Boatloads of Bad Cruise News

And yes, the Costa Line is involved. In fact, all of the incidents involve members of Carnival's extended family of ship lines.

Lets talk about the most serious incident first. Costa Allegra, sister ship to the Costa Concordia, is currently adrift off the coast of the Seychelle Islands. A 4:30 am fire forced the crew to shut down all the propulsion systems. Tugboats and rescue vessels have been dispatched to help those aboard.

Thankfully nobody was hurt, but my guess is a lot of people, 1000 to be exact, are wondering if they should have their heads examined for vacationing with Costa.

How is Costa going to bounce back from this one? I'm not sure it can. Carnival may well have to rebrand the line or risk losing its investment.

Costa Allegra Sails Into a 2009 Sunset

The next two incidents have less to do with the cruiselines than with international affairs. P&O Lines (flagged in the UK) and Princess (flagged in the Commonwealth nation of Bermuda) were denied landing rights in Argentina. The reason? An Argentinian law passed in September, sparked by long-simmering tensions over the ownership of the Falkland Islands (remember that little dispute?), barring British-owned ships from docking in Argentinian ports. Big disappointment for cruisers who were hoping to see Ushaia

Finishing up this grim round-up: 22 passengers of the Carnival Splendor were held up during a ship-sponsored nature hike outside of Puerta Vallarta in Mexico. As with the Costa Allegra incident nobody was hurt. Carnival reports that its reimbursing passengers for their losses.

Will all this add to the downward trend of cruise pricing? Frankly, I don't see how it can't. Stay tuned....