The Carnival Triumph suffered an engine room fire that stranded it at sea with over 4,000 people on board. Passengers dealt with poor sanitary conditions, limited food and power for days. While Carnival used social media to update the situation, its CEO was slow to comment and was seen at a basketball game, upsetting passengers. After being towed to port, Carnival apologized and gave refunds and credits, though the incident damaged its brand in the short term.

2. Crisis Overview
The Carnival Triumph suffered a fire in the engine room on February
10th, causing the ship to be stranded 150 miles off the coast of
Mexico.
More than 3,100 passengers and over 1,000 crew members were on
board.
There were issues with running water, scarce electricity and
problems with “sewage running down the walls and floors.”
Food was scarce and lines would take up to three hours to get
through.
Two other Carnival ships and a U.S. Coast Guard ship came to
transfer supplies and provide aid to the stranded ship.

3. Crisis overview continued
Two days after the fire on board occurred, Carnival chairman Micky
Arison was seen at the Miami Heat game. (part owner)
Carnival cruise lines tweeted “of course the bathrobes for the
Carnival Triumph are complimentary” which really upset passengers
and family members.-This hurt them, as if they weren’t taking the
situation seriously.
The cruise industry experts suggested budget-trimming -- or a
reluctance to spend huge amounts of money to deal with a crisis at
the outset -- was at fault, as Carnival opted for cheaper ways to
handle the crisis, such as social media.
The ship was towed to Mobile, Alabama and finally reached the port
five days later on February 15th.

4. Images and Tweets from
Carnival Triumph

5. Page Principles: Tell the truth
Carnival was quick to respond using social
media, stating the facts about the fire on board.

6. Page Principles: Tell the truth
However, it took CEO Gerry Cahill over a day to come
out and make a statement about the fire on board
and what the plan was to help the stranded
passengers and crew.
He waited to respond to media, making them think
Carnival didn’t have a crisis plan.
Conflicting reports of safety of passengers on board.
Carnival said everyone was fine, family members
said passengers were sick.

7. Page principles: Prove it with action
Micky Arison was seen courtside at the Miami Heat
game two days after the fire, rather than focusing his
time on the situation.
Chuck Mardiks, managing director of MMGY Global
said, “don’t wait two seconds to get the CEO out…
They should have helicoptered the CEO to the
situation.”
While Gerry Cahill wasn’t flown to the ship, he was
on site in Mobile, Alabama when the Triumph
returned to speak to guest of the Triumph.

8. Page principles:
Listen to the
customer
Carnival gladly refunded all
guests for the cruise, gave $500
and a credit for another cruise,
along with the bathrobes.
Carnival constantly updated
Facebook with time-stamped
posts of the Triumph’s status,
and also answered questions
and rumors in real-time on
Twitter.

9. Page Principles: Manage for tomorrow
“It’s starting to build up that cruising is not safe.”-Cruise Critic
Ernest DelBuono, SVP at Levick Strategic Communications said
cruise industry damage would be shorter-term. “Passengers were
safe. Horrible conditions, but they were safe and systems on the ship
worked like they were supposed to.”
Carnival reimbursed each cruiser, provided transportation and
hotels for guests and families, and commended passengers and
crew for their patience and understanding.
Carnival’s caring actions and constant updates on social media
allowed for the public to be at ease, knowing what was going on and
not being left in the dark.

10. Page Principles: Realize a
company’s true character
is expressed by its people
CEO Gerry Cahill was sincerely
apologetic and thankful for all of
the help from other parties.
The crew and teams worked
around the clock to make sure
the passengers were home safe.
The passengers also praised the
crew for their hard work and
dedication.

11. Page Principle:
Remain calm, patient,
and good-humored
CEO Cahill did a great job of
staying calm under the constant
questions and concerns from
media and social media outlets.
His final remarks of “ending the
crisis” brought everything to a
close.

12. What they should have
done
CEO Cahill should have been transported to the
ship
Cahill should have held a press conference that
night, rather than two days later.
Manage the overall budget to incorporate a solid
way to handle a PR crisis, rather than just using
social media.

13. Impact
Carnival will suffer earnings hit due to crisis.
Stocks fell from $39.10 to $37.00.
Expects to lose money from bookings as the ship
goes in to dry dock, which will affect 12 scheduled
sailings
Lose money from bookings on other Carnival ships
from consumers unsure of the brand

14. Impact continued
Steve Loucks, spokesman for Travel Leaders
group says it is still too early to tell to see if the
cruising industry will take a hit.
“Bookings are up nearly 10% over last year since
Concordia disaster.”-Loucks
“People realize that it’s Carnival and things like
that happen.”-Jay Johnson, owner of Coastline
Travel Advisors

15. Resources
http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/11/travel/cruise-ship-fire/index.html
http://www.business2community.com/crisis-management/what-you-can-learn-
from-carnival-cruises-crisis-communications-on-social-media-0411555
http://adage.com/article/news/carnival-cruises-pr-response-triumph-
crisis/239819/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/15/carnival-mexico-
disaster_n_2690277.html
http://www.facebook.com/Carnival?fref=ts
https://twitter.com/CarnivalCruise