One British survivor of the disaster, which claimed 12 lives with 20 people still missing, branded the offer as “insulting”. It was disclosed that in an attempt to help survivors the ship’s parent company, Carnival, has been telephoning passengers daily asking if they are suffering nightmares or sleepless nights. But that move also appeared to backfire when a psychologist said such questioning could trigger post traumatic stress rather than relieve it. A little over a week after the ship capsized off the coast of Tuscany, it also emerged that:
• An emergency services log showed that the Concordia’s captain, Francisco Schettino, abandoned ship more than four hours before the last passenger.
• A separate voice recording showed Capt Schettino pledging to be the last man on the ship, suggesting erratic behaviour and that he lied to the authorities.
• Divers recovered the ship’s safe from the captain’s cabin along with the body of a woman they found in a submerged corridor
The offer for future discounts is being made by Costa Cruises, which operated the Concordia and whose parent company is Carnival, the world’s largest cruise operator.
“The company is not only going to refund everybody but they will offer a 30 per cent discount on future cruises if they want to stay loyal to the company.”
I can only imagine the meeting where some PR idiot comes up with this idea…. “OK, this is what we’re going to do.”
How about 99% off!
The way the 1%ers think, “You’re dead biotch, suck it yup!”
The rule is: ‘Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me’.
“abandoned ship more than four hours before the last passenger”
I still think people are being too rough on the poor guy. Just because he misunderstood “Women and Captains first!”
Imagine if the Titanic survivors could have sued. Let’s wait and see what lawyers are going to handle this one.
There were over $13,000,000 in claims (lawsuits) from survivors and next of kin on the titanic.
(About $325 Million today.)
My jaw hangs slack as I am agog at the insensitivity.
That’s like offering free firecrackers and a lighter to victims of suicide bombings, or free gasoline, a can and a book of matches to the family of a Buddhist monk. (Okay, that also sounds like something Rush Limbaugh would think of.)
Its been a long time practice of cruise companies offering discounts on future cruises when a cruise ship suffers mechanical problems. My parents were on a cruise along the St. Lawrence Seaway and the Atlantic Provinces when the ships engines quit and the stabilizers stopped working. The cruise stopped 2/3 of the way thru and the cruise company bused the passengers to their final destination. They offered my parents a substantial discount on a future cruise, which they declined.
The PR failure was not realizing that a ship sinking and people dying calls for an entirely different approach to minimize lawsuits.
You’re right. As a gesture of good will, the cruise line should offer discount funeral arrangements instead 😉
At least free burial at sea…
Buncha mindless bitching: SUGGEST what you think the courtesy compensation should be!
I was thinking full cost on next trip with the company PLUS a free swimsuit PLUS====you get to kick Captain Francisco Schettino squarely in the balls at a time and place of your own choosing, -or- a nice dinner date with all the obligations from that blonde girlie that thinks he saved everyone on board.
Shouldn’t all the guilty parties be punished?
A similar grounding of a Russian cruise liner in New Zealand 26 years ago resulted in no deaths and a booming shipwreck scuba adventure industry.
Lifetime cruises for the souls of all the deceased, contained in herbal olive oil bottles and blessed by the pope.
A lighthouse erected in memorial at the point the ship struck bottom.
Capt Schettino will travel to all future disaster sites giving speeches to survivors on the right thing to do in an emergency
I can’t help but wonder if the captain abandoned ship to avoid the possibility of a breathalyzer test, as is often the case with automobile hit-and-run incidents.
Good point, but it would’ve been better if he hid in a locker above surface for a few hours.
I think it would be better if he was stuffed in a locker below deck and under water.
Biggest fear for passengers? The lawyer infested waters.
Loyal?
LOYAL basically means you do your best to/with each other..
INCLUDING THE CAPTAIN, and your CORP..
They were NOT loyal to the passengers, and had a captain that was a FLAKE..
Probably BORED to death for doing the SAME ship run for YEARS and YEARS, and was DRUNK/buzzed/tweeked/Geeked out/… or did this on purpose to make the corp loose money, after he asked for a raise.
TIMe to pay up.
I read a story from The Chicago Tribune that raises questions about the cruise company trying to throw the captain under the bus, so to speak.
The captain said in his deposition that the close approach was on the order of the cruise line. He was supposed to do one the prior week, but bad weather prevented it. And that these “salute” approaches were normal, while the cruise line seems to says they are highly unusual. Also, the captain said he was in touch with the cruise line’s operations managers during the crisis and followed their advice.
The captain may have been a flake, but he was the cruise line’s flake since he has been in command of ships for them for a while. They have a lot of explaining to do if they want everybody to believe he was such a poor captain, but they kept him employed and never saw his flakiness.
There are clearly three separate groups. Those who died or lost family, those who had their cruise interrupted by an unfortunate incident but otherwise got through it unscathed, and those who suffered some degree of injury but did survive.
For the survived unscathed group a total refund and the offer of a free cruise would seem to be fair enough for the inconvenience they suffered though restitution for lost personal effects is going to have to be worked out. This is by far the majority.
For those who lost family members nothing the company can do is going to undo what happened however a starting place would be to refund their fees. The proper amount of blood money will of course be determined by a court somewhere.
The third group who survived but sustained some degree of injury is going to be dicier but covering medical bills might be a start.
If anyone wants to protest the 30% off a cruise, I will gladly take it. Just let me know!
Derek – you can have it as far as I’m concerned. Due to some very strange circumstances, I was more or less forced to live on a cruise ship for almost three months. Miserable, even in the Caribbean.
Don’t dream that anyone is going to get a big payout. When these people climbed onto the ship, they agreed to a maximum damage payout of $71,000. Thank you Lawyers!
From the New York Times:
The issues in the case could be shaped by the highly restrictive terms of the contract that every passenger gets with his or her ticket, said Gerald McGill, an admiralty lawyer in Pensacola, Fla.
Cruise contracts are notoriously restrictive regarding the rights of passengers, and Costa’s 6,400-word contract is no exception. The Costa contract sharply limits the kinds of lawsuits that can be brought, where those suits can be brought and how much the company can be made to pay. All such provisions have been upheld in the courts of the United States, he said.
Costa’s contract states that the line will pay no more in cases of death, personal injury and property loss than about $71,000 per passenger. It allows no recovery for mental anguish or psychological damages. It bars class-action suits.
“If you read this cruise line ticket, and it doesn’t make your stomach turn, it should,” Mr. McGill said.
For cruises that do not involve a United States port, the contract states, any litigation must be brought in Genoa, Italy, and be governed by Italian law. But when it comes to liability, the contract says the company can take advantage of any limits set by international treaties or the laws of the United States, which are very generous to owners of vessels. If there is a conflict among the patchwork of laws and treaties regarding liability, it says, “the Carrier shall be entitled to invoke whichever provisions provide the greatest limitations and immunities to the Carrier.”
Most people don’t understand the language in a contract that limits liability, restricts jurisdiction, and invokes international treaties among other things.
There is an argument that gross negligence was involved in this incident, which could change the whole ball game depending on the jurisdiction that handles the lawsuits.
you can sheer a sheep many times, but you can only skin him once.
While I’ve, by no means, suffered as much as the Costa Concordia passengers, I can speak first-hand to the dimwitted minds of those who manage customer relations within cruise lines.
Seven years ago, my family booked a cruise as a final vacation with our terminally-ill Mom. We booked the complete cruise package, a 7-day trip, from Royal Carribean, including flight from Cleveland to Fort Lauderdale.
A plane cancellation forced our party of eight to, at the cruise line’s direction, split up and seek alternative flights on our own. With a 55-year-old mother in a wheelchair and two small children in tow, we scurried from ticket counter to ticket counter to try and get us to Florida before the ship’s scheduled departure.
Half the group made it to Florida, and due to a layover and another cancelled flight, the other half did not.
We spent 8 stressful and desperate hours on the phone with Royal Carribean, who all along maintained they had no responsibility to help us when it came to the flights. Also, if we could not make the boat by departure, we would have to pay our own way to the ship’s first stop in St. Thomas, 3 days into the ship.
After burning out batteries on 3 cell phones, we were put on a later (and lesser) cruise, where we found out that Royal Carribbean WAS responsible for helping us get on our initial cruise all along, as we had purchased the complete package from them.
After a rant to several higher-ups within Royal Carribbean, we received their sincere apologies and a $100 voucher to cruise with them again.
Never again.
We all suffer at the hands of corporations that are legally granted limited liability, human rights under the law, and eternal life.
We are all slaves.
While I’ve, by no means, suffered as much as the Costa Concordia passengers, I can speak first-hand to the dimwitted minds of those who manage customer relations within cruise lines.
Seven years ago, my family booked a cruise as a final vacation with our terminally-ill Mom. We booked the complete cruise package, a 7-day trip, from Royal Caribbean, including flight from Cleveland to Fort Lauderdale.
A plane cancellation forced our party of eight to, at the cruise line’s direction, split up and seek alternative flights on our own. With a 55-year-old mother in a wheelchair and two small children in tow, we scurried from ticket counter to ticket counter to try and get us to Florida before the ship’s scheduled departure.
Half the group made it to Florida, and due to a layover and another cancelled flight, the other half did not.
We spent 8 stressful and desperate hours on the phone with Royal Carribean, who all along maintained they had no responsibility to help us when it came to the flights. Also, if we could not make the boat by departure, we would have to pay our own way to the ship’s first stop in St. Thomas, 3 days into the ship.
After burning out batteries on 3 cell phones, we were put on a later (and lesser) cruise, where we found out that Royal Caribbean WAS responsible for helping us get on our initial cruise all along, as we had purchased the complete package from them.
After a rant to several higher-ups within Royal Caribbean, we received their sincere apologies and a $100 voucher to cruise with them again.
Never again.
If I had lost a loved one to these criminally incompetent weasels and they had offered me a discount, their headquarters would be a smoking crater. Literally.
Why are all of the cruise ship captains from Italy? C arrival hires almost all officers from Italy for some reason.
Some nice/interestng photos here including one very nice one of da boat:
http://desli.de/?o=html_table_fs&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.msnbc.msn.com%2Fid%2F46045527%2Fns%2Fnews%2Fdisplaymode%2F1247%2F%3FbeginSlide%3D1
Way to go Carnival!
Now just GO.
to hell
id be giving em like 5 free crusises if they wanted to take em. WTF 30% off the next one. put them on a free cruise and theyll spend at the bar restraunt etc.
sounds like torture. I would never wish the airport and a cruise on anyone. Id rather take a bus to canada to take a flight to europe than put up with U.S. Airports.
All the germs, and GMO food being served on a cruise. Count me out.