Carnival announced on Monday that it will "voluntarily" repay the U.S. Treasury for its costs associated with the February incident as well as a fire in 2010 on the Carnival Splendor.
The cruise giant made sure to note that "at no point in time has Carnival stated it would refuse to reimburse federal agencies if they sought remuneration," according to the press release.
USA Today states that "Carnival has come under blistering criticism in recent weeks from U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia over the costs to taxpayers of U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Navy aid during incidents on its ships. Rockefeller has argued that Carnival and other cruise lines use loopholes to pay little in taxes to the U.S. government despite receiving millions of dollars worth of aid when things go wrong on vessels."
In fact, Rockefeller said on a recent edition of NBC's Rock Center that Carnival was "bloodsucking off the American people."
As far as the exact calculations go, according to Rockefeller, "the Coast Guard has calculated that its cost to respond to the Carnival Triumph and Carnival Splendor incidents was $779,000 and $1.5 million, respectively. The Navy incurred another $1.9 million during the Carnival Splendor incident."
The interesting part in this reimbursement plan is that Carnival "suggested" in a letter to Senator that they had no intentions of repaying the government of its service.
"Carnival's policy is to honor maritime tradition that holds that the duty to render assistance at sea to those in need is a universal obligation of the entire maritime community," the company wrote in the letter, reported USA Today.
However, Carnival's Monday statement showed a reversal of thought on the matter.
"Although no agencies have requested remuneration, the company has made the decision to voluntarily provide reimbursement to the federal government," according to the company's press release.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
