The term "ripple effects" might not do justice to the wave of consequences that could stem from the wreck of the Costa Concordia.
Beyond the loss of life, the personal injuries and trauma, the property loss and possible environmental damage, there may be challenging consequences for everyone involved in cruising, from investors and insurers to travel agents and their clients.
The question we can't yet answer is how far those ripples, economic and otherwise, will go.
Carnival Corp. estimates a financial impact of up to $95 million this fiscal year for "loss of use" of the vessel, but the company also reported that it expects "other costs to the business that are not possible to determine at this time."
Fundamentally, the long-term outlook for the cruise industry remains solidly positive, but for the short term some market analysts have already predicted a drop in bookings and softer pricing for 2012.
Retailers report that while frequent travelers and repeat cruisers seem undeterred, the biggest impact from the wave of negative news might be on first-time cruisers, who are important drivers of industry growth.
In the aftermath of any major accident, it can take weeks or sometimes months of investigation and analysis to establish all the facts and appreciate all their nuances. That process has begun and will continue, and we should all look forward to a complete report when the Italian authorities conclude their work.
Unfortunately, consumers in the meantime must base their impressions on whatever is at hand, and it has not helped that the media reports from Giglio in the days immediately after the disaster were embarrassing at best and damning at worst, a situation that calls for careful crisis management.
Costa CEO Pier Luigi Foschi became a familiar face on European TV in the days after the accident. His verdict, repeated on several Internet videos, is that the captain bears the blame for botching an unauthorized stunt and failing to conduct a safe evacuation. That might turn out to be case, but the company is now open to allegation that it put out the story of "rogue captain" with unseemly haste.
Parent company Carnival Corp. has chosen to stay in the background. And while CLIA has been heard from, its chief executive was initially absent from the dialogue.
In the face of an avalanche of information and impressions from every other quarter, we can't help thinking that, going forward, consumers should be hearing more from these sources rather than less.