Carnival Cruises Offers Passengers of ShipWreck Costa Concordia A 30% Discount Off Next Cruise
Costa Concordia crashed off the coast of Italy near Isola del Giglio on January 13th, 2012 after striking a large rock when it deviated from its set course. 33 of the 3,229 passengers and 1,023 crew members were lost when the ship capsized; 16 of which have not been found, and the rescue search into the submerged parts of the ships have been called off. The ship’s captain, Francesco Schettino has also gained international notoriety for his arrest for the charges of manslaughter and abandoning ship. As much bad press that the cruise line has received for one of the worst shipwrecks in Italian history, it has managed to get even worse now.
Carnival Cruises, the parent company of the Costa cruise ships made an offer to the passengers of the Costa Concordia to help make up for the shipwreck. Along with a refund of passengers’ trip, Carnival Cruises dug deep into their pockets and "hearts", offering a 30% discount on their next Carnival cruise as an expression of hope that passengers will want to stay loyal to the company. As with everything, it does come with stipulations, though. This 30% discounts can only be used on cruises booked within the next 18 months. Some surviving passengers have been quoted calling the offer insulting. Several passengers have in fact filed a lawsuit against the cruise company in seeking $160,000 per passenger.
Costa Cruise may have gotten the message because of this negative press. On their website, Costa Cruises now offers a different compensation package.
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