It’s been a tough week for cruise, on both sides of the Atlantic, with passengers enduring nightmarish conditions onboard Carnival Triumph and the terrible accident onboard Thomson Majesty.
But we have heart-warming news, which we wanted to share with you.
Passengers onboard Thomson Majesty, deeply moved by the deaths of five crew on Sunday, raised £8,000 for the families of the deceased.
Majesty crew raised a further £4,000 and both Thomson and Louis Cruises, who own and manage the ship, will match that figure.
Which brings the total to £36,000, which will be distributed to the families over and above all the other support that will be given, according to Thomson managing director Fraser Ellacott.
Ellacott, who has been co-ordinating the crisis all week, told us about another lovely gesture which took place earlier this week:
“The Captain and crew and Louis (Cruises) and ourselves wanted to hold a memorial service onboard earlier this week and say a few words.
“And we were looking for a local chaplain to conduct proceedings, but then one of the passengers who was a man of the cloth volunteered, which was a lovely gesture.”
– Adam Coulter
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5 Comments
February 15, 2013 at 11:50 pm
My greatest respect to all those passengers & staff onboard last week and to Thomson & Louis in the aftermath of such a tragic accident. We cruise with Thomson so I have been following this closely with sadness. All the crew on the Thomson ships we have been on are a credit to themselves and their company, what lovely, lovely people they all are.
February 16, 2013 at 2:05 pm
That money will go some way to help these families as they rely on these boys sending there wages home. That was a very nice gesture of the minister to lead the service on the ship.
February 21, 2013 at 9:47 am
Wow, what a lovely, heartfelt gesture. My upmost respect goes out to all of those who participated or donated in raising this money. Obviously, this was a tragic accident and my heart goes out to all of the loved ones of the deceased.
Cruises like this are usually extremely safe holidays, and this truly was tragic and such a shame.
I hope the families do get all the non-financial support they will inevitably need too.
February 21, 2013 at 11:08 am
Well done to all the passengers,crew,Thomson’s and Louis cruiseline, in this great gesture. It will give the famlies invovled some comfort. we have sailed with Thomson,and have found their crews very friendly,very hard working and friendly. We much prefer Thomson to any of the other cruise companies because of the service.
February 27, 2013 at 10:36 pm
There is an appeal set up, the aim is to raise £100,000 for the families of the men who died, its not moving very much, last time I looked there was only £735 been donated. Hopefully more people will donate soon http://www.justgiving.com/Thomson-Majesty