Costa Cruises' Crisis Management

Passengers on the Costa Allegra deck

Costa Cruises faced another setback this past week with another one of its cruise ships making headlines for the wrong reasons. Following the Costa Concordia’s crash in January, it was time for the Costa Allegra to make the news. I must say, however, that the organisation’s ability to communicate the danger has improved dramatically this time around and news coverage has not been as negative as the company probably feared.

The luxury cruise ship, Costa Allegra, finally made it to shore yesterday as it docked in the Seychelles’ Port Victoria. The liner lost power and was forced to drift in the ocean before being towed by two other ships to land. The passengers were left without running water or electricity for three days and most stayed on the deck, as it was too hot below with no functioning air conditioning. The ship’s power was lost due to a fire in the electric generators room.

The Costa Allegra is from the same fleet as the Costa Concordia, which infamously sank off the Italian coast this January, leaving thirty-two people dead. These successive crises have obviously had a negative impact on Costa Cruises’ public image.

After the Costa Concordia sank in January, Costa Cruises was relatively standoffish in informing the public of the events. They did not show transparency, which is essential in crisis communications. The CEO of the company, Micky Arison, was publicly criticized for failing to take responsibility for the disaster.  The company added updates on its website, but these were fairly inconclusive and could have been more helpful. Costa Cruises managed to convey the issue but did not go into details as to how it was being remedied nor did they want to admit responsibility. Their crisis communications lacked authority and sincerity.

Costa Cruises

Just over a month later, there is a stark contrast between Costa Cruises’ management of the Costa Allegra incident and the Costa Concordia disaster. The cruise organisation showed complete transparency and sympathized with those involved. They identified the source of the problem immediately and reached all the passengers’ emergency contacts to keep them informed of the issue. Regular updates have been posted on the company’s website with all relevant information.

Costa Cruises’ crisis communications management has clearly been subject to reconstruction and has been much more successful after the Costa Allegra’s most recent incident. Of course, the situation with the Costa Concordia was far more devastating than that of the Costa Allegra and this is a factor in measuring communications effectiveness. Although it still did further damage to Costa Cruises’ reputation, I believe the manner in which the organisation handled the events of this past week have been very effective and demonstrates lessons learnt from their last crisis.