Pullmantur Monarch accidents and incidents

21 July 2019Other Incidents

On July 21, 2019, during Panama’s Children’s Day, the cruise liner hosted 70 kids as part of Pullmantur's "Captains for a Day" (leisure educational program). The children boarded the ship in Port Colon. The 3rd graders from Escuela Porfirio Melendez (school) were entertained by a dedicated crew team, enjoyed a live music show and also met with ship's Captain Arkadiusz Branka. Kids' transportation (to and from the liner) was provided by Colon Group's subsidiary Aventuras 2000 (cruisetour company).

By the initiated in 2015 "Captains for a Day" program, Pullmantur presents company's cruise shipping operations to schoolchildren in major homeport cities (with embarkation ports). In the period 2015-2019, Pullmantur carried out 8 such themed events with 500+ schoolchildren involved. So far, such shipboard events were organized in seaports in Spain (Barcelona, Vigo, La Coruna, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria), Portugal (Lisbon), Colombia (Cartagena) and Panama (Colon).

01 February 2017Crew / Passenger Injuries and Overboards

On February 1, 2017, a male passenger was detained in George Town (Grand Cayman) after 3 rounds of 22 calibre ammunition were discovered in his luggage during the x-ray check at the cruise port’s security checkpoint. The man (Narciso Barrios, of Panamanian origin) was re-boarding the ship after going ashore. He was handed over to Grand Cayman seaport’s customs officers. The investigation showed that he was a licensed (in Panama) firearm holder of a 22 Long Rifle. He admitted the gun was for agricultural purposes, not used for a long time, and he didn’t know how long the ammunition had been in his bag. The man was charged and fined, but without conviction.

12 September 2016Other Incidents

On September 12, 2016, the ship struck a whale bringing it into port Lisbon (Portugal). The carcass (~20 ft / 6 m long) was found wrapped around the ship’s bulbous bow.

21 December 2012Crew / Passenger Injuries and Overboards

(Monarch of the Seas) On December 21, 2012, ~3 hours after departure, the ship returned to Port Canaveral Florida after a 1-year-old kid was injured. The child crawled through a railing on Deck 11 and fell to a cabin balcony on Deck 10. The kid was airlifted and transported to Orlando’s Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children.

22 July 2012Ship Listing

(Monarch of the Seas ) On July 22, 2012, severe weather on Coco Cay Bahamas (Royal Caribbean's private island) with strong winds (100 mph / 160 kph) caused the cruise ship to list at approx 15-20 degrees. The incident cased crashed dishware, emptied pools and chaos among passengers. The tendering operation was cancelled. The already tendered/disembarked passengers were brought back to the ship and the island was evacuated.

11 January 2012Crew / Passenger Deaths

(Monarch of the Seas / overboard) On January 11, 2012, a 25-year-old male crew was reported jumped overboard at ~5:45 am when the ship was en route from Miami to Nassau Bahamas. CCTV recordings confirmed the overboard jump. The incident was officially reported to the appropriate authorities. The vessel immediately turned and started a search and rescue operation. In the search, the Royal Caribbean cruise ship was soon joined by the sailing nearby liners Carnival Sensation, Disney Dream and Norwegian Jewel. A USCG helicopter MH-60 was also dispatched from the US Navy base in the Bahamas. The body was never found.

31 December 2009Crew / Passenger Deaths

(Monarch of the Seas / overboard) On December 31, 2009, a 23-year-old female passenger was reported fell overboard while the ship was in the Bahamas, en-route from Nassau to Coco Cay. The woman (of Indian origin, wife of a recently hired crew) was last seen at ~3:45 am. CCTV records showed she jumped overboard from deck 11 (portside) at ~4 am. On January 5, 2010, just 48 hours after the suicide, the husband (onboard manager) went missing after the vessel returned in Miami FL.

16 May 2006Propulsion / Power Loss

(Monarch of The Seas) On May 16, 2006, the ship was approaching port San Diego when its main engine (No 1) failed. The accident was caused by a cracked high-temperature rubber expansion of the engine, causing leaking of the cooling water. The ship was ordered to not enter and remain outside San Diego Harbor until the needed repairs were made.

30 January 2006Crew / Passenger Deaths

(Monarch of the Seas) On January 30, 2006, the 38-year-old Captain of the cruise ship - Joern Rene Klausen - was found dead in his suite.

The liner was en-route from Ensenada (Baja Mexico) to Los Angeles CA, returning from a 3-day cruise. Police and FBI agents boarded the ship in LA for investigation. Passenger disembarkation was delayed. The autopsy showed that his death was of natural causes (“gastritis with contributing factors of early pneumonia, water intoxication syndrome due to alcohol withdrawal”).

Allegedly, Captain Klausen had a history of alcohol abuse. Later, some of the crew claimed that 2 days before the incident, he had been so drunk that he was incapable of commanding the vessel and sent to his cabin to sleep it off.

27 January 2006Structural and Technical Issues

(Monarch of The Seas) On January 27, 2006, at least 10 suite cabins (located on deck 10) were damaged by flooding caused by a broken swimming pool pipe. The affected staterooms, as well as the deck’s hallway,  were re-carpeted. Each of the affected passengers received USD 150 in onboard credit as compensation. They were all relocated to other cabins. The flooding also partially affected Claude’s Restaurant (Dining Room on deck 3).

02 September 2005Crew / Passenger Deaths

(Monarch of the Seas / toxic gas leak) On September 2, 2005, while the ship berthed in Los Angeles CA for maintenance, a sewage pipe leaked about 5 gallons (19 L) of raw sewage in the shaft tunnel of the starboard propeller. In the same time, some H2S (toxic gas) escaped from the ship’s ballast tanks. Unfortunately, this accident resulted also in 3 crew deaths – Boris Dimitrov (Bulgarian), Radomilja Frane (Croatian) and Willie Tirol (Filipino) – while 19 other crew were injured. The 3 crew were killed instantaneously, as they were not equipped with gas masks. No passengers were injured.

(law news) On August 9, 2008, a former staff manager (Bjoern Eidiseen) filed a lawsuit against RCCL alleging he was injured in the September 2005 toxic gas leak accident. The crew claimed that the venting of the ballast tanks took place not “at speed and at sea” (as recommended) but when the ship was not at speed and in port. The claim also stated that this caused regularly noxious gas to leak into work and passenger areas (including cruise cabins via the air-conditioning system) for months following the 2005 accident.

(law news) On June 14, 2011, Florida's 11th Judicial Circuit Court ruled “gross indifference to the life and health that allowed poison gas exposure to its passengers”. Judge Marc Schumacher wrote in the ruling that the RCI company’s conduct “was either intentional or constituted gross negligence” and “failed to take reasonable measures to prevent exposure to the poison gas”, The USCG investigation report cited “extensive corrosion” (patched holes) found in engine room pipes where the gas leak originated.

28 February 2003Crew / Passenger Injuries and Overboards

(Monarch of the Seas) On February 28, 2003, a male crew was performing routine maintenance in the ship's engine room when a boiler valve malfunctioned. The man was burned by the hot water.

November 2002Cruise Illness / Virus Outbreaks

(Monarch of the Seas) November 18, 2002, a Norovirus outbreak (gastrointestinal illness) affected around 100 passengers and crew during the previous itinerary,

15 December 1998Ship Grounding

(Monarch of the Seas) On December 15, 1998, soon after a sick passenger was medevaced and while departing Philipsburg (St Maarten Island, Dutch Antilles), the vessel touched the seabed (grazed a coral reef). The grounding opened a gash (sized 131,2 x 6,6 ft / 40 x 2 m) along the starboard hull. The ship started taking water, beginning to sink by its head. Three of its watertight compartments were flooded completely, and several others – partly. In order to prevent sinking, the ship was grounded intentionally on a sandbar. All passengers and most of the crew were evacuated by local tender operators. No injuries or deaths were reported.

The ship’s grounding caused breaking of 2 diesel fuel tanks, resulting in a small fuel spill of about 380 L (100 US gallons).

The USCG and the Maritime Investigation found that the accident was a result of numerous “human performance deficiencies”. The Philipsburg port departure was done visually (the computerized navigation system was not used), and the new buoy locations were not charted on the map.

The cruise ship was 3 months dry-docked for repairs in Mobile AL (at the Atlantic Marine shipyard). Among the major damages caused by this accident were: a total of 114 compartments (needed extensive cleaning), the machinery was replaced, damaged electrical cables (29 km / 18 ml of electrical wiring was replaced), the hull was partially repainted.