Princess Cruises faced a crisis when three passengers aboard the Star Princess reported seeing three men in distress, but the ship did not turn around to assist. Two weeks later, one man was rescued and said he had been passed by a large white ship. This led to accusations that the Star Princess had neglected to rescue the stranded men, potentially causing two deaths. While the captain denied knowledge of any distressed individuals, the sole survivor sued Princess for negligence. Though unable to prove its direct involvement, the incident damaged the cruise industry's reputation in the wake of the Costa Concordia sinking. Princess avoided most criticism through its denial of fault and hiring of experts to dispute claims against the company.

1. Princess Cruises
Star Princess Crisis

2. Princess Background
 Began in 1965 with one cruise to Mexico
 Now 3rd largest cruise line in the world
 Owned by Carnival Cruise
 Combined with Carnival they control almost half of the
cruise industry
 Princess serves 1.3 million travelers every year
 Now have 16 ships with over 100 destinations around the
world

3. Star Princess Crisis
 On March 10th, 2012 three passengers saw three men in
apparent distress.
 They informed an officer who said he would pass along
word to the crew
 The ship never turned around to save the men
 Two weeks later Adrian Vasquez was rescued and said a
big white ship passed his crew a few weeks earlier
 The star Princess was accused of passing the men by and
causing the death of two of them

4. Star Princess Crisis continued
 The captain of the Star Princess claimed to have no
knowledge of stranded men
 Vasquez filed a lawsuit claiming negligence by Princess
 The cruise line said they were sorry for what happened
to the men but said they were not to blame
 They hired several experts to refute the men’s claims
 So far Vasquez has been unsuccessful in winning his
lawsuit

5. Media Response
 Media was not to harsh towards Princess
 Cruise Industry took more of a hit
 This incident was just a few months after the sinking of
the Costa Concordia
 Media was not overly critical because it could not be
proved that the Star Princess had actually passed by the
men

6. Stakeholder response
 Cruise Industry did see a hit in popularity but much of
this can be attributed to the Costa Concordia incident
 Princess itself was not heavily criticized by the public
 Carnival saw a 20% deduction in profits while Royal
Caribbean took a 40% hit.
 Public did not get overly upset about the Star Princess
incident.

7. Recommendations
 Crisis was handled very well by the organization
 Said they were sorry without admitting guild
 The experts were a very good move