Why Now is the Best Time to Take a Cruise
TravelingMamas.com sends thoughts and prayers to the crew and passengers involved in the Costa Concordia accident. For recent updates from Costa Cruises, visit the official site.
I was looking at the itinerary for the Carnival Breeze, set to launch in June of this year, when I saw the news about the Costa Concordia. Any time tragedy occurs, especially in the travel industry, consumers and the experts begin to criticize safety, and they analyze what could have or should have been done in the circumstances. One thing I’ve noticed about these types of events is that safety and security comes to the forefront, and in my opinion, now is the one of the best times to take a cruise.
Increase in Safety
I’ve enjoyed a number of cruises over the years, and each one begins with a muster drill. Just in case the unthinkable occurs, there are safety procedures that must be followed. Due to the recent accident, Carnival Corporation & plc, parent company of Costa Cruises and nine leading cruise lines in the world announced a comprehensive audit and review of all safety and response procedures across all the company cruise lines.
As someone who works in emergency services, along with owning this site, I realize that while this was a very sad tragedy, it is also a wake-up call to all cruise lines to review their safety and emergency guidelines. When I worked during Hurricanes Katrina, followed by Rita, we were able to evaluate our own procedures. We learned what worked, and what didn’t work so that the next time the situation occurred we were better prepared.
Drop in Prices
Like any industry that suffers due to tragedy and circumstance, there are consumers who will cancel their long awaited vacations due to fear. It happened after Katrina. It happened after the BP Oil Spill. Tourists cancelled their trips, businesses shut down. For those who braved their fears, there were deals to be had.
Cruise lines right now are offering free balcony upgrades, onboard credit, and tons of other extras to entice consumers into booking a cruise. There are also a number of last minute deals right now due to recent cancellations.
I’m so confident in the current safety and security of the cruise industry that I will be taking my own children to Europe on a cruise. We’ll cruise on the Carnival Breeze and will even visit the same port (Rome, Civitavecchia) the Costa Concordia visited before the tragedy occurred.
For more information on the safety of cruise ships, check out MommyMusing’s post on cruise ship safety tips.
How has the Concordia grounding affected the industry safety? Read Chris Owen’s article on how the Concordia simulation will be the key to future safety in the cruise industry.
Weigh in on John Heald’s Blog, Carnival’s Senior Cruise Director
Have you cancelled your cruise after the Costa Concordia grounding? Are you planning a future cruise?
As you know, we’re regular client of Costa Cruises; we’ve done three cruises with them, and have no complaints whatsoever. Although there still, of course, have to be an official enquiry, it would seem there’s pretty damning evidence that the Captain was at fault.
As an ex-Navy friend said … you can put all the safety measures you can in place, but you will never make any ship ‘sailor-proof’.
I grieve for the loss of all those lives, and for the fate of a fine ship (I’ve never cruised on ‘Concordia’, but ‘Serena’ was of a similar design), but it’s not going to stop us cruising … with Costa for preference.