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What affect will the sinking of Costa Concordia have on cruise bookings

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thied

thied

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Posted

Costa Concordia Accident - update as at 18 Jan 12

 

The events over the weekend involving the Costa Concordia is

a tragedy for the people involved and our thoughts go out to them.

 

Whilst there is still much to be done to investigate the exact cause of the accident early indications are that “significant human error” on the part of the Concordia’s captain may have been at fault in the shipwreck, Costa Cruises said in a statement about the accident, which at last count had claimed 11 lives.

 

The head of the cruise line believes the ship’s course was altered without authorisation.

 

Speaking to media immediately after the event, Costa chairman and CEO Pier Luigi Foschi did not mince his words. “It is human error here,” he said. “The captain did not follow the authorised route that is used by Costa ships very frequently.” According to Foschi, the area where the Concordia hit rocks and capsized on Friday night is used by Costa vessels more than 100 times a year, but the official route is further out to sea. He said he believed Captain Francesco Schettino sailed off course to show off the ship to residents on the Italian Island of Giglio.

“The captain, of course, does have the authority to change the approved course,

but we are not expecting him to do so unless there are dangerous weather or sea

conditions,”

 

The following statement is an excerpt of a letter from Costa Cruises Asia Pacific, based in Singapore.

 

"We at Costa Cruises are deeply saddened by this tragedy, and our hearts and prayers go out to everyone affected and offer the victims families our heartfelt condolences. Over the past 48 hours more than 1,100 Costa employees have been working tirelessly in the wake of this terrible event. We are working closely with the authorities to support ongoing search and rescue operations, and are focusing

on ensuring that all guests and crew members return home safely."

 

In a statement issued 17th January Mr Pasqualino Monti, president of the Port of Civitavecchia from where the ill-fated Costa Concordia sailed on Friday, announced that he would continue with plans to host a two-day conference on cruise tourism in July. He said in part, "More than 15m cruise tourists have passed through the port of Civitavecchia alone since 2000,’ and with perfect safety and peace of mind both on land and at sea. The Giglio tragedy is an isolated incident attributable, from what we know so far, to individual decisions taken without any logic and contrary to all established procedures."

 

Usually following an incident like this, additional measures are taken to tighten the rules and one likely outcome of the accident is improvement in basic safety procedures. There will be some lessons learned and actions taken as a result of those lessons.

 

Over 21 million people enjoyed a cruise in 2011 without major incident. The safety record of cruising is the best of any major form of travel, even taking into account recent events, and I expect it will become safer. Almost every time there’s been an accident in the travel industry, in any segment, we learn from it.

 

Whilst I understand some people would now have doubts about cruising I want to assure everyone that having been involved within the cruise industry for some 12 years I am totally confident it is a safe and responsible industry. The accident appears to be the result of a reckless and potentially criminal act of one person, the captain of the ship, and does not reflect the practices of the industry as a whole.

 

scorce my TA

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NSWP

NSWP

Posted
Posted
Costa Concordia Accident - update as at 18 Jan 12

 

The events over the weekend involving the Costa Concordia is

a tragedy for the people involved and our thoughts go out to them.

 

Whilst there is still much to be done to investigate the exact cause of the accident early indications are that “significant human error” on the part of the Concordia’s captain may have been at fault in the shipwreck, Costa Cruises said in a statement about the accident, which at last count had claimed 11 lives.

 

The head of the cruise line believes the ship’s course was altered without authorisation.

 

Speaking to media immediately after the event, Costa chairman and CEO Pier Luigi Foschi did not mince his words. “It is human error here,” he said. “The captain did not follow the authorised route that is used by Costa ships very frequently.” According to Foschi, the area where the Concordia hit rocks and capsized on Friday night is used by Costa vessels more than 100 times a year, but the official route is further out to sea. He said he believed Captain Francesco Schettino sailed off course to show off the ship to residents on the Italian Island of Giglio.

“The captain, of course, does have the authority to change the approved course,

but we are not expecting him to do so unless there are dangerous weather or sea

conditions,”

 

The following statement is an excerpt of a letter from Costa Cruises Asia Pacific, based in Singapore.

 

"We at Costa Cruises are deeply saddened by this tragedy, and our hearts and prayers go out to everyone affected and offer the victims families our heartfelt condolences. Over the past 48 hours more than 1,100 Costa employees have been working tirelessly in the wake of this terrible event. We are working closely with the authorities to support ongoing search and rescue operations, and are focusing

on ensuring that all guests and crew members return home safely."

 

In a statement issued 17th January Mr Pasqualino Monti, president of the Port of Civitavecchia from where the ill-fated Costa Concordia sailed on Friday, announced that he would continue with plans to host a two-day conference on cruise tourism in July. He said in part, "More than 15m cruise tourists have passed through the port of Civitavecchia alone since 2000,’ and with perfect safety and peace of mind both on land and at sea. The Giglio tragedy is an isolated incident attributable, from what we know so far, to individual decisions taken without any logic and contrary to all established procedures."

 

Usually following an incident like this, additional measures are taken to tighten the rules and one likely outcome of the accident is improvement in basic safety procedures. There will be some lessons learned and actions taken as a result of those lessons.

 

Over 21 million people enjoyed a cruise in 2011 without major incident. The safety record of cruising is the best of any major form of travel, even taking into account recent events, and I expect it will become safer. Almost every time there’s been an accident in the travel industry, in any segment, we learn from it.

 

Whilst I understand some people would now have doubts about cruising I want to assure everyone that having been involved within the cruise industry for some 12 years I am totally confident it is a safe and responsible industry. The accident appears to be the result of a reckless and potentially criminal act of one person, the captain of the ship, and does not reflect the practices of the industry as a whole.

 

scorce my TA

Nice words Thied, but Costa is on my Cruise Line Hate List, for reasons I have already explained. I would not recommend the Costa Line to anyone.

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Wyuna1

Wyuna1

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Not sure what effect this will have on bookings, but I have just read on an overseas news site that restores our faith in the Captain who ran his ship aground. He did not abandon ship but "tripped and accidently fell into a life raft".......

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Aus Traveller

Aus Traveller

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Posted
Nice words Thied, but Costa is on my Cruise Line Hate List, for reasons I have already explained. I would not recommend the Costa Line to anyone.

We have met a few people (on Princess) who have told us stories about their Costa cruises, at length, with the comment that they wouldn't go on Costa if the cruise was free, or even if they were paid to go.

 

I agree with your comments.

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rkmw

rkmw

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Not sure what effect this will have on bookings, but I have just read on an overseas news site that restores our faith in the Captain who ran his ship aground. He did not abandon ship but "tripped and accidently fell into a life raft".......

 

also the 2nd and 3rd officer were in the lifeboat too....they must have tripped in also

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davethescot

davethescot

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I read an interesting article that over the last 2 decades 90 Million people have cruised and this is the first major incident that has happened. I certainly won't be put off at all.

 

Personally I would rather be on a big ship and to a certain degree I think that it's safer.

 

It's a real tragedy but hearing of a plane going down is not going to stop me flying.

 

I have a friend who used to work with Costa as a singer. She said that the Captain's frequently go off course to pull these kind of stunts. It seems that this time he got unlucky then handled the situation very very badly.

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NSWP

NSWP

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also the 2nd and 3rd officer were in the lifeboat too....they must have tripped in also

Bob, thanks you have taken the words out of my mouth. At least we have British officers on Arcadia.

 

Rule Brittania.

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thied

thied

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Rescue divers have been given the go ahead to continue searching for missing passengers on board the grounded cruise ship Costa Concordia and navy explosive experts are planning to blow more holes in the ship's hull to gain easy access.

 

The restart came as the mother of a five-year-old Italian girl who is among the missing appealed to divers to push on until they had found her daughter. The girl, Dayana Arlotti, was on board with her father, William Arlotti, who is also missing.

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jan/19/costa-concordia-rescue-divers-search?newsfeed=true

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thied

thied

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The $450 million Costa Concordia was carrying more than 4,200 passengers and crew when it slammed into a reef and capsized Friday after the captain made an unauthorized diversion from his programmed route and strayed into the perilous waters.

 

Eleven people have been confirmed dead, their bodies removed from the ship and frigid waters.

 

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204301404577170292661082650.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

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Sandielle

Sandielle

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Next we will get the story that he had to have a drink for medicinal purposes and that he was comforting a distressed passenger in the bar.:eek::eek:

 

Talking about drinking - DH came across this on Google Earth today.

 

19 Jan 2012

d41fa80d.png

 

The ships weren't that close when he zoomed in, but he wanted to fit it into the picture.

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marconi

marconi

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David...Costa or MSC? neither thanks. My father told me stories about the Italian soldiers in WW2, when he was in Italy, enough said, I don't want to start an international war.

Sorry Les,

 

You have cruised many times on the Princess Line and may I remind you that many of those ships are manned by ITALIAN captains and staff!!! as are some P&O ships.

 

You have shown very offensive words which are detrimental to my father and many other italians who fought in an unwanted war that MUSSOLINI unfortunately entered unprepared and under stupid cicumstances.Please do not judge a whole nation by a weekness in a few, that would be judging the same for many nations.There has always been cowardice in the armed forces on both sides of the last war.

 

Not all Italian armed forces acted in the way you have intimated but some in the armed forces have been cowardly in a lot of instances just like the captain of the Concordia was.

 

I have lived in Australia for the most part of my life and I love the Australian way of life as so many other Italian emigrants, and I would never in my days talk bad about this great nation, but remember that there is greatness in other nations as well.

 

Sorry but I had to get that off my chest.

 

Regards Frank.

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Bella cruiser

Bella cruiser

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Posted

Marconi is correct, Italy has a very proud sea faring tradition. You will find many fantastic, respected, competent and experienced Italian captains & officers on P&O UK, P&O Cruises and Princess.

 

This one stuff-up does not sum up the whole.

 

A lot of people will remember how fantastic the Italian offers & crew were on the Sitmar ships back in the day.

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bazzaw

bazzaw

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Before we get too excited here - remember the Biblical injunction "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone!!" (for an atheist and a non-Christian, I think there is a lot of wisdom to be gotten from all kinds of sources)

 

Is there anyone here who does not have an image in their mind of a particular group of people eg a Nationality? I know that there will be some who say that their minds are totally open - totally non-judgemental. I don't believe them!

 

Paint me your picture of Eskimos. You will certainly have one. You know - they are those people who live in ice houses and hunt seals. Plus other things. Do not deny that you do not have a generalised idea of Eskimos. Well, the truth is we all do - but our views and reality are quite different - EXCEPT that there is indeed an element of truth in the stereotype in our minds.

 

Barry

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marconi

marconi

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Posted
Before we get too excited here - remember the Biblical injunction "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone!!" (for an atheist and a non-Christian, I think there is a lot of wisdom to be gotten from all kinds of sources)

 

Is there anyone here who does not have an image in their mind of a particular group of people eg a Nationality? I know that there will be some who say that their minds are totally open - totally non-judgemental. I don't believe them!

 

Paint me your picture of Eskimos. You will certainly have one. You know - they are those people who live in ice houses and hunt seals. Plus other things. Do not deny that you do not have a generalised idea of Eskimos. Well, the truth is we all do - but our views and reality are quite different - EXCEPT that there is indeed an element of truth in the stereotype in our minds.

 

Barry

 

 

Hi Barry,

 

I have looked at the word "Stereotype" and the definition given me is simple and very understandable as I thought it was ie:"A GENERALISATION,USUALLY EXAGERATED OR OVERSIMPLIFIED AND OFTEN OFFENSIVE,THAT IS USED TO DESCRIBE OR DISTINQUISH A GROUP"

 

Enough said.

 

Regards Frank.

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bazzaw

bazzaw

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Posted
Hi Barry,

 

I have looked at the word "Stereotype" and the definition given me is simple and very understandable as I thought it was ie:"A GENERALISATION,USUALLY EXAGERATED OR OVERSIMPLIFIED AND OFTEN OFFENSIVE,THAT IS USED TO DESCRIBE OR DISTINQUISH A GROUP"

 

Enough said.

 

Regards Frank.

 

Frank

 

Life is never quite as simple as that.

 

Barry

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marconi

marconi

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Yes Barry, I agree life is never quite as simple as that, but comments which may be hurtful or very offensive should be kept off these forums due to the participants being multicultural and nationalism should not come into it.

 

We should all be respectful to each other regardless of race or the horrible past historical events.

 

Regards

Frank

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bazzaw

bazzaw

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Posted
Yes Barry, I agree life is never quite as simple as that, but comments which may be hurtful or very offensive should be kept off these forums due to the participants being multicultural and nationalism should not come into it.

 

We should all be respectful to each other regardless of race or the horrible past historical events.

 

Regards

Frank

 

Can't disagree with any of that Frank :)

 

Barry

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