It's been a rough voyage for the cruise-line industry in the past few years.
The engine room fire, power outage and ensuing problems aboard the stricken Carnival Triumph in recent days is far from the first recent major problem aboard a cruise ship. In 2010, for example, a similar fire, with a similar outcome, occurred aboard the Carnival Splendor. A year ago, there was the Costa Concordia disaster. And just this week, a lifeboat accident aboard a Thomson Cruises ship killed five crew members and caused the company to cancel the cruise and fly the passengers back home.
Ross Klein, a professor at Memorial University of Newfoundland who tracks cruise-line mishaps on his website CruiseJunkie.com, makes a direct connection between the growth of the cruise industry and the spate problems. "I think we are seeing more incidents because there are more ships," he says.
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