Tag Archives: Carnival Triumph

Carnival Triumph returns to duty!

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Carnival Triumph returns to duty!

The Carnival Triumph has successfully undergone repair-work following its ill-fated engine failure and subsequent problems in Alabama, and is now ready to return to active duty.

Extensive work was required to address damage caused by the engine room fire that left 3,143 passengers and more than 1,000 crew stranded for five days without power in February.

Originally, this work had been scheduled to take place at the BAE Shipyard in Mobile, Alabama. However, the ship ran into further problems here, undergoing extensive exterior damage after a freak storm caused the vessel to break free of its moorings and drift into a dredger.

Following these various setbacks, the Triumph was moved to Grand Bahama Shipyard in May, where it could finally undergo the repairs that were required.

As well as being fixed up, the vessel has also been equipped with new emergency power capabilities to avoid a repeat of the February incident, when Carnival came under severe pressure from the cruise industry press after passengers stranded on the ship were left without running water.

It has also been fitted with improved fire safety technology and new operating redundancies that were developed as part of the $300 million (£190 million) fleet-wide review that Carnival carried out after the Triumph incident.

According to Seatrade-Insider, Carnival also took the opportunity while the ship was out of action to give it a bit of a makeover as well, with enhanced dining and bar venues, including a new Guy’s Burger Joint, BlueIguana Cantina, Alchemy Bar and EA Sports Bar.

Upon returning to Galveston in Texas today, the Triumph will now resume its schedule of cruises to Cozumel and Progreso in the Caribbean.

But while the ship may look as good as new, it appears that passengers have not yet forgiven and forgotten. In fact, a recent poll of US adults by Harris Interactive indicated that people are less trusting of major cruise lines than they were before the Triumph incident. Unsurprisingly, faith in Carnival Cruises appears to have been shaken the most.

How do you feel about the state of the industry and its major players following the Triumph debacle?

 

Harris survey finds cruise brand erosion

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Harris survey finds cruise brand erosion

By Tom Stieghorst
A Harris Poll done in May found public perception of cruise line quality has declined from March.

In a survey of 2,052 adults, the average perceived quality score is down 13% from the period before the Carnival Triumph engine room fire in February.

The average trust score for the seven brands in the poll was down 12% in May, and the average intent to purchase was off 11% from pre-incident levels.

The best showing among the seven lines was Holland America, down 2%. The worst was Carnival Cruise Lines, down 20%.

A Harris survey in March, shortly after the Triumph incident, showed declines in scores on all three measurements.

“When we first addressed this topic in March, even we were open to the idea that a ‘recency bias’ of sorts might be impacting the results so soon after the Triumph fiasco, creating a low tide for the industry as a whole,” said Deana Percassi, Harris Poll Insights vice president. “But these more recent findings, coupled with reports of heavily discounted pricing on Carnival cruises, indicate that the industry as a whole, as well as the Carnival brand specifically, may still be facing rough seas.”

Carnival shares sink after profits warning

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Carnival shares sink after profits warning

By Phil Davies

Carnival shares sink after profits warningCarnival Corporation shares sunk by as much as 13% in the wake of an overnight profits warning on Monday.

The shares were down 8.6% at £22.02 in afternoon trading yesterday, the Financial Timesreported.

Numis analyst Wyn Ellis said the company’s problems had clearly affected consumer confidence and led to deep discounting.

“It is disappointing that management has left it this late in the season to issue its warning and, in our view, it has questions to answer,” he told the FT.

Karl Burns of Panmure Gordon said the decline in yields “bodes ill for the future as we think Carnival will struggle to regain pricing power”.

He added that “the market must begin to appreciate there are structural as well as cyclical challenges to the Carnival business model”.

James Hollins, Investec analyst, said: “The Carnival bull story has taken a major hit and we look for further detail at the time of Q2 results in late June.”

The negative responses followed the cruise giant saying net revenue yields will be down 2% to 3% this year as a result of cruise price cuts employed to boost booking levels.

Earnings will also be cut by 10 cents a share as a result of cruise cancellations following technical faults on a series of Carnival Cruise Lines ships.