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Cruise ship industry

In this July 16, 2009 photo, the schooner Liana's Ransom sails past the cruise ship Carnival Triumph in Halifax. Carnival Cruise Line won't say exactly what percent drop it has seen in bookings but disclosed Monday, Jan. 30, 2012, that in the 12 days following the Concordia grounding there was a decline. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Andrew Vaughan)

Cruise bookings fall after Concordia shipwreck

Last updated Tuesday, January 31, 2012 - 6:42pm

NEW YORK -- The frightful images of a sinking Italian cruise ship have scared off some cruise passengers, at least temporarily, during the industry's peak booking season.

Travel agents -- who book more than two-thirds of cruise passengers worldwide -- have been nervously watching bookings ever since the Costa Concordia, which is owned by Carnival Corp, ran aground on Jan. 13.

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Tales emerge of missing and dead in cruise ship disaster

Collen Barry, Nicole Winfield The Associated Press

Last updated Wednesday, January 18, 2012 - 10:47pm

Tales emerge of missing and dead in ship disaster

ROME -- An Italian dad and his 5-year-old daughter. A retired American couple treating themselves after putting four children through college. A Hungarian musician who helped crying children into lifejackets, then disappeared while trying to retrieve his beloved violin from his cabin.

As details emerged Wednesday about the missing and the dead in the grounding of the Costa Concordia, the captain was quoted as saying he tripped and fell into the water from the listing vessel and never intended to abandon his passengers.

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In this photo taken Monday, Jan. 16, 2012, Mike Stoll, 29, and his wife Addie King, 26, of Brick, N.J. describe their ordeal while aboard the Costa Concordia cruise liner that ran aground in Giglio, Italy on Jan. 13. (AP Photo/The Asbury Park Press, Mary Frank)

Elderly cruise ship survivor says crew was no help

Robert McCoppin Chicago Tribune

Last updated Wednesday, January 18, 2012 - 11:04am

CHICAGO -- If Jim Salzburg learned one lesson from surviving the wreck of the Costa Concordia, it's to depend on himself and his loved ones in an emergency.

His only other advice: Keep your cell phone and passport at hand.

Salzburg, 70, his wife Jo, 69, who live in far northwest suburban Richmond, and their daughter Mary-Jo, 39, were among the passengers who survived the ordeal -- with no thanks, he said, to the ship's crew. At least 11 people were reported dead and another 29 missing.

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The cruise ship Costa Concordia leans on its side Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2012, after running aground on the tiny Tuscan island of Giglio, Italy, on Friday evening. Italian naval divers on Tuesday exploded holes in the hull of a cruise ship that grounded near a Tuscan island to speed the search for 29 missing passengers and crew while the seas remain relatively calm. The search intensified as prosecutors prepared to question the captain, who is accused of causing the wreck that left at least six dead by making a maneuver that the Italian cruise operator said was "unapproved and unauthorized." (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Images of Costa Concordia accident could be a lasting problem for cruise business

Douglas Hanks, Hannah Simpson, Jane Wooldridge The Miami Herald

Last updated Tuesday, January 17, 2012 - 10:50am

Veterans of the cruise-line industry can't remember an accident more dramatic than the one that captivated the world's attention this past weekend.

An Italian ocean liner capsized onto its side, half the ship submerged in the shallows of the Mediterranean Sea. The Costa Concordia had rolled so far over that a steam stack looked nearly eye-level in photos taken from the shores of a rugged Tuscan island where passengers fled after the grounding. Six passengers were confirmed dead, with 29 missing. Passengers jumped from the ship as it listed toward 80 degrees.

The images from the Concordia present a major challenge to South Florida's cruise-line industry, which attracts millions of tourists to the region and employs thousands of workers. Carnival, Miami-Dade's eighth largest private employer, owns Costa, making the financial fallout a direct concern for the world's largest cruise company and its 3,500 local employees.

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