Stinking ship saga unlikely to pull cruise industry far off course

Carnival closed at $36.92 on the New York Stock Exchange on Friday, well off its 52-week high of $39.95 after a 4 percent drop on Wednesday.

ABSORBED BY INSURERS?

But Linda Kornfeld, an insurance recovery lawyer representing policy holders with Jenner & Block in Los Angeles, said most other costs could be absorbed by Carnival's insurers, depending on the policies it holds.

Insurance could cover everything from the cost of the sewage clean-up to compensation packages offered to passengers, Kornfeld said. "There certainly are arguments that have been made in the past that might be helpful to Carnival here in a mitigation-type approach," she said.

Jaime Katz, an analyst at Morningstar, said the Triumph's troubles were disconcerting because they came at the height of the "wave season," the busiest time of year for the cruise industry.

The Costa Concordia disaster unleashed a flood of lawsuits against Carnival and its Italian subsidiary. And the first of many expected suits over the Triumph breakdown at sea was filed in federal court in Miami on Friday.

But Jim Perry, a Miami-based maritime lawyer, said his law firm had no plans to get involved in litigation over the Triumph mess. "No one suffered enough individual damage that would make it worth hiring a lawyer to sue the cruise line," Perry said.

"You know, shit happens. It's not worth the trouble. Most people are going to say 'I had a really crappy vacation and I'm really upset, but I'm not hiring a lawyer to sue Carnival.' The individual claims will be too small," he said.

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