Carnival Cruise Ship Essay

1. The Problem:
Identify the problem. On February 10, 2013 at 0530, Carnival Cruise ship Triumph suffered a fire in the aft engine room leaving the ship drifting in the Gulf of Mexico. The ship was running on generators with minimal power throughout the ship. The ship, which was on the third day of a four-night Western Caribbean cruise from Galveston, had 3,143 passengers and 1,086 crew crewmembers onboard ("Carnival Triumph Fire Q&A - Carnival Cruise Lines - Cruise Critic," n.d.).
Explain why the problem is important. When people go on vacation, they expect to get what they paid for. There is a certain degree of accommodation made, but the overall scheme of maneuver is to return happier than when you left. Acts of God, such as rain, tornados, hurricanes, and tsunamis are unknowns that cannot be avoided at times. Negligence on the part of a major corporation most likely will not.
How was the problem identified? It is likely the ship’s crew in the aft engine room knew more about the situation. When the engine shuts down and power is taken away from that engine, there is a series of mechanical issues that trigger other areas to be shut down also. Once the aft engine was disabled, the crew was not able to maintain comfortable power to other

After 38 out of 3,143 passengers filed lawsuits, it was determined that Carnival Cruise Lines was not negligent with punitive damages to the passengers who filed suits. Carnival did compensate all the passengers’ flights, tickets, one free return cruise trip, and gave each passenger $500 ("Carnival Triumph Fire Q&A - Carnival Cruise Lines - Cruise Critic," n.d.). A report generated on December 14, 2011, used by CNN to muster up bad publicity against Carnival. The report indicated all six generators were not up to SOLA (Safety Of Life At Sea) standards and did not pass inspection ("http://www.cnn.com/2013/12/17/travel/carnival-cruise-triumph-problems/,"