Corrected entry: Richard Dreyfuss' cell phone still works, even when well out of range of any antenna back on shore.
Corrected entry: Kurt Russell's character does CPR incorrectly. His chest thrusts are not correct, and he uses the wrong ration of thrusts to breaths. Most of the time this could be forgiven, but this character is a former fireman. He should know how to do CPR.
Correction: As a paramedic, I can tell you that there are correct specific ways to do things and then there is real life. As to the ratio of breaths to thrusts, the American Heart Association (who issues ratios in the US) changes what should be done every few years.
Corrected entry: When Valentin is kicked loose from Nelson's leg you can see the safety wire supporting him as he falls.
Correction: Look again. It's one of the cables for the elevator that is falling along with him.
Corrected entry: Before the ship capsizes there are gold curtains either side of the stage. But after the ship capsizes when the Major asks Connor to jump in the curtains it is hung off the ceiling (floor). When really the whole thing should be on the floor (roof).
Correction: If you take a look at the stage before the capsize, you'll see that the ceiling of the stage is much lower than the ceiling of the ballroom and the stage is set into the wall like a niche. The curtains flipped out of the niche and down over the exterior wall towards the floor/ceiling.
Corrected entry: During the capsizing, a crane smashes into the bottom window of the superstructure, this smashes most of it to pieces, the front part of it at least. Yet, when ship is shown after that, the whole window is shown intact.
Correction: During the final underwater shot of the poseidon as its lights go out. You can see the missing windows where the crane hit.
Corrected entry: When the cast escape out of the front bow thrusters, where are the other tubes inside the ship? There should have been 2 more tubes for the other two bow thrusters. They can't be in another room because they're too close together.
Correction: The positioning of the cameras makes it seem like there is only one tube. But they are there.
Corrected entry: There is an explosion just before the ballroom implosion. After this explosion, the ship then begins to take on water. This would not have taken place. Water will only flood something from in the floor or hole if there is space for the air to escape. There were no holes in the ship's hull except the bow thrusters, and there were no windows above the ocean's surface that had broken. But the characters hadn't gotten that far to open the hatch when the ship had already begun sinking.
Correction: The ship is inverted and several explosions have taken place, as well as a raging fire. Just because we are not shown any holes in the hull of the ship, this does not mean that there weren't any. The fact that the ship is indeed sinking implies that the structure of the ship has been compromised, and they must escape before it floods.
Corrected entry: During the whole tipping sequence in the dining room, that set actually was tipping and people were sent flying around with furniture and other things as well. The pool the set was tipped in was about 100 feet deep.
Correction: The set was not dropped into a tank. It was filmed using blue screen and the set was added later. The only time water was used in the ball room was when the windows broke, and water flooded in.
Corrected entry: In the scene where the first ballast tank is flooded, why is there a valve opening/closing wheel inside the tank? On real ships this is done from outside the tank so you don't get drowned just to fill the ballast tank.
Correction: This is not entirely true. Some ships have the wheel inside to test it in case there is a problem with the ballast tank. They won't drown themselves because the wheels are sensitive to movement, and would stop the water flow.
Corrected entry: In the ballroom scene Richard Dreyfus' character leaves the ballroom for the deck outside after midnight and prepares to jump. He sees the wave approaching. He returns through the doors back into the ballroom. One can see a small crack between the doors. Since they're not water-tight, after the ship capsizes the ballroom would have immediately began to flood (which doesn't happen). Thus even the main cast which ultimately escapes would have drowned with the others and it wouldn't have mattered if the captain had the other water-tight doors closed.
Correction: This doorway does not connect directly to the main ballroom, but rather to an exterior covered balcony. The water tight doors for the ballroom are located further inside, and are made of steel, as is evidenced later in the film.
Corrected entry: Early in the film there are helium-filled balloons tied to ribbons decorating the ship's lobby and ballroom. After the ship has capsized, these balloons are hanging upside down. This doesn't make sense, because if the balloons were filled with helium they would still be pointing upwards, and not just hanging as though only filled with air.
Correction: Not all the balloons have helium in them; the ones that fall from the nets are not helium filled neither are the ones hanging around the ballroom/dining room. If you look, before the ship rolls over, the balloons are already hanging down. This is not a mistake.
Corrected entry: You can not walk on the most part of the ceiling on a boat, especially a cruise ship. It tends to be out of thin plaster boards.
Correction: "Tends to be" is not definite, we have no idea what this ceiling was constructed out of and obviously, in this case, it was something more substantial.
Corrected entry: In the scene where Josh Lucas and Kurt Russell are looking at a map of the ship, Josh points to the right side of the ship, and says they have to go in that direction to get to the engines. If the ship is upside down, and Josh is pointing to the right, then they would have to go to the left. That would be the correct direction if the ship were upright. It's not a character mistake because once the debris has been cleared, they end up going towards the right.
Correction: I'm not sure which scene you're referring to, but all through the movie every map they look at is upside-down... even at the end when Kurt Russell pulls the map off of the wall. He holds it upside-down, so he was pointing in the right direction.
Corrected entry: In the scenes where you see the back of the ship, you see the name of the ship itself (Poseidon), and underneath the port of entry (Southampton). The Titanic also left from Southampton.
Correction: Southampton is a busy port - it's hardly trivia-worthy to point out that two ships both carry that marking. And, frankly, pointing out things that can be read by anyone who watches the film is also not remotely trivia-worthy.
Corrected entry: The First officer gives the command during the ship's attempt to turn into the wave. "Starboard engine full astern." Yet when the ship's bottom is shown inverted for the first time a couple of minutes later. Both port and starboard azipods are facing forward. If his command had been followed the starboard azipod should have been facing aft.
Correction: During the capsizing,the forces involved were tremendous and could have easily moved the azipods.And if you look carefully at the pods you will see they are not facing completly straight.
Correction: Most cruise ships are equipped with their own cell tower, making it possible for passengers to use cell phones for an additional cost.
In essence, you're right, but you explained it wrong. There simply isn't cell reception in the middle of the ocean, but what's available is satellite reception. Every ship that operates in A3/A4 areas is equipped with means to communicate via satellite, and that includes phones for private use via a ship network hooked up with a satellite receiver/transmitter. But that costs a pretty buck for the shipowner/operator, hence the additional costs.