Email Letter from Adam Goldstein

[Host Dan]

How about something like:

 

While Costa is not affiliated with Royal Caribbean International, all of us at Royal Caribbean International continue to extend our heartfelt sympathies to those affected by the recent tragic incident on the Costa Concordia. As a Crown & Anchor Society member and loyal Royal Caribbean guest, we know you may have some questions as the situation continues to unfold.

That would have been much better verbiage. I would have felt alot differently about the email. As it is, I think its a bit "tacky".

 

Host Dan

[jonbgd]

I was hoping the email was telling me we were being upgraded to a GS

But no just corporate marketing

[The Big Booper]

I opened the E-Mail this morning and saw the reference to Carnival Corp and Costa and immediately thought "let's see the firestorm on CC". And I was right.

 

There have been several points made on this thread.

 

Cruise newbies and non-cruisers have no idea about the names of ships or who owns what brand. We are all obsessed with cruising, most people aren't. I have friends who are going on their first cruise, I asked them about it they said it was leaving from Florida in June, I asked them what ship, they answered "The Princess". They had no idea where it was going and don't understand the three Caribbean "food groups", Eastern, Western and Southern.

 

Costa is part of Carnival and they do share ship design, the Carnival Splendor which caught on fire in 2010 is the twin of the Concordia with Vegas styling rather then Rome.

 

There is nothing wrong with stressing that your company is very safety conscious, just to reassure your customer base. Only C & A people got that E-Mail.

[GLB]

How about something like:

 

While Costa is not affiliated with Royal Caribbean International, all of us at Royal Caribbean International continue to extend our heartfelt sympathies to those affected by the recent tragic incident on the Costa Concordia. As a Crown & Anchor Society member and loyal Royal Caribbean guest, we know you may have some questions as the situation continues to unfold.

 

 

I agree completely.

[tmoret]

I got the email also. I took it as he was just wanting people to know that yes it is safe to cruise. As someone that has cruised for many years I can say that I have never felt unsafe on a cruise. To me it is very easy to see that it is not even the cruise lines fault that this happened. It was one stupid idiots the made the choise to get that close.

[orville99]

What's missing from the picture is knowledge of the number of calls/inquiries into RCL's HQ in tha past week about what they were doing or how they were handling the sinking of one of their ships. At least one media outlet didn't know who owned what, and there have been numerous posts on this board (by seasoned RCCL pax, BTW) that tied various cruiselines to the wrong parent company. I see the statement in the email as nothing more than a clarification of the fact that Costa is not part of RCL.

[TEXASMUNK]

He clarified the ship ownership, insuring there was no relationship to RCI. Period.

I do believe the bashers will continue to wail and moan about his reply. Go for it....

Others, with a more open point of view, will see it as a clear, accurate response, with the added service of providing video information for concerned persons.

 

Rant on!

[nonna5]

Do you think if the situation was reversed it would have been handled differently? While I don't necessarily agree with the way it was done, I will bet you anyone in this situation would do the same!

 

 

Didn't your mom ever tell you two wrongs do not make a right.

 

I think they could have done better damage control by not naming any other cruise line by name.

 

And yes I do cruise both cruise lines.

[JaxieWaxie]

Because he was writing passengers that were sailing with RCCL, about the Concordia tragedy and safety concerns, he probably wanted to make sure that his cruisers did not think that the Concordia belong to RCCL...

 

I'm willing to bet you that's exactly why they cited the name. Most people who cruise don't have the same passion for it that people here do and, frankly, don't pay that close attention to the news.

 

A ship had a tragedy. A very big one. People died. And now people on the news are saying big ships are not safe. RCCL has big ships to fill.

 

RCCL is trying to get out with pro-safety messages right now to ease the minds of concerned passengers who might be rethinking that booking they have in hand or be about to make. The one thing they won't want to do is compound their PR challenge by taking "ownership" of another company's crisis. As a PR person who does a lot of crisis work, I'd have fought hard to make sure there was language in there distancing themselves from the tragedy.

[ChipLondon]

I think you are doing a major injustice to the many skilled officers that hold the coverted Masters Licence. They work for various cruise lines including Celebrity and Azamara. Just because one rouge has devalued that honour it does not mean that others have lesser skills.

I have many friends that are Captains with Royal, and they are disgusted that the honour of being Captain on a ship has been belittled by the recent situation.

Of course I believe that Royal Captains are amongst the best out there, but they would still be, even if they worked for another line previously or in the future. We must also not forget that their are many others that are licenced Captains, but still await a suitable opening to get a ship of their own.

 

I always think the cream rises to the top and obviously RCI is one of the top cruise lines and can afford to have the very best captains. Lesser lines may have to settle for something a little less. ...........

[khm1]

How about something like:

 

While Costa is not affiliated with Royal Caribbean International, all of us at Royal Caribbean International continue to extend our heartfelt sympathies to those affected by the recent tragic incident on the Costa Concordia. As a Crown & Anchor Society member and loyal Royal Caribbean guest, we know you may have some questions as the situation continues to unfold.

 

Your way is much better, IMHO.

 

What's missing from the picture is knowledge of the number of calls/inquiries into RCL's HQ in tha past week about what they were doing or how they were handling the sinking of one of their ships. At least one media outlet didn't know who owned what, and there have been numerous posts on this board (by seasoned RCCL pax, BTW) that tied various cruiselines to the wrong parent company. I see the statement in the email as nothing more than a clarification of the fact that Costa is not part of RCL.

I agree. The email is definitely meant to reassure it's previous customers that RCL is not affiliated with Costa and that it is still safe to cruise. The wording, however, could be better.

[Mark_K]

I wonder how safe the people on Monarch felt when it was run aground and had to be evacuated.

[CTNYER]

Only C & A people got that E-Mail.

 

Right, which makes your point about people knowing nothing about ships moot. C&A members certainly aren't as oblivious.

 

I love RCCL and their ships, but I clearly see what he did in his letter. ;)

[Sequim88]

Tragedy doesn't bode well for cruise industry at all.

 

Of course first thing my Mom said for their sailing this Saturday on Voyager (and yes, she did not know name of ship) was if there were a lot of cancellations there would be more chance for upgrade. Sorry, Mom but this far inside final pay date not likely.

 

Now, outside final payment date could be a different story. bad for cruise industry but good for steadfast cruisers.

 

Also speaking of not knowing cruise lines my parents were trying to figure out their C&A status and how many RCI cruises they've been on. I suspect not enough because they were obviously confusing some Princess and HAL cruises thinking they were RCI. Then again they are in their 80's and mix up a lot of things.

 

If I were a RCCL stockholder I would have cheered the disassociation with Carnival - especially when speaking to the loyal repeat cruisers and not the general public.

[nonna5]

How about something like:

 

While Costa is not affiliated with Royal Caribbean International, all of us at Royal Caribbean International continue to extend our heartfelt sympathies to those affected by the recent tragic incident on the Costa Concordia. As a Crown & Anchor Society member and loyal Royal Caribbean guest, we know you may have some questions as the situation continues to unfold.

 

 

This would have been so much better.

[MAHA]

I don't have a problem with the wording as it is business. The letter was sent out to C&A members, some of whom know what ships belong to waht company and some who might not. I'm sure there are a lot of C&A Gold Members who may have sailed once or twice with Royal who have no idea what corporations own what brands of cruise ships.

[CTNYER]

I'm sure there are a lot of C&A Gold Members who may have sailed once or twice with Royal who have no idea what corporations own what brands of cruise ships.

 

My point is that in order to get the safety message across, mapping who owns what has zero to do with the topic at hand. As I said, I see what he did there. Clever, but I see right through it. :cool:

[roadnut]

Being a few weeks after the disaster, I think Royal Caribbean has received a boatload :-) of calls and email about this. Many of those people have probably related RCCI and Costa together. A small segment of the population (meaning, those that post regularly here) probably understand the two companies are not related.

 

At the same time, how often have you seen Costa and Carnival mentioned in the same sentence (other than this forum)? Carnival is doing whatever it can to keep their name separated from Costa right now.

[ilovetexas]

I always think the cream rises to the top and obviously RCI is one of the top cruise lines and can afford to have the very best captains. Lesser lines may have to settle for something a little less. I have always felt that my safety was a number one goal on an RCI ship. I've never seen corners cut when it comes to safety. Even their excursions operators are held to high standards...all of the small boats I've taken on an excursion, we had a safety briefing, noting where the exits and pfd's were located.

I was glad that Adam was ahead of this and reassuring customers.

 

That's funny. :rolleyes: Was this captain on loan from a "lesser line"?

 

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1298&dat=19981216&id=JfEyAAAAIBAJ&sjid=yAgGAAAAIBAJ&pg=3824,4028787

[dfishner]

The letter Adam sent no matter what it said someone is going to find something wrong with it and I do find it in bad taste on how it is worded but I do understand it..

 

Holding Carnival corportation responsible for what happened on the Costa Cocondria because one person the captain did something stupid that affected many on that ship and repeat that ship it does not say anything on how the rest of the company is run. Will Carnival step up and do the right thing I believe they will..

 

We seem to have rather short memories so lets refresh that a little remember during the hurricane season when Sererande of the Seas left all those people at port and did not offer one bit of assistance to those that were stranded it was Carnival who stepped up with it passengers made sure they were contacted, found them places to stay and flew them to the next port of call or flew them home on Carnival dime.

 

I am not a fan of Carnival but in that case they excelled at taking cere of their customer which RCL failed to do I was very disappointed in RCL lack of action and they failed in the public opinion areana on how they handled that situation

 

My feelings are for the families that lost loved ones in this accident and it makes no different if it were a Carnival or RCL ship it could of happened on any line. None of you were affected, I wasn't either but there are people who were. I frankly do not care about Adam letter if the cruise line are going to be more safer because of this accident then hopefully something good can come out of this.

[bigeagle12]

Holding Carnival corportation responsible for what happened on the Costa Cocondria

 

Did you get a different letter than I reveived?

 

Mine did not say Carnival Corporation was responsible :rolleyes:

 

However, ultimately they will be responsible for dealing with this issue from a "parental" postion .. the same as if one of your kids does something wrong .. it becomes your responsibility to correct the situation and take measures to try and make sure it doesn't happen again.

[dfishner]

Did you get a different letter than I reveived?

 

Mine did not say Carnival Corporation was responsible :rolleyes:

 

However, ultimately they will be responsible for dealing with this issue from a "parental" postion .. the same as if one of your kids does something wrong .. it becomes your responsibility to correct the situation and take measures to try and make sure it doesn't happen again.

 

I agree in the end Carnival Corporation is responsible I was bothered by some of here using this accident as a excuse to bash and I find that somewhat childish.

[bigeagle12]

I was bothered by some of here using this accident as a excuse to bash and I find that somewhat childish.

 

I agree ..

[broberts]

He just couldn't resist referring to is as "Carnival Corporation" could he? Oh well, most great businessmen are the last people you would ever want as a neighbor. Greedy, opportunistic, go for blood. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that he's no different.

 

My sentiments exactly. No mention of Costa Cruises. Pin the blame on your principal competition instead and heavy sell of your own product. I've cruised more on Royal Caribbean than any other line but the letter thoroughly disgusted me.

 

I would have kept these sentiments between myself and Mr Goldstein except there was no reply to email address and following the links simply lead to the standard contact information.

[broberts]

Did you get a different letter than I reveived?

 

Mine did not say Carnival Corporation was responsible :rolleyes:

 

However, ultimately they will be responsible for dealing with this issue from a "parental" postion .. the same as if one of your kids does something wrong .. it becomes your responsibility to correct the situation and take measures to try and make sure it doesn't happen again.

 

"to those affected by Carnival Corporation's recent tragic incident on "

 

I guess our interpretation of these words is significantly different.

 

I take it from your last paragraph that you hold yourself in a "parental" position for all corporations in which you hold stock?