One can certainly understand why victims of the recently wreck of the Costa Concordia were a little put out by a recent offer. The company, owned by Carnival, called to offer them a 30% discount on their next Carnival cruise after 12 people died on the last voyage and 20 are still missing. Truly savings to die for. For crash victims, it is like Ford’s Theater offering Mary Todd Lincoln “buy two, get one free” ticket deal on the next performance of “Our American Cousin.”
[Update: Concordia denies that it made the discount offer]
In addition to the insulting offer, the cruise line has been having employees call victims to ask if they are suffering from nightmares or sleepless nights. Since experts say that such questioning can actually trigger sleepless nights, the motivations could be viewed as more legal than therapeutic. The effort would create a record of the most likely form of damages for passengers beyond any injuries in the crash — emotional distress.
The calls have followed a worsening legal position for the company as accounts stream in of the bizarre conduct of the Concordia’s captain, Francisco Schettino, who is accused of “showing off” by going too close to an island and then abandoning ship hours before the last passenger was rescued.
The company could claim that it is only trying to determine who needs assistance with experts and therapists, but Jennifer Wild, of Oxford University and King’s College London, says in the article below that repeatedly asking victims if they were having nightmares is considered the wrong approach by mental health professionals. What could be interesting is whether the calls could then be raised in court as part of the mental health trauma — and suggest a more cynical purpose of the calls and even include the offer of a discounted cruise in the future.
Source: Telegraph
What’s up, all the time i used to check webpage posts here early in the
daylight, because i like to find out more and more.
CAN YOU SAY CHEAP!!!!! I know carnival is trying to limit their liability and hoping a few suckers fall for the 30% off trick….but really????? Since the accident happened in Europe I wonder what extent their liability is under EU rules and how many politicos and judges have already been bought off?
maybe they could get steven tyler and areosmith to play the cruise.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epl77NyoS1o&feature=related
i was looking for the love boat theme, but this made more sense
I believe that when these passengers get through with the cruise line, they’ll be able to take all the cruises they want for the rest of their lives, at no cost. Plus $100,000 each.
Compared to other disasters there seems to be a dearth of information that I don’t understand, especially on such a highly monitored and electronic ship.
Or maybe I am looking in the wrong places.
It’s now 10 days since the accident, and I still haven’t seen any authoritative maps of the precise route the ship took, or the specific rock it hit.
I’ve seen all sorts of speculation, but nothing authoritative, and that needn’t come from the ship’s blackbox. It was being monitored by radar from a third party, and by GPS back at HQ.
Likewise, I haven’t seen any authoritative terrain maps of where she hit, or where she is now lying.
I know there is a drop off somewhere near the ship she is in danger of falling into, but how far away is that? 10 feet? 50 feet? 100 yards?
I just find it odd compared to all the information we seem to automatically get/expect for other disasters.
Thanks AN..
” Francisco Schettino, who is accused of “showing off” by going too close to an island and then abandoning ship more than four hours before the last passenger was removed.”
This is not accurate…..It may be possible….but not likely that anyone has survived….
And no mention of the oh-so-generous offer of “compensation”…
http://www.sacbee.com/2012/01/23/4207635/costa-concordia-wreck-wont-sink.html
“Thirty-three years after taking over the company from his late father, Ted, and turning it into a global leader, Carnival CEO Micky Arison faces perhaps the biggest test of his tenure. The 62-year-old is one of the country’s more recognizable CEOs given his added celebrity as the owner of the Miami Heat. But 10 days into the crisis, Arison has stayed out of sight and communicated only in written statements offering condolences and assurances that Carnival ships are safe.”
http://www.internationalcruisevictims.org/Articles/Disappeared_Without_A_Trace_On_A_Cruise_Ship.html
“Kendall Carver has formed the group International Cruise Victims together with others who have lost loved ones on a cruise. One of them is Son Michael Pham, the son of Hue Pham and Hue Tran.
In May 2005 they took a cruise with “Carnival Destiny” which sailed between Barbados and Aruba in the Caribbean.
Not much is known about the disappearance on “Destiny” on May 12th.
The search on board yielded no result, and no traces of them have ever been found. Did they commit suicide? Hardly. Both were in good heath, and they were looking forward to a long-planned cruise back to Vietnam to see their relatives again. They were two American citizens at the happiest time in their lives, but they disappeared without a trace or any witness, declares Son Michael Pham.”
http://www.fbi.gov/news/testimony/crimes-against-americans-on-cruise-ships
Its only fair – they got 1/3 of this cruise!
I’m reminded of a rather tasteless prank that got Howard Stern fired in DC (he was hired in NYC and I have heard he is doing OK since then). After Flight 90 crashed into the Potomac he called Air Florida and asked how much a one-way ticket from National to the 14th Street Bridge would cost.
I am certain those passengers who were on the shipwreck will be rushing to take advantage of this magnanimous offer for their vacations next year. Not!
How magnanimous of them … what next changing the name from Carnival Cruises to Circus Cruises … or perhaps The Open Water Reality Show?
What idiots. If this is what they consider compensation for killing people and destroying ther vacations, they better file for Bankruptcy now. Disgusting.