Fire-alarm systems and controls for closing fire doors must be centralized at a continuously manned station. Ship captains are now required to have passed through four years of nautical school and have at least five years of sailing experience. They are to carry with them passenger-ship safety certificates, insurance certificates, radio licenses and a stack of other documents. A 14-volume International Safety Management Code is required to be always at hand for reference. The volumes detail how long internal watertight doors must be kept closed when approaching and leaving busy ports to minimize damage in the event of a collision and other guidelines.
Cruise liners are only too aware that mishaps at sea can mar the image of the entire industry.
After the Sun Vista sank, market leader Star Cruises issued a flurry of press statements on its own safety equipment. Nevertheless, the cruise operators say they are confident the industry will continue to boom. Sun Cruises says it is determined to stay in business despite the sinking of its flagship liner, and the company's president says it should be possible to recuperate under the same brand. Tour agents say the main problem hampering the industry at the moment isn't so much a lack of passengers as a lack of ships. Bhd., Malaysia's biggest tour agency.