Topic: Costa Concordia offers £9,000 compensation for Cruise Passengers

According to the BBC passengers onboard the capsized Costa Concordia will be offered 11,000 euros (£9,000; $14,000) each in compensation.

The deal comes after much negotiation between Costa Cruises and several Italian consumer companies.

The company has also promised to pay out for any medical and transport expenses.

However one consumer group Codacons has urged passengers not to accept this offer.

Codacons and two US law firms are filing a class-action lawsuit in the US suit against Costa Cruises, demanding at least $160,000 (£105,000) for each passenger on the ship.

Do you think the compensation is reasonable, considering the distress caused?

This topic is also being discussed here

See comment on other thread..............

This is an interesting topic and one that hopefully will not occur very often.

Personally I think, in this day and age, with for example tube drivers getting olympic bonuses to do their job etc., that the sums being offered by Costa are far from satisfactorily.

The would have liked to have seen more input to this tragic event from the big boss "Carnival". Yes a 6 figure sum would be reasonable given that some had to "swim for their lives".

This event will affect the lives of those involved and their families in many ways. Some will never recover from the shook and horror of it all. Some may see it as "an adventure". People are different.

Some passengers will have lost possessions that are just not replaceable. Some crew members may have lost almost everything they own.
On my last holiday my luggage was delayed for the entire trip. My holiday was completely ruined and I spent all my holiday money trying to buy replacement items. Apart from the time and cost involved many items that I took with me were not covered by the small print in the travel insurance policy.

The last thing that people on the Concordia should be worrying about is trying to recover from their insurers. The shipping line should take complete responsibility and make a generous settlement.

I would also add that perhaps Carnival could take a marketing lead here and in addition to any financially agreed settlement, offer a token of goodwill to those involved by offering a substantial discount(maybe 50%) on all their future cruises within the carnival organisation for say the next 5 to 10 years.

My condolences to all those who have suffered

I totally agree and think this offer is derisory. For Costa to say that passengers should accept the offer immediately is quite ridiculous. Apart from the fact it is at least 10 percent of what it should be, passengers will still be in a state of shock. The company is trying to take advantage of the vulnerable. Disgraceful.

Having been on Costa CONCORDIA in November and having difficulties finding my way around I hate to think what it was like in an emergency.No way is that compensation enough

Here we go COMPTENSATION and Litigation society raises its ugly head

£9k each ontop of all monies paid returned
I would accept as generous, there again I am old school

IF you left your £15k ROLEX in the safe, then you would have it insured your self anyway, along with the wifes diamonds and pearls

Thank $eity non of them were shot at in The sandy places of the STAN they would ask for millions

The ones and their families who lost life is a different matter, I do not think the £9k would relate to them

On reflection I am thinking about it as an ordinary working man who had saved for a trip
NOT as the well off in a suite who's clothes alone could cost that (gents suit £1k shoes £400 a pair, highland dress £2k etc)

SO what you had and can prove lost PLUS £10K would IMHO be fair

Jimbo

This is a tricky one....
Anyone who was injured would have their injuries covered under their normal travel insurance.
Those who escaped with their lives have suffered trauma but will suffer to varying degrees so it's difficult to say what impact it would have on their lives.
The amount of belongings one has on holiday generally surmount the amount of cover on your policy although I have just bought insurance with £1500 worth of luggage cover which is more reasonable.
I'm not sure I would be entirely happy with £9,000 had it been me, but you never get compensation for 'almost' being killed. It's based on the actual. I think they need to be more generous but I don't think any amount of money would actually make up for what happened. I don't think I'd be settling anything without totting up what I had lost and seeing how much counselling I needed and how it was impacting on my life. It's too soon.

We have just returned from a cruise and all the Americans on our table thought they would be foolish to accept - saying that Americans would want a million dollars each!!!! - possibly they would and probably they would get it.
I certainly don't think any of the passengers should be in a hurry to accept any compensation - they should wait and see the outcome of the investigation.

I can't help feeling that £100,000 would not have any greater power to heal the distress caused than £9000, but perhaps that is because I don't see money as a heal-all. As long as all costs incurred, including travel, medical, etc are taken care of separately, then £9000 is a reasonable offer for all those who were successfully taken off the ship and delivered safely to shore. No amount of money will lessen the distress, fear and upset caused - in fact the counselling offered will probably address these issues much more successfully - so inflated claims suggest greed, not justice.

However, for those who lost loved ones, or suffered serious injuries, they should receive individual consideration, as adjudged by those trained in such matters, not by Costa/Carnival.

QUOTE:

We have just returned from a cruise and all the Americans on our table thought they would be foolish to accept - saying that Americans would want a million dollars each!!!! - possibly they would and probably they would get it.
I certainly don't think any of the passengers should be in a hurry to accept any compensation - they should wait and see the outcome of the investigation.

I quite agree, that there is no way that Americans on the cruise would accept such a small amount. There should be different payments according to injury or losses suffered, but £9,000 is a derisory amount for the trauma and losses most people suffered.