For those of you who can access LINKEDIN (can join for free) there are two interesting discussions going on.
One is headed "Cruise Ships in the media" and has some very interesting and often heated, discussions regarding mustering, crew training and hours of work/rest and the other is about the MOL Comfort that broke in two and caught fire a short while ago. The NK classification society has discovered buckling of the bottom plating amidships in this class of ships and all are undergoing reinforcement of the plating and framing in this area. They also require enhanced inspections by the crew of this area in all large container ships that they class. Seems pretty obvious that a combination of poor stowage planning, poor ballasting/de-ballasting procedures and maybe undeclared weights are leading to problems with these large container ships.
rgds
JA