Crisis Lessons from the Carnival Cruise From Hell!

What Carnival Cruise Lines should learn about "customers" and crisis communications.

So imagine this, you are a major cruise line, you have a ship filled with passengers that loses all power after a fire. 

Your choices are:

1. Issue written statements and let the passengers (known as customers) deal with this ugly problem for days. 

2. Take immediate action. Get the CEO on every major news outlet and sincerely apologize, use every possible means to drop food, water and other supplies.

Carnival seems to have chosen #1 and there are some important lessons to be learned about how you treat customers and manage your image in the news media. (You would think big companies would learn after the BP oil spill).

For days passengers have been without power. There are reports of sewage in the hallways. (Now that's no carnival). Text messages, pictures, calls and tweets are slowly getting out from the "customers." Meanwhile Carnival issues written statements, works to get the ship into port, but no demonstration that the company even has a crisis communications plan. 

What is worse, their CEO Micky Arison (left) shows up at a Miami Heat game in the middle of a crisis! What message does this say to the people on board "suffering," and to the millions of potential Carnival Cruise Line customers in the future?

When there is a major crisis, you want your top person to demonstrate sincere compassion for your customers, not enjoy a night out while customers live with sewage.  I'm sure they would say, "It's no Carnival on this cruise."

The lessons are clear. When there is a crisis:

1. Customers come first. Do everything you can to take care of your customers.

2. Forget the vouchers plus the extra $500. Right now they are swimming in --- well you know what the word is. They care less right now about a voucher on the "Carnival Cruise from Hell" than getting good food, water, and getting home. Spend MILLIONS to fix the problem immediately.

3. Act fast. Get on every news program immediately and sincerely apologize....but make it sincere. Don't say you are sorry and then show up for a night on the town. Roll up your sleeves and demonstrate you care about your customers. 

Life today is about delivering "Remarkable Experiences." There is no question that the "Carnival Crap Cruise" is a remarkable experience, but not one you want these people to tell. 

There is a reason why Carnival has been taking a media beating---because it is well deserved.