Shared Reading: Carnival Cruise Ship Stranded Off Mexico Coast

From the title of this article, you might think I am about to bad-mouth Carnival Cruiselines. However I am about to do the exact opposite. I am very impressed with the way this company has dealt with a tragic circumstance. When they could have just placed blame and made some kind of "fine print" claim, Carnival Cruiselines is dedicated to righting the wrong which was unavoidable.

Like something from a '70s disaster movie, 3,300 passengers on board the Carnival Splendor found themselves stuck out to sea off the coast of Mexico after a fire in the engine room.

Details regarding the cause of this fire have not been released, but even if it was because of an employees mistake, I still feel that Carnival is dealing with it well. Luckily there are no injuries due to the fire. The major issues are because the ship is now just floating with no engine, but tug boats are on the way to pull the ship back to shore. Additionally there were issues with air conditioning, hot food service, and plumbing. Running water was restored and cold food has been served.

The stranded passengers will be receiving a full refund along with reimbursement for transportation costs. Carnival says they will also be throwing in a "a complimentary future cruise equal to the amount paid for this voyage."

In my opinion, just the refund is good business practice because these people's vacations were ruined but they are going above by offering all passengers a future cruise of equal or lesser value. 

Read the full article at The Consumerist. For up to date information about the recovery efforts, go to Carnival's website.