Saturday, February 27, 2010
SeaWorld faces major public relations challenge after whale attack
Veteran trainer Dawn Brancheau, 40, was killed Wednesday at the close of the lunchtime show by the killer whale Tilikum in front of a horrified audience. SeaWorld has halted Shamu shows at the Orlando theme park and at sister parks in San Antonio and San Diego while it reviews the death.
Marketing and public relations experts say what the company does in coming days will be key to preserving its image.
Glenn Bunting, managing director for the Los Angeles-based crisis management firm Sitrick and Co. said SeaWorld needs to respond promptly and proactively.
"They need to review every safety precaution," he said. "They need to explain how it happened, why it happened and make sure it doesn't happen again to reassure the public."
The company stumbled during its first post-attack press conference. Orlando SeaWorld President Dan Brown did not immediately correct a sheriff's spokesman who said Brancheau accidentally fell into the water, and Brown himself said only that she "drowned in an incident with one of our killer whales."
SeaWorld acknowledged two hours later that Tilikum had grabbed Brancheau by her ponytail and yanked her into the water. The park then made its head animal trainer available to the media to explain and defend its methods of training and maintaining its whales.
Larry L. Smith, president of the Institute for Crisis Management, in Louisville, defended SeaWorld's response.
"They've not overreacted. They've not gone into a stall. They're not ducking the media," he said. And, he said, they had the advantage that the attack occurred the same day the head of Toyota testified before Congress about his own company's public relations crisis and broke down crying.
Smith said the attack could actually drive up attendance of at least one demographic — teens and young adults.
"It's not going to draw families necessarily or older people who would typically visit there, but there is an age group that gets excited about the risks and the potential for drama and it may attract some of those folks," he said.
Peter Yesawich, chairman of Ypartnership, an Orlando marketing firm that specializes in travel and entertainment, said SeaWorld enjoys a reputation as a family friendly and animal friendly company, which should help it recover from the crisis. In Florida, its veterinarians have been known to respond to cases of injured marine animals in the wild.
Yesawich said SeaWorld also showed responsibility by shutting down its killer whale shows until it can assess what happened. And fatal accidents at other theme parks — such as last summer's Disney World monorail crash that killed the ride's operator — don't stop the public from attending.
"It's one of these tragic, unpredictable instances that I personally don't think is going to do any long-term damage to the SeaWorld brand," he said.
Denise DeVore, 36, a photographer from Beacon, N.Y., visited the park with her 3-year-old daughter Wednesday and said she felt it was safe for the public. DeVore said she thinks SeaWorld plays an important role in educating people about marine life.
But will she return?
She echoed several other parents who were torn, though not because of the attack.
"The question is should we have whales in captivity? These are wild animals," DeVore said, adding, "But my daughter loves those dolphins."
Friday, February 26, 2010
Cruise ship illness identified as norovirus, 413 passengers stricken
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention spokesman Jay Dempsey said samples taken from ill passengers on the Celebrity Mercury confirmed the virus.
Celebrity Cruise spokeswoman Cynthia Martinez said 413 of the more than 2,600 passengers and crew had symptoms including upset stomachs, vomiting and diarrhea.
Martinez said only 31 passengers were expected to be in isolation in their rooms when the vessel makes its scheduled arrival in Charleston early Friday. The crew conducted enhanced cleaning of the ship to prevent the spread of the illness, she said.
An extra doctor and two nurses came aboard in St. Kitts, in the Leeward Islands, and were sailing back to Charleston.
Norovirus is often to blame for similar symptoms in closed quarters like those on cruise ships and in day care centers.
The Celebrity Mercury is due to leave Charleston again on Friday evening with about 1,900 passengers. Martinez said she did not expect the departure to be delayed.
Dempsey said representatives from the agency's Vessel Sanitation Program were to meet the ship when it arrives and the ship will be cleaned completely before it leaves again.
"It's standard operating procedure. However, in the event of an outbreak, it's a little more intense in terms of the cleaning and everything else that goes on and in terms of reporting to vessel sanitation personnel," he said.
The vessel left on Feb. 15 from a state where health officials have reported twice as many cases of norovirus as normal this winter. Officials say the virus can stay on surfaces like doorknobs and handrails and can spread quickly.
According to the CDC website, there were two outbreaks of norovirus, which causes stomach flu, last winter on the Celebrity Mercury.
In all, the agency investigated 15 outbreaks of gastrointestinal illnesses on cruise ships calling at American ports during 2009.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Fist full-body scanners to be installed in Boston
The plan is to install three machines at Logan International Airport, according to a homeland security official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the announcement has not yet been made. In the next two weeks, officials plan to install another machine at Chicago's O'Hare International.
The rest of the 150 machines that were purchased with $25 million from President Obama's 2009 stimulus plan are expected to be installed in airports by the end of June, another homeland security official, spokeswoman Amy Kudwa, said.
The use of the scanners in airports is key to the Obama administration's plans to improve airport security because of their ability to show objects hidden on the body. Body scanners have been available for years, but their deployment has been slowed by objections from privacy advocates.
After a Nigerian man allegedly attempted to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner last Christmas, Obama called for purchasing hundreds more of the machines on top of 150 already announced last year. Other countries have also signed on to use the technology, including Nigeria and the Netherlands, where the final leg of the man's flight originated.
The passenger allegedly hid the explosives in his underwear, and the materials went undetected as he went through screening in Nigeria and Amsterdam.
Experts have said that the full-body screeners would not have picked up the suspect's hidden explosives.
The machines show the body's contours on a computer stationed in a private room removed from the security checkpoints. A person's face is never shown and the person's identity is supposedly not known to the screener reviewing the computer images.
Still, the American Civil Liberties Union has denounced the machines as a "virtual strip search."
The new scanners have not been available since the Obama administration announced last February it would provide $1 billion for airport screening as part of its stimulus plan.
In May, the administration detailed how that money would be spent — including $25 million for the new scanners. Between May and September, the department asked contractors to provide proposals for building the scanners.
Competing models were tested over the summer, the homeland security official said.
The department awarded the contract to California-based Rapiscan at the end of September.
In the past five months, airports and the Transportation Security Administration worked to get construction and electrical permits necessary to install the machines.
Boston and Chicago were selected based on risk, the official said, and whether the airports were physically able to install the machines and provide screeners to operate them.
Currently 40 full-body scanners are operated in 19 airports across the country, official said. Six of those machines are being used instead of the standard magnetometer screening machines that most U.S. passengers go through before boarding an airplane.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Report on diabetes drug causes concern..Jay Etwaru assuring his customers...
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Monday, February 22, 2010
Supreme Clientele Travel informed several neighborhood children today on how to exercise caution when playing outdoors
This map displays the location of sexual offenders and predators thatlive within the specified radius of 5 miles of Herring Ct. inPoinciana Fl, 34759Supreme Clientele Travel informed several neighborhood children today on how to exercise caution when playing outdoors. The Informationprovided by Florida Sexual Offender/Predator Registry was displayedand photos were shown with car descriptions so that children in the neighborhood can be aware of these predators and the dangers theyimpose in our community. I was only able to speak and inform ahandful of my neighbors today but I will be looking into organizing a larger event where more children can attend and receive the necessaryinformation to keep them safe!
tired of waiting on long lines for attraction tickets?
Saturday, February 20, 2010
The Treasures of King Tut return to New York!
NEW Sightseeing Exhibit in 2010
The Treasures of King Tut - After more than 30 years, the treasures of Tutankhamen make their long-awaited return to New York in a dazzling, once-in-a-lifetime exhibition. This New York engagement will be the LAST OPPORTUNITY to see these priceless artifacts before they leave North America forever. Beginning April 22 at Discovery Times Square Exposition.
| Rates from: $263.00 per person for 2-night complete package |
Your King Tut Exhibit Vacation Includes:
- Accommodations for 2-nights or longer at a midtown Manhattan hotel within walking distance of Discovery Times Square and the King Tut Exhibit
- All state and local taxes
- Admission to King Tut exhibit
- And much more
| King Tut Exhibit | |
- Objects from King Tut’s tomb include his royal diadem, the crown found on his head when the tomb was discovered.
- See one of the boy king's four gold and precious stone inlaid canopic coffinettes that contained his mummified internal organs.
- Learn about the extraordinary discovery of Tut’s tomb and the beliefs and funerary processes of ancient Egypt.
- This exhibit features over 130 amazing treasures belonging to King Tut and many of the most significant rulers of ancient Egypt
- View results from the latest scientific testing conducted on King Tut’s mummy, and what it is telling researchers about his life and death.
- This exhibit is more than twice the size of the exhibition that took New York by storm in the 1970s.Over six million people have attended the King Tut Exhibition worldwide.
Exhibit runs April 23, 2010 - January 2, 2011
Open 7 days a week, 10am–10pm
44th Street between 7th & 8th Avenues
For more information and bookings call Supreme Clientele Travel (407)413-9578
Supreme Clientele
Carmelo Rivera
A vacation where you are free to do whatever!
NCL started it all with Freestyle Cruising® – where people can enjoy a cruise without being handed a schedule. A vacation where you are free to do whatever. And now we’re following one success with another. Welcome to Norwegian Epic: NCL’s incredible new ship that reinvents cruising yet again. You’ll want to be one of the first to experience this ship’s day and night entertainment where you can wander from one exciting venue to another. Aboard Epic, there are as many ways to have fun as there are to have dinner. And she’s got the most innovative and wide-ranging accommodations at sea. Norwegian Epic sails summer 2010. Be there. Amenities, Bars, & LoungesFrom French Riviera chic and Ibiza style to Miami trendy and Vegas flair, Norwegian Epic’s non-stop entertainment venues give off an international vibe. You can quench your thirst for excitement at Spice H20’s day-and-night pool experience with live DJ action and big screen. You could find yourself wrapped in faux fur at the 17F-degree Ice Bar (the first at sea) or at the adults-only Posh Beach Club. Plus, there’s a full-action casino, first-class spa, upscale cigar room, wine and champagne tasting and lots more.
EntertainmentWhen we say we've changed the face of cruising entertainment, we mean that literally. For the first time ever, the award-winning Blue Man Group is coming to the sea and they're performing exclusively aboard Norwegian Epic. Get ready for entertainment pandemonium with an unexpected and thoroughly fun combination of music, comedy and multi-media theatrics. And that's not all, because you'll find live entertainment all over the ship – from the acrobatic spectacular of Cirque Dreams® and Dinner to the hilarious improv of The Second City® comedy troupe and lots more.
For more information and booking quotes call Supreme Clientele Travel (407)413-9578