'TRIUMPH' COVERAGE SCRUTINIZED

While the Carnival Triumph incident wasn't good news for the cruise industry, it apparently was for CNN. There are reports their coverage provided a ratings win over both Fox News and MSNBC. Despite that, at least one media critic points out their "tabloid" coverage was also risky. Writing in The Guardian, Martin Dunn pointed out "the close-to-the-limit hype can backfire. If coverage was not billed as 'The Big Story', it was being hailed as 'Triumph and Tragedy'. All this when no one died or was seriously hurt." Just goes to show in today's uber-connected world, no one escapes the spotlight. -- Gerry

'TRIUMPH' IMPACT MAY BE SHORT-LIVED

For the past week or so, the cruise news has been dominated by the well-documented engine fire and resulting related woes aboard Carnival Triumph. It's a tough situation for Carnival, and an industry that sells and promotes fun vacation experiences. But as anyone who travels knows, things don't always go as planned. Fortunately, such occurrences are rare, as this author points out in his article, "Can Carnival Weather the PR Storm?". The conclusion is they can, with most of the impact probably short-lived and affecting first-time cruisers. The cruising industry has worked hard to sell and elevate their product, which I think most would agree keeps getting better every year. With so much at stake, I'm confident they will, individually and collectively, re-double their efforts to make cruising the best vacation value in travel. -- Gerry