1) The name Costa is now synonymous with the Concordia disaster. The name is forever associated with the disaster and is in the public's psyche.
2) Today cruise lines have put themselves in a box. For about 15 years many of the lines have added the name of the line as a prefix to the ship's name. For example Costa Concordia. This works well when the public has had a positive experience and the "goodwill" of the brand is carried on. This has the opposite effect and is an albatross when times get tough. That is what is happening now. In today's fast-paced internet age there is the danger that one event can quickly stigmatize the entire line. That is what may happen to the Costa brand

The bookings with Costa have dropped some 30 percent after the Concordia disaster, and are down around 22 to 25 percent in the wake of the Allegra's generator fire on Feb. 27. Should this trend not reverse in the near term then I Carnival may want to consider a name change. I suggest do something big like bring back the Home Lines (Italian). In 1989 Holland America acquired Home Lines and through the Carnival-Holland America merger, now CCL owns the name. At the time of the HAL-Home Lines merger Home Lines was very well regarded and considered one of the best Italian cruise lines in the world.

However, I am not yet entirely sure whether this is really necessary - airlines also survived accidents and while this is of course a bit different rebuilding the company's reputation might make more sense. Costa is (or was ) well established - and throwing that away might not be worth it - on the other hand the public might indeed forget or forgive the brand at some point (who really knew Costa or the difference between cruise lines before that accident?).
There are many examples for brands that survived pretty bad publicity - e.g. Exxon comes to my mind.

A compromise might also be to simply to discontinue Costa and let the other Carnival brands take over the business/ships without creating an immediate successor. This way the above mentioned suspicion could be avoided - new brands could be created later on.

The cult loved QE2 had many breakdowns. In 1972; only 3 years old she lost all power and the Sea Venture rescued the passengers. She lost all power again in 2004 for a few hours mid ocean. She popped a sea chest and if not for the courage of the fearless crew Lizzie would have been lost.

People still booked the ship.

Except for a few liner loonies, SSNorway's boiler explosion did not hurt bookings. The explosion killed as many as the Concordia sinking.

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Originally posted by rem-dk:
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Often we can read about planecrashes which cost a lot of dead people, but does anyone remember which company the plane was from a few month later,- I dont think so.
[....]

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I'm saying that because Costa in the last decade lost everything she had in the tradition of cruising, she's just another single cheap company with a fake italian name. In that point, it's simple change just a company name.

quote:

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Originally posted by Italianliners:
they're a cheap italian fake thema.

I'm saying that because Costa in the last decade lost everything she had in the tradition of cruising, she's just another single cheap company with a fake italian name. In that point, it's simple change just a company name.

Italianliners

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Bianca C - Fire 1961
Fulvia (Olsofjord) - Fire 1970
Anna C - Fire 1971
Angelina Lauro - Fire 1979
Columbus C - Hit Rocks 1984
Costa Concordia - Hit Rocks 2012

Nat Geo ran the Costa Concordia wreckage show 2 nights ago here in Canada. So the world is right on top of what's going on. And it isn't good.

If things come in three - the next disaster could send them over the edge. It isn't getting better for them in the long haul. They are going to have to do something to regain the trust of the traveling public, and it may have to be swift and certain.

Is Costa doomed ??? I don't know. With the rapid consumption of media around the world, things don't look good for Costa.

I would not think Carnival would disband the Costa brand...just yet. Considering the portfolio of brands under the Carnival umbrella, I would not be surprised to see an brand re-image campaign.

Further, being the ships are mostly clones of ship classes from other brands, some shipa may be transferred to brands not suffering as much a downturn and possibly a few might be used to test a new brand to absorb the bookings vacuum Costa experiences in the interim.