It was our intention to write about something other than the Costa Concordia today.
However, it’s difficult to find a story anywhere on cruising that doesn’t include more than a passing reference to a ship almost nobody had even heard of three weeks ago. In fact, most of the stories about cruising these days are ALL about the Concordia’s carnage.
At the risk of adding to the list and offending readers who simply have had enough, we thought it was appropriate to identify some of the subjects that have risen to the surface, like some monster of the sea that has been hibernating down where the water is clear and no human ever goes. We list 10 food-for-thought items, without opinion…
1. Venice, which has seen its fragile land eroded by big ships, is getting international attention for its plight, and there is even talk (facetiously) of erecting a monument to the captain of the Concordia for exposing “the dangers posed by these floating multi-story hotels.”
2. Ships are simply too big to be safe because the sheer weight of them makes them vulnerable to having their hulls ripped apart when they meet an immoveable object, like rocks.
3. The world is deluged with comparisons between the Concordia and the Titanic almost 
exactly 100 years ago even though the Titanic was a flawed design in icy waters, was the largest luxury liner in the world at the time with “just” 2,200 passengers, and left behind a death toll of 1,517.
4. Cruise-ship crews are not really trained well enough to save passenger loads of three or four thousand people.
5. People who used to say cruise ships provided the safest transportation option in the wake of 9/11 are having second thoughts.
6. Muster drills are flawed exercises because there is always somebody who’s not paying attention and whose voice is so loud that those within earshot are unable to pay attention.
7. Safety regulations for cruise ships may differ slightly from country to country, but the bigger problem is policing the regulations.
8. Passengers are sometimes plied with alcohol, by cruise-ship crews, to the extent that in an emergency they wouldn’t know the difference between their muster station and their stateroom.
9. It’s a miracle a disaster like this hasn’t happened in the middle of the ocean, where lifeboats are the ONLY survival option.
10. Cruise ships are not unsinkable after all.
The tentacles of tragedy reach every facet of this industry. Along with the never-ending photos of the Concordia on its side and the ongoing search for unaccounted victims, that is why this story just won’t go away.
DAILY DEAL:
Diamond Princess
23 nights
February 4, 2012
Sydney, Airlie Beach, Port Douglas and Darwin (Australia); Hong Kong; Taipei (Taiwan); Nagasaki (Japan); Busan (South Korea); Shanghai, Dallan and Beijing (China)
Inside $1,799
www.princess.com