Client Reassurance Trickles in From Cruise Lines

Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises and Norwegian Cruise Line this week emailed safety reassurances to past and prospective passengers, but so far they are alone.

While Costa Cruises and parent company Carnival Corp. & plc released statements relating to the ongoing investigation and compensation for passengers affected by the dire Costa Concordia accident two weeks ago, most of the cruise industry has been absent from the conversation.

Reassurances of safety
This week sister lines Celebrity Cruises and RCI, both owned by Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (RCCL), and Norwegian broke the silence.

Both Dan Hanrahan, president and CEO of Celebrity Cruises, and Adam Goldstein, president and CEO of RCI, emailed past and prospective passengers to reassure them of the safety of their ships.

“At Royal Caribbean International, the safety and security of our guests and crew is our highest priority,” wrote Goldstein in his letter to members of the line’s Crown & Anchor Society.

“Our maritime safety record over our 42-year history illustrates our commitment to the safety of the millions of guests and crew that sail on our ships. The measures we take in the interest of safety are many, often exceeding the regulatory requirements.”

And Dan Hanrahan wrote, “The concerns that have been raised about the safety of cruise ships compelled me to take the opportunity to share what an intense focus we have always placed on safety, and how rigorously we put that focus into practice every day.

“Our guests see just a portion of our safety practices through the mandatory muster drills we conduct at the outset of every sailing. But our safety practices encompass so much more.”

Norwegian chimes in
A day after the RCCL brands emailed their past passengers, Norwegian Cruise Line followed suit with a letter from CEO Kevin Sheehan.

“We want to take this opportunity to assure you that the safety of our guests and crew is, at all times, our number one priority,” he wrote in the email, in which he outlined some of the line’s safety protocols.

New safety info resources
To address the safety concerns of passengers, both RCCL lines also created informational resources – a video overview from Royal Caribbean International and a Safety Summary from Celebrity.

RCI’s Goldstein also wrote about cruise line safety in his blog, where he called the Costa Concordia accident “a defining moment in the history of the modern cruise industry.”

Goldstein also said, “Safety is a journey rather than a destination. We need to operate safely now yet constantly improve our safety. We need to hunt for lessons learned in every minor incident or accident. We need to apply those lessons learned across the fleet ASAP. This is a never ending cycle.

“As our Chairman Richard Fain says, there is no such thing as perfect safety but there is such a thing as perfect dedication to safety.”

Additionally, this week Royal Caribbean’s Royal Meetings and Incentives division switched a previously scheduled webinar for agents called “Answer the Sea: How to Use Our New Campaign” to “Safety is Our Business.”

Few policy changes
RCCL was also the first out of the gate to make actual changes to its safety policies. Last week the company changed its muster drill requirements so that all ships must now hold drills 30 to 60 minutes prior to departure on the day of embarkation of turnaround, regardless of departure time.

But Royal was not the only cruise company to quickly make – and announce – changes to its muster drill procedures.

Premier Cruise Holdings, the parent company of Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises, this week changed its policy to require guest muster drills on the day of departure – no exceptions.

Call for policy reviews
So far no other lines have changed their policies, though Carnival Corp & plc did announce a comprehensive audit and review of safety and emergency responses across all its cruise lines.

Similarly, CLIA has asked the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the group in charge of setting the global standards for the safety and operation of cruise ships, to review the Costa Concordia post-accident findings once the investigation by Italian authorities is complete.