The Sunday Boston Globe had several articles on the most recent cruise accident. MIT has a project simulating the accident to learn in detail what happened. There was an article on how we enjoy reading and watching ship disasters. Think of all the films we watch where a ship goes down: Titanic, A Perfect Storm, and more. Scuba divers enjoy exploring sunken ships. I have actually explored a few.
During the past two weeks I have been asked about the cruising industry. Are people cancelling reservations? Will Carnival survive? Carnival Cruise line owns Costa. Carnival offered each passenger $14,000 and more. I do not know what was offered to the crew. All in all it will be a lot of money. The families of the deceased and injured will surely sue even though they will need to go to Italy where Costa is registered. But I do believe Carnival will survive since they are a very large company. Beside the Carnival ships, they also own: Holland America, Cunard, Seabourn, Princess, and several European cruise lines. But they will need to look at their best practices and there is clearly room for improvement.
The US Coast Guard requires that before departing any US port crew and passengers, they must have an emergency practice. All passengers must go to an assigned station wearing their life jacket. The station is next to their assigned life boat. This was clearly not done on the Costa Concordia. If you are 
ever on a ship and this is not done, demand to know immediately before departure.
For those of you who look at the large ship resting in the water, and say I do not want to cruise on such a large vessel, there are lots of other options. There are many small ships out there. Most of them are in the luxury market and go to exotic destinations. But many still do the usual Caribbean and Mediterranean Seas. Here are a few of them: Seadream Yacht Club, Windstar, Seabourn, Silver Seas, Regent and Oceania Cruises. These ships are an experience of a lifetime.
Call me soon and take a cruise!
P.S. A most interesting article titled “Travel agents know something you don’t.” http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/30/travel/travel-agent-evolution/index.html?hpt=tr_c1
AlwaysHarriet 