CASO Carnival Cruise Lines
12-05
Carnival Cruise Lines:
Wreck of the Costa Concordia
“The boat started shaking. The noise – there was panic, like in a film, dishes crashing to the floor, people running, people falling down the stairs.”
– survivor Fulvio Rocci 1
The Crisis
At 4:00 p.m. on the evening of January 13, 2012, the Costa Concordia set sail from Rome, Italy for a seven-day cruise as it did every week. The ship was due to arrive in Savona, Italy the next day. Around 9:15 p.m., the ship took a five mile detour to pass closer to the picturesque Tuscan
Island of Giglio (see Exhibit 1).2 Captain Schettino appears to have misjudged the maneuver, and at 9:30 p.m., the ship collided with a rocky reef known as Le Scole. The collision ripped a
160-foot- long gash in the hull of the ship, and the Concordia lost power.
The captain is said to have performed the sail-by as a spectacle for head waiter Antonello
Tievoli who was a native of Giglio, and as a salute to former Costa captain Mario Palombo, who retired in 2006. Tievoli had been invited to join the captain in the bridge as the vessel was steered by the island. Palombo is reported to have not even been on the island to see the spectacle on the night of the incident.3 In response to the incident, Palombo is reported to have said: “I cannot understand what could have happened, what passed through my colleague’s head. The captain sets the course – on board the ship, he’s king. But I don’t want to be dragged into this argument, for any reason.”4
This case was prepared by Research Assistants Jeremy Foster, Mary Jo Sorrentino and Charles Florance under the direction of James S. O’Rourke, Teaching Professor of Management, as the basis for class discussion rather than to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of an administrative situation.
Information was gathered from corporate as well as public sources.
Copyright ©2012. Eugene D. Fanning Center for Business Communication. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
Carnival Cruise Lines:
Wreck of the Costa Concordia
“The boat started shaking. The noise – there was panic, like in a film, dishes crashing to the floor, people running, people falling down the stairs.”
– survivor Fulvio Rocci 1
The Crisis
At 4:00 p.m. on the evening of January 13, 2012, the Costa Concordia set sail from Rome, Italy for a seven-day cruise as it did every week. The ship was due to arrive in Savona, Italy the next day. Around 9:15 p.m., the ship took a five mile detour to pass closer to the picturesque Tuscan
Island of Giglio (see Exhibit 1).2 Captain Schettino appears to have misjudged the maneuver, and at 9:30 p.m., the ship collided with a rocky reef known as Le Scole. The collision ripped a
160-foot- long gash in the hull of the ship, and the Concordia lost power.
The captain is said to have performed the sail-by as a spectacle for head waiter Antonello
Tievoli who was a native of Giglio, and as a salute to former Costa captain Mario Palombo, who retired in 2006. Tievoli had been invited to join the captain in the bridge as the vessel was steered by the island. Palombo is reported to have not even been on the island to see the spectacle on the night of the incident.3 In response to the incident, Palombo is reported to have said: “I cannot understand what could have happened, what passed through my colleague’s head. The captain sets the course – on board the ship, he’s king. But I don’t want to be dragged into this argument, for any reason.”4
This case was prepared by Research Assistants Jeremy Foster, Mary Jo Sorrentino and Charles Florance under the direction of James S. O’Rourke, Teaching Professor of Management, as the basis for class discussion rather than to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of an administrative situation.
Information was gathered from corporate as well as public sources.
Copyright ©2012. Eugene D. Fanning Center for Business Communication. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
References: Agar, Michael & Blenkinsop, Andrew. “Concordia: How the disaster unfolded,” The Telegraph. 16 Jan. 2012. “Cruise ship’s cook says captain ordered dinner after crash,” CNN Europe. 20 Jan. 2012. Beyette, Beverly. “Costa Concordia capsizing spotlights cruise ship safety,” Los Angeles Times. 19 Jan. 2012. Dake, Shawn. “A Short History of the Costa Concordia,” Maritime Matters. 22 Jan. 2012. “Cruise Ship Damages Quay,” Shipwreck Log, May 21, 2011 <http://www.shipwrecklog.com/log/tag/costa-deliziosa/>