time. We met John personally that time and also on Carnival Freedom the year before in the Med. He is the best ever cruise diredtor indeed! And I’m sure no one could have handled the situation better. Also, through experience, Carnival crews are wonderful. I’m sorry the accident ruined the cruise of course, for all the persons involved, but I’m sure Carnival will make up for it as their track record proves.
Natalie de Gray, Malta
November 19, 2010 at 1:57 pm
My husband and I were on a Celebrity cruise when this happened. I have to say that the media did not help the situation and portrayed the entire plight as totally awful. But when passengers starting getting off the ship one of the children on board said he had a great time. Then you ask a passenger and he said they never told them they had a fire. Then the passenger behind him said that Carnival did an outstanding job and the crew members were exceptional in their endeavors to make the best of the bad situation. What people need to realize is that this can happen on any ship at any time. I am sure that the investigation will reveal what really caused the fire in the engine room in the first place but the lesson to be learned here is that no one died or was injured. There could have been crew members burned or some could have died. So lesson learned for future cruise lines and learn from what happened to the Splendor and put those lessons learned into use in case it should happen again. It probably will happen sometime somewhere to some ship somewhere in the world so lets not just blame Carnival cruise line because it happened to them. If I remember correctly their was a fire on board a Celebrity ship last year after they had left an Egyptian port and they were only a few miles off the coast so were able to return to shore. They had to disembarke and were treated quite well by Celebrity.
You have to make the best of the situation and I think by Carnival giving everyone a full reimbursement and paying for all their flights and any onboard charges and giving them a full refund will enhance everyone to continue to sail with Carnival. Now for the couple that they dropped their luggage in the water and they never got their luggage and then this happened I felt really sorry for them because they did not even have their medication or any clothes to change into. Happy sailing.
November 29, 2010 at 5:21 pm
We were on this ship which departed on August 15. It was by far the worst cruise that we were ever on (over 10 cruises) and we are now in the process of legal action against the cruise line for what happened to us. John Heald was the worst cruise director we ever encountered as there was no entertainment except himself. We certainly viewed this as a way in which Carnival was cutting costs to maintain their fairly low fares. John is a pompous ass and his English accent became extremely annoying after the third day of the cruise. The entire entertainment schedule was John Heald and his variety hour. I am not surprised that this happened to this ship as the entire staff were not responsive to our needs and concerns. I shed no piety for what happened to this cruise and John Heald was by far the worst cruise director that I ever experienced.
December 12, 2010 at 3:33 pm
Ken,
The site is called Cruise Critic, not Cruise Crybaby. From the sound of things, this cruise director excelled with flying colors under even the most strenuous situations. If you didn’t have a good time on your cruise, it was nobody’s fault but your grouchy own. If you are upset with the cruise retracting some entertainment, don’t be such a cheap ass next time and splurge on something with a couple more piano bars. After all, it was you who was attracted by the cheap fares that Carnival offers. This cruise director also appears to be humorous and a multitalented entertainer, whereas the only “pompous ass” on board was probably yourself. And how are you not surprised a fire happened on board? Surely you having a bad time is directly related to the safety of the ship. (Pick up the sarcasm?) If you were as outright critical to the staff as you were of the cruise director, it’s no wonder they were inattentive to your needs. These people are servers, not servants. If you showed some dignity you might have gotten your Mai Tai as quickly as you desired. And legal action? That’s laughable. PLEASE come to my restaurant sometime and sue me because you had a bad time. It’ll be a pleasure to recollect my legal fees and missed work pay after your disappointing loss. Happy Cruising!
February 20, 2011 at 10:53 pm
Ditto Ditti Ditto
Janowski Sucks. Carnival got everyone home safely and was more than fair on compensation. They had no control over the situation and made sure everyone was safe. I am on the Splendor in 34 days and I hope I am not with anyone like you and I will have a great cruise !
February 24, 2011 at 8:41 pm
I always find it amazing how people dont realize that they are the only ones responsible for their happiness or sadness by the way in which they respond to life’s occurrences. Even on a typical cruise there are always those that walk around with a chip on their shoulder and bypass a truly great time they could be having. A good example being on my last cruise on Carnival Dream. As I stood in line to get my omelet, the lady in front of me kept complaining to those who would listen to her that she was totally upset and going to write Carnival because the breakfast station was not open at 6AM for her. As I looked at my watch and it was 8:50AM, I scratched my head. Guess I missed something.
So yes, there will always be the Ken Jankoskis.
February 27, 2011 at 12:33 am
I have wondered what the exact cause of the failure was. To me it sounds like the crankshaft on the diesel engine broke with the result that parts of it went through the crankcase starting an oil fire. The vibrations felt by the passengers give me the idea that this is what happened. Most of these engines nowadays have oil mist detectors, oil mist results when there is a bearing failure the engine is then automatically shut down.