Acts by Concordia's cowardly captain may sink the entire cruise industry

 

Cowardly act by Costa Concordia's captain
threatens to sink the entire cruise industry.

Shock and awe and a horrible sick feeling in the pit of my stomach is what I feel as I watch events unfold in the sinking of the Costa Concordia.

Has there ever been a more cowardly act than the one committed by the Concordia's captain, Francesco Schettino?

Hanging is too good for this bastard!

Just a few weeks ago, I was on a cruise ship in the Caribbean and now I wonder: What would my captain have done had his ship run aground and capsized?

The Concordia's cowardly captain has now cast doubt on all his colleagues.

And the immediate aftermath is not good for the cruise industry.

According to a poll conducted by SodaHead.com in the days right after the Concordia sinking, 26 per cent of the 1,000 people polled say they are now "less likely" to take a cruise in light of the Costa incident.

To put that in perspective, SodaHead.com says the 26 per cent negative response (based on the 18.8 million people who took a cruise in 2011) represents 4.9 million of last year's cruisers who may not take a cruise this year.

This kind of negative publicity and doubt now cast over the competence of captains and crew could sink the cruise industry, which contributes $18 billion (U.S.) and accounts for 176,000 jobs annually in south Florida alone.

Carnival, which owns the Costa cruise line, has watched helplessly this week as its stock dropped to record lows. And the free fall is not over - estimates of legal damage alone is nearing the $1 billion mark and confidence in Carnival's product line will be suspect for a long time to come.

The cruise industry, because of its emphasis on safety and security, was able to ride out the fallout of 9/11 and other terrorist events. But the Concordia sinking may change all that. The industry, as a whole, must weed out cowards like Captain Schettino - forever known as Captain Coward - and persuade people that when accidents happen - as they always will - that competent, trustworthy people are looking after their best interests.

How the cruise industry rides this storm out depends on how well Carnival handles the Concordia incident.