Cruise tragedy calls for increased focus on safety

by Chris Owen on

On the heels of the Costa Concordia cruise tragedy, where a once-proud ocean going vessel now lay on its side off the coast of Italy, calls for increased safety standards and procedures are being made. While history will remember the Concordia event as more of a near-miss than a Titanic-like disaster as tabloids might have us believe, most experts agree: this can’t happen again.

As rescue workers still try to find 20-some missing passengers, blame has been placed squarely on the shoulders of the ship’s master, Captain Francesco Schettino. The ship was sailing a course approved by the cruise line, similar to an airline flight plan, when Captain Schettino chose to deviate from that plan, sailing too close to a nearby island in order to show the ship to locals.

“This route was put in correctly. The fact that it left from this course is due solely to a maneuver by the commander that was unapproved, unauthorized and unknown to Costa,” said Costa Chairman and CEO Pier Luigi Foschi in a live press conference via telephone from Italy yesterday.
Rogue move on the part of an out-of-control captain or not, it is clear that changes will have to be made in the way cruise lines do business to insure another event like this never happens again.

“The incident has many in the maritime industry and those contemplating a cruise questioning how something like this could happen” says cruise expert Paul Motter on FoxNews. “After all, the Costa Concordia, which was carrying 4,200 passengers and crew, was stocked with the state-of-the-art navigation equipment.”

Look for changes in the way cruise lines do business very soon. Maybe more focus on safety instructions, starting at embarkation. Perhaps more detail and a different way of handling safety drills and surely some sort of check system that requires more than just a Captain’s whim to change a ship’s course. But Motter urges passengers to take responsibility for their own safety with a number of suggestions.

“Choose a cruise line that specializes in your native language,” says Motter. During the Costa Concordia event, safety instructions being broadcast over the ship’s loudspeaker system were difficult to hear in any language, leaving those who did not speak the language being broadcast at a disadvantage. “Costa, MSC and other cruise lines offer cruises in as many as five languages simultaneously. Europeans are used to hearing announcements in five languages consecutively; Italian, French, German, Spanish and English. In a critical situation the idea of having to communicate in five languages is not just daunting, it can mean life or death.”

Another lesson to be learned from Costa Concordia is to avoid itineraries where passengers are allowed to embark from multiple ports. In the U.S., passengers embark and disembark at the same port in most cases. European sailings allow passengers to embark along the way.

“During a disaster, having people onboard who have not yet had a boat drill can really add to the chaos, ” says Motter, noting the International maritime law requirement that says a ship must hold its safety drill within 24 hours of sail-away. Many cruise lines have a safety drill before the ship begins to move. While procedures followed on Costa Concordia were in compliance with this rule, it left 600-some passengers who embarked the ship the day of the event, uninstructed on safety procedures, adding to the confusion of getting off the ship.

Cruise lines, appropriately, will wait until the final story is told about Costa Concordia. The ship’s “black box” of navigational data and other pertinent information was seized by local authorities in connection with their investigation of the captain. That may add information that will steer the direction the cruise industry takes.

Costa has placed priority appropriately. They still have 20-some unaccounted for passengers to find. Addressing potential environmental hazards caused by that ship laying on its side off the coast of Italy is also a priority right now. But look for changes to be coming soon, changes that will impact the on-board experience of a cruise vacation, hopefully in a safety-conscious way that will make for smooth sailing into the future.

Getty image/daylife



Cruise line murder case back on TV this week

by Chris Owen on

Roll back the clock and set those VCR‘s, the 2005 cruise line murder case of George Smith who went missing while on a Royal Caribbean cruise is back on network television. In an update on Dateline NBC this Friday (10PM Eastern), the news hounds go to the well one more time for an update on the tragic industry-changing case.

“Dennis Murphy tells the story of an active, ongoing investigation whereby FBI agents won’t talk on the record. However, the cruise line, Royal Caribbean has conducted its own internal investigation and ‘Dateline’ has the exclusive update about what happened aboard the ship in the early hours of July 5, 2005″ reports Greenwich-Post.com.

According to the preview at Dateline’s Website, Mr. Smith, a Greenwich, Connecticut resident, went missing from his honeymoon cruise. His family settled a lawsuit last year involving his estate. Royal Caribbean agreed to hand over its investigative file on Mr. Smith’s disappearance to the FBI as part of the agreement.

“This settlement brings us one step closer to achieving our objectives because Royal Caribbean has agreed to provide more extensive information from its investigation into George’s disappearance,” Maureen Smith, George’s mother had said, in a press release reported by the Post.

Checking in on Dateline’s Facebook page, this question and photo posted teases fans:

“Can you guess what happened here? Is it a crime scene or something else? Take your best guess on this photo clue for Friday’s all new Dateline…”

Celebrities go to sea, some stay

by Chris Owen on

Celebrities go to sea all the time it seems. Martina McBride performed a short concert on Royal Caribbean’s Voyager of the Seas in New Orleans Saturday. Last weekend, Maroon 5 rocked Galveston with Carnival Cruise Line’s new Carnival Magic as a backdrop. Other acts from Kid Rock to Dancing with the Stars contestants host themed cruises, allowing fans up-close-and-personal time like never before. Now, celebrities are lending their names to onboard venues that will stay with cruise ships long after the stars have gone home. It’s all part of a branding effort by cruise lines to gain favor with the public as never before and travelers are clearly gaining as a result.

Saturday’s Martina McBride concert to welcome Royal Caribbean’s Voyager of the Seas was not the first time the cruise line has used star power to welcome a new ship. Stars from Reba McEntire to Rhianna have been on board to bring in new potential travelers, reward those already booked and help define the Royal Caribbean brand as current and relevant.

“We are particularly delighted to have Martina McBride help us celebrate our return to New Orleans with an exclusive concert aboard Voyager of the Seas.”Royal Caribbean International senior vice president of marketing Betsy O’Rourke said.

The concert was free to Royal Caribbean’s past and invited guests, adding a whole lot of value for those booked to sail after the concert. Such was also the case in Galveston, Texas last week as GRAMMY award-winning band Maroon 5 played a standing room only crowd dockside to welcome Carnival Magic to the port. This one catered to a more engaged crowd as thousands of fans took advantage of free tickets being distributed by Carnival via their Facebook page, senior cruise director John Heald‘s blog and selected Texas radio stations.
“We wanted to do something big and memorable to mark Carnival Magic’s U.S debut and what better way to celebrate than to bring together fans of music and fans of Carnival, along with our partners in Galveston, for an exceptional afternoon of fun and entertainment,” Carnival Cruise Lines‘ president and CEO Gerry Cahill said.

A similar level of engagement at Carnival has resulted in what they call their Funship 2.0 initiative, a $500 million transformation of the line’s onboard experience. Introduced in New York last month, this is way more than a makeover and way more than a dry-dock remodeling project. Carnival is bringing in heavy hitters and time-tested concepts in an attempt blow away the competition, at no additional charge to their passengers.

It’s all about the burgers

First up, Food Network star Guy Fieri, has developed a burger venue called Guy’s Burger Joint featuring gourmet, made-to-order burgers with a variety of toppings. There will be not hockey puck-like burgers here.

Fieri’s influence goes beyond the burger recipe too. Condiment stations will feature a suggested menu developed by the chef to show guests what condiments and toppings they can use to build a specialty burger. In addition to burgers, Guy’s Burger Joint will serve fresh, hand-cut French fries prepared on board.

A variety of innovative condiments from chipotle mayonnaise and a special barbecue sauce to garlic aioli and three hot sauces, will be available at self-serve condiment stations. For guests who like a little more spice, seasonings like garlic and herb, sea salt and hot chili also will be offered, along with a selection of toppings such as sautéed mushrooms, grilled onions, blue cheese crumbles and vine-ripened tomatoes.

Comedy is king

Carnival is also teaming up with comedian and TV personality George Lopez who will become the cruise line‘s creative director for comedy as Carnival introduces the Punchliner Comedy Clubs Presented by George Lopez.

“Carnival’s ships offer a huge audience that truly appreciates comedic performances and the on-board clubs are fantastic,” said Lopez. “I intend to help build and nurture an understanding among up-and-coming comedic talent that these ships represent a phenomenal environment to work and gain experience.”

Through the partnership, Carnival ships will feature a Lopez comedy routine shown on in-cabin televisions fleetwide and pre-recorded introductions by Lopez at comedy club shows, as well as a new Punchliner Comedy Brunch that will be offered on sea days. Lopez will also partner with the line on a comedy-themed consumer contest in 2012.

Lopez is seriously into the concept too. In an interview on Cruise Radio, Lopez detailed his involvement saying “I will bring people from television and movies and that will make it better. You start to see people on the ship that you have seen in movies and that makes it fun, that’s a great surprise,” adding “I will be performing on the ships occasionally myself which I am excited about”.

Celebrity DJ to the rescue

DJ IRIE, song master to the stars and the official DJ of the Miami HEAT, will develop a first-of-its-kind DJ academy at sea that will train all Carnival DJs across the “Fun Ship” fleet. The DJ IRIE Spin’iversity will bring an exciting new vibe to the line’s legendary nightclubs, deck parties and beyond.

“Miami HEAT games are known for their high-energy and non-stop fun created by DJ IRIE and we want to tap into his unique skills and passion for music to create an unforgettable atmosphere on board,” said Mark Tamis, Carnival’s senior vice president of guest operations. “Music is the soundtrack of our lives and our goal is to create an emotional experience for our guests through the right mix of terrific music and a DJ with a unique personality who can energize a crowd.”

Whether spinning in clubs in Miami or Las Vegas, at a sporting event or hosting his popular South Florida radio show, the internationally known DJ IRIE has mastered the art of bringing a crowd to its feet and pumping up the energy and excitement.

Through his new DJ IRIE Spin’iversity, a comprehensive training program, IRIE will train Carnival’s DJs how to read a crowd and tailor song selections from every musical genre, appealing to guests of all ages. He will also instruct DJs on how to make maximum use of their own personality and energy to create their own persona and build popularity among guests to develop a fan following.

And it’s free

An important point to note: None of this costs extra. Other lines have piled on upscale dining venues, entertainment options and other pay-as-you-go choices with mixed results. Carnival is adding all this and more at no additional cost to their guests.

Be sure your cruise travel agent is not a crook

by Chris Owen on

Its becoming an all too familiar story: A group of friends or family members buy a group cruise through a friendly local travel agent who handles everything for them. The group makes payments on their cruise to that travel agent, paying in full, right on time. Then the group goes to the ship on embarkation day all excited about the cruise only to find out something is wrong. Some or all of them don’t actually have a booking on that sailing or any other sailing as their travel agent ran off with the money and never paid the cruise line. Lets take a look at how this happens and what we can do to prevent it.

The Freeport News describes a recent scam that happened to the Edden family from the Bahamas:

“A family decided to take a vacation together this summer, but some were hugely disappointed.

Thirty-nine persons were set to go on an eight-day Carnival Caribbean cruise to St. Thomas, Tortola, Antigua and Nassau and were all excited.

But, according to family members remaining, the cruise was not for all.

When the group flew to Ft. Lauderdale, where they were to board the ship for their vacation cruise, as the group began the checking-in pro-cess, it was discovered that only 29 of the 39 persons were booked in the system for the cruise. According to reports, that was the amount of people for which the cruiseline allegedly received payment.”

The story goes downhill from there. Everyone had already checked their luggage with porters which was now mixed in with the luggage of 2500 other guests on the ship. At this point the whole mess was thought to be a big mistake so the group contacted their friendly “travel agent” for help.

“Eunice Morris of Morris Travel was contacted but the ship had only four remaining cabins on-board which they then sold to the travel agent that reportedly used a credit card to secure.

Of the 39 members of the family only 29 were able to go, and the remaining 10 could not get their luggage because it was mixed in with 2,500 others.

One family member left on shore said this was to be her daughter’s first cruise and when they saw the boat leave her daughter began to cry uncontrollably.

It was a heartbreaking moment for the 10 who were not only left stranded at the harbour but also without luggage, no transportation and had already checked out of their rooms.“

So now we have 10 people left ashore while the rest go off on their cruise vacation. Morris Travel promised to send them money to help with expenses while they were in Florida, waiting for the others to return along with a full refund when they returned home.

At least those on the ship were having a good time? Not so much.

“For the family members onboard it was not a good trip either as they found they did not have the types of rooms they had paid for.

Then, before the ship made its way to Nassau, the family were called in and told that the credit card (that the travel agent used to pay for the cabins bought on the day of sailing) was fake and they were asked to pay the full amount of $14,612.00 right then.

Their passports were held and they were blocked from leaving the ship, but former Member of Parliament for West End and Bimini David Wallace, who was also on the cruise was said to have pleaded for the family and they were allowed to get off the boat in Nassau, but had to leave their passports.“

The story ends with the news that Morris Travel has done this several times and gotten away with it. Their story was that payments had been sent to a processing center who made a mistake and did not forward the payments on to the cruise line.

“Our research has revealed that there was an error in processing and due diligence to correct and inform did not take place in sufficient time to avert a problem at Wenthworth Agencies (WAA) which has contributed to the distress of all parties concerned. Ms. Morris paid for a service to be rendered and we did not follow through to ensure that her request had been met.

“We have compiled points of noted interest on what transpired to cause denied boarding and payment re-call … We again apologize to the clients of Ms. Morris that suffered through an embarrassing ordeal and to Ms. Morris as she struggles to bring reason to the situation caused upon her unwarranted.

“Again our sincerest apologies, Mr. Daniel Wenthworth, Managing Partner.”

Further investigation by The Freeport News did not find a Wenthworth Accounting Agencies Boston, Cambridge and East Central Massachusetts. Big surprise.

The heart-breaking part of all of this is that the whole situation could have been easily avoided if a few simple rules of booking had been followed by the Edden family:

Always pay with a credit or debit card- Never pay with cash or a check. Paying with a credit or debit card affords some protection to consumers in the case of fraud like this case appears to be, just as if that card were stolen or the card number compromised. Cash is impossible to track down later. Checks deposited in the wrong place are not much easier. For efficiency and security, nothing beats a credit or debit card.

Insist that payments go directly to the cruise line- There is no reason for any travel agency to hold payments. In this case, had payments been processed properly and the Edden family used a debit or credit card, they would have seen “Carnival Cruise Lines” on their statement, verifying that payments went to the right place.

Register with the cruise line as soon as you have a booking number- Cruise lines are required to collect certain personal information like how passengers are planning to get to the pier, what credit card they will use for onboard purchases and the correct spelling of their names, etc. If booked passengers go to the cruise line website and attempt registration using the booking number provided by the travel agency and it does not work, something is wrong. It may be as simple as an innocent spelling error of a name or it may be that the crooked travel agent never made the booking.

Ask for an official cruise line invoice- After the initial booking is made, travel agencies commonly send out their own in-house booking confirmations. There’s nothing wrong with that and those travel agency invoices often show details of when payments were made that the cruise line invoice does not.

If it does not sound or look right, ask a trusted source– The Better Business Bureau (BBB) is a great source to start with, before buying. That an agency is not listed with the BBB should be red flag causing concern on the part of buyers. The BBB rating of an agency is also a good indicator of how things might go. In another scam reported this week by the Orlando Sentinel, the crooked agent involved scored an “F” rating.

Be aware of the travel agency/cruise line relationship– Complying with the agreement made between travel agents and cruise lines, cruise lines will not talk to passengers about their booking made through a travel agent. By booking with a travel agent, passengers give up the right to discuss your booking with the cruise line.

Does that mean everyone should simply book directly with the cruise line? Maybe. If it was their first time going through the process, booking directly with the cruise line would have eliminated the intentional fraud we saw with this case.

But booking directly with the cruise line also removes the opportunity for a good, honest agent to work on the behalf of passengers over the life of the booking. Those efforts most often result in consumers getting the best value as well as a seamless package that only a qualified agent working with their best interests in mind can provide.

Any state Attorney General’s office and/or Division of Consumer Affairs is also a good one to give a call early in the process of booking. They maintain records of these things and are eager to help.

The situation is sad but very avoidable for groups that have planned their cruise-of-a-lifetime family reunion, anniversary, graduation or wedding cruise for quite some time. Trusting the local travel agent, they may have skipped dining out, made their shoes last a bit longer than normal or done without something else to make those payments on time. They had no reason to believe anything was wrong. After all, their travel agent is a pro and knows all about cruise vacations. Just this week, another group fell prey to a “travel agent” who would be more accurately described as a “felon on the run”.

Flickr photo by gurbisz

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Live virtual cruise lectures to offer a variety of topics

by Chris Owen on

When travelers choose a cruise vacation its often because they get to visit several different destinations bundled into an itinerary they find attractive. They may have traveled to those destinations on land before or simply dreamed of going there one day. Cruise line web sites do a good job of describing various ports of call as do online sources like CruiseCritic.com. Now, a major seller of cruise vacations is offering a live virtual cruise lecture series that gets up close and personal on a variety of topics.

“The cruise experience differs widely from cruise line to cruise line and from ship to ship. Our virtual presentation series will allow customers to learn about the different cruise opportunities from the comfort of their own home. Registration is free and a variety of topics are covered. We hope to give consumers a much better understanding of cruising and what the different options are to choose from,” said Jeanne Wyndrum, senior vice-president of Cruise.com, a major, reputable online seller of cruise vacations.

The program is designed to provide consumers with a unique venue to learn about the cruise experience from the comfort of their own home. A number of cruise destinations and topics will be covered. Virtual Cruise Lecture Series allows consumers, whether a first time cruiser or a seasoned sailor, to take a virtual tour of almost every aspect of the cruise experience.The a wide array of topics are being offered at the live presentations set up for 7:00 PM Eastern time starting August 2nd. Advance registration is required and allows viewers to ask questions and interact with program presenters.

Topics include specific destinations like cruising in South America or Asia as well as general topics like Winter cruising in the Caribbean, river cruising or information about themed culinary cruises.

Not able to attend at 7:00PM Eastern time? All cruise lectures will be available on the Cruise.com website for viewing later, just no asking questions. To take advantage of recorded sessions simply register for the presentation(s) of your choice. An e-mail will be sent after the presentation is completed with a link to view the recorded program.

Flickr photo by pmarkham

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