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Crisis Communication Plan
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Table of Contents Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………………………… 3
Acknowledgements…………………………………………………………………………………………… 4
Rehearsal Dates………………………………………………………………………………………………… 5
Purpose and Objectives……………………………………………………………………………………… 6
Key Publics..……………………………………………………………………………………………………… 7
Notifying Publics……………………………………….……………………………………………………… 8
Crisis Communications team……………………..……………………………………………………… .9
Crisis Directory………………………………………………………….…………………………………… 10
Media Spokesperson…………………………………………………………………………………………11
Emergency Personnel and local officials………………………….………………………………… .12
Key Media……………………………………………………………………………………………………… …13
Spokespersons for related organizations…………………………………………………………… 14
Crisis Communications Control Center……………………………………………………………… 15
Equipment and Supplies…………………………………………………………………………………… 16
Pregathered Information………………………………………………………………………………..… 17
Key Messages………………………………………………………………………………………..………… 18
Trick Questions……………………………………………………………………………..………………… 19
Website, blogs and social media………………………………..……………………………………… 20
List of Prodromes…………………………………………………………………….……………………… 21
Evaluation Form……………………………………………………………………………………………… 22
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Introduction Why is this plan important? With a lot of controversy and crisis constantly surrounding the cruise industry, it is a good to be prepared for any possible crisis that could occur at any level of the company that could damage our brand and the cruise industry as a whole. We are known as a safety-‐first, family-‐friendly organization and we need to make sure that our brand doses not become damaged. What could happen if the plan is not followed? If this plan is not followed in the case of an emergency and crisis, the name and reputation of the brand could be damage, which would results in a loss of business throughout the company and the cruise industry. Trust is very important to our customers and we need to make sure that they know that any incident that occurs is a one-‐time occurrence and that it cannot happen again. Has a crisis happened at the Carnival Corporation before? Unfortunately, there has been a couple of crises in the last 5 years. The first being the sinking of the Costa Concordia in 2012 in which 30 people died and 2 still missing. In 2013, the Carnival Triumph became disabled after a fire onboard and was left out in the sea for seven days without any working bathrooms. These crises happened but we are learning for them and that is why this crisis communication plan is extremely important for moving forward to avoid any more crises from occurring. Has a Crisis happened to similar companies? Yes. Many crises such a sinking of ships, terrorist take overs and medical outbreaks have happened throughout the cruise industry. In 2005, the luxury cruise liner Seaborne Spirit was attacked by pirates. In 2010, the Celebrity Mercury was part of a norovirus outbreak that left many passengers and crew extremely sick.
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Acknowledgements By signing this statement, I verify that I have read this crisis communications plan and am prepared to put into effect. President and CEO (Signature and date) Vice President and CFO _________________________________________________________________________________________________(Signature and date) Vice President (Signature and date) Office Manager _________________________________________________________________________________________________(Signature and date)
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Rehearsal Dates Onboard On every cruise , a muster drill must be done with passengers two hours prior to departure. Once a week, the onboard staff must participate in a muster drill and other crisis drills. Corporate It is expected that at the beginning of every quarter, that corporate rehearse this communication plan with all employees in conjunction with the onboard staff.
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Possible Crises
Possible Crisis Possibility 0-‐5 (nearly impossible-‐
high probably)
Potential Damage 0-‐5 (no damage-‐
devastating damage) Bribery 0 3
Age Discrimination 0 0 Theft 0 0
Drug abuse by employees 3 3 Fatality 1 5 Fire 1 4
Kidnapping 1 4 Lawsuits 4 4 Murder 1 5
Negative legislation 2 3 Protest Demonstration 1 2
Suicide 1 5 Sexual harassment 2 4 Tax problems 2 4
Workplace violence 2 3 Political attacks 0 1
Sinking 1 5 Pirates 1 5
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Purpose and Objectives Purpose: The purpose of this crisis communication is to prevent any of the high possibility, high potentially damaging issues. In a case where any of these things happen, this plan will serve to provide the necessary steps to ensure safety of all customers, employees and stakeholders. By following this plan, we will accomplish our goal to disseminate the right information, to the right people, at the right time so that the right decisions can be made. Objectives: • Protect all customers onboard all ships on all cruise lines • Protect all employees onboard and off ship • Initiate the crisis communication plan within the first 2 hours of the crisis
outbreak. • Inform all higher ups as well of the crisis immediately • Depending on the crisis, inform all employees within the first 5 hours of the
crisis • Keep the media and all publics regularly informed of updated information
through regular news briefs and updates to the company’s websites and social media.
• Set up grievance support and counseling as well as special personnel to take care of families and loved ones directly connected to the incident at hand
• Maintain honesty with the media about all known information • Find the source of the problem as soon as possible • Distribute our finding to the media and all publics as they occur • Give only factual information • Develop ways to alleviate future problems • Implement necessary changes as son as possible and resume business as usual
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Key Publics • Board members√ • Shareholders√ • Financial partners√ • Investors√ • Customers∆ • Clients∆ • Suppliers† • Vendors† • Competitors« • Key management√ • Employees† • Legal representation† • Media∆ • Union officials† • Government Officials∆
√ Enabling publics-‐those people with the power and authority to make decisions † Functional publics-‐ the people who actually make the organization work « Normative Publics-‐ those people who share values with the organization in crises ∆ Diffused publics-‐ those people linked indirectly to the organization in crisis
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Notifying Publics
Telephone
Email Fax Letter By Mail
Letter by messenge
r
Newsletter
Bulletin Board
Personal Visit
News Release
Meetings
Employees
*RM *RM *RM *MA *JS
Executives
*RM *JS *RM *MA *JS *RM
Customers
*RM *RM *JS
Board of Directors
*MA *MA *JS *RM
ElectronMedia
*JS *JS *MA *JS
Daily Newspap
ers
*JS *JS *RM *MA *JS *RM
Weekly Newspap
er
*JS *JS *RM *MA *JS *RM
Share Holders
*JS *JS *MA *JS
Community
Leaders
*JS *MA
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Crisis Communication Team Jan Swatz-‐ Head of public relations for Carnival Cruise Corporation & plc. She has the responsibility of communicating with top management, making decisions, drafting or approving major statements, and notifying the rest of the crisis communication team. Rick Meadows-‐ Assistant crisis manager. He assists the head of public relations in fulfilling her duties as crisis manager and a back up in case the head crisis manager cannot be reached. Samantha Kruse-‐ The control room coordinator. During a crisis, Samantha will make sure that all necessary supplies and equipment are accessible to the crisis communication team throughout their time dealing with the crisis at hand. Rachel Matza-‐Assistant PR . Rachel will back up all PR efforts made by the crisis communication team before, during and after the crisis. She will also be there to help with all other needs of the crisis communication team throughout the crisis or until she is no longer needed. All of the PR team at corporate will also take part in helping disseminating information to key publics as the crisis goes on. In case of a crisis:
• If president is unavailable, the alternative spokesperson is the head of public relations
• The crisis communication team will set up a crisis communication center with phone line, cell phones, pagers, fax machines and computers.
• PR manger and Crisis communications team to report developments of crisis situation to all members of crisis communications team and spokesperson
• Appropriate crisis communication team members will research and obtain all pertinent information to PR manager, other crisis communications team members and spokesperson.
• PR manager and director of marketing will prepare a statement/ news release and get approval for its release
• Video production specialist will videotape public statements from spokesperson
• Determine how information will reach media keeping in mind the different types and how to get information to them.
• Continually update target audience and media on all new developments.
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Crisis Directory Name Title Phone
Jan Swartz PR Director xxx-‐xxx-‐xxxx
Micky Arison Chairman of the board xxx-‐xxx-‐xxxx
Rick Meadows Assistant crisis manager xxx-‐xxx-‐xxxx
Samantha Kuse Control Room coordinator xxx-‐xxx-‐xxxx
Rachel Matza Assistant PR Associate xxx-‐xxx-‐xxxx
Arnold W. Donald President and CEO xxx-‐xxx-‐xxxx
Rachel Cole Executive assistant xxx-‐xxx-‐xxxx
Alan B. Buckelew Chief Operations Officer xxx-‐xxx-‐xxxx
David Bernstein Chief financial officer xxx-‐xxx-‐xxxx
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Media Spokesperson After an initial assessment of a crisis, the crisis management team will identify the appropriate spokesperson for the corporation. Appropriate spokespeople for the corporation are as follows: • CEO of Carnival Corporation • Chief operations officer • Senior Public Relations Manager • Cruise Experts selected by Carnival • Director of Engineering
Guidelines for Spokespeople 1. Do not speculate 2. Focus on two or three key messages to communicate and repeat them during the
interview 3. Use a technical expert 4. Speak in simple, common terms 5. Remain Calm 6. Do not use negative language 7. Consider human safety first 8. Do not answer questions you do not understand 9. Ignore cameras and microphones 10. Make only “on the record” statements 11. Avoid saying “no comment”
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Emergency personnel and local officials’ Name Title Phone
Police xxx-‐xxx-‐xxxx
Fire xxx-‐xxx-‐xxxx
Hospital xxx-‐xxx-‐xxxx
Coast Guard xxx-‐xxx-‐xxxx
National Guard xxx-‐xxx-‐xxxx
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Key Media Outlet Name Title Phone
New York Times Leo Fuller editor xxx-‐xxx-‐xxxx
Washington Post George Rowe editor xxx-‐xxx-‐xxxx
Sun Sentinel Sam Kushner editor xxx-‐xxx-‐xxxx
Los Angles Times Haylie Bernacki editor xxx-‐xxx-‐xxxx
Colorado Sun Carly Krouse editor xxx-‐xxx-‐xxxx
Daily News Lea Shobet editor xxx-‐xxx-‐xxxx
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Spokesperson for other related organizations Name Title Organization Phone
Connie Emile PR Director Celebrity Cruises xxx-‐xxx-‐xxxx
Kim Shiefield CEO Royal Caribbean xxx-‐xxx-‐xxxx
Lindsey Roberts Director Cruise industry association
xxx-‐xxx-‐xxxx
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Crisis Communication Control Center In the case of an emergency a conference room on the top floor of the corporate office will be used. The address for this is 3655 NW 87th Avenue Miami, FL 33178. If access to corporate building is unavailable then proceed one of our partners board rooms in Delray Beach, Florida. If Onboard cruise ship, use either the chapel or board room or take over computer room/ library if no laptops available or wifi is slow. Use top deck bar as staging area to disseminate any information to key publics. If phones are not available in the crisis control center, back up phones are in each crisis location and have external battery packs for up to 8 hour for each phone. The only people in the board room must only be the members of the crisis communication team except in the event when other information is being given or the crisis communication team cannot perform without that there member.
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Equipment and Supplies • Desks • Land-‐line phones • Cell phones • Fax machine • Pagers • Tablets • Notebooks • Whiteboards • Post-‐it notes • Flashcards • Markers • Pencils • External battery packs • Televisions • Ethernet cables • Water bottles • Granola Bars • Fruit (if available) • Non-‐perishable snacks • Blankets • Pillows • Printers • Vitamins • Monitors
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Pregathered information
News releases 1
At approximately _________(time) today _____________(date), a ____________________(insert crisis) occurred on the ____________________(site of incident).
Crisis Response personnel are now responding as well as _____________(other responding groups or groups that may be helping. The Carnival Corporations response groups include_________________________________( name people involved in response) .
Our major concern are for the safety of our employees and the public and to minimize the impact on our customers and employees.
We are now involved in an on going investigation to determine what has happened and what is being done to mitigate the situation. As more details become available, we will pass them on to the media.
News Release 2 A passenger aboard __________________(insert cruise line and ship) was found to have fallen ill after it was uncovered that the passenger was suffering from ______________(sickness). _____________(sickness) effects _________________(number of people) and could have been spread by ___________________________. “We are very concerned about ____________________(victims name) as well as the health and safety of all passengers and crew,” said _____________________(spokesperson). According to (doctor ), (victims name) was doing ____________________ (state and actions ) and then became ill exhibiting signs of ______________________(symptoms of illness_. Carnival is investigating what could of lead to this sickness and if there is a way to mitigate the illness immediately without it spreading to to her passengers. Carnival Corporation’s ships are health and safe for all families. Each ships is cleaned daily and onboard hand sanitizers are placed around the ship in order to decrease the percentage of passengers sick.
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Key Messages Fatality In the case of a fatality onboard any of Carnival corporations cruise ships, Carnival corporations first priority is the care of its customers. Let all passengers onboard affected ship know what is going on and provide grief counseling and other special personnel help in disseminating the information. Tell hem about the small percentage of how it could happen and reassure them that this is an isolated incident ad almost never occurs. Be transparent as possible without violating any laws and without giving a way to much about the person who perished. Sinking In the case of the sinking, the first priority of the corporation is to its customers. Let customers know what has happened and contact any people closely related with the incident. Express condolences and offer grief counseling and specialists to help get through that time. Also let media and other key figures that there is an ongoing investigation to see what has happened and that you will update them when you know what is going on. Let them know that this is a very isolated incident but do not speculate as to why it has happened u till you know all facts. Pirates In this case, in order to protect the customers we may not be able to release information because it might threaten what happens to the customers onboard. Let the media know that we are investigating and working with specific law officials in ensuring the safe return of our customers. Make sure to express sympathy to the people involved and their families and again bring in specialists and grief counselors for families involved. Stranded Ship For a stranded ship, let key publics know that we are in contact with the ship and that you are getting the ship back to a port as soon as possible. Let them know that you will stop at nothing until all passengers on said ship are returned t land. Let key publics including media know what you will take action (such as refunding, grief counselors and other things that could help mitigate the situation.
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Trick Questions 1. Speculative questions:
a. Could the person have committed suicide?
2. Leading Questions:
a. You agree that it was passenger X’s fault?
3. Loaded questions:
a. Isn’t in true that your ships have had issues like this before and you
decided to not do anything about it?
4. Naïve questions:
a. What kind of service does Carnival Cruise Corporation provide?
5. False questions(containing inaccurate details that reporters want you to
correct):
a. He was along in an unauthorized area, correct?
6. Know-‐it-‐all questions:
a. We have all the facts. I just need to confirm a few things with you okay?”
7. Silence: This aims to get you to spill everything you know
8. Accusatory questions:
a. Who is actually responsible for this crisis?”
9. Multiple-‐part questions
a. Are all your pool unsupervised and if so is there a time you don’t allow
passengers near the pool?
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Websites and Social Media Facebook: Separate Facebooks for each cruise line in Carnival Corporation
• Carnival • Princess Cruises • Holland American Line • Seabourn • Cunard • Aida • Costa Cruises • Ibero Cruises • P & O Cruises
Twitter: CEO tweets from personal account only @micky_arison *twitter accounts may be made depending on the situation. Use discretion and create twitter accounts if it is expected that people will create them just to criticize the brand. Website: Carnival Corporation Website:http://phx.corporate-‐ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=140690&p=irol-‐index Website for each cruise line * Create dark websites for each cruise line and Carnival Corporation overall in order to stop people from making websites that are not affiliated with the corporation and to be able to disseminate information quickly.
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List of Prodromes • Fuel supply is low
• Ship in water that is known to have pirates (ex. Somalia)
• Known broken machines onboard
• Employees not following muster drill rules
• Passengers not paying attention to muster drills
• Water the is too shallow or too deep
• Corporate communication is lacking
• Captain lack of communication with crew and corporate
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Evaluation Form
1. What was the biggest accomplishment?
2. What was the biggest missed opportunity?
3. What are the lessons learned?
4. Were our key messages effective?
5. How did this crisis impact public notice?
6. Were we able to reach our key publics?
7. Was the crisis communications plan effective?
8. Was the spokesperson effective?
9. What suggestion do you have for the future?
