The after-dinner magic show ended with an abrupt boom, the magician and two dancers quickly scrambling off stage. An elderly woman took a loud tumble in a nearby kitchen. And suddenly, Keiko Guest and Justin Evans found themselves sitting in their chairs at a 45-degree incline.
Not only was the show over early. So was their week-long cruise.
Guest and Evans, friends from Atlanta, were two of the more than 4,000 survivors of the Costa Concordia cruise ship that slammed into a reef last week off the Tuscan island of Giglio. They managed to escape a sinking ship that left at least 11 passengers dead and then endured a frustrating four-day trek across Italy before catching a flight home Tuesday.
Their relief at returning home safely has been undermined by their survivor's guilt and the terrifying memories of their frantic rush off of the vessel.
"We thought we escaped unscathed," Guest said. "But over the past few days, I'll be having a conversation with someone and out of nowhere, an overwhelming sadness comes over me. Then it hits me that other people's realities are totally different."
The Costa Concordia, carrying more than 4,200 passengers and crew, hit rocks and capsized hundreds of feet last Friday when Capt. Francesco Schettino made an unauthorized detour from the ship's programmed route. A recording of his conversation with the Italian coast guard shows he left the ship before all passengers were off, and resisted repeated orders to go back, saying the ship was tipping and it was dark.
Search crews resumed their hunt for 21 missing passengers Thursday, though their efforts were hampered by worsening weather. The ship remains on its side, but there are fears it could slip into deeper water.
Costa Cruises is owned by Miami-based Carnival, the world’s largest cruise line operator, which said it is covering the costs of lodging and return transportation for the Concordia’s survivors, as well as offering counseling to passengers and their families “as needed.” It is also refunding all voyage costs, including onboard expenses.
But that was of little solace to Guest and Evans, who remain furious at Capt. Francesco Schettino and blame him almost exclusively for his reckless handling of the ship and the wreck.
"This man proved himself to be the biggest coward," Guest said.
Guest, a photographer, and Evans, a trapeze artist, became travel partners in recent years after working together on a number of local events and projects. They've taken cruises to the Bahamas, Turks and Caicos, Cozumel and other islands in the Caribbean.
This was their first trip overseas. They flew into Rome Thursday for the week-long cruise and arranged a photo shoot at each stop along the way. Guest and Evans said they brought along thousands of dollars of equipment for their "working vacation."
"This took months and months of planning," Evans said.
Those plans went awry only a day into the cruise, when they heard the loud crash only a few minutes into the after-dinner magic show.
For about a half hour, Guest and Evans made a game of their predicament. They joked that they were Michael Jackson as they tried to keep their balance walking along the cruise ship's floor, which was slanted at roughly a 45-degree angle.
Their anxiety was eased further when crew members blamed the problems on "technical difficulties" and then a faulty generator, telling passengers to go back to their rooms. Things quickly turned serious, however, when the crew finally started instructing passengers to find the nearest lifeboat station.
"It was a frenzy of stampeding people," Evans said.
"We had a calm come over us," Guest added. "It seemed as though pockets and paths opened for us to maneuver through people."
Evans and Guest managed to get on a 200-passenger lifeboat that quickly brought them to safety. They spent the next few days trying to securing passports and personal items so they could make the trip back to Atlanta.
Evans doesn't plan to take any cruises anytime soon.
"[Keiko] introduced me to cruises," he said, jokingly. "So I blame her for all of this."
About the Author
