There’s just no smooth sailing for Carnival Cruise lines

Whoops. After suffering a public relations nightmare that played out in the media over nearly a week when the Carnival Triumph lost power and thousands of passengers were stranded at sea, the largest cruise ship operator has another stalled ship to deal with. Yup. The Carnival Triumph debacle had the whole world watching these poor people suffer out in the middle of the ocean with sewage all around them, hardly any food, no place decent to sleep, etc etc……certainly a public relations nightmare. I would hope that the CEO of Carnival would have mandated  that ALL cruise ships immediately undergo a COMPLETE  exhaustive inspection……because heaven knows that no cruise line could afford to have another PR nightmare in it’s wake. BUT NO!!  Reports of power outages and overflowing toilets onboard the Carnival Dream emerged on Thursday.  The ship is currently docked in the Caribbean island of St. Maarten, where it was originally scheduled to leave on Wednesday. Carnival said in a statement to ABC News that the power and toilet problems had been addressed. Does than mean fixed? Or that they were aware? Addressed?? C’mon!!  OH…….and Carnival also said at no time was power fully lost.

But wait! There’s more: This morning come reports that the Carnival Legend is experiencing technical issues that are slowing its sailing speed. Uh oh…….

 

At this point it doesn’t really matter what the extent of the problems were. The PR damage has been done. People that thought that the problem with the Triumph was a one-time, isolated situation are now seriously reconsidering ever cruising again, especially with Carnival. First the Triumph, then the Dream, now the Legend. Bet the PR department is ready to throw in the towel. And I’ll bet the other cruise lines aren’t real happy that Carnival isn’t helping the cruise industry. But maybe there’s a bright side to all of this….maybe cruises will be really really cheap real soon! I love to cruise…..so I’ll just sit back and watch the PR people try to smooth this one over and make us come back with offers we can’t refuse!!