Will Carnival disaster drive prices down?

[Rogillio]

First off, yes I know it was Costa Concordia but ABC News last night referred to the cruise line as "Carnival since they are a subsidiary of Carnival. And that of course brings it a little closer to home for American cruisers since we all know the name Carnival but not too many have heard of Costa Concordia.

I have not even for a moments thought about our upcoming cruise and said to my wife last night, "I can't believe people are getting worried about cruising now. 20 million people cruise every year and this accident is extremely rare!" To my surprise, my wife - a veteran of 9 cruises - said she too had some reservations now about cruising. She said she understood what I was saying about the "odds" but the accident gives her 'something to think about'.

My wife and I are complete opposites when it comes to water. I am an avid swimmer (swan 1000 yds before work this morning), I SCUBA diver, fisherman, owned boats all my life, have a swimming pool in our back yard, etc. She can swim but is.....I won't say 'fearful' of the water but she is 'very cautious'. She does not like the beach at all.

Anyway, I got to thinking, that there are plenty of people like her who will now 'think twice' about a cruise vacation. So perhaps this will drive cruise prices down for a while? Thoughts?

 

[Happy99]

I don't think one incident will drive prices down.

 

[mmouse37]

I absolutely do not think this will drive prices down overall....I also don't think many people associate Carnival with Costa so I don't think Carnival's image will be tarnished.

For the people who have a fear of cruising in the first place....I do think this will reinforce that fear but they probably were not going to book a cruise anyway so no revenue lost due to them.

MJ

 

[SoCaOC-Mom]

I saw a business report that said the cost of shares in the line have dropped. They speculated it was dude to taking the hit of the loss of the ship and that they would probably lower their prices to try and draw customers back.

I don't know if it will influence or effect other cruise lines pricing.

 

[SoCaOC-Mom]

First off, yes I know it was Costa Concordia but ABC News last night referred to the cruise line as "Carnival since they are a subsidiary of Carnival. And that of course brings it a little closer to home for American cruisers since we all know the name Carnival but not too many have heard of Costa Concordia.

I have not even for a moments thought about our upcoming cruise and said to my wife last night, "I can't believe people are getting worried about cruising now. 20 million people cruise every year and this accident is extremely rare!" To my surprise, my wife - a veteran of 9 cruises - said she too had some reservations now about cruising. She said she understood what I was saying about the "odds" but the accident gives her 'something to think about'.

My wife and I are complete opposites when it comes to water. I am an avid swimmer (swan 1000 yds before work this morning), I SCUBA diver, fisherman, owned boats all my life, have a swimming pool in our back yard, etc. She can swim but is.....I won't say 'fearful' of the water but she is 'very cautious'. She does not like the beach at all.

Anyway, I got to thinking, that there are plenty of people like her who will now 'think twice' about a cruise vacation. So perhaps this will drive cruise prices down for a while? Thoughts?

I don't necessary think it's the fear of water that has people nervous in the event of disaster. My fear is the size of the ship and all different spaces that could make it challenging to keep the family together or hard to locate. Where as in an airplane, bus or car everyone is within eye sight.

 

[Lynne M]

I don't think it will affect Disney's prices at all.

Possibly, people who are already nervous cruisers, or on the fence because of safety concerns, may decided not to book a cruise for awhile.

Carnival's name is going to be in the news a lot as this disaster winds its way through the courts, if anyone suffers booking losses because of this disaster, it will be their lines. But Carnival Cruise Lines' prices are already some of the cheapest in the industry, so I don't think they have a lot of room to cut prices, and their parent company is going to take an enormous financial hit because of this disaster, between the cleanup costs and the lawsuits.

If anything, DCL will see more bookings, because of the sense in the public's mind that they're 'safe'. All that warm fuzzy "we're family" marketing they've been pumping into people's brains for decades will help them out here.

 

[Rogillio]

I don't think it will affect Disney's prices at all.

Possibly, people who are already nervous cruisers, or on the fence because of safety concerns, may decided not to book a cruise for awhile.

Carnival's name is going to be in the news a lot as this disaster winds its way through the courts, if anyone suffers booking losses because of this disaster, it will be their lines. But Carnival Cruise Lines' prices are already some of the cheapest in the industry, so I don't think they have a lot of room to cut prices, and their parent company is going to take an enormous financial hit because of this disaster, between the cleanup costs and the lawsuits.

If anything, DCL will see more bookings, because of the sense in the public's mind that they're 'safe'. All that warm fuzzy "we're family" marketing they've been pumping into people's brains for decades will help them out here.

At first I though you contradicted yourself with those first two statements but that last statement clarifies.

I agree that people who were 'on the fence' might decide to go to the Grand Canyon rather than the Grand Caymens. The question is gonna be whether or not there is a significant number of people who decide not to cruise or who cancel their cruise to affect pricing? I'll check my HAL cruise price over the next few months and will rebook if they come down.

 

[kaseyC]

At first I though you contradicted yourself with those first two statements but that last statement clarifies.

I agree that people who were 'on the fence' might decide to go to the Grand Canyon rather than the Grand Caymens. The question is gonna be whether or not there is a significant number of people who decide not to cruise or who cancel their cruise to affect pricing? I'll check my HAL cruise price over the next few months and will rebook if they come down.

You know HAL is part of Carnival Corp too?

It will be interesting to see how this affects all of the cruise lines under the Carnival Corp Umbrella and if it has any effect on prices in the Med. We have a Celebrity Eastern Med and Greek island cruise booked for this summer and I will be watching prices too with plans to rebook if they drop.

 

[Rogillio]

You know HAL is part of Carnival Corp too?

Shhhhh! Don't let my wife hear that. ;-)

 

[TDC Nala]

Not on DCL. Maybe on Costa.

 

[mickey2000]

I don't necessary think it's the fear of water that has people nervous in the event of disaster. My fear is the size of the ship and all different spaces that could make it challenging to keep the family together or hard to locate. Where as in an airplane, bus or car everyone is within eye sight.

True! However on a Disney Cruise with children they probably won't be in sight when doing an activity at a club etc ..... So IMO the size of the ship is not a factor rather the activities ...........that seperate a family!

 

[mickeyfan1]

Carnival Corporation expects to see a 10 to 12 cents per share hit because of this. They have insurance to cover all liabilities, and they self insure the ships. Bookings will most likely drop off for a bit, but the public forgets quickly and soon people will be back to normal. There are some people saying they would never book any cruise on a ship owned by the Carnival Corporation, because they obviously don't check the background of the officers. How on earth would a background check 20 years ago have shown that an error, a very costly error, would happen 20 years later?

There are people who will never cruise because of the accident, and there are people who will continue to do so. When an airplane accident occurs, most people continue to fly. And there is a lot of talk about safety and kids on planes, etc. But in the end, you have to do what you feel comfortable doing.

 

[Brumbie13]

I am actually amazed. I mean, the ship crashed, and relatively few lives were lost.

To me, that says a lot about the preparedness of the crew and the Italian Coast Guard (obviously not the ship's captain) and their ability to successfully evacuate the ship and rescue the passengers.

Whenever these incidents happen, and so many people end up safe, it makes me feel better about my odds in the event that something like this were to happen.

For sure, ship safety has come a long way since the Titanic.

 

[TDC Nala]

Disney cruise passengers, as well as passengers on any other line, always have the option of keeping their families together at all times for all activities - it would mean kids don't get left in the kids club, but that's up to each family.

So if potential cruisers are that worried about being separated from other family members in the event of an incident, then they do have the option of keeping them all together, or they can decide that a cruise is not the vacation for them, but I don't see those already booked pulling out of their cruises in droves, at least not here or on other cruise boards.

 

[kaseyC]

Shhhhh! Don't let my wife hear that. ;-)

Your secret is safe with me!

 

[itutorfortravel]

I am actually amazed. I mean, the ship crashed, and relatively few lives were lost.

To me, that says a lot about the preparedness of the crew and the Italian Coast Guard (obviously not the ship's captain) and their ability to successfully evacuate the ship and rescue the passengers.

Whenever these incidents happen, and so many people end up safe, it makes me feel better about my odds in the event that something like this were to happen.

For sure, ship safety has come a long way since the Titanic.

But do you think that the outcome would have been different in terms of loss of life had the ship been several miles out at sea? I think the fact that rescue workers were able to get to them quickly was a large factor in the outcome being as good as it was...

(oops, correcting my post...you did say that the positive outcome spoke for the preparedness of the Italian Coast Guard...I agree! )

 

[TDC Nala]

The reason there was such a major loss of life on the Titanic was that there was not enough lifeboat space for everyone on board. There was barely enough space for about half the persons onboard. (It actually carried more lifeboats than were legally required at the time). Some of Titanic's boats didn't even go out full.

Titanic had 2,229 people aboard and lifeboat capacity for 1,178. There were 713 survivors.

Nowadays, when passenger ships are required to have enough lifeboat space for everyone onboard, and most of them have more than enough lifeboat space, the big killer is panic.

There's a story out that the Concordia's crew began preparing the lifeboats for launch even before the captain gave the abandon ship order. That may be why they were able to get some of the lifeboats off from the side to which the ship listed.

 

[JoyB-UK]

I think that it could have a reverse effect and that prices may increase on the back of this. Each cruise company will want to tighten up safety procedures and may need to invest in new equipment. The cost of this will then be passed on to us. Apparently P&O have a new system whereby people evacuating go down slides like on planes to life rafts at the bottom already in the water. Very useful when the boat is tilted and normal lifeboat releasing is difficult. Don't know if this is in effect or something they are still testing.

 

[Brumbie13]

But do you think that the outcome would have been different in terms of loss of life had the ship been several miles out at sea? I think the fact that rescue workers were able to get to them quickly was a large factor in the outcome being as good as it was...

Do you think the captain would have maneuvered too close to the rocks and sunk the ship if the ship had been several miles out at sea?

 

[Brumbie13]

The reason there was such a major loss of life on the Titanic was that there was not enough lifeboat space for everyone on board. There was barely enough space for about half the persons onboard. (It actually carried more lifeboats than were legally required at the time). Some of Titanic's boats didn't even go out full.

Nowadays, when passenger ships are required to have enough lifeboat space for everyone onboard, and most of them have more than enough lifeboat space, the big killer is panic.

I understand that. That was what I meant by ship safety having come a long way since the days of the Titanic.