How is it that a cruise ship with thousands of people can take a 3 mile detour to show off to an island? 

If an airplane were do this, the consequences would be immediate and dire.  In fact, I suspect the plane would have jet escorts by its side before it even landed.  Yet, we learn that the practice with cruise ships doing this is acceptable behavior?

We Deserve Better!  How can this not be better regulated.

Of course, this references the Costa Concordia disaster where the death count continues to rise.

There are numerous articles on this

http://gma.yahoo.com/cruise-ship-wreck-search-suspended-ship-moves-045931732–abc-news.html

The captain’s behavior is reprehensible.  He is reportedly to have left the ship before many passengers and refused to return when asked!?  Really?  This guy is licensed to captain a vessel with 4,200 people on it?  Nice.

What are you doing? Are you abandoning the rescue? Captain, this is an order, I am the one in charge now. You have declared abandoning ship. There are already bodies.

Coastguard official’s instructions to Francesco

http://news.sky.com/home/world-news/article/16150533

Time to wake up and think about how things are done.  With all the high tech available, this should never have happened.  The fact that it is a regular occurrence really exasperates the issue.  In every possible way, we deserve better!

Follow Up:

Just saw this:

“The shipping industry newspaper Lloyd’s List reported that Friday was not the first time the Costa Concordia steamed extremely close to shore near Giglio.

Satellite tracking data obtained by the paper show that the ship passed within 230 meters (755 feet) of the coast of the island at least once before — even closer than the location where the Costa Concordia hit the rocks this weekend.

The pass happened on August 14, 2011, Lloyd’s List reported. Costa Cruise lines said it would issue a statement about the report later on Wednesday.”

http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/18/world/europe/italy-cruise-main/index.html?eref=rss_topstories&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_topstories+%28RSS%3A+Top+Stories%29&utm_content=My+Yahoo

So, Lloyds knew this and still insured the ship and company!?  *sigh*