Cruise ship crisis_case_study

Running head: CRISIS EVENTS IN THE CRUISE SHIP INDUSTRY 1

A Comparative Analysis of Crisis Events in the Cruise Ship Industry:

Recommendations from a Public Relations Perspective

Blake Miller

Missouri State University

CRISIS EVENTS IN THE CRUISE SHIP INDUSTRY 2

A Comparative Analysis of Crisis Event in the Cruise Ship Industry:

Recommendations from a Public Relations Perspective

INTRODUCTION

Cruise lines are a major industry in today’s society. Many different people will flock to

the coast to take a vacation across water to various places. Most people will partake in this type

of vacation due to the relatively low costs of the trip. Despite the growing popularity of cruise

lines, there are major crises occurring within this industry. In most cases, when a crisis occurs

there tends to be a dip in the sales and popularity of that organization or product. For example,

when there are product recalls, that company tends to take a major hit in their profit and the

public opinion diminishes. However, in cruise lines, it seems to be growing despite all of the

major problems, deaths, and sicknesses. Gerlak and McGarry (2014) foresee 21.7 million guests

to book passage on one of the 63 member cruise lines within the year of 2014. There are

multiple cruise ships for each member within the Cruise Line International Association. To meet

this demand the cruise line industry will end up building and commissioning 24 new ships

(Gerlak & McGarry, 2014). If this trend continues, it will become the world’s top vacation

destination in the world serving many different cultures and people. Despite this obvious

growth, many cruise lines face many problems in their operations. Some of these problems have

become major crises that these companies must face. There are three particular crises that will

be analyzed and criticized to determine implications and recommendations for public relations

practitioners. These companies have developed crisis plans in order to maintain or boost their

reputations in the event of a major problem. The three cruise ship crises that will be analyzed are

the Crown Princess and the norovirus (Haiken, 2014); Carnival Triumph and being stranded in

the Gulf of Mexico (USA Today, 2013; Sutton et al., 2013); and the Costa Concordia when the


ship fell to its side (Nadeau, 2013). Situational crisis communication theory will be used to

determine the effectiveness and preparedness of each crisis plan. Before launching into the

details of each crisis, one must have a basic understanding of situational crisis communication

theory.

SITUATIONAL CRISIS COMMUNICATION THEORY

Situational crisis communication theory (SCCT) focuses on the use of communication to

preserve and protect an organization’s reputation (Coombs, 2004). This is essentially developing

a crisis plan that will be effective for a particular disaster and that will fit for a certain company.

A crisis plan will not be universal for companies across the board or situations across the board.

Each of the three cruise lines needed a crisis plan for the situation that it faced. The Carnival

cruise line would not have been able to use a crisis plan that the Princess cruise line used when

the ship had an outbreak of the norovirus. However, it is essential for public relations

practitioners to look at other crises to determine the best plan of action for their company

(Coombs, 2004). Knowing what is in the past helps laying the foundation for the future. SCCT

provides an evidence-based schema to maximize the protection for the business’s reputation

(Coombs, 2007). Protecting the reputation of the business is a major factor when dealing with

crisis plans. The reputation of the particular business can retain current customers and recruit

new customers as well. A faulty, or poor, reputation can hinder a business’s growth. Coombs

(2007) states that a reputation is evaluated in large on how the stakeholders perceive the

experience and the product or service meeting their needs. Bryson (2004) describes a

stakeholder as anyone with an investment in an organization (shareholders, employees,

customers, etc.).


In order to gain a better explanation of SCCT one must know how to define a crisis. A

crisis is essentially a sudden or unexpected event that disrupts, or threatens to disrupt, an

organization’s operation; this can be done by both hurting the company financially or

reputational. Coombs (2012) states that a crisis is the perception of an unpredictable event that

threatens important experiences within the stakeholders and can seriously impact the

organization in various ways; including, performance, outcomes, and finances.

SCCT has various approaches when trying to determine the best form of action to take;

however, the most common action is pre-crisis, crisis, and post-crisis (2007). During the pre-

crisis phase, there are three substages: signal detection, prevention, and crisis preparation

(Coombs, 2012). The crisis stage involves two sections: crisis recognition and crisis

containment. Finally, the post-crisis stages involves three ways to create the most effective

system: make the organization better prepared for the next crisis, make sure the stakeholders are

left with a positive experience, and make sure the crisis is actually over. These steps are

essential to developing the best possible plan of action during a crisis. Once these needs are

fulfilled, the organization is truly ready to face another crisis.

Coombs (2004) gives a brief list of crisis types, definitions and cues. The first crisis is a

victim crisis cluster. This could be a natural disaster, rumors, workplace violence, or product

tampering. A natural disaster is an act of nature that can damage an organization, such as,

earthquakes, storms, etc. A rumor is essentially how it sounds, a false or damaging piece of

information that portrays a business in a false light; however, there must be evidence that proves

the information is false. Workplace violence includes former and current employees who attack

any current employee while on the organization’s premises. Product tampering is when an

external person or agent causes damage to the organization or has altered a product to cause hard


or to make the product dangerous. The next crisis is an accidental crisis cluster. This includes

challenges that the company may face, technical error accidents, or technical error recalls. A

challenge is a situation in which a stakeholder claims that an organization is operating in an

inappropriate manner; based on moral or ethical dilemma, not legal issues. A technical error

accident is when technology or equipment failure causes an industrial accident within the

organization. A technical error recall is when a technical or equipment failure causes a particular

product to be recalled; the product must be deemed harmful to stakeholders. The last major

crisis Coombs presents is the intentional crisis cluster. This can include human error accidents,

human error recalls, or organizational misdeed. A human error accident is when a person causes

an industrial accident due to the person or persons not performing a job correctly. A human error

recall is when a person causes a product to be recalled due the person or persons failing to

perform a job correctly. Finally, an organizational misdeed is when management violates a law

or regulation or stakeholders are place at risk by management; the members must knowingly

violate the law or regulation or the product/service must be known to injure stakeholders. There

have been many various research projects involving SCCT, this paper looks at two different

research projects to determine the effectiveness of the response strategies.

Howell and Miller (2010) state that it is important for the organization to know how they

will respond to a crisis. During a study involving Maple Leaf Foods, Howell and Miller (2010)

looked at a crisis and analyzed it using SCCT. The crisis involved a major recall of certain foods

due to the deaths of 21 people. They looked at the pre-crisis management to see if there was a

system in place to determine the best course of action to this particular catastrophe. They

discovered that the organization had a clear purpose behind every campaign and response due to


this crisis. They found that the company, as a whole, did a good job at responding to the crisis in

a mature and friendly manner.

The next research project looked at the Red Cross in response to donations after 9/11.

Sisco (2012) found that the Red Cross went through a rapid decline after the devastating terrorist

attack in September of 2001. Sisco (2012) found that the Red Cross had to do crisis management

for this particular attack on the United States of America. She found that this not only affected

the country as a whole, but the donations for non-profits as well. She found that the organization

responded in a speedy manner and had an effective crisis plan.

Overall, situational crisis communication theory is a great way to create a crisis plan. It

lays out a clear foundation to evaluate past crisis communication plans to see how effective they

were. It also creates a systematic way to create a communication plan based off of an

organization’s needs. Throughout the next portion of the paper, three companies will be used to

determine the overall effectiveness of different crisis plans in the cruise line industry. The

purpose of this paper is to determine what can be learned for public relations crisis management

practice from a comparative analysis of cruise ship crisis events.

RQ1: What can be learned for PR crisis management practice from a comparative

analysis of cruise ship crisis events?

PLANNING

The three cruise lines had different approaches to these crisis events. There are similar

aspects to each of the cruise lines approaches to the situation. There was no way that either of

these cruise lines could have covered the situation up and keeping it out of the public’s eye is a

nonexistent dream for them. The campaigns did have a central theme—share updates on

information regarding the crisis itself.


Campaign Objectives:

Crown Princess:

• Engage the audiences through the media to generate information about the crisis itself

and the overall impact of sicknesses on cruise ships.

• Keep misinformation from becoming the spotlight.

Carnival Triumph:


and safety on a cruise ship during the event of becoming stranded.

• Relay the overall safety of cruise lines in general.

• Keep misinformation from becoming the spotlight.

Costa Concordia:


and safety of cruise ships and the unlikelihood of shipwrecks.

• Keep misinformation out of the spotlight.

• Inform the various audiences how to conduct during the event of such a crisis.

Strategy

Crown Princess:

• Maintain multifaceted communication to create a high visibility rate and educate about

the safety of the norovirus.

• Work in coordination with the various organizations that are helping during the crisis:

Center of Disease Control and others.


Carnival Triumph:

• Maintain multifaceted communication to create high visibility rates and educate about the

safety of cruise lines.

• Demonstrate transparency and build trust by communicating early and regularly.

• Work in coordination with the various organizations that are involved: U.S. Coast Guard

and other state/federal officials.

• Provide accessibility to the various stakeholders within and without the organization.

Costa Concordia:

• Maintain multifaceted communication to create a high visibility rate within the media and

to education the public on cruise line safety in the event of tipping.


Target Audience

Crown Princess:

• Crown Princess employees

• Cruise line customers

• Stakeholders within the organization (partners, tourism agencies, etc.)

• Media and the general public

Carnival Triumph:

• Carnival Triumph customers





Costa Concordia:

• Costa Concordia employees




EXECUTION

Crown Princess

In February of 2014 the Crown Princess had an outbreak of the norovirus (Haiken, 2014).

The ship had around 3,000 passengers and a little over 1,000 crew members (Johnson, 2014).

The norovirus is a stomach virus that is highly contagious. The cruise was cut short due to the

fact that quite a few of the passengers contracted the virus. About 100 passengers and 23 crew

members contracted the virus during the duration of the cruise (Firger, 2014). Although this may

seem like a relatively low number, it is a high number in one concentrated area.

• Maintain multifaceted communication to create a high visibility rate and educate

about the safety of the norovirus.

o Social Media: The campaign for the norovirus outbreak was not highly monitored

on their various social media websites. The Twitter feed did not have one article

or post about the norovirus outbreak. Facebook also did not mention anything

about the outbreak.

o Website: The campaign for the norovirus outbreak also was not highly monitored

on their website either. The Crown Cruise Line website posted one article about

the norovirus outbreak; however, it came from the Center of Disease Control and

was not created particularly for the website.


o News Media (print and broadcast): The campaign for the norovirus outbreak was

highly monitored throughout the news media. There are several articles posted on

different news outlets to inform the public of what occurred on the Crown

Princess cruise ship during their trip.

• Work in coordination with the various organizations that are helping during the

crisis: Center of Disease Control.

o Website: The Crown Cruise Line added an article that was posted from the Center

of Disease Control about preventing a norovirus outbreak. The article posted

many different ways for individual passengers to avoid such a case from

happening again.

Carnival Triumph

In February of 2013 the Carnival Triumph left the port to carry its passengers on a routine

cruise. However, the ship had a fire outbreak on ship and was immediately put out (Newcomb,

2013). The ship had around 3,000 passengers and 1,000 crew members. The fire caused a

variety of electrical problems including the air-conditioner, controls of the ship and other

electrical facilities. However, as the stranded ship sat waiting other problems started to surface.

The bathroom facilities stopped working due to a plumbing issue (Wilkinson, 2013). When the

cruise ship passengers continued to use the facilities the bathrooms started to overflow into the

cabins of passengers. This, of course, caused a variety of problems including sanitation and

cleanliness of the ship.

• Maintain multifaceted communication to create high visibility rates and educate

about the safety of cruise lines.


o Social Media: The campaign for the Carnival Triumph was fully supported on

their various social media accounts (Facebook, Twitter, etc.). They posted

information about the crisis and responded to the posts/tweets that were negative

towards the organization. More information could have been provided in general,

but it was still an effective outlet for their crisis.

o Website: The campaign for the Carnival triumph was lacking support on the

website. There were not any press releases for the incident or any after the

incident on the main website. Also, there were not any press releases on the

investor website that documented the crisis and their response.

o News Media (print and broadcast): The campaign for the Carnival Triumph was

highly monitored. Information was being distributed throughout the various

media outlets and information was reaching the public.


o News Media (print and broadcast): There was regular communication taking

place within the organization to the outside world via news media. They

commented about the crisis first before others could start sharing information.

They also commented and shared information on a regular basis. They did not

share information that was relevant to the situation and not just talking to talk.

• Work in coordination with the various organizations that are involved: U.S. Coast

Guard and other state/federal officials.

o Communication: The organization had help from the U.S. Coast Guard. The ship

was towed in by the Coast Guard and they were in communication regularly to

guarantee the safety of the passengers on the ship.


• Provide accessibility to the various stakeholders within and without the

organization.

o Website: This was an area that was lacking substantially. There were no

documents accessible by the public that documented the crisis for the

stakeholders. They may have received information at a meeting, but the

documents were not accessible on their website.

Costa Concordia

In January of 2012, the Costa Concordia ran aground and tipped to its side off the coast

of Tuscany (Irvine, 2013). The ship had about 4,100 passengers, including crew members (NY

Daily News, 2013). The Captain had taken the ship off course for unknown reasons. During the

evacuation 32 people lost their life. Not only is this a major crisis because of the incident itself,

but also because some things on board the ship were not done correctly. The captain abandoned

the ship before the evacuation was complete and this created a lot of controversy over his

actions. The captain is now facing charges of multiple manslaughter (CBS News, 2014).

• Maintain multifaceted communication to create a high visibility rate within the

media and to education the public on cruise line safety in the event of tipping.

o Social Media: The campaign for the Costa Concordia was not highly monitored

on their social media sites. There was some basic information posted on Twitter,

Facebook, etc., but not a lot of information.

o Website: The campaign for the Costa Concordia was not monitored at all on their

website during the crisis. The press releases found on the website do not mention

the fatal accident at all. However, they may have had a separate website to list

details concerning the catastrophe.


o News Media (print and broadcast): The campaign for the Costa Concordia was

highly monitored on the various news outlets. The Costa Cruise Line put a lot of

information out into the media and kept giving follow-up information.

Information is still being shared about the captain and how his trials are going

within the court system. Information is also being shared about the ship being

floated out of the ocean cleaned up (Trott, 2014).


o News Media (print and broadcast): The Costa Concordia communicated

information when this accident first occurred. They kept an open line with the

media to share information about the accident and what actually happened. Not

only were they first to respond to this terrible accident, but they kept sharing

information throughout.

EVALUATION

Crown Princess

Overall, the Crown Cruise Line did a poor job during the norovirus crisis during their

cruise. There were many different things that could have been done to create a different outcome

and more customer satisfaction. The cruise did not compensate anyone for their cruise and chose

to say that it was not their fault. This may be true; however, it did occur on their ship.

In the past, they have had different methods to solve this problem. A norovirus outbreak

has occurred on a Crown Cruise ship before. Although, things could have turned out differently

there are many recommendations that can be made from a public relations practitioner’s

perspective.

Carnival Triumph


Overall, the Carnival Cruise Line did a good job at handling the crisis. The cruise did a

good job at keeping information flowing to the public and at keeping a panic from occurring.

The cruise line gave each passenger $500 to go towards refunding their tickets (Wilkinson, 2013;

Newcomb, 2013; Tuttle, 2013). There were many passengers aboard the ship that feel that this

was not a good compensation for the atrocities that occurred on the ship. The cruise line,

however, failed to keep an information line to their stakeholders on a website. With this in mind,

they may have had a separate website for disasters and disabled it after the accident occurred.

This was a stand-alone occurrence with Carnival Cruise Line. Despite this catastrophe,

the Carnival Triumph came back four months later and was fully booked (Tuttle, 2013). The

Carnival Triumph is still in operation today. There are a few recommendations that can be made

from a public relations practitioner’s perspective. These recommendations will be in the next

section.

Costa Concordia

Overall, Costa Cruise Line did a good job at handling this crisis. The cruise line did a

great job at keeping information flowing throughout the crisis and after the crisis was over. They

also did a good job at keeping the public from panicking and losing sales on cruise ship tickets.

The cruise line gave each passenger a refund of at least 11,000 euros (Irvine, 2013). This is

roughly $15,000 in today’s market. There is no follow-up information if the passengers received

their payment or not.

Also, the ship had a system in place for such an accident; however, the ship was in utter

chaos (Rivers, 2012). Many people are concerned about this for future cruises. If people do not

instruct their passengers on how to operate during an accident and the passengers do not act

accordingly, what happens then? This is a major concern for cruises in general, especially with


the Costa Cruise Line. They do not want further accidents happen and they definitely do not

want a similar reaction from the crew and passengers.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Each of the crises was handled fairly well in the overall scheme of things. However,

there are a few recommendations that can be made for each from a public relations practitioner’s

perspective.

Crown Princess:

My biggest complaint with the Crown Princess incident was the compensation for each

passenger on the cruise ship. Although it was not the Crown Cruise Line’s fault, the event did

hinder many passengers from enjoying themselves on the cruise. They needed to put more

emphasis on customer satisfaction. If they would have reimbursed the passengers, given them a

free cruise, or even given them a discount on a different cruise, it would show the public that

they care about their passenger’s thoughts and feelings. This was not handled in the way that

could be most effective for the cruise line. There may be many people who will continue to go

on cruises, but there will be many who will not go back due to a poor experience. It is common

practice to retain the current customers rather than reaching new ones.

The next major issue with this particular crisis plan is the lack of a social media presence

throughout the duration of the crisis. The organization did have social media accounts, but they

were not used during this crisis. I believe social media is a good way to share information to the

public as a whole and reach people who may not follow the news media. This also shows the

public that the information is important, not only to the organization but to the public as well.

Finally, there was no website to look at any information regarding the crisis. There may

be a “crisis website” that is disabled when a crisis is not occurring. I feel that sharing and


keeping information readily available to the public is a good idea. There should also be

documents available for the various shareholders to look at whenever they deem it necessary.

Carnival Triumph:

The Carnival Triumph did a great job at handling this particular crisis. The compensation

was an acceptable amount, although there were many complaints that it was not. I do, however,

feel that some follow information would have been handy to have. The website, news media,

and social media sites did not say if the conditions on the cruise affected anyone after getting off

of the ship. It would be interesting to know if anyone got sick due to these poor conditions

during the five day stranded period.

This crisis plan also lacked a social media presence. Again, I feel that this is a major way

to reach new audiences and to keep a running tab on information. This is also a good way to

keep a timeline of events for the public to view at will. This is a valuable tool that many

organizations are not using fully. There could be a few potential problems with people posting

negative comments about the particular crisis; however, if a person wants to post the comment

they will post it.

The next issue is with the website. Just like in the Crown Princess case there are a few

holes when trying to find information on the website. There were not any press releases or press

statements from the management or CEO. I think that this is a good way to keep the public

informed about what the company is doing in regards to the particular crisis. This also allows

the public to keep a search to a minimum if they want to view information about a particular

cruise line crisis.


Costa Concordia:

This was a particularly bad crisis that occurred to the Costa Cruise Line. They handled

the situation fairly well and kept information readily available to the public. The compensation

was an acceptable amount; however, they could have gone into more details about the

compensation. This would have allowed the public to feel assured that the situation was handled

correctly. It took a lot of searching to find what kind of compensation was available to the

passengers of the Costa Concordia. I would have liked to have seen more details and

information.

Just like the other cruise lines, the Costa Cruise Line lacked a social media presence and

a website presence. This would have allowed information to flow more freely and to keep a

good timeline of events for the public to view.

General Recommendations

• Keep information flowing to the public in as many media outlets as possible i.e. social

media, news media, etc.

• Keep a transparent line of communication so the public can feel that trust can be made

and kept.

• Work in coordination with the various organizations that are involved with the crisis:

governmental organizations, transportation services, etc.

• Provide accessibility to the various stakeholders within the organization.

• Provide information in a timely manner i.e. first and regularly.

• Provide information that is accurate and useful to the public.

• Keep a follow-up record for the public to make sure that the various promises are kept

that are made throughout the crisis.


References

5 convicted for 2012 shipwreck of Costa Concordia near Italy. (2013). NY Daily News. Retrieved

June 13, 2014, from http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/5-convicted-costa-

concordia-shipwreck-article-1.1404333

Bryson, J. M. (2004). What to do when stakeholders matter: Stakeholder identification analysis

techniques. Public Management Review, 6, 21-53.

Coombs, W. (2004). Impact of past crises on current crisis communication. Journal Of Business

Communication, 41(3), 265-289. doi:10.1177/0021943604265607

Coombs, W. (2007). Protecting organization reputations during a crisis: The development and

application of situational crisis communication theory. Corporate Reputation

Review, 10(3), 163-176. doi:10.1057/palgrave.crr.1550049

Coombs, W. (2012). A need for more crisis management knowledge. Ongoing Crisis

Communication: Planning, Managing, and Responding (Third edition). Thousand Oaks:

Sage Publications.

Costa Concordia Captain Francesco Schettino boards grounded off Italy coast for 1st time since

disaster. (2014, February 27). CBS News. Retrieved July 13, 2014, from

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/costa-concordia-captain-francesco-schettino-to-board-

ship-off-italy-coast/

Firger, J. (2014). Norovirus suspected in new Princess Cruises outbreak. CBSNews. Retrieved

June 11, 2014, from http://www.cbsnews.com/news/princess-cruises-reports-new-

norovirus-outbreak/

Gerlak, L., & McGarry, M. (2014, January 16). The state of the cruise industry in 2014: Global

growth in passenger numbers and product offerings. Cruise Lines International


Association. Retrieved June 11, 2014, from

http://www.cruising.org/vacation/news/press_releases/2014/01/state-cruise-industry-

2014-global-growth-passenger-numbers-and-product-o

Growth of cruise industry outpaces its scrutiny. (2013, Feb 28). USA TODAY Retrieved from

http://search.proquest.com/docview/1313208606?accountid=13921

Haiken, M. (2014, April 12). Is It Safe To Take A Cruise? 8 Virus Outbreaks In 3 Months.

Forbes. Retrieved June 11, 2014, from

http://www.forbes.com/sites/melaniehaiken/2014/04/12/8-cruise-ship-outbreaks-in-2014-

is-your-cruise-safe/

Howell, G. J., & Miller, R. (2010). Organizational response to crisis: A case study of maple leaf

foods. Northwest Journal Of Communication, 39(1), 91-108.

Johnson, B. (2014). Norovirus Sickens Cruise Ship Passengers. NBC Bay Area. Retrieved June

13, 2014, from http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Norovirus-Sickens-Crown-

Princess-Cruise-Ship-Passengers--254441121.html?akmobile=o

Irvine, C. (2013). Costa Concordia recovery: timeline of cruise ship disaster. The Telegraph.

Retrieved June 13, 2014, from

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/10312026/Costa-Concordia-

recovery-timeline-of-cruise-ship-disaster.html

Nadeau, B. (2013, November 12). Costa Concordia captain didn't fall, but jumped into lifeboat,

crew member testifies. CNN. Retrieved June 11, 2014, from

http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/12/world/europe/italy-costa-concordia/


Newcomb, A. (2013). Carnival Cruise Ship Stranded Near Mexico. ABC News. Retrieved June

13, 2014, from http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/lifestyle/2013/02/carnival-cruise-ship-

stranded-near-mexico/

Rivers, D. (1970, January 1). Covering a cruise ship disaster. CNN. Retrieved June 13, 2014,

from http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/04/world/covering-costa-concordia/

Sisco, H. (2012). Nonprofit in crisis: An examination of the applicability of situational crisis

communication theory. Journal Of Public Relations Research, 24(1), 1-17.

doi:10.1080/1062726X.2011.582207

Sutton, J., Alsup, D., Ahlers, M., Johnston, C., Smith, E., Botelho, G., et al. (2013, February 12).

Busted toilets, hot rooms, headaches after fire strands cruise ship in Gulf. CNN. Retrieved

June 11, 2014, from http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/11/travel/cruise-ship-fire/

Trott, R. (2014, July 13). Costa Concordia wreck to be moved. BBC News. Retrieved July 13,

2014, from http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-28285287

Tuttle, B. (2013). Four months after the ‘Poop Cruise,’ the Carnival ‘Triumph’ sails again - and

is sold out. Time Magazine. Retrieved June 13, 2014, from

http://business.time.com/2013/06/14/four-months-after-the-poop-cruise-the-carnival-

triumph-sails-again-and-is-sold-out/

Wilkinson, K. (2013). Cruise ship stranded. Chicago Tribune. Retrieved June 11, 2014, from

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-02-14/news/chi-cruise-ship-20130214_1_cruise-

ship-costa-concordia-carnival-cruise-lines

Career

Cruise ship crisis_case_study