Mostly likely, the last thing a survivor of a shipwreck wants to do is go on another cruise. Apparently, Costa Concordia, the cruise line whose luxury cruise ship capsized off the Tuscan cost on January 13, has a different opinion on the matter.
Costa Concordia is offering survivors an insensitive 30 percent off their next cruise with the company. Not surprisingly, the sales pitch was not favorably accepted when it was announced on Sunday.
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A survivor and retired British accountant, Brian Page, spoke to The Telegraph of London when the discount offer was first being reported, “It is a ridiculous and insulting offer.”
But the cruise line feels differently, “The company is not only going to refund everybody, but they will offer a thirty percent discount on future cruises if they want to stay loyal to the company,” a spokesman for Costa Cruises, which is also a subsidiary of industry leader Carnival Cruise Lines, said in an attempt to defend the discount. They seem do think that a third of a next cruise is quite fair.
Reasonably so, survivors are expecting considerably more than a cheap deal for a future voyage.
Former Costa Concordia vacationers are banding together as they plan to file a class-action suit against the company, which is located in Miami where Carnival is based. Survivors are seeking $160,000 a passenger. If every passenger were to be paid, Costa would be dishing out $513 million.
The cruise line is using Captain Francesco Schettino as their scapegoat, as they are entirely blaming him for the sinking of the ship, where at least 30 people lost their lives.
Schettino, however, is not going down without a fight. He explained to a judge that his superiors were aware of his dangerous escapades, and was actually commanded by his bosses to sail close to the island of Giglio as it would be a form of “advertisement” for the cruise line.
In a statement published on Sunday in the Italian newspaper La Repubblicia, Schettino explained, “The Giglio salute on Jan 13 was planned with the company before we departed from Civitavecchia. We meant to do it the week before, but it was not possible because of bad weather.”
