Articles tagged “triumph”

Carnival's challenges with maintenance issues can't help but be made even more challenging by the bargain-basement prices they charge passengers to cruise with them. At some "cheap" starts affecting performance.

The good news is that the Triumph didn't hit anything on the way out of port. But it's a long way to the Bahamas.

The next stop for the Carnival Triumph is Freeport, The Bahamas, where it will go into drydock for hopefully the final fixes before the ship returns to commercial service.

Carnival caved to intense pressure from Washington and its decision to reimburse the government for the Carnival Triumph and Carnival Splendor rescues could serve as a precedent. Carnival and other cruise lines could be getting bills in the mail from the U.S. Treasury for future incidents.

Carnival was initially strident in its refusal to admit they should pony up for the frequent aid it requires from the U.S. Coast Guard and Navy. Looks like the outcry finally got through to them.

Carnival Corp. didn't make any concessions in its letter to Senator Rockefeller, arguing that the cruise industry already pays plenty of taxes. Don't expect Carnival to reimburse the U.S. government for its costs in the Triumph incident, although the amount of money would be puny for a corporation of Carnival's size.

It would be a much more difficult task to bolster passenger rights on board cruise ships than on planes, but the need is no less necessary.

The passenger's nightmare trip has finally come to an end, but Carnival will need to figure out how it can do much, much better communicating to past and future guests in order to prevent this year from turning into a bad dream.

Carnival's tin-eared response to this crisis will be a "what not to do" case-study for PR agencies for years to come. It's CEO should have been working the tug boats in the Caribbean rather than phoning it in from the comfort of home.