Topic: Can Costa survive as a cruiseline?

Early days I know, but everything is pointing to poor seamanship, poor evacuation procedures, a Captain under arrest for possible multiple manslaughter and not the best of accident records in recent years.

When you look at Carnival's Portfolio, Cunard, Princess, P&O, Yachts of Seabourn, Holland America, Costa is and always has been the joker in the pack.

It wouldn't be difficult to lose the Costa brand as the new ships are all clones of the Carnival fleet, change the shape of the funnel, paint it red white and blue and walla a new addition to the Carnival fleet.

I'd make a bet there are some serious talks going on around the boardroom table.........Wilba

QUOTE:

Early days I know, but everything is pointing to poor seamanship, poor evacuation procedures, a Captain under arrest for possible multiple manslaughter and not the best of accident records in recent years.

When you look at Carnival's Portfolio, Cunard, Princess, P&O, Yachts of Seabourn, Holland America, Costa is and always has been the joker in the pack.

It wouldn't be difficult to lose the Costa brand as the new ships are all clones of the Carnival fleet, change the shape of the funnel, paint it red white and blue and walla a new addition to the Carnival fleet.

I'd make a bet there are some serious talks going on around the boardroom table.........Wilba

I think your thoughts are a little premature....................

Wilba,
I would agree with you and my experience of one Costa cruise does not endear me to any others.
However, Costa is the biggest cruiseline in Europe.

Anyone like to guess what price Carnival shares will be tomorrow when the markets open? Now at £22.48.

My guess is around £18


Brian

The Costa Group of Companies is a large part of Carnival Corporation in fact a quarter of there ships are part of the Costa Group, So any re-branding would be very expensive for Carnival indeed! But i do think that they have now to improve there public image? New ships designed for safety rather than the pack as many passengers in as possible would be a good place to start.

COSTA CROCIERE GROUP
The Company, its Sales, Key Facts and Figures
With sales of approximately 2.85 billion euros and 2.15 million total Guests in 2010, Costa Crociere S.p.A.
is the largest Italian travel group and Europe’s n.1 cruise company, comprising the brands Costa Cruises,
AIDA Cruises and Iberocruceros. The Group is headquartered in Genoa.
Costa Crociere S.p.A has Europe’s largest fleet: 25 ships with total Guest capacity of around 60,000. The
ships in service for Costa Cruises and AIDA Cruises fly the Italian flag, while those operating for
Iberocruceros fly the Portuguese flag. The Group’s ships are deployed in the Mediterranean, Northern
Europe, the Baltic Sea, the Caribbean, Central America, South America, the United Arab Emirates, the Far
East, the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean. Costa Crociere S.p.A. is a member of Carnival Corporation & plc,
the world’s largest cruise operator. 5 more new ships are set to enter service for the Group by 2013. By
virtue of these further addition and based on the current size of the fleet, the number of fleet members
will reach the 30 ships in 2013, with capacity for more than 74,000 total Guests.
In order to bring about this growth, back in 2000 the Costa Crociere Group launched an over 9.6 billion
euro fleet expansion program which is due for completion in 2013.
Costa Crociere S.p.A. is listed in Mediobanca’s 2010 ranking, a survey of 3,700 Italian enterprises that
recorded revenue of at least 50 million euros last financial year. Costa is one of Italy's top 10 most
profitable companies and 49th in terms of turnover. In the “Global Reputation Pulse” 2010 international
study, Costa Cruises is in 1st place among Italian “tourism and leisure industry” companies; Pulse scores
are a measure of the corporate reputation (in terms of trust, esteem etc) of the 600 largest enterprises
located in 32 countries worldwide.
COSTA CRUISES
􀂃 Costa Cruises is Europe’s no.1 cruise company, in terms of both the size of the fleet and the total
number of Guests carried, with more than 60 years of maritime passenger service experience. Costa
Cruises is also the first large international cruise company authorized to operate in the Chinese
market and depart from the country’s ports.
􀂃 Costa Cruises has the largest fleet on the continent: 14 ships with a capacity of over 37,000 total
Guests. 2 other ships are on order with delivery by 2012. From 2000 to 2012 a total of 13 new ships are
joining Costa’s fleet.
􀂃 Each year Costa’s ships offer the chance to visit some 250 separate destinations with and over 130
different itineraries. Excursions available are a total of over 2,200, of which around 300 eco-tourism
excursions, comprising visits to parks, oases and nature reserves, with programs that minimize the
impact on the ecosystem and create economic opportunities for the local communities
􀂃 Costa Cruises is RINA certified with the B.E.S.T. 4 (Business Excellence Sustainable Task), an
integrated system of voluntary certification of corporate compliance with the highest international
standards involving:
social accountability (SA 8000, issued in 2001),
environment (UNI EN ISO 14001, issued in 2004),
safety (OHSAS 18001, issued in 2007)
quality (UNI EN ISO 9001, issued in 2008).
􀂃 Costa Cruises is also the first company in the world that was awarded by RINA
with the voluntary “Green Star” notation for the whole fleet. The assignment
of the Green Star means that RINA has certified that all Costa’s vessels
are operated in an environmentally responsible manner and help protect the
air and sea in the areas where they sail.
The Green Star notation is based on the highest environmental protection standards for the
prevention of pollution of the marine environment and it is actually stricter than the prevailing
provisions of the international MARPOL convention.

There will be a slump in sales of all cruises over the next couple of weeks, then it will calm down and start back filling the unsold cabins, by summer it will really only be the die hard cruise fans who will even give it a thought before clicking on to their next cruise booking.

QUOTE:

There will be a slump in sales of all cruises over the next couple of weeks, then it will calm down and start back filling the unsold cabins, by summer it will really only be the die hard cruise fans who will even give it a thought before clicking on to their next cruise booking.

I can see another upgrade coming for us in February.............

The pictures remind me of The Herald of Free Enterprise. Townsend Thoresen didn't survive as a brand for very long after that disaster.

Bob

QUOTE:

I can see another upgrade coming for us in February.............

Now Smee I said sales would slump, there may well be a lot of last min cancellations who knows.

If an aircraft had suffered that % of damage to it's fuselage I doubt any would have survived, even if we take the worst case scenario of this sinking the loss of life is less than 1% of the total passenger & crew involved.

Hard facts but confirms that cruising is a very safe way to travel.

QUOTE:

I think your thoughts are a little premature....................

In Wilba's defence he starts by saying, "Early days I know," and to be honest this thought or something on those lines must have gone through several minds to date so why not discus the possibility?

I believe that time will prove him right, the life saving thing about Costa to my mind is its client base. It does claim a large number of passengers from Europe and whilst there are other cruise lines who do the same, the millions of potential customers in Europe must make their clientele and potential clientele a large attraction. So if the line goes to the wall one of the major assets will be that base which might prove a winner to any company interested or, as has been pointed out, a re-branding exercise by the current owners. .....Neil

You had better hope that Costa does servive or else all those Italians might try P&O.