Goldstein: Costa Concordia ‘defining moment’ in cruise history

‘We will need the results of the authorities’ investigations to truly understand and respond to all of the implications,’ Goldstein continues. ‘But we do not need to wait for anyone or anything to underscore the preeminent role of safety in the daily life of every cruise ship and of the industry as a whole.’

Goldstein notes that, by coincidence, many captains and hotel directors were arriving in Florida for Royal Caribbean’s annual fleet operations conference over the weekend, giving himself and chairman and ceo Richard Fain the chance to underscore ‘both our excellent 42-year safety record and more importantly to emphasize the imperative of keeping our record intact into the future.’

Calling safety ‘a journey rather than a destination,’ Goldstein emphasizes the need to operate safely now, while constantly improving and seeking lessons in even every minor incident or accident then applying those learnings across the fleet ‘ASAP.’

He cites Fain’s stance that ‘there is no such thing as perfect safety but there is such a thing as perfect dedication to safety. We strive to be true to that concept.’

Goldstein also voices appreciation to his colleagues shipboard and shoreside for their commitment to safety and stresses that ‘our vigilance must encompass every drill, every training, every voyage plan, every analysis of incidents/accidents and every day of ship operations.’

The post is at www.answeritroyally.com/blog.