Cruise Industry leaders reaffirm their commitment on safety.
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Cruise industry leaders convened for the first annual convention since the Costa Concordia incident, reaffirming their absolute commitment to safety and their belief that the dip in cruise bookings is short lived and would recover.
The Concordia accident which saw the death of 32 people when it ran aground near the island of Giglio , certainly cast a shadow over this year’s Cruise Shipping Miami event , the annual gathering attracts thousands of people who work in the cruise and travel industries from more than 100 countries .
Costa’s parent company Carnival Corporation, the world’s largest cruise line confirmed that booking trends are lagging behind last year, leading it to downgrade its profit expectation by nearly 50%.
“As everyone here well knows, the Concordia incident has focused considerable attention on our industry, “Carnival Corp. vice chairman and COO Howard Frank said in his keynote address.
“While most of this attention has been negative, and we are clearly seeing some setbacks in the short term, we have faced similar setbacks in the past, and in each case we have shown tremendous resiliency in bouncing back.”
Frank, who is also chairman of Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) trade group said that in the aftermath of the Concordia, despite the industry’s good safety record , cruise lines are re-emphasizing passenger and crew safety , implementing an extensive top-to-bottom review of shipboard safety and emergency response procedures starting with compulsory musters prior to each departure .
There were other incidents that plagued the industry in recent times. The Costa Allegra’s engine room fire leaving passenger without working toilets, running water or air conditioning for three days. Outbreak of Norovirus incidents on Princess and Royal Caribbean and the recent robbery of 22 Carnival passengers on a bus in Puerto Vallarta, charade of negative news all affecting confidence in the sector.
Despite all the recent doom and gloom the sector is viewed with extreme confidence with 14 new ships coming online in 2012 and in excess of 17 million passengers across CLIA’s 26 member lines expected to be carried this year, which represents a five percent increase. Non-American international business has grown by approximately 6% making the industry less reliant on passengers from North America.
The leaders pointed to an enormous potential for growth with less than 3 percent of people in North America ever taking a cruise and even less in Europe really creating an abundant growth opportunity according to CLIA.
Gerard Cahill, president and CEO of Carnival Cruise Lines re-iterated that the Concordia tragedy happened at a time when the industry was looking forward to regaining further ground from the recession without a big need for deep discounts. The company pulled back all advertising immediately after the incident but has now resumed normal activity and seeing a lift in bookings.
Cahill states:” My perception was, most guests recognize – especially those who have cruised before that the cruise industry provides a safe vacation. I do think there were some people who aren’t as familiar with the industry, who are scared- off by a lot of the media. There certainly was constant attention and it did affect our business, no question about it. “
CLIA counted 28 fatalities on its member lines, 22 of which were crew members between 2002 and 2011, whilst cruise ships carried 223 million guests, again re-emphasizing the industry’s safety record.
Adam Goldstein, president and CEO of Royal Caribbean International spoke about bridge management and the need for scrutiny and improvement of all practices, even with the industry’s excellent safety record. Royal has gone as far as opening a training centre in Fort Lauderdale to bolster their bridge practices and techniques.
Stein Kruse, president and ceo of Holland America also reiterated that the industry is very safe, yet he believes that there is a need to communicate better and explain safety successes.
Gerry Cahill, president and CEO of Carnival Cruise Line stated that his company’s primary focus is on prevention but sometimes things go wrong and we have to have a flexible plan in place to address it.
Carrying mainly Europeans, MSC Cruises pays careful attention to their ability to communicate in a variety of languages should an emergency arise, Said CEO Pierfrancesco Vago. The line features in cabin videos, booklets and door plaques in several languages, and trains crew to communicate with guests.
On the subject of the recent well publicized Norovirus outbreaks Dan Hanrahan , president and CEO of Celebrity Cruises was quick to point out that the U.S. Public Health organization is a great partner to the industry and that it is incumbent upon the lines to get the word out about health practises on board .
When the discussion turned to earnings, Cahill said bookings looked good and not as dismal as they are being portrayed. In fact Carnival is ahead of the same time last year. Hanrahan said Celebrity regularly conducts surveys of potential cruisers, and the number of “cruise rejecters,” or people who will never cruise, hasn’t changed despite recent industry challenges. Norwegian Cruise Line according to Kevin Sheehan , its president had not seen a change in cancellations since the Concordia incident.