Costa Fined - No Criminal Charges in Italy for Concordia

Costa Cruises has made a €1 million ($1.3M) plea bargain settlement with an Italian court to limit its criminal liability for the capsizing of the Costa Concordia last January with the loss of 32 lives.  This move means that Costa Cruises will not face any more criminal charges and will now aim to participate in the forthcoming trial as an injured party opening the door for the company to seek damages for the loss of the ship.

A judge in Tuscany accepted the plea agreement for Costa Crociere, a division of Carnival Corporation in connection with the shipwreck off the island of Giglio in January 2012. 

Legal proceedings will continue Monday with a hearing to determine whether six of the line’s employees including Concordia captain, Francesco Schettino, and Mr Ferrarini, the company's crisis management chief.  Captain Schettino is expected to be indicted for multiple charges including manslaughter and abandoning ship before his passengers.

Although Costa Cruises has paid only €1 million in order to limit its criminal liability, the civil costs will be very much higher.  Costa still faces civil lawsuits by the relatives of passengers who drowned while trying to flee the ship, as well as by survivors who have turned down the firm’s starting offer of about €11,000 per person in compensation. Italian consumer group Codacons had advised passengers to reject the offer and instead called for a €125,000 minimum for each passenger.There has been at least one seven figure settlement already to the youngest victim of the shipwreck, a 5 year old boy.

Meanwhile, salvage operations continue off the cost of Giglio.   By late summer it is hoped that the ship will be floated off the rocks.

For Complete Coverage of this tragedy see the following blog post:

Costa Concordia Listing after Deadly Accident

NCL Dawn Bermuda - Glass Bottom Boat

The sun is just starting to cast its shadow on the water as the glass bottom boat sails away from King's Wharf, where the Norwegian Dawn is docked. It is a beautiful night as we sail past several little islands that collectively make up the Bermuda Islands.

We sail past beautiful beaches with umbrellas still open. Gorgeous homes, worth several millions of dollars, are seen along the banks as the glass bottom boat makes its way to the site of the Vixen shipwreck.

The time from leaving the pier until we arrive at the site of the shipwreck is sufficient for the crew to explain what we are about to see. One might think that a "glass bottom boat" would be made completely of glass and that you could see the water the entire time. That of course isn't the case. At the speed we are currently going, there wouldn't be anything to see, so the glass bottom viewing area remains closed until shortly before arriving at our destination.

The boat slows down as we approach the reef near the resting place of the shipwreck Vixen. We've just entered the world of the fish once again, and this time we aren't even getting wet.

We gather around railings which are put up around the glass bottom viewing areas. There are several locations, so everyone is easily able to gather around one of the openings to peer into the waters below. The boat circles around the reef so that everyone is able to view the fish and marine life below.

Seeing the fish though the glass bottom is OK, but not as good as the view we were about to get. The crew had a supply of day-old bread with them. We were each given a supply and instructed to throw the bread overboard. A school of fish immediately surfaced and began feeding on the slices of bread. It wasn't even necessary to break the bread up - they would do that themselves. It was amazing to see these large fish fighting each other over the bread.

The captain then moved further out from the reef and once again a crew member threw some bread overboard. To our amazement, no fish retrieved the bread. The fish have been trained over time that it is safe near the shipwreck since fishing is not allowed. However, once outside the boundaries, all bets are off and they know they could be caught.

After the fish were fed, we headed back to the Dockyards. We were able to take pictures of the Norwegian Dawn from our boat as we approached the pier. The sun was low in the sky by now and the lights of the ship reflected in the water as we approached.  Bermuda Glass Bottom Boat

This tour was enjoyable. There are several tours offered throughout the day. We had decided to do the early evening excursion. I suggest taking this or similar tour so that you see Bermuda from the water. If you don't want to take an organized tour, at least take a ferry to either Hamilton or St. George so that you see Bermuda from this perspective.

Next time, we'll continue with more attractions. I think you should be starting to get the idea that there's many choices in Bermuda. There is definitely no reason to be bored on this cruise.