Cruise Ship Blues: The Underside of the Cruise Ship Industry (31 page)

Apr 00
Rotterdam

May 00
Nieuw

Amsterdam

Oct 00
Veendam
Jun 01
Zaandam

Details of Mishap

Hit by rogue wave. Damage to any thing not bolted down; rough seas for Pacific crossing

Fire in crew quarters while in Glacier Bay. Cruise delayed 12 hours awaiting Coast Guard clearance
¹

Electrical generator failure — no power for 3 hours

Discovered that sprinkler heads in some rooms not connected to water supply

Norwegian Cruise Line
Date Ship

May 01
Norway

May 01
Norwegian Sky
Sep 01
Norway

Details of Mishap

Cruise canceled due to safety violations — 106 leaks in fire sprinkler system

Autopilot malfunction causes roll. 70+ pas sengers injured, 16 hospitalized

Grounded; collides with pier at New York City. No damage to ship

Premier Cruises
Date    Ship

Jan 00    
Island Breeze

Mar 00    
Seabreeze

May 00    
Big Red Boat III

Jun 00    
Big Red Boat II

Jun 00    
Big Red Boat II

Jun 00    
Island Breeze

July 00    
Rembrandt

July 00    
Seabreeze

Aug 00    
Big Red Boat II

Dec 00    
Sea Breeze

P&O Princess
Date    Ship

May 00    
Aurora

Sep 00    
Oriana

Dec 00    
Crown Princess

Mar 01    
Regal Princess

Apr 01    
Dawn Princess

Apr 01    
Royal Princess

Jun 01    
Crown Princess

Details of Mishap

Problems with boilers. Cruise delayed 2 days

Engine boiler breakdown. Cruise canceled

Leaves port with anchor down; strikes under water power lines. Power out for 17 hours at Newport, RI. Cruise continues

Maiden voyage canceled at last minute due to unfinished renovations

Problems with air conditioning, plumbing, and propulsion. 2 cruises canceled

Collision with tugboat — damaged propeller, tug sinks. 2 cruises canceled

Air-conditioning problems on multiple cruises

Engine problems. Ship adrift for 14 hours

Elevator malfunction at end of cruise. Passengers kept onboard for several hours at port

Sunk in 30-foot seas in the Atlantic. No passengers aboard at the time; no injuries

Details of Mishap

Problem with overheated propeller shaft 18 hours into maiden voyage. Cruise canceled

Hit by 40-foot wave — smashed windows in 6 cabins; 20 cabins flooded. 6 people injured; cruise delayed

Loss of generator power. Sails at reduced speed

Grounded at Cairns. Ship freed and continues

Engine problems. 5 hours late in arriving at Barbados

Breaks loose from mooring at Port Said, Egypt; drifts into path of cargo ship. Minor damage

Mechanical breakdown; towed to Copenhagen. Delayed at Stockholm for 3 days

Others
Date Ship

Jan 00
Olympic Countess

Feb 00
Clipper

Adventurer

Apr 00
Ocean Explorer

May 00
Riviera I

May 00
World Discoverer

July 00
Funchal

Details of Mishap

Engine problems. Passengers transferred to the Triton and continue

Trapped in ice jam off Antarctica; freed by icebreaker. No damage; 24-hour delay

Engine failure. World cruise ended

Ship seized for failure to pay fuel bills. Passengers stranded in Tahiti

Hits rock or a reef and holed — forced to beach. 100 passengers rescued from Solomon Islands

Loss of power. Cruise canceled

Collides in 3-ship incident at New York harbor; scrapes and dents only

Mechanical failure. Anchored for a few hours to make repairs

Collides with container vessel; repairs made without delay

Propeller damaged. Several cruises canceled

Engine problems. Ship pulled from service for 3 months

Hit by rogue wave — wheelhouse windows break and water enters bridge. Detour to Montevideo for repairs

Engine problems. Cruise canceled

Caledonian Star
Damaged by large wave in storm; guided to port by Argentinean Navy

Grounded in Alaska

May 01 Jun 01
Costa Tropicale

Grounded at Venice; towed free by tugboats.

2 weeks later, grounded again at Mykonos; towed free by Costa Atlantica

Sheltered Seas
Engine problems. Passengers evacuated

Unnamed Swiss-
Collision with freighter in Germany

registered riverboat

ENDNOTES

The Inaugural Sail: An Introduction to the Cruise Industry

1    “Global Cruise Industry Tops 12M Passengers for First Time,”
Lloyd’s List
(May 4, 2001), <
www.lloydslist.com
>.

2    “Newbuildings League,”
Seatrade Insider News
(February 26, 2002).

3    See Bernard D. Nossiter, “Cunard Cancels Ads after Unfavorable News Story,”
Washington Post
(February 17, 1978), p. A31. The
Sunday Times
story reported the
Queen Elizabeth 2
had been serving mixed drinks with ice cubes that had previously been used to chill raw fish, carrying ice cubes in dirty drums, and running up a fecal coliform count in the ice that was too high to count. it also reported that a spring 1977 cruise on the
QE 2
had left 216 passengers with diarrhea.

4    Carnival Corporation’s view is clearly expressed by Tim Gallagher (vicepresident of public relations) in Ted B. Kissel, “The Deep Blue Greed,”
Miami New Times
(February 3-9, 2000), <
www.miaminewtimes.com
>.

Chapter 1: Onboard the Floating Resort

1    Mike Beirne, “Renaissance Cruises Close to Naming New Agency,”
Adweek News Wire
(July 17, 2001).

2    These amounts were provided to me by onboard managers. Figures cited by Bob Dickinson and Andy Vladimir in
Selling the Sea: An Inside Look at the Cruise Industry
(John Wiley and Sons, 1997) are a bit different. They suggest per diems of $8 to $11 on mass-market lines, $8 to $18 on premium lines, and $25 to $30 on ultraluxury lines. They estimate a restaurant or hotel would have to charge between $33 and $40 to provide what a cruise line provides at $10 a day.

3    Nancy Huie, “F&B Spending on the Rise,”
Cruise Industry News Quarterly
(Fall 1995), p. 94.

4    Nancy Huie, “How to Control Food Costs,”
Cruise Industry News Quarterly
(Winter 1995-96), pp. 92-93.

5    Michael Grossman, “The Cruise Industry in Retrospect,”
Cruise Industry News Quarterly
(Summer 1995), p. 61.

6    A company press release dated April 24, 2001, stated that the “fine wines” on Seabourn Cruise Line’s complimentary list included R.H. Phillips Chardonnay (California), Caliterra Chardonnay (Chile), Loraine Valley Pinot Noir (California), Merlot Aresti (Chile), and Shiraz-Cabernet Sauvignon Banrock Station (Australia).

Chapter 2: The Myth of the All-Inclusive Vacation

1    This story appeared in several newspapers. The original source is: Marc Lacey, “Cost of Cruise’s Extras Could Leave You High and Dry,”
Los Angeles Times
(September 14, 1997), p. L2.

2    Carnival Corporation press release, “Proposed Combination of Carnival and P&O Princess,”
PR Newswire
(January 24, 2002).

3    Jon Ashworth, “A Ship That Thinks It’s a Conference Centre,”
London Times
(July 14, 2001), <
www.thetimes.co.uk
>.

4    See Michael Connor, “Norwegian Line Would Fit Nicely with Carnival,”
Reuters
(December 2, 1999).

5    Ashworth, “A Ship That Thinks It’s a Conference Centre.”

6    Nancy Huie, “The Business of Shopping,”
Cruise Industry News Quarterly
(Summer 1995), p. 50.

7    Rob Marjerison, “Maximizing Onboard Revenue,”
Cruise Industry News Quarterly
(Winter 1995-96), p. 82.

8    Nancy Huie, “F&B Spending on the Rise,”
Cruise Industry News Quarterly
(Fall 1995), p. 95.

9    Christopher Reynolds, “A Toast to Your Cruise! Now Hand over That Booze,”
Los Angeles Times
(October 19, 1997), p. L2.

10    Christopher Reynolds, “Minor’s Death Raises Issues of Drinking on Cruise Ships,”
Los Angeles Times
(August 7, 1994), p. L2.

11    See Arline Bleeker, “Cruise Lines Adjust Rules on Booze Use,”
Seattle Times
(January 20, 2002), .