tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7605709737950004572024-03-13T14:51:42.789+00:00Costa Failureor how a cruise ship falls apart under poor managementSlow Learnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09276308053037019253noreply@blogger.comBlogger52125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-760570973795000457.post-42890309425389115052012-02-27T16:38:00.003+00:002012-02-27T16:49:30.362+00:00Now the Costa Allegra goes bang'An Italian cruise ship with more than 1,000 people on board is without power in the Indian Ocean following a fire'.<br /><br />Costa do seem to have their problems, don't they - whoooops!<br /><a href="http://tinyurl.com/7n6hp5f"><b>http://tinyurl.com/7n6hp5f</b></a><br /><br />How long until we hear that Costa's name is going to be removed from all of their ships, I wonder? And who nowadays (apart from Italians) will trust Costa with their lives and book new cruises with them?<br /><br />The Costa brand is almost as 'dead in the water' as the Costal Allegra, I'd bet.Slow Learnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09276308053037019253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-760570973795000457.post-85562400496832248532012-01-24T21:53:00.002+00:002012-01-24T21:58:36.718+00:00Captain not solely to blame, says prosecutorFrom the Cruise.co.uk web site:<br /><br />According to today's Telegraph, the chief prosecutor in charge of the inquiry has implored investigators to look <i>beyond</i> the behaviour of the captain to the role played by the liner's owners, Costa Cruises.<br /><br />His comments were published as salvage experts began the difficult task of removing around 2,400 tonnes of fuel from the vessel.<br /><br />Beniamino Deidda, the prosecutor, said in an interview carried by several Italian newspapers today: "For the moment, attention is generally concentrated on the responsibility of the captain, who showed himself to be tragically inadequate. But who chooses the captain?"<br /><br />He said investigators needed to avert their gaze to the decisions taken by "the employer; that is to say, the ship's owner".<br /><br />Deidda, who has spent a large part of his career dealing with health and safety cases, said numerous other issues needed to be addressed.<br /><br />He specifically mentioned "lifeboats that did not come down, crew who did not know what to do [and] scant preparation in crisis management".<br /><br />He added that it was "absurd" that in at least one instance, recorded on video after the Costa Concordia was holed, a member of the crew should have told passengers to return to their cabins.<br /><br />Schettino has also maintained that his employers have a shared responsibility for what happened. Among the questions the inquiry is seeking to answer is why more than an hour elapsed between impact and the order to abandon ship.<br /><br />Questioned by prosecutors last week, the captain said that he was in frequent contact with a representative of the company during that period.<br /><br />Schettino and his first officer are the sole formal suspects in the inquiry, which is looking at whether to bring charges of manslaughter and the illegal abandoning of a ship.Slow Learnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09276308053037019253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-760570973795000457.post-85831570312075783582012-01-17T09:37:00.004+00:002012-01-17T17:35:50.009+00:00Costa's 'previous'<a href="http://cruiseforums.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1153886"></a><span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span><a href="http://cruiseforums.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1153886">Does this sound familiar</a>, <span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span>following reports of the collapse of discipline and seeming absence of leadership during the Concordia disaster?<br /><br />My eyes fastened on the bit about, 'only young Costa staff doing their best'.Slow Learnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09276308053037019253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-760570973795000457.post-73164093529588256582012-01-16T17:35:00.008+00:002012-01-16T20:01:41.137+00:00Worse and worseThe dreadful Costa Concordia disaster has reminded me all over again of the weaknesses in leadership at all levels that we witnessed on Costa Europa. The captain and senior officers let us all down by simply dreadful communications and the Costa Head Office seemingly saw no reason to override them on our behalf.<br /><br />Even today, if you Google 'Costa Europa' you can find a link to our ruined cruise - see: <b>http://tinyurl.com/as8ekz</b> But, more interestingly, there's a link to a story about an incident in Sharm-el-Sheikh two years ago where the Costa Europa crashed into the dock resulting in the deaths of THREE crew members. See: <b>http://tinyurl.com/7peorel</b><br /><br />And even more interestingly from the point of view of disaffected passengers on our ''Jewels of the Indian Ocean' cruise, it seems that Costa in general has a lot of 'previous' - see: <b>http://tinyurl.com/86ww7fw<br /></b><br />After the Sharm incident Costa offloaded the Europa to Thomson. Remember, we're talking about a pretty much clapped out tub with dodgy engines, poor management and seemingly disaffected lower level staff. A poisoned chalice, you might think. But, no! In cruise.co.uk's latest <strong style="font-weight: normal;"></strong><strong style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Passenger Ratings Survey, published last week, the Thomson Dream came TOP in two of the eight categories, i.e. Best Service and Best Entertainment.<br /><br />So, if Thomson can turn around such an apparent basket case it really does ask still more questions about the whole Costa organisation.<br /><br />What has struck me during the appalling Concordia tragedy was a passenger talking glowingly about the precision of the lifeboat drill at the start of the cruise. I've come to really dislike the way that the Italians manage this event - MSC are just as bad, in my view. You're treated like naughty children, forced to line up on deck and stand in silence for 15 minutes in neat straight rank and file and generally treated with little respect.<br /><br />All other cruise lines that I've sailed with put more effort into explaining the whats and whys without dragging you out on deck and putting you on parade. On Celebrity Equinox last November our muster station was the main restaurant, where we were sat comfortably and were shown a safety film.<br /><br />The Concordia incident shows that Costa seem to have put all of their effort into pointlessly drilling their passengers but little or none into training their crew and officers - it's all seeming and no substance. There have been reports of crew racing passengers to the lifeboats and the remaining crew not knowing how to launch them.<br /><br />The purser who was rescued after 36 hours with a broken leg has justifiably been feted as a hero, having become trapped below decks while trying to rescue passengers, probably because he was an honorable exception - the captain himself has been reported as having left the ship before midnight whilst the rescuing of passengers went on until 3am.<br /><br />And now Costa are hanging their captain out to dry, blaming him but also saying they'll support him. Talk about riding two horses at once. </span></strong>'Something is rotten in the state of Denmark', wrote Shakespeare. It's SO tempting to paraphrase this, isn't it?Slow Learnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09276308053037019253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-760570973795000457.post-46339550926910794902009-09-30T21:17:00.006+01:002009-09-30T21:39:41.765+01:00Names, vouchers and discountsDear old Costa, seemingly oblivious to the irony, has asked its 'customers' for help in naming its <a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://www.worldofcosta.com/sceglilacoppia/GB/Default.aspx">next two ships</a>. Perhaps realising that not all of its former passengers can be relied upon to play the game properly Costa hasn't given us the option to put forward our own names - booooo!<br /><br />So, what names would those of us who were victims of this year's Costa Europa nightmare cruises in the Indian Ocean choose? Mine would be 'Packet' and 'Fortune', but I'm sure that my fellow victims, sorry, 'customers', could be more imaginative!<br /><br />Meanwhile, rumour reaches us that Costa have accepted a fellow passenger's vouchers against one of their cruises advertised by Thomas Cook, discounts and all, one assumes. So, I suppose that might encourage some of us to consider one more Costa cruise if only to claw back some of the money that they declined to refund to us earlier this year.<br /><br /><br /><span style=";font-family:Arial;font-size:85%;" ></span>Slow Learnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09276308053037019253noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-760570973795000457.post-51369660135755445722009-09-04T21:39:00.003+01:002009-09-04T22:55:53.480+01:00A matter of honourWell, we're still here and still pushing for recognition from Costa that they wrecked many people's legitimate holiday expectations and have still failed to appropriately recompense their customers.<br /><br />It's probably worth bringing ourselves up to date with a few developments, none of which do anything to improve Costa's dismal reputation amongst those of us treated with such disdain following the disastrous February 'Jewels of the Indian Ocean' cruise. This was when engine failure slowed the Costa Europa so disastrously that ten days on shore and four days at sea became ten days at sea and four days ashore.<br /><br />Whilst still at sea we were initially offered EITHER €300 off our on-board accounts OR €600 off a future Costa cruise, valid until the end of 2010 and applicable to any Costa cruise. This inadequate offer caused such uproar during the seemingly interminable sea days between Mombasa and Réunion that a virtual mutiny was only calmed by the offer being immediately amended to include both the €300 now and the €600 later. We were then rushed off the ship in Mauritius at dawn.<br /><br />In May, one of our shipmates decided, having been ignored in his demands for further compensation, to 'bite the bullet' and book another Costa cruise in order to use up the €600 vouchers. His travel agent spoke to Costa and accepted the vouchers. Costa subsequently got back in touch with the agent and said that they would not now accept them because the cruise he had booked was a promotional deal.<br /><br />When we were given these vouchers we were told that they could be used against any Costa cruise up to the end of 2010 - there were no provisos at all. Worse was to come - our shipmate was incensed and said that he'd cancel his booking, only to be threatened with a £300 cancellation fee. You just couldn't make it up, could you?<br /><br />This was just one of a number of instances of Costa seemingly attempting to claw back the €600 by ensuring that it could only be redeemed against full price cruises, thus making the vouchers effectively valueless since you could book their cruises elsewhere with discounts greater than €600.<br /><br />During the summer one shipmate after another started to take Costa through the Small Claims process. It might be no coincidence that rumours have since started to circulate that Costa has now started to accept their own €600 vouchers in certain cases, even against discounted cruises and even to offer further financial compensation. It would therefore seem that it's worth continuing to challenge Costa legally in order to get more appropriate recognition of their dreadful management of that cruise, or at worst just get them to honour their own promises.<br /><br />My wife and I still can't agree on whether to trust Costa ever again, even to use their vouchers. Her view is that a combined €1200 could buy us a nice little cruise on which we'd spend little of our own cash - we'd then never ever sail with them again. My view is that having been treated disgracefully by Costa once leaves me determined not to allow them the opportunity to blithely do it again.<br /><br />Shipmate Terry, who'd himself worked on cruise ships long ago, said over dinner on only the second night of the cruise on the Europa and having observed the staff at work around us that 'This is not a happy ship'. How does that come about you might ask. Having just come back from a very successful cruise I now have some insight into this, I believe.<br /><br />The captain of Azamara Quest was reall quite young for so senior an officer - he can only have been around 40, perhaps less. In his daily tannoy updates to the passengers he displayed earnest enthusiasm, good humour and a determination to make sure that we had the best possible cruise. He and his senior officers were often seen on deck, meeting passengers and joining us for the post-dinner entertainments.<br /><br />He also displayed a clear understanding of what all of his staff did on board, to the extent that I'm certain that when the passengers were ashore he was making behind-the-scenes tours to check standards and to keep up morale. I certainly have never before seen such permanently cheerful crew on a cruise, right across the job spectrum, and I'm convinced that this was largely down to his very effective leadership.<br /><br />So, Costa selling off the Europa is a good thing in that another cruise company will give it the overhaul it so desperately needs and squeeze some more fruitful years from it. However, its disaffected staff will be scattered throughout the fleet. And what about its captain, who spoke hotly of 'honour' when cornered? Desk job in Genoa, one would imagine.Slow Learnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09276308053037019253noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-760570973795000457.post-2375446923742078362009-08-27T17:19:00.002+01:002009-08-27T17:42:00.618+01:00Thomson Nightmare?Guess what? Costa has offloaded the <span style="font-style: italic;">Europa</span> to Thomson who propose to rename it <span style="font-style: italic;">'Thomson Dream'</span>. I sincerely hope that no money changed hands for that tub, given the total re-build that it'll need, starting with its knackered engine.<br /><br />And indeed it does seem that Thomson recognise the reconstruction task they've taken on, as the <span style="font-style: italic;">'Dream'</span> won't enter service for a full year.<br /><br />There have been a number of developments since the last posting, but I'm still away from home at the moment and will catch up when I get back. However, my wife and I have just taken a cruise in Costa's home waters on the <span style="font-style: italic;">'Azamara Quest'</span> and now know precisely what excellence in cruise ships looks like. Azamara - part of Celebrity - makes Costa look amateurish. More on this later too.<br /><br />I've always had a soft spot for Thomson since my first cruise with them, on the 'Destiny'. They could teach Costa many, many lessons on customer service alone. Let's hope that, in the dreadful <span style="font-style: italic;">'Costa Europa'</span> they haven't taken on a white elephant that will turn their <span style="font-style: italic;">'Dream'</span> into a nightmare.Slow Learnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09276308053037019253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-760570973795000457.post-42568491444234627052009-06-05T14:15:00.004+01:002009-06-05T20:08:40.291+01:00Insult upon injuryWhile still on the Costa Europa and having each just received the no-strings €600 vouchers for use against a future cruise we were warned by an English lawyer who was a fellow passenger that these vouchers weren't worth the paper they were written on.<br /><br />Although at the time I was burning with anger at Costa's dreadful treatment of its customers I was persuaded by the captain's personal word to all of us, given in several languages, that the vouchers were as good as currency as far as Costa was concerned. It seems that I was naive.<br /><br />Last week one of our fellow passengers on the disastrous 14/2 to 28/2 cruise decided to bite the bullet and book another Costa cruise, using his €600 voucher to do so. Having presented his voucher and booked his cruise his travel agent came back to him and said that Costa refused to accept the voucher. Why, you might ask? It seems that Costa will not accept their own voucher where any promotional deals apply, i.e. they make you pay the full whack, which arguably wins them back their €600.<br /><br />This restriction was not declared until now, which is far from surprising, when you bear in mind the barely contained anger of literally hundreds of passengers of all nations even after the original no-strings offer was made. If this chicanery had been carried out on a British ship I'd have felt extremely embarrassed.<br /><br />Worse than this, insult was heaped on injury when he said that he was now no longer interested in taking this cruise - Costa now declared that there would be a €300 cancellation penalty charge. You just couldn't make this up, could you?<br /><br />It is against this background that passengers are now starting pursue legal remedies, either through ABTA or directly in the courts against Costa and/or their agents.Slow Learnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09276308053037019253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-760570973795000457.post-63805266263892224942009-04-01T12:09:00.002+01:002009-04-01T12:11:55.127+01:00To summarise ...This blog was set up during Costa’s problem-plagued ‘Jewels of the Indian Ocean’ cruise that set off from Mauritius in Saturday 14th February 2009.<br /><br />Its primary purpose was to act as a central point of reference for the many English-speaking passengers who were dissatisfied with the huge changes made by Costa to the itinerary during the cruise, thus giving them a means of staying in touch once they had left the ship and returned home.<br /><br />In the intervening weeks many other complaints were raised about Costa’s management of a large number of aspects of life on board, but without the itinerary changes these would probably have been less contentious and might well have been left unreported.<br /><br />So, the purpose of this posting is three-fold:<br /><br />- to summarise the vast discrepancy between Costa’s published ‘Jewels of the Indian Ocean’ itinerary and the one that passengers subsequently experienced<br /><br />- to explain why Costa’s compensation of €300 per passenger for their failure to provide the promised itinerary was desperately insufficient and why, weeks after the end of the cruise, there is still bad feeling against Costa amongst passengers.<br /><br />- to demonstrate that it was engine problems and not political instability that denied us the once-in-a-lifetime chance to see Madagascar<br /><br />The details of the ‘Advertised’ and the ‘Actual’ cruises were published <a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://costafailure.blogspot.com/2009/03/incredible-shrinking-cruise.html">here</a>. Briefly, we lost four advertised ports of call, i.e. all of Madagascar and also Réunion (reduced from ten hours to just one). For those of us who weren’t told in advance there was also a fifth missed port of call; Mayotte. It also meant that instead of around four days at sea and ten ashore we had about ten at sea and only four ashore.<br /><br />In the explanations provided to individual customers who returned home and wrote letters of complaint Costa has majored on a ‘Force Majeure’ defence, i.e. the political instability in Madagascar, and has played down the engine failure that slowed the Europa to half speed. In other words, on the one hand they have focused on an element of the cruise for which they have no obligation to provide compensation, and on the other haven’t appropriately addressed a key failure that fell entirely within their own control, i.e. the crippling engine failure. However, as will be shown, a far more likely reason for the loss of all the Madagascar stops was the faulty engine.<br /><br />Shortly before our departure many of us received a letter from Costa that warned us that, ‘we could be forced to modify the cruise itineraries … by cancelling all the scheduled calls in Madagascar in order to protect the safety and tranquility of the Guests.’ The promise was made that, should this be necessary Costa would schedule, ‘an additional overnight in Mahé (Seychelles), in Mombasa (Kenya) and in Réunion St. Denis (Réunion) thus offering to guests the possibility to experience a Holiday discovering these wonderful and fascinating destinations’.<br /><br />On joining the ship we were delighted to see that two Madagascan ports of call, Nosy Bé and Diego Suarez, remained on the schedule. Indeed, Costa was selling several excursions for those ports, so clearly there were no problems there in the first week of the cruise. There was no warning that Madagascar would be missed out altogether until the afternoon of Monday 23rd February. By this time, it was subsequently apparent, there was barely enough time to limp back to Réunion at little over ten knots to hastily disembark passengers who had joined the cruise there and then to dash for Mauritius to disembark the rest of us.<br /><br />The fault in the starboard engine became apparent the day after we left Mahé. On the Friday morning the decks and sunbeds were covered with oily ash, and it subsequently became obvious when black smoke started belching from the funnel that there was a major problem with one of the engines. We then arrived in Mombasa a day late, thus demonstrating the reduced speed of the ship on only one engine. Repairs in Mombasa meant staying there for an extra night before we set off for Réunion, missing Madagascar entirely.<br /><br />And while all this was going on what exactly might have been happening in Madagascar that made Costa decide not to call there? Not a lot, really; nothing that hit the international headlines, anyway. If the situation in Madagascar was so dire from 23rd to 25th February how was it that in the intervening fortnight things returned so completely to normal that the Europa was able to call at all three ports there in perfect safety from 9th to 11th March. What’s more, how was it that on Friday 20th March the Europa visited Nosy Bé with a coup d’état having taken place only three days earlier and with the African Union that day suspending Madagascar and threatening sanctions?<br /><br />If the northern Madagascan ports were so dangerous to visit then we should have been told this categorically before departure and been given the option of canceling our cruise plus a full refund. Demonstrably, the position in the north of that country remained safe and stable throughout the political crisis, for why else would Costa Europa have repeatedly called there after the disastrous 14th/28th February cruise and throughout the coup d’état?<br /><br />So, to summarise and make things crystal clear, the loss of the two stops in Madagascar was due to the engine problem, with one day lost at sea on the way to Mombasa and the other in Mombasa itself. Nothing to do with ‘sociopolitical problems’, merely engineering failure. It is for this reason that we continue to hold Costa responsible for our ‘ruined cruise’, to directly quote Comandante Donato Salvatore.Slow Learnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09276308053037019253noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-760570973795000457.post-58724594697005101012009-03-20T11:31:00.005+00:002009-03-20T12:18:22.171+00:00Those engines againA quiet few days on this blog but a fair amount of behind-the-scenes contact between shipmates.<br /><br />One interesting point that has cropped up concerns the engines. Those of us who have had replies to our letters from Costa and their agents will have found that blame for the horribly truncated cruise is being pointed at 'the sociopolitical situation in Madagascar'.<br /><br />If the situation in Madagascar was so dire from 23rd to 25th February and we're currently witnessing what seems to be a coup d'état in that country how it was that in the intervening fortnight things returned so completely to normal before <a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7954356.stm">spiralling out of control again</a> that the Europa was able to call at all three ports there in perfect safety from 9th to 11th March. What's more, at this very moment (midday GMT on Friday 20th March) she is sitting happily in Nosy Be. That's right, in Madagascar. Funny how those pesky 'sociopolitical problems' bounce backward and forwards so very rapidly. One could become so very cynical.<br /><br />No, the main problem has to have been the Europa's dodgy engine, i.e. the one that seemed to have blown a piston ring one night in our first week leaving the deck and the sunbeds littered with oily smut the next morning. We have been assured that this problem was 'not foreseeable' and was 'beyond Costa's control'.<br /><span class="546580810-20032009"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span class="000410910-20032009"></span></span></span></span></span><br />However, word is now reaching us that the Europa 'encountered severe weather travelling from Savona to Mauritius in November when the damage to the propulsion system had occurred'.<br /><br />Can this possibly be true? Might the Europa had been 'limping' during our cruise due to a known and unresolved problem?<br /><br />Maybe the Costa staff who read this blog might like to comment?<span class="546580810-20032009"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span class="000410910-20032009"></span></span></span></span></span>Slow Learnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09276308053037019253noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-760570973795000457.post-86456921834088759002009-03-17T18:42:00.002+00:002009-03-17T18:52:04.856+00:00The Package Travel, Package Holidays & Package Tours Regulations 1992UK residents might like to take a look at the above legislation.<br /><br />Quite apart from the failure to call as scheduled at Madagascar let's look at the case of Mayotte. We booked a cruise that featured Mayotte, and it was only when we boarded the Europa that we found that it had vanished from the itinerary.<br /><br />In other words, our contract included Mayotte and we were not informed of its removal from the itinerary.<br /><br />Here's what UK law says:<br /><br /><b>Significant alterations to essential terms</b><br /> <b>12.</b> <dt1>In every contract there are implied terms to the effect that—<br /><br /><ul>(a) where the organiser is constrained before the departure to alter significantly an essential term of the contract, such as the price (so far as regulation 11 permits him to do so), he will notify the consumer as quickly as possible in order to enable him to take appropriate decisions and in particular to withdraw from the contract without penalty or to accept a rider to the contract specifying the alterations made and their impact on the price; and</ul> <ul>(b) the consumer will inform the organiser or the retailer of his decision as soon as possible.<br /><br /></ul><div style="text-align: left;">The rest of this<span style="font-size:100%;"> </span><span msxsl="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:xslt" local="#local-functions" xql="#xql-functions" ns1="http://www.w3.org/TR/WD-xsl" style="font-size:100%;">Statutory Instrument can be referred to at: http://www.opsi.gov.uk/SI/si1992/Uksi_19923288_en_1.htm</span><span msxsl="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:xslt" local="#local-functions" xql="#xql-functions" ns1="http://www.w3.org/TR/WD-xsl" style="font-size:+2;"><br /></span></div><ul><br /></ul></dt1><dt1> </dt1>Slow Learnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09276308053037019253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-760570973795000457.post-21261117127915462222009-03-17T18:06:00.003+00:002009-03-17T18:32:06.024+00:00Hypothetically speakingImagine this hypothetical letter, received ten days before Europa's departure:<br /><br />Dear Customer X,<br /><br />We regret to inform you that due to various operating difficulties, the itinerary for the 'Jewels of the Indian Ocean' cruise will be severely truncated. You will not be visiting Mayotte under any circumstances, and given that we've rarely called anywhere in Madagascar on the previous three or four cruises we don't expect to be able to call there either. Additionally, your call at Réunion will be cut from over nine hours to less than two.<br /><br />Please also be advised that, instead of ten days ashore and four days at sea, as advertised, due to the above-mentioned operating difficulties you'll be spending ten days at sea and only four ashore.<br /><br />Naturally, we regret these changes enormously but have no wish to be anything other than completely frank with our valued customers. Recognising that the cruise that you booked can now in no way be delivered we are making you an offer of a reduction of €300 per person on this cruise plus a further €600 against the cost of a future cruise.<br /><br />However, we also recognise that you might instead prefer to cancel your cruise altogether and receive a full refund, including air fares, no matter whether you booked it through Costa or through any of our affiliates. If you choose this option we undertake to fully refund you within fourteen days.<br /><br />Yours etc etc.<br />Costa<br /><br />This is of course a hypothetical letter.<br /><br />My wife and I spent several thousand Euros booking this cruise and for us the highlight was to be to see lemurs in Madagascar. If the cruise hadn't featured Madagascar we wouldn't have booked it in the first place, and if on being told we wouldn't get there at all we'd then been given the opportunity to cancel we'd have taken it immediately. Visiting Madagascar was the central purpose of this cruise, as far as we were concerned.<br /><br />Could we book another holiday that'd get us to Madagascar for €300? I don't think so. Would we re-book with Costa in the hope of perhaps getting there next time? Hardly. For these reasons alone Costa's interim compensation in no way makes up for what we lost.Slow Learnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09276308053037019253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-760570973795000457.post-10898291143002516882009-03-17T14:51:00.006+00:002009-03-17T15:27:20.871+00:00What's this blog for?There's been a little avalanche of comments in the past day or so from a couple of people who seemingly disagree with the general direction of this blog. They apparently have been offended about our policy of deleting insulting and/or childish comments, and I think that we need to be clear about why we do this.<br /><br />This blog was set up <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">during the cruise</span> to bring together the comments of all those passengers who were angered by Costa's alterations to the itinerary and their attitude to compensation. As it subsequently transpired there were also quite a few subsidiary issues over the quality of the ship, its management and the cruise, and many of them have been covered here.<br /><br />As you will gather, this blog is <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">not</span> for those few passengers who were perfectly satisfied with everything, or even those who were upset but preferred to let things be. My justification for saying that the number of passengers falling into these camps was small is to direct everyone's attention to the irritable crowd of passengers <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">of all nations</span> who packed the theatre on at least two separate occasions.<br /><br />If you are a passenger who was entirely or even broadly happy with the cruise then I am happy for you. However, I must say that this blog is therefore not for you. If you wish to protest that Costa's people don't deserve the waves of criticism that they are fending off, not only here but in individual complaints made directly to them or indirectly via agents such as Virgin, then you should start up your own site and explain your own position just as we are doing here. Don't expect us to visit it or comment on it, though.<br /><br />This, apart from the simple issue of good manners, is the reason why we remove comments that obstruct our objective, i.e. to keep the dissatisfaction of very many passengers in the public eye whilst Costa decides what to do to meet our legitimate complaints. In the next posting I'll describe in the clearest English that I can manage why Costa's initial offer of compensation was inadequate.<br /><br />But let me first say this; Terry, I and the other commenters on this site do not claim to represent anyone who doesn't want to be represented. If you were happy with the cruise as a whole then we do not speak for you. If you feel that we speak only for the British (or English-speaking contingent) and are unhappy with that then we do not speak for you. If you are angry with Costa but still want to proceed against them alone then of course we do not speak for you.<br /><br />If you think that by continuing to speak out against Costa then we intend in some way to insult Italy then you are quite wrong. My wife and I are very fond indeed of Italy and its way of life and visit often. It's precisely because we see Costa's inhospitable treatment of its passengers on our cruise as entirely untypical that we feel impelled to carry on.Slow Learnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09276308053037019253noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-760570973795000457.post-51691963101713119042009-03-17T13:21:00.003+00:002009-03-17T18:35:57.597+00:00Reply to Gerard Leblanc re;.. Management input etc..Thank you Gerard for your welcome input to the discussions on our blog...<br />I have removed my answer to you. If you wish to take up your comments further, then I am more than happy to hear from you via my email address <a href="mailto:terry_croarkin@hotmail.com">terry_croarkin@hotmail.com</a><br />I think this would be better than to exchange opinions so loosely on this blog. This is a blog for comments and opinions on the fail;ings of Costa not a forum or discussion board for commenting on the good people that have spent good money on a disastrous cruise<br />Kindest regards<br />Terryterry the optomisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16474037586615341135noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-760570973795000457.post-83245131373480434442009-03-17T13:05:00.003+00:002009-03-17T18:39:37.248+00:00Europa Position Reply to comment by Dieter HerkThanks for your comments Dieter posted March 17, 2009 on "Eoropa position"<br />I have removed my reply to you from this Blog.<br />If you wish to continue your discussion, I am happy for you to contact me via my email address <a href="mailto:terry_croarkin@hotmail.com">terry_croarkin@hotmail.com</a><br />This blog is for the purpose of all the unhappy passengers who endured a disastrous cruise of Costa.<br />It was not intended to be a discussion board, purely a blog for all the unhappy passenger, of which they are many.<br /><br /><br />Kindest Regards<br />Terryterry the optomisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16474037586615341135noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-760570973795000457.post-24984743445963652172009-03-14T10:23:00.004+00:002009-03-14T11:09:11.403+00:00Departing guestsEuropa actually made it to Réunion yesterday and is now in Port Louis, Mauritius as she's was scheduled to be.<br /><br />Lucky passengers. They visited all of the scheduled ports of call (except Mayotte, which is a bit of a grey area) and stuck pretty much to schedule, unlike the two previous cruises and quite possibly all those before it. After all, we were told whilst still on board that only on one previous cruise had the Europa called at Madagascar.<br /><br />So, her departing passengers have nothing to complain about concerning the itinerary. As they return home over the next 24 hours perhaps we might hear about other customer care issues, but not about the one that so incensed the paying customers on the two earlier cruises.<br /><br />I find myself wondering whether her customers were as badly treated this morning as we were on the morning of departure, i.e. by being driven from their cabins at 4am (staff rapping on cabin doors to wake passengers) and told to get off the ship no later than 6.30am as we were? As it happens, most of our fellow passengers understandably took exception to this unusual treatment and took their time.<br /><br />Leaving cabins by 8am is the general rule on previous cruises, as I'm sure most of us would confirm, with departures from 9-ish onwards. Of course, cabins have to be prepared for arriving passengers on the next cruise, but convention here seems to be to either ask them not to arrive before 2pm or to explain that cabins will not be available before that time. That seems entirely reasonable to me.<br /><br />When you're a guest staying with friends it's inevitable that a crucial element of the way that you remember your stay will be your departure. Did they seem glad to have met you? Had they been courteous hosts, taking an interest in you while you stayed with them, making it clear that they were glad you'd taken time to come to see them? And did they come to the door, and even outside to the car, to see you off with waves and hopes that you'd come again soon?<br /><br />That sort of hospitality counts and sets a tone for the future. Imagine if instead they said that they were leaving for work at 7am and, frankly, wanted you gone before then so that they could strip your bed and ensure that you didn't raid their fridge or make the house untidy? You'd remember that forever and you'd probably take them off your Christmas card list.<br /><br />Just because we suffered poor treatment doesn't mean that we should wish it on others, so let's hope that the passengers who are presently on their way home feel that they were treated like old friends and have fond memories of their cruise.Slow Learnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09276308053037019253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-760570973795000457.post-90289295916121980082009-03-13T20:43:00.005+00:002009-03-13T21:27:36.498+00:00Costa Management input ????? or Costa disclaimer, or Costa avoid the subject. Or PLEASE CONTACT ME TO SETTLE THIS IN A DIGNIFIED MANNER COSTA<strong><span style="font-family:verdana;">Dear Sirs (Costa Management)</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family:Verdana;">We do sincerely thank you for your input regarding our previous Blog postings...</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family:Verdana;">We do sincerely apologise if in fact you have considered recent entries inflamatory, and we shall be very careful on future entries, and we take careful note of your comments regarding these.</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family:Verdana;">We very much appreciate the fact that you have taken time to view the comments of your past, present and future passengers on your cruise ships.</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family:Verdana;">I for one have recieved a reply to my claim for a larger compensation claim, which I have emailed to every passenger that has emailed to my email address with their past experiences with your Company..</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family:Verdana;">In my claim for compensation I have reiterated everyones feelings about the drastic change of itinery, (partly due to the unrest in Madagasgar). </span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family:Verdana;">I have also stated the many other complaints that I, and many of your disgruntled passengers had during this voyage.</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family:Verdana;">In your letter that I have recieved (which I shall post later), you only disclaimed any responsibility for the reasons for the withdrawal of various ports of call. This I was partly expecting from you, as I and everyone know from your contracts we all recieved.</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family:Verdana;">You did not address any one single other complaint that I have put forward, and have not at any one time apologised for these.</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family:Verdana;">I have to say that this amounts to one of the main things that your senior management staff (i.e. Captain down to other on board staff). That is lack of information, and no follow up to complaints actually stated on board.</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family:Verdana;">I thank you for the courtesy of an early reply, although it really was worthless.</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family:Verdana;">The insult that your company made to us was E300 or E600 voucher towards another cruise. This was then upped to E300 plus E600 voucher..</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Of all the ports of call that was on the itinery we had Sechelles, Mombassa and a brief stopover in Reunion Island, and this was only for transfer of passengers. The 10 hour intinerised stop was only for approx 1 hour. The added insult to injury was that majority of passengers who tried to get ashore had to stand around for up to an hour for a transfer bus to town, giving in some cases only 50 minutes ashore. Dont you think that we deserve better than what we got.</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family:Verdana;">We appreciate that the unrest in Madagasgar caused you a problem for Passenger safety, and we appreciate that. Nobody wants to risk life. But the complaint dont stop there and you HAVE NOT REDRESSED THAT SUBJECT.</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Please put your hands up and admit the cruise was a total disaster. Even your own Captain admitted that " our cruise had been ruined"</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family:Verdana;">We are not looking to be unreasonable in our request for a sensible compensation offer from yourselves.</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Come up with something a lot more acceptable and you will find your desk with less letters of complaint on, or maybe even the demise of this blog.</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Bad publicity is not good for any business in this economic climate. And you must realise that there are a lot of very angry people out there who will not let this drop.</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family:Verdana;">All we ask is that you be reasonable with your offer of compensation towards this "unforgettable" cruise.</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family:Verdana;">You also state in your letter to me that your "business is to ensure that you provide an EXCELLENT service to your customers whilst on the cruise". </span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family:Verdana;">This has not happened either.</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family:Verdana;">It doesnt appear to be the case either in some of your other cruises prior to this</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family:Verdana;">I have several hundred emails from passengers on this and other cruises, which I will gladly send copies to you as proof of what I say, you only have to ask and I will send.</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family:Verdana;">IN FACT WHY DONT YOU AGREE TO MEET A SMALL CONTINGENT OF YOUR PASSENGERS TO DISCUSS THIS IN DEPTH. This would be a more appropriate way forward without all the threats of litigation from either side. This will create a better relationship between you and your past, present and future customers. My email address is <a href="mailto:terry_croarkin@hotmail.com">terry_croarkin@hotmail.com</a> and you have my address and contact numbers if you prefer.</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family:Verdana;"></span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family:Verdana;">I and all the unhappy customers look forward to your response and early contact</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Regards</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family:Verdana;">Terry Croarkin and all the other ship mates</span></strong>terry the optomisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16474037586615341135noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-760570973795000457.post-6748494324274345222009-03-13T12:23:00.003+00:002009-03-13T12:33:13.261+00:00Views from the insideWe've now had a couple of welcome comments from Costa employees. These help us to understand the pressures that they're working under.<br /><br />I think it's fair to say that most passengers appreciate that staff work long hours in sometimes gruelling conditions (I'm thinking 'engine room' here, in particular!) for rewards and recognition that most of us would call 'inadequate'.<br /><br />Probably the main complaint that most Europa passengers would level at Costa would relate to on-board leadership and direction/support from Genoa. If we'd been dealt with truthfully and punctually throughout as far as the itinerary was concerned then maybe, just maybe, our anger and frustration might have been contained.<br /><br />Can any other Costa representatives offer insights into their working conditions and problems? Feel free to do so anonymously.Slow Learnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09276308053037019253noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-760570973795000457.post-78518138453202501472009-03-12T12:47:00.004+00:002009-03-17T18:01:03.968+00:00Any advice for new Costa 'customers'?I've now been contacted by a Costa 'customer' who is joining 'You'reOpeless' on Saturday for the cruise back to Europe. I've been delighted to have the chance to 'mark her card' so that she's prepared for the various highs and lows of the cruise.<br /><br />Some might be surprised that I had a few pleasant things to say about the ship, but I believe in being fair, especially when it concerns people who are looking forward to their cruise and have yet to be disappointed.<br /><br />Here is my reply. If anyone has any tips or advice for this anxious passenger perhaps for her benefit they could comment below.<br /><br />Hello!<br /><br />First of all let me say that it's quite possible that the most serious complaint that we have against Costa, i.e. unannounced itinerary change, won't apply to you. I say this because the cruise that ends in Mauritius on Saturday has run exactly to schedule, even making the planned three calls in Madagascar. At this very moment Europa is halfway between Madagascar and Réunion, just where she's scheduled to be. I can only imagine that this is because the dodgy starboard engine is holding up. You can keep an eye on her at http://www.costacruises.co.uk/B2C/GB/Shopping/Ships/EU/Default.htm<br /><br />We left Port Louis on schedule at about 1pm on the Sunday, so I suspect that you've already been told an untruth about the departure time :o( We'd arrived in late afternoon the previous day, too late for excursions, so all we had time for before departure was a 2 hour walk around Port Louis.<br /><br />The hostile comments on the blog - I routinely delete them ;o) - are probably from Costa employees. Nevertheless, thank you for your support!<br /><br />As far as the fresh water is concerned it's absolutely fine. My wife has a very sensitive palate, and even she thought it was perfectly drinkable. We drank it in the buffets every day and had a jug of iced water with our meal every night, so we'd have noticed very soon if something had been wrong. My tip to you would be to buy a 500ml bottle of water once you've cleared security at your UK departure point, keep the bottle during your cruise and keep topping it up on board each day. I was outraged to see that Costa were trying to sell water to passengers as they went off on excursions - €2.50! Get round this by taking your own.<br /><br />Yes, Costa make it very clear that they don't want you bringing any liquids on to their ships that they could sell to you more expensively. However, the people we shared our table with several times brought back alcohol from their shore visits and were never challenged on re-entry - lack of joined-up thinking by Costa, I'd say.<br /><br />A couple of things:<br /><br />1. Please take my e-mail ID and the blog address with you. If you have on-board problems just drop me an e-mail and I'll post details (anonymously) at costafailure.com and/or offer amateur advice.<br /><br />2. Have you been told that there's a compulsory service charge/gratuity of €5 per person per day? We weren't, but Costa resolutely stated that we were.<br /><br />3. Keep an eye on the ship's speed. On one of the TV channels there's a webcam and details of course and speed. The top cruising speed of the Europa is 20 knots, and if you see it dropping to 10/12 knots it's either because they don't want to arrive in the next port too soon (extra dock charges, I assume) or because the engines are playing up again. If you're told that speed is slow because of 'counter-currents' that's because they're covering up something else.<br /><br />4. Watch out for the 'English-speaking host', Simon. I'm not sure where he's from, but it might be Canada. To him, everything is a joke. Also, he's deep in the company's pocket and will always, seemingly, back Costa over you. I can't really see why nobody's physically attacked him yet.<br /><br />5. One good point though - the excellent lectures of Richard Wünsch about the next port of call. They were part history lesson, part geography lesson, part politics illustrated with photos. After each one I felt very enlightened and looked forward even more to the next port. Do try to catch all of them :o)<br /><br />6. Excursions.<br /><br />- if you're calling at Mahé in The Seychelles do try the excursion that goes to Praslin and La Digue. It's expensive but worth it to see those bright white beaches and turquoise seas.<br /><br />- the excursion from Mombasa to the Tsavo East game reserve is great as far as seeing animals (mainly elephants) in their natural surroundings is concerned, but be prepared for an uncomfortable, hair-raising two hour drive each way in shaky vans. Definitely take water for this one.<br /><br />- there's an evening excursion in Mombasa itself called 'Sound and Light'. You get taken on a brief bus trip after dark to Fort Jesus for a tolerable sound and light show and a nice meal. Frankly, this is how to see Mombasa, as the place is too unsettled to wander around it on your own.<br /><br />7. We wanted to be on the second sitting for dinner but were put on the first. However, it wasn't a problem to get switched over straight away. But don't expect hot food in their restaurants. Every meal we had seemed to have been sitting on plates for 10-15 minutes before we got it.<br /><br />8. The evening shows in the theatre are patchy. Some are half-decent but some are pure rubbish. You should be able to work out which are which from the descriptions in the daily 'Today' publication - we did :o)<br /><br />9. If you want to sit on one of the comfy hard wood loungers at the sides of the ship on the buffet deck you'll need to be up VERY early :o( We used to pick a position right at the stern by the pool - generally there were sunbeds left at 9am. By the way, the sunbeds are dreadfully uncomfortable, with a bar right under your bottom, so take a couple of extra towels to sit/lie on.<br /><br />10. Be aware that the quoted bar prices (even for fresh orange juice) DON'T include the 15% service charge.<br /><br />11.Watch out for the published buffet opening times, as they close very promptly, even if there's stacks of food still on display.<br /><br />12. Expect poor service from demotivated staff. Also in the buffet expect them to try to clear away your plates and cutlery before you're finished - very, very irritating.<br /><br />13. If you like English tea you might be disappointed to see it's Lipton's Yellow Label. Two ways round this: either put two bags in each mug (works quite well) or better still take some from home (even better!)<br /><br />14. Take plenty of reading material in case of engine problems that lead to itinerary changes and unplanned 'sea days'!<br /><br />If you have any other queries please let me know. In the meanwhile, I truly hope that you have an enjoyable cruise and that Costa finally get their act together. To be fair, most of the time things are OK.<br /><br />Very best wishes,<br />DavidSlow Learnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09276308053037019253noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-760570973795000457.post-62467285084790120722009-03-11T22:24:00.008+00:002009-03-17T18:03:49.858+00:00Gratuities - the inside storyWe now seem to have a source at Costa who's confirming our suspicions about the distribution of those 'gratuities' that Costa charged to our accounts without our prior permission and in spite of express instructions that some of us gave not to do so<br /><br />Our source says that, 'Costa makes it sound as if 100% of the gratuities goes to the crew. It does not, at least not as a gratuity on top of the salary Costa pays. The majority of this income is in fact being used to pay the <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">salary</span> of the service crew.'<br /><br />He goes on:<br /><br />'As an 'incentive' for 'professional service' it is true that good comment form ratings are used to pay the so called 'incentive', but this amount is set, i.e. no matter how good the rating achieved, you get no more than what is set as the 'bonus'. It is for this reason that the service crew, above all the Maitre Ds, are not motivated to give good service.'<br /><br />'Other cruise lines might charge your account, but they give you the opportunity to opt out and make your own arrangements with individual crew members. This used to be the case with Costa as well until December 2006, when they introduced the present system.'<br /><br />Our thanks for this to our anonymous correspondent. He has confirmed my suspicions that the crew are unhappy at the distribution of their 'gratuities', and this surely explains why there is so much unhappiness and slackness amongst them. Perhaps Costa might like to publish auditable accounts on these gratuities and thereby demonstrate that 100% of what is taken from passengers against their wishes does in fact go to the low-paid staff who we are assured will be the beneficiaries.Slow Learnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09276308053037019253noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-760570973795000457.post-35719904138787647112009-03-11T21:56:00.004+00:002009-03-11T22:06:15.049+00:002009 starts badly for CostaIn January my wife and I were on the Ruby Princess from Fort Lauderdale to the Eastern Caribbean when we heard about the other cruise ship in the same area where a passenger had gone overboard and not been found. Because we were travelling more or less the same route it seemed all the more horrific.<br /><br />Which was the ship in question? The <a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://www.cruisejunkie.com/CMacct.html">Costa Magica</a>.<br /><br />That brings to four the number of Costa ships with major crises in 2009 so far. Clearly Costa can't be blamed for the probable crime that took place on Magica, but reading that report brings back a whiff of the organisational chaos that seems to attend any on-board crisis on a Costa ship.Slow Learnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09276308053037019253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-760570973795000457.post-49877051250266411402009-03-11T13:40:00.003+00:002009-03-11T13:47:47.007+00:00MadagascarDoug commented on my last post that the Europa - should that now be You'reOpeless? ;o) - didn't reach the dockside in Diego Suarez. One assumes that they transported passengers to the quay by tender in that case, otherwise why stop there.<br /><br />Having been away this weekend can anyone confirm that the ship definitely called at Nosy Bé? If it did then maybe it's a sign that the furore caused amongst their paying customers for having missed Madagascar altogether on <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">two</span> successive cruises has seeped through a few thick Costa skulls and that they've realised, too late for us, unfortunately, that you can't fool all the people all of the time.Slow Learnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09276308053037019253noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-760570973795000457.post-45285750129838537342009-03-11T10:40:00.002+00:002009-03-11T10:42:37.813+00:00TamataveGuess what? Europa's just docking right now in Tamatave. It seems that in the past fortnight all of those civil disorder problems have been solved and it's now safe for Costa's brave captain to dock there.<br /><br />Bless.Slow Learnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09276308053037019253noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-760570973795000457.post-11468760677700322652009-03-11T08:15:00.004+00:002009-03-11T09:30:59.903+00:00Costagate?On 17th June 1972 five burglars were caught in the Democratic National Committe headquarters in the Watergate building in Washington. With luck, and in the absence of a free investigative press, we might never even have heard of it. However, thanks mainly to the Washington Post, the murky facts behind the crime were dragged into the daylight. Two years later, after mounting a vicious rearguard defence, the President himself and the majority of his administration had been driven from office for their complicity in the cover-up of an illegal campaign against their political opponents.<br /><br />Why does this seem relevant to Costa, you might ask? Well, Terry and I have received a couple of attacks for this blog by people (who weren't on any of the cruises affected) who seem not to be able to see beyond the itinerary issues. I think we need to make it crystal clear to anyone reading this blog that our <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">main</span> cause for anger with Costa was its unannounced itinerary changes; to this day we've not been told that Mayotte had been removed from the schedule, we just happened to notice that we didn't call there ;o)<br /><br />Just as the Watergate break-in led to a cascade of revelations so Costa's cavalier attitude over a single issue has led to a crescendo of complaints over other issues. Anyone who says that we're 'cry-babies' for complaining about something that couldn't have been avoided either hasn't read this blog properly or is a Costa employee - maybe both.<br /><br />As complaints mounted towards the end of our cruise we were told that Genoa had their attention focused on another problem in their fleet, so we shouldn't expect to hear from them. It's now clear that this problem was; one of their other ships had caught fire! A fire broke out in the engine room of the Costa Romantica, leading to passengers, after great delays and chaos on board, being removed from the ship <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">at sea</span> by ferries and taken to the nearest port<span class="plain">.<br /><br />If you Google 'Costa Romantica Fire' you'll see a whole host of reports, but all of them have the fingerprints of Costa's PR department all over them, e.g. <a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/news/news.cfm?ID=3086">this one</a>. Notice the absence of critical comment, despite the name of the blog? If you would like to see how things <span style="font-style: italic;">really</span> were for the unfortunate passengers on board then take a look at <a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://costafailure.blogspot.com/2009/03/email-addresses-please.html?showComment=1236695820000#c9133996754875826339">the comment made on one of our earlier postings</a>. - thank you Patricia! Notice the similarities with our own experiences? e.g. chaos and disorganisation amongst senior officers and crew. You couldn't possibly have an confidence in Costa's crisis leadership that in an emergency evacuation of the ship there wouldn't be unnaceptable loss of life.<br /><br />So, to those anonymous critics who thinks that we've been complaining unnecessarily the response should be:<br /><br />1. The leadership of Costa is appalling, from ship's officers right up to Genoa<br />2. Their ships are poorly maintained and simply break down, e.g. Europa and Romantica<br />3. Management of routine cleaning on board is apparently non-existent, e.g. <a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://costafailure.blogspot.com/2009/03/not-just-europa.html">Classica</a><br />4. Passengers across the board give Costa <a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://costafailure.blogspot.com/2009/03/passengers-pick-their-worst-cruise.html">calamitous ratings</a><br />5. Costa as a corporate entity fail to take responsibility for their failures and say they were unavoidable.<br /><br />On that last point, how else could one explain how Costa could put the Romantica's passengers through Hell and still expect them to be satisfied with '</span>2 days discount plus 20% off on any future cruise' - simply laughable. They just don't get it, do they? They think that all of us are such mugs that we'll take a pittance and then go back for more of the same.<br /><br />So, returning to the Watergate theme, if the moral of that story was:<br /><br />1. Tell the truth from the start and at all times<br />2. Make recompense early and honestly<br />3. Clear out the incompetents<br /><br />then that seems like good advice for Costa if they don't want their cruise line to become a pariah of the seas.Slow Learnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09276308053037019253noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-760570973795000457.post-11145072289220753112009-03-10T20:22:00.003+00:002009-03-10T20:35:25.346+00:00Breaking news!While we were on the Europa we were told that the reason why we were getting zero response from Head Office in Genoa was that there were major problems elsewhere in the fleet. We now have full details and I'll be posting them tomorrow.<br /><br />Suffice it to say that our contention that Costa have major corporate problems with both ships and their management now seems to be well and truly proven.Slow Learnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09276308053037019253noreply@blogger.com0