I know its a tragic story but the devil inside of me cant help but think of this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSdxqIBfEAw

Apologies if offence caused.

Sorry, if I was unclear Lorna, I was merely commenting on how parochial reportage can be - the bigger picture of loss gets fogged by the nationalities of the poor souls involved. I agree in spades as to what a bloody rotter this Italian Captain was. This accident is incredible, you sort of sadly expect this sort of stuff from overladen craft in some bits of the world, but not from a pleasure boat off the fragrant Tuscan coast.

I've never seen a swipe card needed for exiting a hotel room or cruise ship cabin. Swipe cards are only used for entry to rooms in my experience. My experience is also that in the event of a power failure, the locks open automatically.

What sonar operator? Military and research vessels often have sonar, but cruise ships do not. I believe you're referring to the depth finder which measures how much depth is between the keel and the bottom directly underneath the vessel. This is monitored from the bridge with the rest of the navigation instruments, and doesn't tell you how close any rocks are around you.

Each door has its own battery power pack and is individually operated, there is no connection with any central power system, so this is a mute point

Ahhh - sorry. I was following the story in the Italian papers so didn't know that the English press might have bigged up the fact that Brits were on board.

BBC news, the Captain says he was not trying to get into a life raft he fell into it He was supervising events from a distance!

Ha Ha yeh just heard on the news, he slipped and "fell offa da boot" "Do dappa day dappa dee" That's my best Italiano typed accent.

Along with his 1st Officer.....lol

Did he trip over the small children & elderly who were waiting politely?

What sonar operator? Military and research vessels often have sonar, but cruise ships do not. I believe you're referring to the depth finder which measures how much depth is between the keel and the bottom directly underneath the vessel. This is monitored from the bridge with the rest of the navigation instruments, and doesn't tell you how close any rocks are around you.[/QUOTE]

And I suppose you would have me believe that there is no "cat of 9 tails" or "powder monkey" on board! Not much chance of the captain being "keel hauled" then?

Installing access control doors all day long ,I would say no, not true in the slightest.

Individual power packs for each door would incur a lot of unnecessary weight and complexity when you consider how many doors there are on a ship that size. The swipe reader would be hard-wired into the ship's electrical system.

I've never installed a separate battery pack for each reader in any installation I've done. The only additional wiring is to the master controller/computer usually.

Strange, having worked the cruise ships for several years, we were always changing batteries on swipe locks, maybe they were trying to keep us busy, who knows, but it was a few years ago now.

I can only comment on what I've seen, as can you. As you've had to change these batteries, they must have been fitted, though I'm not sure why they're needed. Neiter do I see why one would need a swipe card to exit a room.

Please explain why a cruise ship would ever enter the waters of Morecambe...?