Free Cruise Ship Blues: The Underside of the Cruise Ship Industry by Ross A. Klein Page A

problem over the past couple of years has been canceled cruises due to late delivery of new ships: for example, Holland America Line’s Rotterdam, Volendam, and Zaandam ; Radisson Seven Seas Cruises’ Paul Gauguin ; Disney Cruise Line’s Disney Magic ; Princess Cruises’ Grand Princess and Sea Princess ; Carnival Cruise Lines’ Triumph ; Celebrity Cruises’ Millennium ; and Royal Olympic Cruises’ Olympic Explorer. In fact, late deliveries became so customary that people were booking maiden voyages with hopes that the cruise would be canceled and they would receive a free cruise as compensation for the inconvenience!
    By 2001, however, cruise lines learned and allowed additional time to cover any event of late delivery, thereby avoiding the need to cancel cruises. In the case of Holland America Line’s Zuiderdam, the company went so far as to announce an entire year in advance that the ship’s delivery in late 2002 would be delayed by 45 days.
    In the 20 years following the fire onboard the Angelina Lauro, which sunk in the US Virgin Islands in March 1979, "the Safety Board has investigated 25 major accidents involving foreign cruise ships operating from US ports. Of those 25 accidents, 16 involved fires. As a result of those fire-involved accidents, there were 8 fatalities, 210 personal injuries, and over $175 million in property damage." 1
    — jim Hall, US National Transportation Safety Board, October 7, 1999
     
    Ships pulled from service because of mechanical problems present a similar inconvenience. This often occurs with newer ships that use recent technology and have defects in materials or machinery. There have been a number of problems with azimuthing podded propulsion systems. Carnival Cruise Line’s Paradise and Elation both underwent unscheduled maintenance in 2000 because of problems with their Azipod propulsion systems. Celebrity Cruises’ Millennium and Infinity similarly had multiple cruises canceled — the Millennium in 2000 and again in 2001, the Infinity in 2001 — because of problems with their Mermaid propulsion systems. In May 2002 Celebrity Cruises’ Constellation had its first sailing canceled after problems with one of its podded propulsion units were discovered during sea trials.
    SHIP SAFETY
    More serious than cancellations and delays are mishaps at sea. Although uncommon, mishaps are still frequent enough that passengers should be aware of the chance that things can and at times will go wrong. Unsurprisingly, the cruise industry prefers that passengers not have this knowledge. They see their product as competing with land-based resorts (hotels and the like), which, unlike cruise ships, don’t run aground, don’t collide with anything, and much less frequently have disabling fires.
    Fender Benders, Failures, and Fires, Oh My!
    Like other modes of transportation, traveling by sea has risks. There have been numerous incidents involving mechanical failure, fires, 2 ships running aground, 3 and collisions, as well as the odd occasion of sinking ships that are abandoned at sea. In most cases, the mishaps are relatively minor and attributed to human error.
    Between January 2000 and December 2001, more than 70 cruise ship mishaps were reported in the media, including engine failures with the ship adrift for as long as 27 hours (often without functioning plumbing or air conditioning), disabling fires resulting in loss of electricity and propulsion, and several ships running aground (see Appendix 1). The Costa Tropicale actually ran aground twice within two weeks: the first time, in
    According to the US Coast Guard, a total of 20 cruise ships ran aground in Alaska's coastal waters in the three-year period from August 1996 to August 1!
     
    Venice, it was freed by tugboats; the second time it required the assistance of its sister ship, the Costa Atlantica, after several unsuccessful rescue efforts by tugboats.
    Who’s Watching Where We’re Going?
    Cruise ship mishaps can be more serious than