Was human error to blame for cruise ship mishap?

The Coast Guard gave the Crown Princess clearance to return to its scheduled sailings after the [% 1282623 | | tilting incident %] that left dozens injured. The ship departed from New York on Saturday, July 22, and Princess states that “passengers can be assured there is nothing wrong with the ship, and that it is entirely safe.”

The actual cause of the mishap is still under investigation. But if the cruise line claims the ship is mechanically fine, then the obvious conclusion is that human error caused the tilt.

In fact, the I-Team at WESH 2 News in Orlando/Daytona claims it knows what happened on the Crown Princess bridge last week. The I-Team’s secret source revealed that a junior officer noticed the ship’s automatic pilot needle was too far to the left and turned the autopilot off to correct the problem. But instead of turning the ship back to the right, the officer turned the ship farther to the left, causing the ship to tilt.

Princess has not confirmed this explanation, so it may or may not be the truth. And, we won’t know the real cause of the problem until the investigators report back to Princess. But, these speculations raise the interesting question of whether we feel safe knowing the ship is mechanically sound or whether we’re still worried that a small human mistake on the bridge will again have such huge consequences for onboard guests.