What is Your Reaction to This?

[woody73]

I received the e-mail today, and found it reassuring. I would not be surprised if other mass market cruise lines reached out in the same fashion.

 

Woody

[Wannaknow]

Would anyone suggest they would actually admit to safety deficiencies in an e-mail blast? Of course they are going to rave about how safe they are. Rather self-serving???

 

I don't feel comforted that because Celebrity implies they are safer than Carnival brands that they are. Who says so? Them?

 

 

I think some people have WAY too much time on their hands:rolleyes:.

[hulamoon]

I skimmed the letter. I liked knowing about their back up system should a captain become unable to fulfill their duties. Many people have questioned this all week long. It is a valid question.

 

I take the letter as reassurance should anyone want to cruise with them. They skipped the Tuesday special last week. I assume because it was too soon. Marketing for customers has pictures and discounts , this was damage control. No one reads letters like that unless they want to know something. Ymmv.

[ariawoman]

Interestingly, I didn't receive the email, and my last cruise was on X and the one I have booked this year is on X (sorry HAL, your itineraries weren't good for me this time :( Still hoping to get back to HAL when itinerary presents itself.

 

I don't think I'd feel weird about getting the email. It is in poor taste to try to lure people due to a tragedy - but that is unfortunately the way of the business world. You gotta use what you can in order to drum up business. It's a crappy reality, especially in this bad global economy.

 

Personally, I won't feel any more or less safe setting foot on board a cruise ship with ANY label on it, after all, it really isn't the line that was at fault here (imho) it was the person that was given control. Maybe it's the lines fault that they hired him - but I dont know, you can only control your employees to a certain extent and have to trust them the rest. I trust that each cruise line has our best interests in mind.

[iancal]

We got it. No big issue.

 

But I guess you can read anything in to it if you have a mind to.

 

I wonder what the reaction would be if the email had come from the President of HAL??

[startwin]

I got one from RCI yesterday, which also included a video on their safety procedures - and received one from X today. All good PR.

[bob brown]

I believe that Celebrity email was done to reassure its customers, and all cruisers in general, that overall, cruising is safe. Safer than most any other activitiy, and detailed some of the safety measures. I do not believe that they were trying to imply that they are safer than anyone else.

In the airline industry, whenever there is an accident, you will never hear an airline claiming to be safer than any other in an effort to take business away from the unfortunate victim. Rather, safety ads. extoll the safety efforts of the industry as a whole. There was that famous ad. run by C R Smith, president of American Airlines back in the early days of aviation that dared to ask "Afraid To Fly?" It went on to tell of the great strides made in airlines safety across the board, and never exploited his companies's advantage over any other. I beleve it is in this spirit that safety advertising is done by cruiselines, as well.

[world~citizen]

Would anyone suggest they would actually admit to safety deficiencies in an e-mail blast? Of course they are going to rave about how safe they are. Rather self-serving???

 

I don't feel comforted that because Celebrity implies they are safer than Carnival brands that they are. Who says so? Them?

 

You must be very tired from all the conclusions you are jumping to. ;)

 

We sail HAL and X, got the letter you speak of and we are choosing between an X and HAL cruise right now. The letter will make no difference with respect to our decision.

 

The industry is bracing for an anticipated reaction to current events, and trying to do an end run, or so it seems.

 

Smooth sailing...

[FrankNJ]

I wish Hal would send a letter assuring us that toilets and air conditioners have been checked and rechecked on all their ships per their "Signature of excellence" program.

[whogo]

Would anyone suggest they would actually admit to safety deficiencies in an e-mail blast? Of course they are going to rave about how safe they are. Rather self-serving???

 

I don't feel comforted that because Celebrity implies they are safer than Carnival brands that they are. Who says so? Them?

 

I will say that Celebrity is safer. Check the record.

 

 

 

Cruise ships capsized in the last 10 years with loss of life:

 

Carnival Corporation ships 1

Celebrity ships 0

 

 

 

How about copying and pasting this offensive, overly long, irritatingly informal, self-serving e-mail so we can all see this unwarranted attack by the Celebrity boss on your precious Holland America Line? Feel free to omit the salutation, we'll take your word for it that it was addressed to you by your first name.

[kazu]

I will say that Celebrity is safer. Check the record.

 

 

 

Cruise ships capsized in the last 10 years with loss of life:

 

Carnival Corporation ships 1

Celebrity ships 0

 

 

 

How about copying and pasting this offensive, overly long, irritatingly informal, self-serving e-mail so we can all see this unwarranted attack by the Celebrity boss on your precious Holland America Line? Feel free to omit the salutation, we'll take your word for it that it was addressed to you by your first name.

 

It was posted earlier in this thread

[aliaschief]

Have not received the letter but would like to know if there has been a panic run of cancellations throughout the industry that dictated the need of such a letter.

 

Perhaps some of our members who are associated with the travel industry can enlighten us whether there has been an increase in cancellations since the tragedy.

[whogo]

It was posted earlier in this thread

 

Thank you, it's a well written letter. Costa could have sent out a very similar letter a month ago with all sincerity.

[Oceanwench]

I haven't gotten any type of email from a cruise line, but I find the one from X very well written and at no time was it implied that *other* cruise lines were less than safe.

 

I would not be bothered in the slightest if I received that email.

 

Interestingly, I did receive an email from an American populist organization - the Miami branch - warning of all the dangers in the ocean and suggesting that Americans are much better staying off the seas and remaining on land in the USA! (And spending their vacation dollars in this country!)

Now THAT I found insulting! :D

Perhaps they don't realize the economy of South Florida relies on the cruising industry?

[HeatherInFlorida]

I think anyone upset by this is taking it all way too personally. It's business and nothing more. A disaster, one that never should have happened, occurred on a cruise ship and I'm going to guess these lines are being inundated by nervous phone calls. RCL decided to be pro-active and send out an email under the RCL or Celebrity banner to attempt to soothe passenger concerns.

 

They're da**ed if they do and da**ed if they don't. If they say nothing, passengers might wonder why nothing is being said. They send this out and a few people are upset because they think it's a jab at Carnival.

 

Because I sail Celebrity I'm automatically a C&A member on RCL so I got the email. Why I didn't get one from Celebrity I have no idea and it doesn't matter to me one way or the other. If I get something from HAL I won't think they're trying to cover themselves; I'll feel they are simply addressing a very bad situation and they should.

 

It's just a letter, it's public relations, it's business. It's my guess, and I would hope, that Carnival will be coming out with something at some point. Frankly, I think the sooner the better.

[kyriecat]

I wasn't really surprised to see the letter. I haven't sailed X since 2007 but I do have cruise booked with them for 2013. I received a similar letter last week from the CEO of my travel agency describing the safety of cruising. I didn't think the Celebrity letter was bashing Carnival or any other cruiseline's safety protocol. Carnival's ownership of Costa is not mentioned. I think the letter was meant to be reassurance that a similar incident wouldn't happen on Celebrity.

 

I didn't receive the letter from RCCL. I saw the excerpt that Madera1 posted where RCCL does specifically mention Carnival. That could be interpreted as a bash on Carnival's safety record. I'm a little surprised that I did not receive a copy since I have a RCCL cruise booked for next month and have been a frequent cruiser with them.

 

The cruise industry needs to address the incident. The information coming out about Concordia's course and actions of her captain puts a black mark on the whole industry. The preliminary information makes it seem that Concordia's captain was sailing in an area he shouldn't have been in, hit a rock that was clearly noted on navigational charts, delayed too long in calling to evacuate the ship, and left the ship before most passengers were off. Those are all major safety concerns bringing to mind, "If Concordia's captain behaved that way, do other captains?"

 

Since the Concordia incident, I have been asked at least 20 times by people who know I enjoy cruising whether I plan to cancel my upcoming cruises. Many of them said that they would not consider taking a cruise vacation because of the incident. I know one woman that I work with who canceled her summer cruise because she was afraid something similar could happen and she feared for the lives of her children.

 

I don't plan on canceling any cruises because of a single incident. I didn't cancel a trip requiring a flight the week after 9/11 even though many other people canceled their flights. I figure when my number is up, it won't matter whether I'm on a ship, plane, car, or even at home. I'm more likely to die because I broke my neck tripping over one of my cats while walking down the stairs at home than I am to die on a ship.

[DFD1]

To my knowledge HAL has not contacted its own customer base about safety issues in the wake of the Concordia grounding.

 

Makes one wonder whether or not the HAL marketing department is ignoring the industry-wide concern resulting from this disaster. It might behove them to take some similar action to reassure their own customer base.

 

From one point of view, what X did was just good marketing. Taking offense to their letter serves no purpose, IMO.

[SJSULIBRARIAN]

I received emails from both X and RCCL - have no problem with it. But will be interesting to see if any of the Carnival umbrella lines send out such a message.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Have not received the letter but would like to know if there has been a panic run of cancellations throughout the industry that dictated the need of such a letter.

 

Perhaps some of our members who are associated with the travel industry can enlighten us whether there has been an increase in cancellations since the tragedy.

I think it will be OK for me to comment here. We are in the Middle of Wave Season which is when a large percentage of cruises for the up coming year are sold. Cruise lines and agencies basically make the bread and butter so to speak in the months of January and February and it give a good projections of what our income will be for the year. Last week we did receive I believe just 3 cancellations (they were not my clients) but these people were also due final that gave the Costa incident as the reason. Over all last week sales were still good and what they should be for January then Friday hit with the Dr Phil show, 20/20 on ABC and Geraldo on Fox. The phones have basically gone dead or at least compared to how they should be ringing.

I personally do not know what the numbers overall are looking like for sales for the various cruise lines. I do think that once Costa and cruising is not mentioned daily in the news Wave Season will return. But fortunately for many cruise lines such as HAL many of the Spring Break cruises had sold well in December and early January to the point of many having limited availability. Alaska cruise sales also started much earlier than usual for the 2012 season with many ships also being limited for various cabin categories.

I think the biggest concern for the cruise lines is sales in Europe, it was already down mostly due to air costs but this may be what hurts Europe the most.

 

I also want to say that I am appalled at some of the comments in this thread. Such nasty comments being stated with postings that sound like school yard kids fighting. Even a few posts from CCers that may have not ever posted on the HAL board because they are fans of X but yet had to come here to post to help their fellow X fans.

 

Like I stated earlier I did not receive either email and I have sailed both of the brands that sent the emails. It was pure marketing 101 and it was just my opinion the letters were sent out a bit too soon. Should all the cruise lines send this out, YES but just barely over a week seems a bit early but they are obviously trying to save sales for Wave Season.

[DFD1]

LAFFNVEGAS, what you say makes perfect sense. These companies are just trying to save the most important part of the season...in an already bad economy.

 

What would it accomplish if the whole industry went into the can because of the Concordia grounding? Nothing, and it would hurt hundreds of thousands of hard-working people.

[jtl513]

It doesn't strike me as a dig at CCL lines.

[m steve]

only if they change their smoking policy on balconies. Anything else will have no affect on our choice of cruise lines.

[RevNeal]

I received the letter from Celebrity and wasn't bothered by it. I didn't read anything "between the lines," nor did I suspect that there might be anything "implied" by the letter; it just appeared to me to be a nominal example of PR-spin. Might there have been nefarious motivations behind the letter? I don't know, but I doubt it. That the letter was an attempt to reassure the cruising public, including their own cliental, seems most likely. Interestingly, however, I have cruised with Celebrity or RCCL, and have never indicated to either Line an interest in booking with them ... and, yet, I got the letter.

 

As an aside, since the accident I have had quite a few people (church members, fellow clergy, and other non-cruising friends) ask me: "Was it one of your ships that sunk?" My reply has been: "No. That was a Costa ship, not a Holland America ship. Different cruise line." Most people are uninformed about the differences, etc., and don't even realize that HAL is owned by the same parent Corporation that owns Costa.

[iancal]

I believe that the Carnival holding company controls 101 cruise ships in something like 11 cruise lines.

 

The nasty comments don't surprise me. Some seem wed to their favorite cruise line. This, combined with what is obviously too much spare time and an over active imagination always makes for interesting reading.

[RevNeal]

Interestingly, however, I have cruised with Celebrity or RCCL, and have never indicated to either Line an interest in booking with them ... and, yet, I got the letter.

 

That should read "Interestingly, however, I have never cruised with Celebrity or RCCL ..."

 

Sorry for the typo.