Carnival Cruise Lines Crisis Communication Analysis
This analysis will outline details of a major event that affected one of the biggest cruise companies in America. Carnival Cruise Lines, is world renowned as “the Fun Ship” to families far and wide. They’re mission states: “Our mission is to take the world on vacation and deliver exceptional experiences through many of the world's best-known cruise brands that cater to a variety of different geographic regions and lifestyles, all at an outstanding value unrivaled on land or at sea.” It is by this statement, that many guests come aboard their broad array of cruise line carriers. They have a ship for every budget! The Carnival Corporation umbrella holds within itself several other well known cruise lines such as, AIDA, Carnival Cruise Lines, Costa, Cunard, Holland America, Princess Cruises, P&O Cruises Australia, P&O Cruises UK and Seabourn. They are also on the brink of establishing a domestic cruise line with China. This great company was founded by Ted Arison, and has grown over time and has become Carnival Corporation & PLC. As with many great companies, “there will always be some sort of crisis” as Jack Welch states in Chapter ten of his book Winning (Winning, 2005). Unfortunately, it was no different for Carnival.
While there have been several crises that took place in this organization, dating back to 1998, the one we will be discussing and analyzing directly is the Carnival Triumph disaster from 2013. In the month of February 2013, a fire broke out in the engine room on the Carnival Triumph. Although the fire was able to be put out, by the time it was, it had already damaged some wiring, and major parts that were needed in order to have electricity, plumbing, and the main engines were unable to start following the fire. That was the beginning of what the business insider referred to