Some thoughts on the Carnival Triumph

For the last couple weeks, I have found myself checking media outlets to keep myself abreast of the plight of the 4000 people who were on the Carnival Triumph. While the Coast Guard has established the cause to have been a leak in a fuel oil line, I am sure Carnival, NTSB, and authorities from The Bahamas (where the Triumph is flagged) will keep investigating the Who, What, When, and Why of the fire. Then the lawyers will come out in full force soliciting clients who were on the ship, trying to get them “their fair share” from this nasty corporation who presumably caused them mental anguish akin to post-traumatic stress disorder.

Believe me, I know the people on the Carnival Triumph had a very upsetting experience and the conditions were indescribably poor. And of course, Carnival has not helped themselves with their recent history. Apparently, this ship had some type of problems before she left the pier, sometime within the last couple of cruises. Last year, the Carnival Splendor also had an engine-room fire leave it disabled. We all still remember the Costa Concordia lying on her side just off the coast of Italy where 32 people lost their lives and another 4000 people went through a terrible nightmare. (Of course the Concordia was not a mechanical problem; it was a bad ship captain. But Costa Cruises remains a division of Carnival.) So what are we to make of this latest incident?

I would climb on a cruise ship tomorrow and take off—matter of fact, I would get on the Carnival Triumph the day she leaves the Mobile shipyard and sails back to Galveston. In life, things just happen. We can’t control everything, but we can control how we react. One of my all-time favorite quotes says just that:

The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life.

Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company...a church...a home.

The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day....We cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude....I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it.

— Dr. Charles Swindoll

I would hope that if I or my wife were ever in a situation like the people on the Carnival Triumph faced, we would have this attitude that Dr. Swindoll is referring to. We can’t control all the things that happen to us. I can look back on my life, take an honest review, and tell you quite frankly that 90% of the things that have happened to me were poor planning on my part and that actions I took caused the difficulties and trials in my life. My being a Christian, I know where my future lies: in the arms of Jesus. He is my Rock and my Salvation in a time of storms, and he would be with me in a situation like this.

It was very interesting to me how different people on the same ship reacted to the situation. Many of them said, “It was so terrible; I thought we were going to die.” Others said, “Well, it happened. Let’s just make the best of things.” What is the difference between these groups? That’s right, their attitudes.

I have never been to Nicaragua, but many of my Christian friends (including my stepdaughter Courtney) have been there on church mission trips. They tell me that the conditions some people live in there are similar to those described by the people on the Carnival Triumph—or worse. Poor people in Nicaragua, whole families living in the city dump, digging through the garbage for food. Back when I was in the Navy, I spent some time at Allonapo Navy Base, Philippines; the conditions were so unsanitary it made me sick the first and only time I left the base. The children would swim in a canal just outside the base where the residence of this small city would dump their sewage and household garbage. The children would swim below the footbridge leaving the base, just trying to get a sailor to throw coins down. What I’m saying is, though the people stranded on the Carnival Triumph had sewage on the floors for a few days, they should be reminded that there are people living in poverty all over this world and many here in the United States. It’s all a matter of perspective. Let’s let the investigation run its course. If someone with Carnival failed to do their job, then let them deal with that. The people who were trapped on the ship had it pretty bad—yes, they did—but I wonder, will they learn a life lesson from their ordeal? Will they come home appreciating the things in life that they have taken for granted? Or will they hire a lawyer and “get what’s going to them”?

It will be very interesting to see how this incident all works out. There is talk that Congress will be getting involved. Let’s face it: When those knuckleheads in DC start poking their noses into things, the “R” word creeps up—“regulations.” This would affect the cruise industry in a great way. The greatest majority of cruise ships are flagged under different countries, even though they sail in and out of US ports. Things are bound to get messy when one country tries to overstep the laws or procedures of a vessel based in another.

Carnival Corp. will try to pay as little compensation to the victims as they can; after all, they want to stay in business. But someone will have to pay. With the lawsuits from the Concordia still pending and now this, how much will we future cruisers have to pay for our next cruise vacation? The costs of these incidents have to come from somewhere.

I think Carnival does a pretty good job, but like most companies, they have been cutting back trying to save money. If the cutbacks somehow caused this fire, then those cutbacks will end up costing them something much more important than money: reputation. Once lost, it’s hard to gain back. Someone once told me that if you give someone great customer service, he will only tell three to five people, but if you give someone poor customer service, he will tell ten to fifteen. With 4000 people on this ship, 3000 paying passengers, the next step for Carnival is very important to their future. If Carnival doesn’t step up to the plate and make things right, then the future of CCL is bleak.

In the end, I think some new incident procedures come out of this, maybe some backup power supply improvements so the ships could still serve hot food and dispose waste when problems arise. Don’t let a few isolated incidents determine your impression of the entire cruise industry. So far none of my couples scheduled to sail on The Art of Marriage at Sea this October have voiced any extra concerns—they are all still excited! Also on the topic of exciting vacations, in just under two weeks, my wife and I are departing on our long-awaited trip to Hawaii by way of Los Angeles. Keep an eye out for future posts about our adventures there!

Rick