Reality No 'Show' for Cruise Lines

There’s a certain fantasy to going on a cruise. Your bed’s made, your meals are cooked. You can play all day, or not. You can see places you never dreamed of seeing. You can snack and drink and swim. You can sleep in and nobody’s going to sound the alarm.

And once in a while, real life interrupts this sea of fantasy. This week, it happened twice.

In Argentina, two ships were turned away from Ushuaia, the country’s and the world’s southernmost city cruise port. The ships had stopped in the Falkland Islands, a British territory that Argentina has long disputed…and a territory it calls “Las Malvinas.”

Veterans of the 1982 war over the Falklands are behind the enforcing of an Argentine law that bans ships owned or partly owned by the British, a law which locals tourism officials say was not intended for cruise ships, which bring mega tourist dollars to the country.

It’s just two ships, so far. Carnival Corporation, however, is the owner of 11 cruise lines and just over 100 ships, more than twice the size of any other cruise conglomerate. The Corporation is a British-American company…the key word being British.

Meanwhile, in the general area of the Seychelles Islands, the Costa Allegra was listing after an engine-room fire cut power, lights and air conditioning. This is in an area sometimes frequented by Somali pirates, although the Allegra is being towed to one of the islands and due to arrive tomorrow.

The Allegra (744 passengers) has been inaccurately compared in looks to the Concordia (3,780 passengers)…or at least to the Concordia before it hit the rocks off an Italian island and capsized six weeks ago, killing 25 (at last count) passengers.


Disney Magic
4 nights
April 30, 2012
Port Canaveral (return): Nassau, Castaway Cay
Inside $588

2 Responses
  1. Ed Bell says:

    They are the same cruise line, but there’s no way a 1000 passenger ship (Allegra) and a 4000 passenger ship (Concordia) look alike or are they, as reported, sister ships. They are white with the same color funnel but ‘ about it. Maybe it’s not a big deal but as an avid cruiser I don’t think any mis-information by people in the industry helps. Thanks for your time and for the most part a great website.

  2. Bob & Nancy says:

    You are absolutely correct and we have made the appropriate change to our blog. Thanks!

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