Carnival Cruise Fails to Triumph

Cara Siliakus
October 24, 2018

MEJO 531: Case Studies in Public Relations Midterm

Dr. Cabosky

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 Part One: Synopsis

Background

Founded in 1972, Carnival Cruise Line is one of the biggest cruise companies in the
world, calling itself “The World’s Most Popular Cruise Line.” Carnival has 26 ships that operate
3- to 24-day voyages from all of the United States coasts and Canada, Puerto Rico and Barbados.
Carnival’s website stresses that the company views guest safety and security as its top priority,
which claims is proved by its “record of safe operation throughout [its] 40-plus year history.”
The Safety and Security page on the website outlines company policies regarding ship and
voyage safety precautions with frequently asked questions and a security guide. The website also
has information about the company’s business conduct and ethics program that works to ensure
compliance with the most professional and ethical standards of conduct.i The cruise line
maintains developed social media accounts, including a separate Twitter account for public
relations, to communicate with the public.ii iii

The Crisis
On Feb. 10, 2013, the Carnival Triumph ship was sailing off the coast of Mexico when a
fire broke out in the engine room, causing a power outage throughout the entire ship. The outage
lasted for several days, leaving 4,000+ people stranded on the ship as it drifted for four days
before docking in Mobile, Alabama. Passengers had to use the restroom in plastic bags and pass
them off to cruise crew members, and some ended up sleeping on the cruise decks. Human waste
piled up in bags on and around the decks of the ship and the air conditioning stopped working.
Food and water supply was limited and sewage was running down the walls and floors of the
ship, with conditions worsening as time went on. Eventually, supplies were delivered to the ship
by other Carnival cruises, but passengers still reported having to wait in line for a hamburger for
up to four hours at a time. The company reported that backup generators were powering some
parts of the ship in an effort to keep guests “as comfortable as possible,” said in a statement
released by Carnival CEO Gerry Cahill the day after the fire broke out. Passengers filed lawsuits
against Carnival afterward. Several months after the incident, documents emerged that revealed
that Carnival knew about some of the ship’s problems before setting sail in February. The
Triumph left Galveston in February with only four of six generators fully functional and
indications that the generator that caught fire was overdue for maintenance and not in
compliance with SOLAS, which are the safety laws of the sea. There was also evidence of a
problem with the fuel lines in the engine room, which ended up contributing to the fire that broke
out on Feb. 10. Carnival learned about these fleet-wide issues a few months prior and issued a
compliance order to fix them, but the section of the fuel lines that caught fire on the Triumph
was never repaired.iv v vi

The Response

The Carnival social media team remained active on its accounts throughout the crisis,
tweeting information about the voyage and statements about the crisis to its followers. There was
also a tweet that was sent out assuring everyone that “of course the bathrobes for the Carnival
Triumph are complimentary,” which sparked outrage on Twitter.vii Though there were statements
issued about the safety of guests the day after the fire occurred, an official Carnival apology did

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not surface until two days after the power outage begun when Carnival Cruise Lines President
and CEO held a press conference on Feb. 12, 2013. He apologized to the guests and their
families affected by “a very difficult situation,” saying, “Let me assure you that no one here at
Carnival is happy about the conditions aboard the ship and we are obviously very sorry.” He
assured the public that this was an accident. Carnival vice president of technical operations Mark
Jackson insisted that the ship was compliant with safety regulations after checkups from the
Coast Guard and an insurance company. The company also pointed out in its court filing that the
“ticket contract makes absolutely no guarantee for safe passage, a seaworthy vessel, adequate
and wholesome food, and sanitary and safe living conditions.” The ship redirected to dock in
Mobile, Alabama and booked hotel rooms there and in New Orleans for guests to stay in as well
as flights to Houston and buses to Houston and Galveston, Texas. The cruise line immediately
dedicated $300 million to a safety upgrade for all of their ships and refunded all guests for the
cost of the cruise plus an additional $500 and cruise credit for a future voyage.

Part Two: Analysis

1. Be Proactive

a. Carnival and the Concept

When it comes to making apologies in PR mishaps, the best tactic to follow is responding
proactively to the public, something that the Carnival team struggled with when crafting its
response to the Triumph disaster. This means crafting an effective apology that not only
demonstrates the regret felt by the organization at fault but also communicates a commitment by
the organization to fix the damage it has caused from a crisis and prevent anything similar from
happening again in the future. In order for an organization to successfully move on from a PR
crisis, it has to get ahead of the conversation that will inevitably be had about the issue and shape
it to work in its favor while also being truthful and invested in the betterment of the organization
in the future. The Carnival apologies were not exactly successful in this goal because it
employed the opposite tactic of being reactive to the situation, beginning with one of the first
statements issued by the CEO. He stated that “no one here at Carnival is happy about the
conditions aboard the ship and we are obviously very sorry.” This statement sounds disingenuous
from the start and also somewhat mocks what a typical response would look like. Carnival
should be using formal and direct language when apologizing instead of using words that give
the apology less credibility.
Carnival’s Twitter account also added fuel to the fire by tweeting about the bathrobes
aboard the Triumph, which caused an uproar online and led to several followers calling for a
better PR plan for the company and a more sensitive response to the crisis that the passengers
were enduring on board. Carnival’s vice president of technical operations got defensive when the
confirmed safety of the ship prior to departure was called into question after maintenance
documents surfaced indicating a problem, arguing that the ship was in compliance with all safety
standards after a check from the U.S. Coast Guard and an insurance company. Additionally, the
company defended itself later in its court filings by saying that passengers were never guaranteed
a safe voyage, which would include a seaworthy vessel, adequate food and safe living conditions
in their ticket contracts. This statement did nothing for customer loyalty and nothing to

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compensate for what occurred on the Triumph. All of these defenses created blatant holes in
Carnival’s apology that rendered it far less effective than it would have been if the company
would have only released its apologies and made financial reparations for the damage. A
defensive apology does not count as an authentic apology to customers and to the community
that interacts with Carnival in some way. On the other hand, as previously stated, Carnival also
came forward with plans to compensate for this crisis by refunding the cruise, providing an extra
$500 and giving all passengers full cruise credit. It also immediately dedicated $300 million to
safety upgrades and booked hotel rooms, flights and buses to get the passengers home safely
afterward.viii
This aspect of Carnival’s reparation plan is strong in all areas except for the full cruise
credit. It is highly unlikely that someone who just endured a painful week stranded at sea with
Carnival would want to turn around and redeem their free cruise credit for another voyage
anytime in the near future, and therefore seems like an unnecessary thing to include even if the
company thought it would help patch things up. Refunds, stipends and safety upgrades were all
necessary and the company was right to issue them. The company should not have elected to
respond both proactively and reactively and instead should have solely accepted its wrongdoing
and worked to make it right.ix

b. Cases and the Concept

The case that most resembles this one is the Jewish Museum case because of the action that
the Jewish Museum took to fix its PR issue. The museum showcased an exhibit called Mirroring
Evil that was meant to show images of the Holocaust and pose questions about
commercialization. The general public was extremely uncomfortable with this exhibit and the
museum received a great deal of backlash, to which the museum immediately responded. It
released an extensive media kit including a press release, artist biographies and background
information about the exhibit as well as the museum itself. It decided to post signs at the entrance
of the exhibit as trigger warnings, developed an educational program about the Holocaust, a
major exhibition catalog publication and a more traditional Holocaust exhibit to include in the
museum. With its timely and proactive response, the Jewish Museum was able to shape the
conversation surrounding the controversy that it was involved in. It maintained the museum’s
credibility and took steps to ensure that the community was more comfortable with the exhibit
and were successful in doing so. Carnival should have modeled their response plan in a similar
way.x

2. Timeliness/Be Transparent

a. Carnival and the Concept

Another important aspect of the response from an organization post-crisis is the

timeliness in which they do so, and this is another area where Carnival struggled to produce a
good apology. The fire and accompanying outage occurred on a Sunday, and the CEO did not
issue a statement until 24 hours later. His official press conference was not held until two days
after the outage began. In some cases, responding as quickly as possible is not necessary, but
when people were using the restroom in plastic bags and sewage was seeping down the ship’s
walls, a timely response was imperative. Passengers on the ship were suffering, their families

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were afraid for their safety, and the community that knew about the issue already were waiting
for the cruise line to say something about it.
This should never be the case, because the organization at fault should be responding to
the crisis as quickly as possible. It fares better for the organization’s reputation to respond
immediately, even if it does not have all of the information, instead of waiting days to address
the issue as people are struggling. In the meantime, passengers on the ship were communicating
with their families, which gave the media the opportunity to report on it. Without an official
statement from the company or a representative, Carnival’s reputation inevitably began to take a
hit.
One of the pillars of public relations is transparency when communicating with
audiences. The truth always comes out eventually, and it is the responsibility of the organization
at fault to tell it and be upfront about its failures. Carnival’s effort to save its reputation while
this crisis was going on in part included not being completely honest about both the conditions
on the ship as well as the ship’s compliance with safety regulations before the ship even sailed.
Carnival assured the public that passengers on the ship had access to working bathrooms
powered by a backup generator and plenty of food and water. In reality, passengers were telling
their families and the media the truth – there was such a limited amount of bathrooms available
that people were still using plastic bags as toilets in desperation and not sleeping in their rooms
because of the urine and sewage smell that had seeped into the carpets and onto the walls. Food
was extremely limited; passengers reported waiting in line for four hours for a hamburger as just
part of the problem. There is no reason for Carnival to say something that isn’t true when the
truth will inevitably be communicated to the outside world somehow, but instead of being open
and honest about everything, the company embellished statements to make the conditions look
somewhat better than they actually were.
To make matters worse, 10 months after the crisis, maintenance documents emerged that
indicated safety concerns on the Triumph before it set sail in February. The ship left Galveston,
Texas with only four of six generators working and with the knowledge that the Triumph was
one of the ships across Carnival’s fleet at high risk for a generator fire. The generator that caught
fire had been indicated on several maintenance reports that it was overdue for repair and
additionally, the fuel lines on the ship were in danger of leaking. A compliance order was issued
for this, but the specific part of the fuel line that caused the crisis on the Triumph was not
repaired. When the ship set sail, the generator still needed maintenance and all fuel lines were
not shielded properly. The cruise line was not truthful about these issues and caught in a lie about
its safety preparedness, especially considering that these documents were not discovered until
several months after the crisis, which harms the credibility of the company.

b. Cases and the Concept

The first case that comes to mind when thinking about transparency is the Apple iProblem
case, because Apple was not completely honest when talking about the terrible conditions that
were discovered at the Foxconn factories in Taiwan. The company claimed to have been audited
by a third-party who found that the labor practices conducted needed some work, but were not
severely concerning. The media was not sure that this could be considered credible because
Apple would not disclose all of its suppliers and it was possible that the company had heavy
influence on the audit’s results. An additional audit was conducted by the Fair Labor Association
that revealed the more severe issues, which led Apple to lose credibility for its lack of

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transparency even though it acted as though this information was a surprise. This is a classic
example of the principle that no surprise is actually a surprise – if a company claimed not to
know about something (even to its fullest extent), this is most likely not true and there is more to
the story.xi This is seen with Carnival’s case because the maintenance documents existed
suggesting safety conditions that were not addressed or mentioned by the company, but
definitely did not contain new information that came as a surprise to them. The Sony PlayStation
case encounters a similar principle because the company seemed to be the last to know about its
hacks and internal issues when this was actually not the case. When it was revealed that the
company had knowledge about the incident that it was not sharing to the public, the company’s
audiences were outraged that they were unnecessarily kept in the dark. xii

3. Who Speaks?

a. Carnival and the Concept

The person who delivers the apology on behalf of an organization is just as important as
the content of the apology itself. The worse the issue is, the higher up in the company that the
person apologizing should be. In this case, Carnival acted correctly in choosing the
president/CEO to deliver the apology because it gives the most professional impression to the
public. This is not to say that Gerry Cahill’s apology was delivered without any hiccups, because
as noted earlier, his apology appeared to be far from genuine. This demonstrates that who
apologizes paired with how they apologize is crucial to the success of an organization’s damage
control.
The other key speaker in Carnival’s response came later with a response to the
maintenance documents that emerged 10 months after the crisis. Mark Jackson, the vice
president of technical operations, defended Carnival and the Triumph’s safety regulations when
it became clear that the ship was not fit to sail due to generator and fuel line issues. This response
was somewhat defensive but also explanatory of the steps the Triumph had taken to allegedly
secure the ship, though they were not exhaustive nor complete. Hearing from someone who is in
charge of the very area of ship operations that went awry both helped and hurt in this scenario.
On one hand, it was helpful for Jackson to explain with honesty what happened from a technical
standpoint, though he had little choice because the documents with the information were already
viewable by the public. On the other hand, having multiple speakers in the instance of an
organization’s apology can cause confusion, whereas one person apologizing simplifies the
reparation process. A third speaker to consider is the body of passengers on the ship that were
communicating with their families and outside people not on the ship which ended up serving as
an important communication channel and one of the quickest and most reputable ways to get
information about the crisis. Even though they did not have a role in apologizing for the crisis,
they still played a huge role in how this crisis was communicated to the media and the outside
world.

b. Cases and the Concept

A similar case that used the CEO apology tactic was the Domino’s incident, where two
employees filmed themselves messing with pizzas. The CEO of Domino’s filmed a video
apology and statement for the public which was the smart thing to do. It would not have been

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effective for the two employees to apologize because it wouldn’t have been genuine and their
employment was terminated following the incident. By choosing the CEO to speak, the company
indicated that this issue had the utmost importance in its operations and that it needed to be dealt
with at the highest level of the company possible, something that both Domino’s and Carnival
did well in their respective PR incidents.xiii

4. Remember Your Audiences

a. Carnival and the Concept

One of the first things a company has to consider when responding to a PR crisis or even
planning for future possible crises is the audiences that the company draws in, which can
sometimes be an expansive list, especially in the case of Carnival. In this case specifically, there
were several audiences to consider that Carnival did not account for, which made its damage
control messier than normal. The most direct audiences were the ship’s guests and their
families/loved ones that were worried about their wellbeing. With its apologies and statements,
Carnival did not specifically prioritize any audience, but instead released general information
with some emotional wording in order to appear remorseful. It became utterly clear that besides
the bare minimum of keeping people alive on the ship, the passengers were not a priority for
Carnival and neither were their families. Instead, the company was focused on doing damage
control for their brand, which was evidenced by the language of its statements about the crisis
and its reparations it paid to the guests after the voyage. A free cruise voucher may have
benefitted future guests if they chose to redeem it, but would ultimately benefit Carnival the
most. Beyond these audiences were several more that needed to be considered but were also not
prioritized, including Carnival’s VIFP members, which stands for “Very Important Fun Person.”
This is Carnival’s loyalty club that gives members special benefits on and off the ship when they
earn points by taking a cruise. Loyalty members for any organization are extremely important
because they are where most of the consumer dedication lies.xiv
The same principle is true for people who have booked Carnival cruises in the past, as
their testimonials from their experiences will definitely add to or take away from the company’s
reputation. A past customer sharing their positive experience could possibly strengthen
Carnival’s credibility against a PR problem like the Triumph crisis, and the same is true for
negative experiences and the possibility that they could weaken Carnival’s reputation. Another
audience to consider is the people who were planning to book a cruise in the future, possibly
with Carnival. The way that the company handles the crisis determines how successful they will
be with future business. This means that Carnival’s response to this crisis determined how many
people decided to continue booking cruises with the company after this happened.
The better the incident is handled, the better the company will retain its present and future
customers. Social media followers make up several of these audiences already, but they are their
own audience because they directly interact with the content that the company posts, which in
this situation was statements about the crisis including apologies and status updates. How these
messages are crafted matters not only to the success of the response as a whole, but more
specifically it matters to garner good opinions from these followers. They might share, repost or
respond to the posts based on how they feel about them, which contributes to the overall success
of the response. All of these audiences prove the importance of considering and knowing all
possible audiences when crafting a response.

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 The key takeaways are to be aware of inactive publics, because they are just as likely to
get involved in a case as more direct/target publics are, and to keep in mind that different
audiences may require different messages or responses. This is applicable to the Carnival case
because of all of the identified audiences that were present and the need to cater to all of them
with the company’s responses. Carnival did not consider who it was communicating with while
responding, and the potential success of the response was jeopardized by the company’s lack of
consideration for its publics and lack of planning in that aspect.

b. Cases and the Concept

A case that echoes these principles was the Sony PlayStation case where the company
looked to reward its loyal members with a Customer Appreciation Program that included several
perks, instituted with the hope of garnering enough support to get the company through the
hacking scandal. The key takeaway from this case was to use loyal members as a strength during
times of crisis, an audience that provides an accessible advantage for a company to use to avoid
tainting its reputation. This dedication can potentially provide the company with support in times
of crisis, so it is crucial that organizations maintain good relationships with them in order to keep
them around.xv
A case where audiences were incredibly important was the Pouring on the Pounds case, when
Mayor Bloomberg wanted to reduce sugar consumption in New York City. This campaign was
specifically designed to reach overweight individuals, but it ended up reaching other audiences
as well – namely non-overweight publics that were exposed to the same campaign as well as the
beverage companies. There was a whole other section of audiences to be considered, classified as
inactive publics. The campaign team did not consider these other publics and suffered for it,
which echoes the necessity of knowing and considering all possible audiences to know how to
market and speak to them.xvi

5. Legal Impacts/Be Prepared to Act

a. Carnival and the Concept

Every organization would prefer to avoid crises, but if one does occur, there needs to be a
plan in place to tackle the issue immediately and begin remedying it. In Carnival’s case, there did
not appear to be much of a crisis control plan in case something went wrong, and it left them
scrambling to fix things. It is worth noting that this was not Carnival’s first PR mess after
struggling with several issues before this including previous fires and ship problems.
For an organization to effectively handle a crisis, there has to be a plan in place that
details how to respond, so that if and when the time comes to use it, the reputation of the
company will not be under fire. Unpreparedness led Carnival to rush to make accommodations
for the Triumph’s stranded guests both on the ship and for once the ship docked in Alabama.
Instead of crafting a smart, effective statement or series of statements, its social media responses
were messy and mostly just created confusion for all involved. The PR team at Carnival should
have organized responses to eliminate confusion and communicate critical information without
backlash from the community, like the tweet sent out assuring everyone that the bathrobes were
complimentary.

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 Another important aspect of this to consider was the legal impact the crisis had on the
company, which is also important to plan for and hopefully avoid. Several passengers filed
lawsuits against the cruise line and put Carnival in legal hot water. One lawyer was representing
several different passengers and spoke on their behalf, acknowledging Carnival’s negligence
regarding the generators and fuel lines that gave the passengers grounds to sue the cruise line.
Eventually, Carnival ended up settling the dozens of lawsuits filed after this crisis, but could
have minimized its need for damage control or avoided this overall by preparing effectively for
crises, which includes double-checking any aspect of the ship that could end up putting
passengers in danger and eventually cause lawsuits.

b. Cases and the Concept

The Domino’s case demonstrates an important step in preparing for PR disasters because
one of its key takeaways was to always have a plan in place. Certain problems may not be
foreseeable, but if a general plan is in place for attacking these issues and responding to them
proactively, these problems become a lot more manageable if they are ever encountered.xvii The
Sony PlayStation case also highlights a relevant point in the preparation process, because a key
takeaway is the importance of establishing meaningful relationships with audiences so that they
are more willing to provide support in times of crisis.xviii This was somewhat discussed under the
“Know Your Audiences” tab, but is relevant again when discussing PR preparation. On a
completely different note, post-crisis, the Carnival case is similar to both the Papa John’s case
and the Uber case. With Papa John’s, the crisis definitely led people to choose other pizza chains
for their takeout instead of associating themselves with the problematic former CEO. And with
Uber, the opposite happened, because Uber is a member of a much smaller market, so people did
not take their business elsewhere after the company’s multitude of issues nearly as much as they
did after the Papa John’s case. The cruise market is somewhere in the middle of this, so there are
a few different companies that customers can take their business to after distancing themselves
from Carnival, but not enough that they would potentially see a dramatic different in sales. The
key takeaway from this is that poor planning in the face of crises will cause customers to go
somewhere else if they can, which is why PR planning is especially important.

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 Bibliography

i
"Governance." Business Conduct & Ethics - Carnival Corporation. Accessed October 24, 2018.
http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=140690&p=irol-govconduct.
ii
Carnival Cruise Line. "About Us." Carnival Cruise Line. Accessed October 24, 2018.
https://www.carnival.com/about-carnival/about-us.aspx.
iii
PR, Carnival Cruise. "Carnival Cruise PR (@CarnivalPR)." Twitter. October 16, 2018.
Accessed October 24, 2018. https://twitter.com/carnivalpr.
iv
Griffin, Drew, and Scott Bronstein. "'Poop Cruise' Carnival Triumph Set Sail with Problems."
CNN. December 18, 2013. Accessed October 24, 2018.
https://www.cnn.com/2013/12/17/travel/carnival-cruise-triumph-problems/index.html.
v
Ortiz, Erik, and David Knowles. "Foul Conditions aboard Stranded Carnival Cruise Ship
Triumph: Passengers Describe 'sewage Running down the Walls' and People Acting like
'savages' - NY Daily News." Nydailynews.com. April 10, 2018. Accessed October 24, 2018.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/fire-carnival-cruise-ship-strands-4-200-article-
1.1261258.
vi
Gutman, Matt, Alyssa Newcomb, and Christina Ng. "Carnival Apologizes for Stranded Cruise
Ship." ABC News. February 12, 2013. Accessed October 24, 2018.
https://abcnews.go.com/Travel/carnival-apologizes-stranded-cruise-ship/story?id=18472936.
vii
Account, Carnival Cruise LineVerified. "Carnival Cruise Line (@CarnivalCruise)." Twitter.
October 18, 2018. Accessed October 24, 2018. https://twitter.com/CarnivalCruise?lang=en.
viii
PatrickCoffee. "Carnival Triumph Debacle: Let the Damage Control Begin!" – Adweek.
February 19, 2013. Accessed October 24, 2018. https://www.adweek.com/digital/carnival-
triumph-debacle-let-the-damage-control-begin/.
ix
Bartlett, David. "How Carnival Can Clean up the PR Mess." CNN. February 15, 2013.
Accessed October 24, 2018. https://www.cnn.com/2013/02/14/opinion/bartlett-carnival-pr-
mess/index.html.
x
Swann, Patricia. CASES IN PUBLIC RELATIONS MANAGEMENT: The Rise of Social Media
and Activism. “It’s the Real Thing: Protest at the Jewish Museum.” S.l.: ROUTLEDGE, 2018.
xi
Ibid., “Apple iProblem: Subcontractor Worker Issues Bring Negative Attention.”
xii
Ibid., “Sony PlayStation: It Only Does Everything!”
xiii
Ibid., “Two Employees with a Video Camera”
xiv
Carnival Cruise Line. "VIFP Club®." Carnival Cruise Line. Accessed October 24, 2018.
https://www.carnival.com/vifp/overview.aspx?icid=CC_vifp-club_1866.
xv
Swann, Patricia. CASES IN PUBLIC RELATIONS MANAGEMENT: The Rise of Social Media
and Activism. “Sony PlayStation: It Only Does Everything!” S.l.: ROUTLEDGE, 2018.
xvi
Ibid., “Are You Pouring on the Pounds?”
xvii
Ibid., “Two Employees with a Video Camera”
xviii
Ibid., “Sony PlayStation: It Only Does Everything!”

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