Buy third party trip insurance before a cruise

With the Carnival-owned cruise ship that flipped on its side off the coast of Italy, there's been so much focus on how cruise lines write their contracts with you as customer.

The cruise industry operates under the centuries old Law of the Sea. If you've ever wondered why just about every ship in world is chartered as Panamanian or Liberian, it's because those two countries offer shipping companies "flags of convenience." That means the shipping companies are not required by Panamanian or Liberian law to have any safety standards or protections of any kind for passengers or cargo.

Reuters ran a story that detailed seven rights you sign away when you purchase a cruise ticket and it is amazing how you as a passenger agree to have your rights curtailed.

Whenever you cruise, I always recommend buying your own travel insurance policy from a third party company to make up for the protections you give up as a passenger. Never buy the company's own insurance policy because there's a conflict of interest there. A third party policy will provide more protections way beyond the cruise contract.

The Costa Concordia tragedy highlights one area where being a piggy is flat-out stupid as a capitalist. If, when the chips are down, a customer gets eaten up and doesn't get fully reimbursed for lost luggage, for example, what does that do to future business and future bookings? It's a fundamental mistake of capitalists -- they lose sight of serving the customer as the goal of business.

Then on top of that, you have the CEO of Carnival playing Whac-a-Mole and hiding from the media?! Where is the public apology, to tell the grieving families of the deceased how sorry you are? Where is the compassion?

The real test is what do you do after a tragedy. In this respect, Carnival is sadly lacking. The markets are punishing the company's stock as a result. But the reality is that means nothing, it's just money.

Letting people know that Carnival is a company run by humans who hurt, who feel the distress, who feel sadness over loss of life…where is that? It doesn't happen with a PR press release. It takes the CEO being accounted for and speaking from the heart…and it's not happening.

The silence is deafening.