Carnival Cruise Lines President and CEO Gerry Cahill led the response to an engine fire that disabled the Carnival Triumph. Recently he announced a $300 million program to enhance fire response, redundancy and emergency power capabilities for hotel services on Carnival ships. The cruise line also said it will reimburse the Coast Guard for its costs in assisting the Triumph and the Carnival Splendor, which had a similar fire three years ago. Cahill spoke with cruise editor Tom Stieghorst.
Q: What is significant about the post-Triumph enhancement program?
A: This is not about the safety of our ships. Carnival ships have been safe and are safe. I've been CEO for six years, and we've probably sailed between 8,000 and 9,000 cruises. We've had two cruises now that have been disrupted, and we put our guests in an uncomfortable position. What we're trying to do here is improve comfort and guest convenience in those very rare situations when we lose propulsion. And that's what the primary part of this is about.
Q: There is a perception that the Carnival Triumph was a public relations disaster. Was it?
A: I can't answer that. My focus is on our guests. We have four-and-a-half million people that go on our cruises every year. The vast majority of those cruisers love their vacation. They have a great time. What we're trying to do here is provide an additional level of assurance to significantly reduce the possibility of something like that happening again.
Q: Are there things you think Carnival did right that you're not getting credit for?
A: I think there are a lot of things we did right. We spent over a year putting together a fire safety task force [after the Carnival Splendor fire] and frankly, those things worked on Carnival Triumph. The crew onboard, everybody worked around the clock with two things in mind: the safety and comfort of our guests. It has been missed how great of a job crew members onboard did and how great a job people did shoreside.
Q: What should travel agents say to first-time cruisers to reassure them about Carnival going forward?
A: Carnival has an excellent safety record. And that's very clear. Sometimes we lose sight here that everyone was safe. What we're talking about is the convenience of the guests. This demonstrates even further that Carnival's committed, not just to safety. We are committed to safety. But we're also committed to comfort and convenience. It's a large investment, but we're doing it to be sure, to reduce the possibility, that we ever put our guests in a situation like that.
Q: Is there a problem with either the lack of maintenance on Carnival ships or the overutilization of Carnival ships?
A: I don't think so. I would say definitely not. Certainly I can tell you we spend more on maintenance than we did six years ago. As far as utilization, we drydock our ships according to the normal standards, so that's not an issue. We take it very seriously.
Q: Carnival is going to reimburse the Coast Guard. Have you done this before, and are you concerned that it could set a bad precedent?
A: That's always a concern. In this particular situation, it was pretty extraordinary the amount of help the Coast Guard and Navy provided, so it was a large amount of money, and we thought just because of the fact that it was so much, in this one particular case we would offer to pay for that. I don't think people really want to set a precedent here, and that's really not our goal.
Follow Tom Stieghorst on Twitter @tstravelweekly.