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Cruise Ship Runs Aground

chriskre said:
Yes the cruise line refunded us and gave us a 30% off a future Costa cruise. Unfortunately they would not reimburse the hotel or airfare since we bought it on our own despite purchasing the trip insurance so we decided to do a plan B and just go to Spain anyway.

I'm here in Barcelona and we're doing 5 days here and then moving to Madrid for 4 days. We used FF tickets to get here so it was easy to change our return flight. I guess I need to be grateful that I wasn't on last weeks sailing. I'm loving Barcelona so far so am glad that we decided to come anyway and not scrap the trip completely.

We are staying at Citadines which is a TS right on the Rambla. We rented it from the website directly since it would have been an impossible exchange. It's a great location for this city. We're making the best of it.
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Sounds like a great vacation. I'm so happy that you weren't on the cruise.
 
Italian Cruise Ship Operator Knew of Crisis

Italian Cruise Ship Operator Knew of Crisis - by Stacy Meichtry/ World News/ Wall Street Journal Online

Chief Executive Testifies That Company was Aware of Damage Within Minutes

Sorry, didn't realize you have to be a subscriber to access article


Richard
 
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luvsvacation22 said:
Christine, definitely a blessing in disguise...(hugs)

Did you decide to cancel the cruise or did the cruise line?

I hope you have a wonderful time in Barcelona.
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We did do Barcelona and added Madrid. Had a fabulous time so all was not lost and of course it could have been much worse had I booked all this just one week earlier. :ponder:

Passepartout said:
Barca is a great city. We spent some couple of weeks there and up and down the Costa Brava. If you haven't seen it well, check out www.runnerbeantours.com for free (donation) walking tours. There has been much written in TUG threads about Barca.

Glad you are safe. Hope Costa/Carnival compensate you for the loss of your vacation. Many thousands of people will be affected by this avoidable tragedy. It will be interesting to see how it all works out.

Jim
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Had a great time in Barca. Such a nice town and very easy for tourists to enjoy it at any pace. Love that you get a bottle of wine included with dinner everywhere you go. Definitely my kinda place. ;)

presley said:
Sounds like a great vacation. I'm so happy that you weren't on the cruise.
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So am I. I did see a Costa ship as well as MSC and NCL ships in the Barca harbor. Not sure why they didn' offer us those as options. Maybe they were booked. Oh well, there will be other years. Hoping that maybe next year we can take them up on the 30% off if it makes sense. They should be the safest line sailing by then. :cool:
 
They are now offering $14,500 for those passengers who got off the Concordia safely. Sounds like that is pretty fair but I wonder how many people will try to sue the cruise line anyway (without realizing that a class action suit will probably net them 1/4 of that money).

chriskre, so glad you are safe!
 
SDKath said:
They are now offering $14,500 for those passengers who got off the Concordia safely. Sounds like that is pretty fair but I wonder how many people will try to sue the cruise line anyway (without realizing that a class action suit will probably net them 1/4 of that money).
...
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But the lawyers offering their services to sue as a class action, will only mention that in very small print and buried on page 501 of their paperwork.
 
vacationhopeful said:
But the lawyers offering their services to sue as a class action, will only mention that in very small print and buried on page 501 of their paperwork.
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Kind of like TS salesman.

H
 
I didn't realize that Giglio was part of the Tuscan Archipelago. The islands include Elba - from Napoleonic fame - and the largest of the group, Gorgona, Capraia, MonteChristo, Pianosa, Isola del Giglio,and Giannutri.

Here's a map from Wikipedia that shows the
280px-Tuscan_archipelago.png


and for more information about the area - here's a very interesting NPR Story - For Reporter, Cruise Ship Disaster Is A Local Story - by Sylvia Poggioli/ News/NPR.org

Note that Sylvia's list of the Tuscan Archipelago is slightly different than the Wikipedia list.

Richard
 
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Carnival: Concordia Cruise Ship A Total Loss

Reporting First Quarter Red Ink, Carnival says Costa Concordia is a Total Constructive Loss from Marinelog.com

Also there was an article in today's ( 3/10/12) Sun-Sentinel about the Carnival report. I couldn't locate an online version.

However, it reported " Carnival also said its Costa Allegra ship, which was set adrift in the Indian Ocean for days last month after a fire knocked out its power, won't return to service and will be sold or scrapped."


Richard
 
hypnotiq said:
Damn. Two cruise ships totaled. Thats gonna leave a mark.
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Not mentioning the loss of confidence for Costa and Carnival, and the cruise line industry in general. Ohhhh! the deals I see to get people to consider a cruise vacation again.

Jim
 
I know it really hasn't affected Princess Cruises pricing. I check often and things are on par with normal...so far.
 
Prices for next Jan. seem normal.
 
Yeah, I had been monitoring the Caribbean for later this year since I have an adv deposit that is gonna expire. Prices arent any diff than they were 3 years ago when I last went.

Thats why I said so far, I dont think these incidents are affecting the industry.
 
I found an article about the Costa Allegra. I think it was deemed a total loss for more reasons than the fire. It was an old ship, and small by today's standards, carrying only 1,000 passengers. It had been up for sale for about a year with no takers. So would you fix it? I didn't think so.

Fern

MULTIZ321 said:
Also there was an article in today's ( 3/10/12) Sun-Sentinel about the Carnival report. I couldn't locate an online version.

However, it reported " Carnival also said its Costa Allegra ship, which was set adrift in the Indian Ocean for days last month after a fire knocked out its power, won't return to service and will be sold or scrapped."


Richard
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You know that if you don't decide to use your FCC (deposit) within four years you can ask for it back, right? They don't send it automatically, but if you ask they will send it back.

Fern

hypnotiq said:
Yeah, I had been monitoring the Caribbean for later this year since I have an adv deposit that is gonna expire. Prices arent any diff than they were 3 years ago when I last went.

Thats why I said so far, I dont think these incidents are affecting the industry.
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I didn't know that. Its good to know though, thanks. :)

I'll likely use it though, since im going through cruise withdrawals.
 
The 'Love Boat' may be scrapped

I don't know for sure if the old TV series had anything to do with my 'itchy feet' to travel, but it seems every cruise ship I board somehow gets compared in my mind to the Pacific Princess, and every bartender gets compared to Isaac.

It may be turned into so many tin cans or whatever scrap metal becomes these days: http://theclicker.today.msnbc.msn.c...c-princess-from-the-love-boat-may-be-scrapped
I'm sure that Captain Steubing wouldn't have put her on the rocks.

Jim
 
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