Thursday, January 19, 2012

Big Question Hovers Over the Cruise Ship Industry

Cruise lines were ready for a busy year, with continued deals, expanded river jaunts and hot new locales. How the Costa Concordia disaster affects the industry is still unknown.

The first quarter of 2012 was supposed to be a sweet spot for passenger cruise lines. Wave season, as it's known, marks a time when cruise companies and travel agents roll out deep discounts on cruise vacations and rack up lots of sales.
But that changed Jan. 13, when the Costa Concordia struck rocks off the western coast of Italy, killing at least 11 passengers in one of the worst cruise-ship tragedies in recent times. Images and videos of the listing liner have been shown appeared continually on TV and online in the media, often accompanied by interviews with survivors, who say panic and chaos took hold during the ship's deadly slide.

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