Today, Newsweek magazine and its online edition – The Daily Beast – weighs in on the 6 month anniversary of the Costa Concordia disaster with a far reaching article looking at all aspects of today’s cruise industry.
Cheap cruise fares? Certainly. But at what cost? Long working hours, low pay, and exploitative working conditions. An injured india crew members says to Newsweek: “They never feel that we are humans . . . They believe we are machines.” But Costa counters: employees are a “precious resource whose rights must be safeguarded as an ethical and moral imperative.”
Newsweek takes a look at a number of other cruise health and safety issues, like norovirus and sick crew members pressed into working while ill and who lie to passengers to keep the machine running.
I’m quoted a couple of times about the cruise industry’s new safety policies (what a joke).
The article’s title is not subtle: "The Hidden Horrors of Cruising," written by Eve Conant and Barbie Latza Nadeau.
Your travel friendly publications won’t be re-printing the article anytime soon.
If you can’t wait until the magazine arrives at your newsstand, you can read it online at the Daily Beast.
"The industry hopes you won’t worry about such disasters next time you’re lured by an Internet ad for a $299 cruise."
Photo credit: Max Rossi / Reuters-Landov