We’re about to find out if Carnival Cruise Lines has learned their social media crisis lesson or if they’re going to continue their silence vows.

Yesterday, the Costa Allegra (of the Costa Concordia line) had a fire erupt in the generator room, leaving the ship without lights and air conditioning.

The soonest rescue boats will reach the ship is sometime today.

According to the Chicago Sun-Times, Italian Coast Guard officials said emergency generators are keeping the ship’s control room illuminated and communications equipment such as radios running. The paper is also reporting officials said the cruise liner is holding steady, despite five-foot waves in the area and passengers are being kept in the ship’s big communal rooms, not in their cabins.

As well, the ship is adrift off the coast of Tazania…where there have been a rash of Somali pirate attacks in recent months.

But, as of this writing, there is no mention of the fire or the Costa Allegra on any of their social networks.

In fact, the most recent Facebook update is from yesterday and it’s about a sale they’re having on upgrades.

Out of curiosity, I scrolled through the fan comments and found a few things about the accident and about some passengers that were robbed during a stop in Mexico.

Notice how there are no comments from Carnival? None. Some of the other fans are talking to one another (which is an indication of a good community), but Carnival should be responding to these things.

So I took Dawn LeGrand’s advice and hopped over to the Costa Cruise Lines Facebook page.

They are constantly updating their wall with news about Costa Allegra.

But. And this is a big BUT. They’ve shut down the option for anyone to comment directly on their wall or to tag them. You can comment on their updates, but you can’t leave a comment yourself. So the only information coming from the company is news on what’s happening.

The only place a customer or concerned fan can voice an opinion is on the Carnival Cruise Lines Facebook page…and they’re ignoring everyone there.

Also, Costa has 16,000 fans and Carnival has more than one million.

Where do they think people are going to go?

I’m sorry. If you have a complaint, you have to go to our sister’s page. We don’t hear them here.

It’ll be interesting to see what happens in the next few days. If the past 24 hours is any indication, they didn’t learn their social media lesson from the Costa Concordia.

Now, who’s ready to go on a cruise?

Gini Dietrich

Gini Dietrich is the founder, CEO, and author of Spin Sucks, host of the Spin Sucks podcast, and author of Spin Sucks (the book). She is the creator of the PESO Model and has crafted a certification for it in partnership with Syracuse University. She has run and grown an agency for the past 15 years. She is co-author of Marketing in the Round, co-host of Inside PR, and co-host of The Agency Leadership podcast.

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