Carnival in need of good PR

For 3,000 people, this week was suppose to a perfect vacation; instead, they suffered through a week stranded in the gulf. The problem started when an engine caught fire on Sunday. The Carnival cruise ship was left to wait while tugs boats could bring the ship back to land. Finally Thursday night the ship arrived in mobile, Alabama.

The days on the boat were not pleasant as sewage problems and lack of fresh food lead many to take refuge on the deck.  Now the cruise line must face the backlash of angry customers. The negative comments are out there now. What used to be a trusted company for cruises has to work to repair their image.

Could Carnival have averted the bad image? This isn’t the first time that Carnival has to face something like this. Last year, the company had to deal with a wreck of Coasta Concordia ship off the coast of Italy.

Criticism of the company extends from the lack of social media apologetic presence. Both the company’s Facebook and Twitter pages been constantly updated with messages about details such compensation and statements from CEO Garr Cahill. On Twitter, only one Tweet was posted in attempt to lighten the situation. But even with the updates, the company did not reply to the thousands of messages they received on Twitter.

What’s the best way to avert the damage?

Carnival has to accept responsibility for what happen along with how it will improve its ships. Sometimes things don’t go as plan but you can help the way the image of the brand is perceived. So four things the Carnival team should keep in mind:

1.  Apologize and keep these accidents from happening. Nothing is worse when someone apologizes but does nothing to fix the problem. Getting the trust back from the public is
2.   Make sure to compensate. Last year customer’s were only reward minimal refund or nothing. Now, future class action lawsuits will serve as a threat to the company.
3.  Place customer’s safety above all else. The repair on the ship will cost the cruise line 14 cancellations, but the problem maybe the size of the ship.
4. Focus on customer service. Responding to messages could have lessened the impact for Carnival. Make sure to start with head of the company to provide a strong united image. There’s no room for lack of accountability.