Princess Cruises Uses Surveillance Film to Kick Kids Off Cruise Ship for Throwing Food Overboard
While reading cruise expert Dr. Ross Klein's most excellent cruise site - Cruise Junkie - I found an excerpt of a letter written by a grandmother who was upset that her two grandchildren were booted from the Sapphire Princess cruise ship. As it turns out, security personnel reviewing the 
surveillance cameras spotted the kids throwing some food overboard.
Dr. Klein found the conduct of the cruise line "outrageous" for no other reason than the cruise ship itself regularly discharges liquefied food waste as part of normal discharge operations.
Indeed, as I have written about in prior blogs, this is more than a little bit ironic because Princess Cruises has repeatedly violated waste water regulations:
In September, the Diamond Princess, Island Princess, Pacific Princess, Sapphire Princess and Sea Princess were cited for violating the Alaska waste water quality standards. Again, in October, the Diamond Princess, Island Princess, Pacific Princess, Sapphire Princess and Sea Princess - together with the Golden Princess - were cited for water discharge violations. In November, the same culprits - the Diamond Princess, Island Princess, Sea Princess, Golden Princess and Diamond Princess were busted for pollution.
Princess Cruises ruined a family's vacation for some kids throwing a couple of chicken wings overboard while the cruise lines routinely discharges copper, ammonia, zinc, bacteria and nasty fecal matter into Alaska's pristine waters?
Nuts!
While I agree that Princess Cruises' conduct is ridiculous, my perspective is a little bit different.
As we have written about in prior articles, a Princess Cruises' crewmember Angelo Faliva "disappeared" from one of the Princess cruise ships last November. There are hundreds of surveillance cameras throughout the cruise ship. Yet the cruise line claims that it has no idea what happened to this young man?
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Nuts!
Now let me ask you this: How can the Princess security kick some teenagers off a cruise ship after seeing them throwing some food overboard based on their surveillance cameras - and then claim that its surveillance cameras could not detect a 6 foot tall man going overboard?
Like the Coral Princess where Mr. Faliva "disappeared," the Sapphire Princess has lots of surveillance cameras, as well as wedding cams and bridge cams which you can see detailed images 5,000 miles away from the comfort of your home. But the Coral Princess doesn't have a single surveillance cam of an adult man going overboard?
Nuts!
Does this cruise line destroy surveillance films when its crewmembers go overboard but arbitrarily use surveillance films to kick children off of its cruise ships?
You decide. Read some of the articles about the plight of the Faliva family, and then consider how this family on the Sapphire Princess was abused by Princess' selective use of the cruise ship's surveillance cameras:
For Christmas, my husband and I gave our two grown sons and their families a cruise to Mexico on the Sapphire Princess departing and returning to Los Angeles. We were spending Christmas on the ship. It would have been the first time I had managed to get both families together in 20 years for the holiday. On Dec. 23, at sea between Mazatlan and Cabo San Lucas, my two grandsons, age 13 ands 15, were in a cabin of another boy they had met on the ship and they had thrown some 
articles of food overboard including a fork. Apparently, they were spotted on camera by security.
The next day in Cabo San Lucas (Christmas Eve day), my son, his wife and the two boys were ordered off the ship by Captain Tony Herriott and had to pay their own way back to Los Angeles. Three other families whose sons were also involved were ordered off the ship. The Captain's actions devastated us all. Needless to say, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were very depressing days for the seven of us that remained on board.
There is now a new Christmas Grinch out there and he is the Captain of a Princess cruise ship!
Credits: Wedding and Bridge Cams Princess Cruises
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Royal Caribbean trademarked it's new "private island" - "Labadee®" - derived from the name of the 1600's French plantation baron and slave owner Marquis de La'Badie. It then erected a 12 foot high security fence around its "island" and hired armed security guards to keep the impoverished Haitians out. 
PR people. Newsweek magazine joined the ranks of those questioning Royal Caribbean's corporate morality in an article "
Several weeks ago, TV evangelist Pat Robertson claimed that the Haitians are cursed because they "made a deal with the devil" to free themselves from slavery 200 years ago. Although preacher Robertson was openly ridiculed for such a preposterous notion, I for one believe in curses. Not that Haiti is cursed at all, mind you, (and no doubt that Reverend Robertson is becoming increasingly delusional). But, yes there are curses. Whether you call them bad karma, voodoo, superstition, what goes-around-come-around, don't tempt fate, don't tug on Superman's cape, an eye-for-an-eye, or there-goes-I-but-for-the-grace-of-God.
Microsoft sued one of its distributors, EIM Computerized Technologies Ltd. (EIM), in Tel Aviv after its business relationship with EIM soured. Microsoft claimed that EIM's refusal to participate in certain unnamed "activities" during a cruise resulted in "displeasure by Microsoft."
Over the weekend even the Arab news station Al Jazerra sent a film crew to Labadee to document the story (video below). Al Jazerra reported that Royal Caribbean forbid the reporters from interviewing any passengers at what is often erroneously referred to as the cruise line's "private island." The video shows a Royal Caribbean security boat trying to waive the reporters away from the resort. 
Seas docking at the "heavily guarded Labadee resort to allow its residents to jet-ski, parasail or have rum punches brought to their hammocks," as "rampant self-interest and insensitivity."
The show revolved around Princess Cruises' Pacific Princess cruise ship, whose passengers and crew had romantic interludes every week. The show starred the ship's captain (Captain Stubing) who encouraged his passengers and crew members to hook up and, well, it was the 1970's and people didn't talk in public about such things - do whatever people do behind closed doors. .jpg)
Several years ago P & O Cruises ran a sexually charged campaign showing bikini clad women oiled up and lying oh-so-promiscuously on their backs with the caption "Seamen Wanted." 
this is right up RoyalCaribbean's alley. 
Today the Internet is a buzz regarding Royal Caribbean's much touted $65 million dollar settlement with Rolls Royce - the manufacturer of the "Mermaid pod-propulsion system" on Celebrity Cruises' Millennium-class ships. The pods were installed on four Celebrity ships - Millennium, Summit, Infinity and Constellation.
Rolls-Royce for many years to come . . . Rolls-Royce has one of the best reputations for reliability, and guests and travel agents should feel confident in Rolls-Royce's assurances of the reliability of the Mermaid pods."
I come from a family of prolific readers. My Dad has read every .jpg)
mutinous ship! 
Both clients featured in the TIME article - Janet Kelly who was a victim of a violent shipboard crime and Jennifer Hagel who lost her husband under mysterious circumstances during a Royal Caribbean cruise - overcame their personal tragedies to help change the cruise industry. Both ladies appeared before our U.S. Congress in 2006 and went on television to get the message out that changes needed to be made to protect American traveling on foreign flagged cruise ships, particularly Royal Caribbean's ships. .jpg)
cruise ships. In light of these problems, how many security guards are employed on the Oasis of the Seas?
Tim Adams of the U.K.'s Observer is one of hundreds of travel writers invited aboard Royal Caribbean's new mega-liner Oasis of the Seas. .jpg)
sentiment in the article ".jpg)
of super-journalist Douglas Franz. All qualities which our newspapers here in South Florida are sorely missing..jpg)
His feelings today about monster cruise ships are so spot on that I will just repeat them verbatim:.jpg)
Hence, it was utterly impossible for me to stifle a bone-deep shudder when fresh images of the world's largest cruise ship, the Oasis of the Seas, upwards of 
In an article entitled ".jpg)
Cruises. It also operates its Spanish Subsidiary - Pullmantour Cruises, where it sends its old cruise ships like the Zenith and the Sovereign of the Seas. .bmp)
the daily amount it pays to its sick or injured crew members from $25 a day to only $12 a day. Obviously, no one in the world can eat and pay rent and other living expenses - which is the cruise line's legal obligation - on a pittance of only $12 a day. But this is what Royal Caribbean is doing, scrimping on every penny, to try and finance its new cruise ships. 
When medical conditions cannot be managed on the cruise ships, Royal Caribbean sends its ill crew members to, of all places, the Dominican Republic for treatment. Why? It's cheap. No other reason. To save money. The Dominican Republic is an impoverished country, next to Haiti. It is certainly one of the last places you would think of for state-of-the-art medical treatment. 
September. No Gleevac. No bone marrow transplantation. No living expenses. Her calls and emails to Royal Caribbean begging for assistance were ignored. .jpg)
We quickly by-passed the claims handler and wrote to and called the lawyers at the cruise line. They informed us that because a lawsuit had not been filed, they would not talk with us. So within one hour, I prepared a lawsuit and had a process server run over to the port to serve their General Counsel. Still, they refused to discuss the situation. They continued to stall, lie and obfuscate..jpg)
lasts. She is receiving only $12 a day to live on, always paid late. On Friday evening, Royal Caribbean finally agreed to permit Ms. Jones to come to the U.S. but it took her hiring a lawyer and filing a lawsuit first. We are trying to obtain a visa for her from the U.S. Embassy so she can come to Miami to be properly evaluated and treated by board certified U.S. oncologists. .jpg)
I'll admit it. David Foster Wallace's "A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again" is one of the funniest, albeit most cynical, books ever written about the cruise industry. So when I read Benjamin Errett's recent article in Canada's National Post entitled "
#4 "Watching fellow passengers pile their plates high with rashes of congealed bacon." He warns "don't look at them. Grab a banana and get out . . . "
When I started this blog, I announced that I would be awarding what I am calling the "
While investigating the case, I learned that my client previously worked for Princess Cruises. I sent an email to Princess Cruises' General Counsel, Mona Ehrenreich. I explained that I was pursuing a case against a cruise line here in Miami and needed to obtain my client's personnel and medical records from Princess. .jpg)
Things are not as they seem on the Love Boat. Cruise lines like this develop an arrogance over the years. They don't pay U. S. taxes. They abuse their foreign crew members. They usually get away with things. 
The article focused on the two largest cruise lines, Carnival and Royal Caribbean. Around 75% of U.S. passengers sail on cruise ships owned or operated by these giants. Virtually all crew members are non - U.S. employees, from countries like Jamaica, Trinidad, or Honduras where medical care is either non-existent or spotty at best. .bmp)
The "Screwed If By Sea" article revealed that Carnival and Royal Caribbean were very neglectful parents.
A Royal Money Game
Earlier this month, I announced that I will be awarding the ".jpg)
So far two cruise lines are vying neck to neck for the award. After 26 years of being a maritime lawyer I thought that I had seen it all. These two companies have treated their crew members like garbage. At this point, I don't know who is most deserving of the first month's award. 
Much of the trouble lies with the foundation of the cruise industry. All of the cruise lines incorporate their businesses in foreign countries, like Liberia - a lawless and unstable African country where a civil war rages every few years and the rebels take their AK-47's to the streets. They also register their vessels in places like the Bahamas or Panama where the "regulatory" authorities are more than willing to look the other way as long as the cruise lines fill their coffers with U.S. dollars. The cruise line mentality of avoiding U.S. taxes, U.S labor and wage laws, and U.S. safety regulations often leads to reckless and inexcusable behavior.
So with apologies to Mr. Olbermann and the MSNBC show "Countdown," CruiseLaw announces the "Worst Cruise Line in the World" award. There are 24 cruise lines who are members of the Cruise Line International Association. Several companies in this group are consistently strong contenders for the award. I will include some of the smaller lines who have done some terrible things as well.
