adrift...

Photo of the Carnival Triumph at Half Moon Cay
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

"The same Carnival cruise ship that had been disabled for days in the Gulf of Mexico, stranding hundreds of passengers without electricity or plumbing for days (it has been not so affectionately dubbed the “poop cruise”), broke away from the dock where it was being repaired and crunched into a cargo ship. Four tugboats went after the wayward ship and eventually re-secured the Triumph to the cruise terminal later Wednesday."   

                                                        Source:  news.msn.com

I find myself wondering what things are like in the Carnival Cruise Line's marketing department these days.  First they had a highly publicized, very embarrassing, overly graphic story of a cruise ship that was stranded at sea for several days without power and working toilets.  Just as I suspect they were putting public relations and messaging strategies into place, the cruise line suffered from two more ships that become stranded, these times, thankfully in port.  And now their ships are running away on their own.

In an industry where one of their main selling points is "sit back, relax and let us take care of everything for you," it is important that customers perceive you as knowing what you are doing.  Runaway ships, major mechanical failures and on-board fires, while possibly par for the course,  are not good for maintaining that image.  After the first Carnival Cruise ship got stranded at sea, I talked to a guy who said he was going right out to book a cruise.  Carnival Cruises, he reasoned, would never be cheaper.  Plus the company would do everything in their power to make sure things went well.  I am not sure that is how things actually went.

In the next few weeks, the difficulties compounded.  Then they doubled down. We see this frequently with sports teams where the team gets into a bad stretch and then things seem to continue to spiral downward, making for a miserable season.

But sports teams start afresh each season.  The record gets wiped clean, the team regroups or rebuilds, and they start anew.  It is harder for companies to do that.

While Carnival is not the only cruise line to have problems, they are the current team in that downward spiral.  I don't know if Carnival's headaches are the result of poor management decisions (such as deferred maintenance) or just bad luck.

Carnival's mishaps are not likely to hurt the cruise industry.  This isn't the first time that bad things have happened on cruise lines, and people continue to book them.  The Costa Concordia (which incidentally is owned by Carnival) capsized in an Italian port, killing 32 passengers and is still lying half submerged in the port as a giant reminder.  Yet people still booked cruises.

Nevertheless, Carnival DOES have a PR crisis on their hands.  When mishaps get piled on to each other, an image of incompetence emerges.  That is anathema to the image cruise lines try to portray.

Only time will tell if Carnival can right their corporate ship or if they will continue to be adrift.