Cruise Ship Crisis Leaves Industry in its Own Crisis

Costa Cruises is blaming its own employee for the disaster off the coast of Italy that killed at least six people. Others in the cruise industry are wise to anticipate at least a short-term crisis. Notice that "cruises" is "crises," but without "u."

"The captain of the Costa Cruises ship that partially sank on Friday after hitting rocks off the coast of Italy had diverted the vessel onto a route not authorized by the company, its CEO says. 'It is human error here,' Costa chairman and CEO Pier Luigi Foschi told reporters dialed into a conference call this morning. 'The captain did not follow the authorized route that is used by Costa ships very frequently.'"  (http://travel.usatoday.com/cruises/post/2012/01/costa-concordia-cruise-ceo-captain/604363/1?csp=hf)


You don't have to work for Costa to have a crisis. "Many veteran cruise sellers are bracing for a drop in bookings in the wake of Friday's deadly accident involving a Costa Cruises ship. 'It's hard to see the industry not experiencing at least a small short-term slowdown from this,' Florida-based Simon Duvall of SimonCruises.com tells USA TODAY. 'The images and stories coming out of Italy are shocking even to those of us who love cruising and consider it safe, so to a first-timer or someone who is nervous about it, (this) very well might be a deal breaker.'"
 (http://travel.usatoday.com/cruises/post/2012/01/costa-cruise-ship-concordia-accident/604029/1)


Longtime cruise seller Amber Blecker of CruiseOne in Aurora, Colorado, says she has no doubt the disaster will have an effect on bookings.

"Blecker says she already has heard from long-term clients who have told her they've been discussing already-booked cruises with their families in the wake of the incident. The clients still plan to go, but 'the fact they took the time to write indicated cancellation was at least a possibility.'" She expects the impact of the incident on business to be short term -- maybe just a few weeks. That's been the pattern with high-profile cruise ship accidents in the past. Still, others aren't so sure.

"'There are so many elements in play here that are unprecedented in modern-day cruise ship annals that it makes predictions difficult,' says Mike Driscoll, editor of a publication for cruise-selling agents called Cruise Week. For starters, says Driscoll, January is one of the busiest booking times of the year for the cruise industry, part of a critical period known as Wave Season, so 'the timing isn't good.'

"In addition to the costs to Costa associated with the accident and for amending and refunding future cruises on the ship, 'there is the potential that this event could weigh on booking trends across other cruise brands ... given the fact that it occurred early in the Wave season,' the S&P bulletin says."


A crisis doesn't have to be your own to affect your bottom line. It's critical to have a crisis communications plan so you are ready to respond credibly to a crisis you may have had nothing to do with. A chemical explosion, a chlorine leak, a plane crash, a cruise ship accident...You need to be prepared for others' crises, not just your own.