Cruise Bruise Blog
May 29, 2009
May 29, 2009
Profits Before People - The Real Carnival Corp
Whenever a P&O ship down under is involved in anything, it is almost a given that the story will evolve, and evolve and evolve to the point it makes you sick. Whether we are talking about child molesters sailing aboard their ships, or a dead body lying on the floor of a cabin, the story will always have layers to peel, and much like an onion, will make your eyes water.
When the H1N1 Swine Flu aboard the Pacific Dawn story first broke, it was given it was going to be a mess. Messes is what P&O does best. I decided to sit back, wait for the smoke to clear, then access the damages.
Otherwise, I would become just like the rest, updating the story daily, adding numbers daily, and finding it difficult to know if the numbers were accurate or not.
This case started out with children from two families, then more passengers were added, then crew members were added, then more passengers were added. Then, the ship reboarded new passengers, and the saga continued.
Then, Australian health officials told Pacific Dawn they could not call at the ports of Cairns and Port Douglas, for fear of infecting a high-tourist area and causing panic much like what happened to Mexico.
Fifty passengers and three crew have tested positive for the H1N1 virus after two voyages aboard the Pacific Dawn.
Locals are angry that not only were passengers from the first infected cruise allowed to leave the sick ship and mix with the public, but the cruise ship boarded a second wave of passengers, infecting even more people.
Profits Before People, it is business as usual for Carnival Corporation. It isn't just passengers at risk here. Passengers are taking their germs off the ships, and into ports. They go home, and spread the germs some more.
If it was only about Profits Before Passengers, there would have been little uproar. Though when people who do not cruise are adversely affected by the cruise industry greed, you are going to see rage. Rage, is one thing Australians are REALLy good at.
The media down under is shredding P&O once again in the court of public opinion, just as they did in the Dianne Brimble case. Carnival Corp made a mistake by reboarding passengers on the sick ship, As usual, the passengers will pay for it.
Though their holiday was ruined, Carnival Corp refused to give a full refund to the plagued ship passengers. Instead, the line offered each passenger a 75 percent reimbursement of the fare paid and an extra 25 percent that can be used as credit on a future cruise. In order to get the 100% refund, the passenger has to cruise with them again. That is NOT a full refund.
Given their poor decision making ability, we can expect many will never cruise with them again, and will forfeit that portion of the refund, totaling 25%. The theory might be that their captain can't make good judgement calls. This time it was a outbreak, next time it could be a storm, listing or fire because when Profits Before People is a business model, bad decisions when it comes to the public's best interests are a given.
