I'm one of the guest instructors on this year's Writing Excuses Cruise, a nine-day intensive writing program on land and at sea, departing from Galveston and putting into port at Cozumel, Georgetown, and Falmouth, with a roster of instructors including Brandon Sanderson, Piper Drake, Kathy Chung, K Tempest Bradford, DongWon Song, Mary Robinette Kowal, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. The program starts with a two-day workshop at a Houston hotel and then sets sail, running Sept 22-30 altogether. I've taught many other workshops, but this is my first Writing Excuses Cruise and I'm really looking forward to it. I hope to see you there!
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More than a thousand passengers are being evacuated from a Viking cruise ship hit by 26-ft waves between Norway and Britain, with terrifying footage posted to YouTube from inside the lurching vessel. At least 470 people were rescued from the decks by helicopter, hauled one by one to nearby Molde. No-one is reported dead, but one is said to be critically injured.
The maritime rescue service said the Viking Sky, with 1,373 passengers and crew on board, had sent out a mayday signal as it had been drifting toward land in the Norwegian Sea.
The ship was carrying 915 passengers, of which "a large number" were from the United States and Britain, the rescue service said, although it declined to be more specific.
Passengers were hoisted one-by-one from the deck of the vessel and airlifted to a village just north of Molde on Norway.
An investigation was opened into why it even set sail.
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Chris and Dana White went on a three-day Caribbean cruise out of Mobile, Alabama, only to find a camera hidden in the bundle of wires off the TV set.
"I said, 'Is that what I think it is?' " Chris White said. "And she looked at it and she became concerned. And we were just really flabbergasted that there's a camera in the room and it's plugged up and it's working."
The couple called Carnival security and used their cellphone to film an employee who inspected and disassembled the device. "I was thinking, 'I can't believe this is actually happening to us,' " he said.
In a statement to USA TODAY, Carnival acknowledged a "video transmitter" was found during a full investigation by the shipboard team, but notes it "was not connected to an electrical source and not capable of recording."
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The best part is the staff and security joining in, kicking people on the ground and trying to confiscate bystanders' cameras.
A family member identified only as Zac said the drama was sparked by a misunderstanding over a thong.
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