Carnival CEO Apologizes to Passengers

Carnival's chief executive Gerry Cahill apologizes to passengers aboard the Carnival cruise ship 'Triumph' that was adrift for five days in the Gulf of Mexico after a fire knocked out power and plumbing across most of the ship.

Published

4 months ago

Categories

US

Topics

United States

People

Gerry Cahill

Places

United States of America, Gulf Of Mexico

Companies

Carnival Corporation

Transcript

The Carnival cruise ship "Triumph" entered the Port of Mobile to cheers and shouts for joy... the ship that passenger Peter Cass likened to a floating toilet... finally docked Friday. (SOUNDBITE) (English) TRIUMPH PASSENGER PETER CASS SAYING: "It was like being locked on a porta-pottie that had caught on fire three days earlier." Carnival chief executive Gerry Cahill made this apology to passengers: (SOUNDBITE) (English) CARNIVAL CEO GERRY CAHILL SAYING: "I know the conditions on board were very poor. I know it was very difficult and I want to apologize again for subjecting our guests to that. We pride ourselves on providing ourselves with a great vacation experience and clearly we failed in this particular case." The cruise ship was adrift for five days in the Gulf of Mexico after an engine-room fire knocked out power and plumbing on most of the ship. Passengers were asked to use plastic "biohazard" bags as makeshift toilets. Some passengers kissed the ground when they docked. Cheryl Espe said she was just glad to have electricity again. (SOUNDBITE) (English) TRIUMPH PASSENGER CHERYL ESPE SAYING: "When the electricity went out the water went out and our room flooded, it just kind of went down hill, down hill, down hill." Carnival has promised each of the some 3100 passengers a full refund, a future cruise and $500 cash in compensation. This latest incident is another black eye for Carnival... The company came under fire last year when its Costa Concordia luxury liner grounded off the coast of Italy, killing 32 people.