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So, we were going to go live with my Big Idea piece today, but when John Scalzi checked Amazon at 6:00 AM, the book was still not for sale, just pre-order. This status changed sometime between 7:15 AM CST and 9:00 AM CST. But since John had other things to do, we're pushing the Big Idea one more time, to tomorrow.
So, you get Friday's post today. It's been a bad couple of weeks for the Costa cruise line. First Concordia sank, now another ship, the Costa Allegra was towed into the Seychelles after a fire in the generator room. The ship lacked all power for some three days, and according to the some reports, the line even had to airlift a generator in to keep the radios working.
Whisky Tango Foxtrot? I understand that the Allegra, built in 1969, is no warship, but my highly civilian bank in the middle of the metro Chicago area has an emergency generator, powerful enough to keep critical functions alive. You would think that a cruise ship operating in the middle of nowhere would have a similar system. Apparently you would be wrong.
ETA: Apparently, Allegra did have an emergency generator. It didn't start. Costa really needs to have a fleet-wide safety stand down.
In what's partially a case of MSM piling on, the Chicago Tribune ran an article noting that cruise lines structure their tickets to avoid having to compensate passengers. This is, of course, perfectly good business practice, but it's exactly the sort of good business practice that ends up screwing customers. Don't get me wrong - cruises can be fun and I enjoyed the one I took. However, like most things in life, they are not risk-free.
So, you get Friday's post today. It's been a bad couple of weeks for the Costa cruise line. First Concordia sank, now another ship, the Costa Allegra was towed into the Seychelles after a fire in the generator room. The ship lacked all power for some three days, and according to the some reports, the line even had to airlift a generator in to keep the radios working.
Whisky Tango Foxtrot? I understand that the Allegra, built in 1969, is no warship, but my highly civilian bank in the middle of the metro Chicago area has an emergency generator, powerful enough to keep critical functions alive. You would think that a cruise ship operating in the middle of nowhere would have a similar system. Apparently you would be wrong.
ETA: Apparently, Allegra did have an emergency generator. It didn't start. Costa really needs to have a fleet-wide safety stand down.
In what's partially a case of MSM piling on, the Chicago Tribune ran an article noting that cruise lines structure their tickets to avoid having to compensate passengers. This is, of course, perfectly good business practice, but it's exactly the sort of good business practice that ends up screwing customers. Don't get me wrong - cruises can be fun and I enjoyed the one I took. However, like most things in life, they are not risk-free.
