Choice Travel Texas

My brother, a thoughtful kind of guy who knows my intense interest in cruising, sent me an email questioning my thoughts about the latest Carnival Triumph disaster.  So, I thought I’d post my answer to him here!

As might be expected, I have a lot of conflicting thoughts about the Triumph mess.

First of all, it seems to me that Carnival has three strikes against it.  First the Costa Concordia (Costa Cruise line is owned by Carnival), second the Splendor, and now the Triumph.  There HAS to be a common thread among the three that reflects some degree of lack of care by the company.  I realize the Concordia’s ‘lack of care’ was the result of the captain’s imperious attitude, and the other two issues were related to maintenance.  But it seems to me that the overarching company culture must foster the captain’s attitude at some point.  After all, didn’t Carnival, the owner of Costa, have some idea that this captain was misbehaving and did they not turn a blind eye?  I can’t believe this was his first time to go outside the boundaries of good sense.

I am not aware of any previous issues leading up to the problems experienced by the Splendor, but it has been clearly documented (and I saw it myself on various cruise-related gathering places) that the Triumph had serious problems on its previous cruise. I saw this discussed during the time the propulsion problems were occurring and not as an afterthought when the engine room fire occurred.   According to the “official” accounts, the two problems with the Triumph were unrelated, but that may just be a convenient fiction.  An engine-room fire is a serious problem, as we saw, and it could have been worse.  And in fact, the Ecstasy, which used to sail from Galveston, and which Howard and I have sailed on, had a much more serious fire that affected the staterooms across the stern of the ship just a few years ago. Of course, much of that isn’t mentioned in polite company these days. Here’s someone who has no problem talking about it, though his income is largely dependent on such issues:  James Walker.  He wrote this article that discusses the 79 fires that have occurred on cruise ships since 1990.

Update:  Mr. Walker seems to think, according to his interview with CNN, that most passengers were treated quite well and aren’t likely to get a whole lot more out of Carnival.  See the interview here.

Aboard ship, one of the things that is repeated frequently during the safety drill is that fire is by far the most serious danger aboard any cruise ship, and guests are vigorously exhorted not to throw **anything** overboard, not to leave chargers plugged in inside the staterooms, etc.  But there’s not much the passengers can do about an engine-room fire.  The engine room is the one place on the ship that no passenger is ever allowed to enter, even on paid tours. The engine control room is the closest one can get, and it’s a sterile-looking room with various lights blinking here and there – nothing even vaguely similar to the actual conditions of the engine room.  One has to wonder what must have happened inside the engine room to cause this fire.  Nobody’s telling.

Also, you have to remember that the news services are looking for the worst possible pictures, the most dangerous circumstances, the passengers who are most vocal with their complaints.  They label it “the cruise from hell,” “nightmare voyage,” etc.  and I am certain that the entire trip was very unpleasant.  There’s no doubt that Carnival is liable in these circumstances, but of course they make it as difficult as possible to seek legal recourse.  The cruise ticket specifies when and where the line can be sued (Miami only, for cruises originating in North America) and of course, the first lawsuits have already been filed.  Of course, there are lawyers who are standing on one foot waiting to do just that.  And then there are the news pictures of Mickey Arison enjoying his Miami Heat game while the passengers are suffering.  Maybe he should have flogged himself in front of the cameras while the ship was adrift.  I am not sure what would have satisfied the news agencies and the passengers.

I do know that for me, I would have been mightily unimpressed with his boarding the ship and offering an apology, which is what he eventually did (and of course there was serious compensation for all the passengers too).  What is the deal with apologies these days? Who cares?  Saying “I’m sorry,” is the easiest thing to do.  Why does this matter?  I am certain Mr. Arison is very sorry that his company is shown in such a bad light.  He’s not even pretending to be sorry – he really is!

My husband and I have sailed on the Triumph twice.  The last voyage was this last September – Labor Day week.  The Triumph was easily the most beautiful ship of the Carnival fleet, and I am sure it looks horrible now.  The pictures of sewage running down the walls really don’t surprise me.  When you consider how the ships are constructed, all that sewage flows not far from everyone’s head anyway.  But 99.99% of the time, the pipes are working properly and no one has to think about it.  They’ll clean it up, fit it with the newest upgrades and start an advertising campaign to get it back in service.

One does have to consider that despite the conditions, no one was killed, no one was seriously injured, and really, no one was even in serious danger.  There may be some sanitation-related issues and illnesses, but even that was handled as well as can be expected.  I have far more sympathy toward the crew members who have to deal with some of the passengers’ spoiled attitude (“I’m on vacaaaaaaaaaaaation….I shouldn’t have to put up with this!”) than the passengers who were waited on hand and foot even during the worst part of the cruise.

I have often said – and really mean it – that given a choice, I’d never sail Carnival again.   But Royal Caribbean only sails from Galveston between November and April, and I really prefer to sail more often than once a year.

In the meantime, the news services will keep hunting for the latest disaster news so they will have something else to beat to death. It’s why I limit my news viewing to less than an hour a day.

photo credit: adrants via photopin cc