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Crew Member Goes Overboard from Celebrity Constellation Cruise Ship
A reader of Cruise Law News informs us that a crew member from a Celebrity Cruises ship disappeared at sea.
Indian crew member Anthony Rodrigues went overboard on March 10, 2011 from the Celebrity Constellation. Mr. Rodrigues was a 19 year employee of the cruise line. His family members in Mumbai were not notified for two days and were not given an explanation for him going overboard.
Unfortunately, overboards from cruise ships in the Royal Caribbean / Celebrity Cruises fleet appear to be a regular occurrence. Two weeks ago, we wrote an article about another crew member from India disappearing - Crew Member Missing from the Grandeur of the Seas - Why Are So Many People Disappearing From Royal Caribbean Cruise Ships?
Of course, missing crew members are not limited to Royal Caribbean cruise ships. Yesterday, we commented on a Carnival crew member who went overboard - Carnival Cruise Employee Goes Overboard - Does the U.S. Media Care When Foreign Crew Members Disappear at Sea?
There is no official database of passengers and crew who go overboard from cruise ships. The cruise lines say that this is something that they just don't track. Perhaps they should start studying the problem. The best source for tracking cruise overboards is cruise expert Professor Ross Klein's website which lists 155 overboards in the past ten years.
If you have information about this incident, please leave a comment below.
Photo credit: dsparku
Carnival Cruise Employee Goes Overboard - Does the U.S. Media Care When Foreign Crew Members Disappear at Sea?
A reader of Cruise Law News alerted us that the Carnival Miracle lost a crew member overboard late in the night on March 14th or in the early hours of March 15th. The cruise ship was sailing between Curacao and Aruba.
A newspaper in Curacao reports that the missing crew member was a 47 year old man from the Philippines.
The incident is listed on cruise expert Canadian Professor Ross Klein's website which lists 155 crew member and passenger overboards from cruise ships in the last year.
There have been a large number of overboards recently, with some occurring in this area of the southern Caribbean. Many suspect that they are related to the increasing drug smuggling on cruise ships.
As with this case, the U.S. media rarely publishes stories about missing crew members - even though most cruise lines are based here in Miami. One of the most disturbing overboard cases we have seen involved Princess crew member Angelo Faliva, who disappeared as the cruise ship sailed between Aruba and Cartagena, Colombia. Mr. Faliva was from Italy and the case received lots of attention in Italy, but virtually no coverage in the U.S.
If you have information about this incident, please leave a comment below.
Royal Caribbean Crew Member Found Dead on Oasis of the Seas
A Royal Caribbean crew member was found dead in his cabin on the mega-ship Oasis of the Seas on November 26th. A local television station in Miami, CBS-4, identifies the crew member as a cook.
According to a statement from the cruise line, the crew member is a 33-year old Jamaican man.
"As is our standard procedure, both the FBI and local law enforcement were notified and responding to the ship on Saturday when it arrived at Port Everglades."
This is the second death of a crew member aboard the Oasis of the Seas this year. In May, 45 year old Dillon Roache, of St. Vincent, jumped overboard in an apparent suicide.
Royal Caribbean has experienced a high number of crew members deaths this year. In May we reported on Royal Caribbean crew member Satianand (Satyanand) Buddaru who disappeared from the Explorer of the Seas - Crew Member Overboard from Royal Caribbean's Explorer of the Seas. In March a crew member employed by Park West Gallery jumped overboard from the Radiance of the Seas. Our stories about the incident are available here: "Man Overboard" Reported on Radiance of the Seas and here Master of Radiance of the Seas Praised for Rapid Response to Crew Overboard. On New Year's Eve Royal Caribbean crew member Neha Chhikara jumped from the Monarch of the Seas
It is currently unknown whether this incident involved a death by natural causes (highly unusual with a 33 year old man), a suicide or foul play.
If you have information about this incident, please leave a comment below.
Royal Caribbean Cruise Ship Medical Care - A 19th Century Hospital?
Today we received emails commenting on the bad medical treatment provided on board Royal Caribbean cruise ships and the recent $2,900,000 verdict against the cruise line for its negligent medical treatment rendered to an injured crew member from Nicaragua. Here are the emails:
On the $2,900,000 verdict we reported on last week: "Having worked for Royal Caribbean I totally believe this is justified! Well done Jury!"
Death Wish?: "I too could write a book about the atrocities of medical care onboard during my 4 
contracts. I suffered an injury and was sent to see a doctor in Curacao, and I'm an American citizen! When I said that I wanted to see a doctor on port day in Miami I was told that they could not arrange it (we were still 4 days away from Miami) and I would have to wait until the following port day, 11 days later if I did not want to see the doctor in Cuaracao."
19th Century Hospital: "While working on ships we had 1 doctor terminated for downloading porn onto his work computer. He stated he was doing "medical research." Then there was the cruise where 3 people died, 1 from a stroke and 2 from heart attacks. Both doctors were terminated at the end of that cruise. Why? Because apparently the nurses had to talk them through CPR! Absolutely disgusting. I've told family members and friends that if they ever get hurt or injured on a cruise ship the last place they want to go is to the ship's infirmary. The "medicine" dished out is reminiscent of early 19th century hospitals, where one only went if he or she had a death wish."
Fend For Yourself: "I am an American citizen who worked for Royal Caribbean. I left the ship in the last quarter of my last contract with an injury. It was even tough for me to get RCCL to cover decent medical treatment for me as an American citizen. I cannot even imagine what it is like for crew members who are sent back to their countries of origin. Forget about any sort of living compensation while shoreside for treatment. I was able to live with my parents, but if I hadn't had that option I would have had quite a bit of difficulty. It is shameful the way they sign crew members off of ships to fend for themselves."
We have written articles about Royal Caribbean's abuse of its crew members:
Cruise Ship Medicare Care - Royal Caribbean Gives Their Crew Members the Royal Shaft
Titanic Dreams - Royal Caribbean Wins Worst Cruise Lines in the World Award.
Have you received medical treatment on a Royal Caribbean? What was your experience?
Photo Credit: Jim Walker
Miami Jury Hits Royal Caribbean With $2,900,000 Verdict
Today a jury in Miami, Florida returned a verdict in the amount of $2,900,000 in favor of a disabled Royal Caribbean crew member who received terrible medical treatment after the cruise line sent her back to Honduras.
The case brings attention to the problem many Royal Caribbean crew members experience when they are injured while working for the cruise line. Royal Caribbean often sends their cruise employees back to third world countries, where the medical treatment is sub-standard, in order to .jpg)
save money. This cruise line can easily send their crew member to qualified doctors here in Miami but decides not to do so for economic reasons. The result is often horrific surgeries performed by unqualified doctors.
This is inexcusable, given the fact that Royal Caribbean has a net worth of $15 billion, collects over $6 billion a year, and pays no U.S. taxes.
In this case, Royal Caribbean sent a crew member with a knee injury to Honduras where the local surgeon committed medical malpractice during arthroscopic surgery, causing serious injuries to the ligaments in her knee. The doctor then botched a complete knee replacement which was not necessary in the first place.
We have written articles about this particular cruise line and its mistreatment of crew members: Cruise Ship Medicare Care - Royal Caribbean Gives Their Crew Members the Royal Shaft and Titanic Dreams - Royal Caribbean Wins Worst Cruise Lines in the World Award. Last September, I wrote that:
"Royal Caribbean has also adopted a strict keep-them-out-of-the-U.S. policy. The company saves money by sending its employee to places like Nicaragua and St. Vincent. But these places lack basic medical facilities and basic medicines. The crew member’s heath and life are compromised in the process."
The jury's verdict reflects that there is something fundamentally wrong with this cruise line's treatment of injured and indigent crew members from places like Nicaragua.
The crew member in this case was represented by the firm of Rivkind, Pedraza & Margulies. Royal Caribbean was represented by Curtis Mase.
Another Overboard From A Royal Caribbean Cruise Ship? - Oasis of the Seas
Has another person disappeared from a Royal Caribbean cruise ship?
A passenger on Royal Caribbean's mega ship Oasis of the Seas is commenting on Cruise Critic that the Captain announced earlier this afternoon that the cruise ship was turning around to search for a missing person.
Passengers aboard the cruise ship (see the comments below) are telling us that a crew member went overboard.
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If this information is correct, then this is the fourth overboard from Royal Caribbean cruise ships this year. On May 6th we reported on Royal Caribbean crew member Satianand (Satyanand) Buddaru who disappeared from the Explorer of the Seas - Crew Member Overboard from Royal Caribbean's Explorer of the Seas
In March a crew member employed by Park West Gallery jumped overboard from the Radiance of the Seas. Our stories about the incident are available here: "Man Overboard" Reported on Radiance of the Seas and here Master of Radiance of the Seas Praised for Rapid Response to Crew Overboard.
On New Year's Eve Royal Caribbean crew member Neha Chhikara jumped from the Monarch of the Seas.
These type of incidents raise questions whether this cruise line has adequate security systems in place to address the issue of passenger and crew member overboards. Last year, the popular web site Jaunted published an article "Enough With People Jumping Off Cruise Ships Already!" The article refers to ". . . an assistant purser on Royal Caribbean's Majesty of the Seas (who) apparently hated his job so much that he couldn't wait until he was back on land to quit, hopping overboard as the ship steamed from Key West to Miami . . . " Fortunately, he was rescued.
Royal Caribbean has had more than its share of unexplained "disappearances" of passengers and crew, including the very disturbing case of Mirrian Carver who vanished from the Mercury cruise ship operated by Royal Caribbean's subsidiary Celebrity Cruises. ABC's Primetime covered the story in an article "Cruise Cover-Up? Cruise Line Doesn't Notify Anyone When Woman Disappears On Second Day Of Trip."
Cruise lines like Royal Caribbean have a reputation of being very secretive when people go overboard. Following the last crew overboard from the Explorer of the Seas, we received sixty-three (63) comments to our article. Most of the comments were from passengers or crew members on the Royal Caribbean cruise ship. Passengers are often the only source of accurate and timely information when things go wrong on the high seas.
Were you on the Oasis of the Seas during this latest disappearance? If you have information to share, please leave a comment below.
May 25th 2:00 p.m. Update - Crew Member Identified:
The Coast Guard News identifies the crew member as 45 year old Dillon Roache, of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. The Coast Guard states that Mr. Roache was "confirmed overboard" between Nassau and St. Thomas. This means that the cruise ship's surveillance cameras captured images of the crew member going overboard. As we have mentioned in prior articles, Royal Caribbean apparently does not monitor its exterior cameras or use technology to alert the bridge when the security cameras detect persons going overboard.
Many male crew members from St. Vincent work as manual laborers (utility cleaners, night cleaners, etc.). The work is hard and the pay is as low as $137 for 85 hour work week. Read "Screwed If By Sea" for an idea of the working conditions on Royal Caribbean.
May 26th Update - Crew Members Reported Mr. Roach Missing around 1:00 p.m. on Monday
The Virgin Islands Daily News reports that according to a statement issued by Royal Caribbean, "about 1 p.m. on Monday, May 24th the Oasis of the Seas’ crew reported that one of their co-workers was missing. Security searched the ship and paged the missing crew member, then contacted the U.S. Coast Guard and the Bahamian Coast Guard." According to the newspaper, "closed circuit camera footage revealed that the missing crew member fell from the ship, Royal Caribbean said." But the cruise line did not disclose the circumstances to explain why the crew member went overboard.
May 27th Update - Questions Remain How Crew Member Went Overboard:
In prior incidents when crew members went overboard from Royal Caribbean cruise ships, the cruise line claimed the crew members jumped. But in this situation, the cruise line has stayed 
mum. The Norwegian shipping magazine Tradewinds just published an article about this latest disappearance from a Royal Caribbean cruise ship. The article states that the crew member "fell' and referred to the incident as a "horrific accident." Notably absent from this article, as well as the statements from the Coast Guard or cruise line, is any indication that the crew member was suicidal and "jumped."
The Oasis of the Seas has hundreds of closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras. It has several webcams where you can even watch what's happening on the cruise ship from your home computer, like the webcam of the pool and sports zone (above right). Royal Caribbean knows what happened, but is not telling.
This is the type of case where the cruise lines could establish some degree of credibility and transparency with the American public. Instead, this cruise line has defaulted to its usual character of secrecy.
Does anyone has information regarding how the incident occurred? Please leave a comment below.
May 29 Update - Passengers Return to Fort Lauderdale:
Some passengers returning home from the cruise today have emailed us. A few have left comments, including one passenger, "Dave," who writes that the crew member jumped off of deck five at 3 a.m. in the morning and was "seen on the camera swimming in the ocean." Can other passengers confirm this? Leave us a comment below if you have information to share . . .
May 30 Update - Interview with Wife:
The Caribbean Daily News interviewed the crew member's wife, Doris Roache, who indicated that her husband had worked for Royal Caribbean for five years, and was employed as an assistant waiter. He left St. Vincent on Friday May 21st after spending two months vacation with her. He flew to Miami and stayed in a hotel Friday night and joined the cruise ship on Saturday, May 22nd. The ship sailed at 5 p.m. Saturday evening. Mrs. Roache received a call from her husband between 11:00 -12:00 p.m. Saturday night. He told her he was okay and that the ship was sailing towards the Bahamas. She later received a call on Monday morning, May 24th, between 4 a.m. and 5 a.m. from the "ship’s administration" saying that her husband was missing and that he was last seen aboard the ship at 11:00 p.m. Sunday, May 23rd. while the ship was sailing. "They said that he did not come to work; he is an assistant waiter and he is never late so they sent somebody to look for him and he was nowhere to be found.”
Credits:
Oasis of the Seas Kenneth Karsten via shipspotting.com
Oasis of the Seas webcam Royal Caribbean Cruises, Ltd.
Reason No. 7 Not to Cruise: Cruise Lines Exploit Foreign Crew Members, Like You'd Never Believe
Cruise Critic ran an article a couple of weeks ago about the Top 10 Reasons To Cruise. I responded with my article "Top Ten Reasons Not To Cruise." I previously addressed the first six reasons not to cruise, which are at the bottom of this article.*
The purpose of this series is not to convince you not to cruise, but to educate consumers regarding the dangers inherent in and the consequences of cruising. I'm not your big brother, trust me. It you want to cruise, that's entirely your business and none of mine. But at least educate yourself before you take your family on a vacation you may regret.
The 7th reason not to cruise may not leave much of an impression on most of my American readers because it involves "foreign crew members" who most passengers will never meet.
Our firm and clients have been featured over a hundred times on every major television station, cable news network, radio, newspaper and magazine in the U.S. and abroad. But the news sources are interested almost exclusively in crimes or injuries involving U.S. passengers. An injured or victimized crew member from Jamaica, India, or Nicaragua is usually of no interest to U.S. reporters.
The exception was several years ago when The Miami New Times ran a story "Screwed If By Sea - Cruise Lines Throw Workers Overboard When It Comes to Providing Urgent Medical Care."
The article focused on one of our crew member clients from the little island of St. Vincent who, after suffering second and third degree burns on a Royal Caribbean cruise ship sailing to Alaska - was sent by Royal Caribbean on a journey from Alaska to Los Angeles to Miami to Barbados to St. Vincent - as part of a plan by the cruise line Royal Caribbean to abandon him in a third world country with no medical treatment.
Take a moment and read the article.
You will smell the crew member's rotting flesh half way through the article.
Is "evil," or "diabolical," or "criminal" too strong of a word for this degree of corporate malfeasance? I suppose it depends if it involved you - or a "foreign" crew member.
The exploitation of crew members, particularly "utility cleaners" who often work 360 hours a month for around $540 a month, continues. Last year we addressed the problem in an articles entitled:
"Titanic Dreams" - Royal Caribbean Wins "Worst Cruise Line in the World" Award; and
Cruise Ship Medical Care - Royal Caribbean Gives Their Crew Members the Royal Shaft.
There are few Americans who would cruise if they knew how poorly the cruise lines treat their crew members. The absolute worst cruise lines which abuse their crew members are Royal Caribbean and Princess Cruises - the only winners of Cruise Law News' popular "Worst Cruise Line In The World Award."
Read the first six reasons not to cruise and then add this article into the mix. Are you really going to cruise with your family on one of these foreign-flagged cruise ships which exploit the souls of the hard working men and women from Jamaica, India, Nicaragua and St. Vincent?
Tomorrow - Reason No. 8 Not To Cruise: Blackwater, Blackwater, Blackwater
Credits: Jim Walker's Cruise Law Flickr Page
*Cruise Law News' Last 6 Reasons Not To Cruise
No. 1: Cruise Lines Are A Perfect Place To Sexually Abuse Children
No. 2: Cruise Ships Are A Perfect Place to Commit A Crime, And Get Away With It!
No. 3: Carnival, Royal Caribbean And NCL Are Corporate Felons
No. 4: If You Are A Victim On A Cruise Ship, The Cruise Line Will Treat You Like A Criminal
No. 5: If You Are Retired Or A Child, The Cruise Line Considers Your Life Worthless
Miami Jury Awards Crew Member Injured on NCL's Norwegian Crown $9,500,000
A jury here in Miami awarded a crew member injured on a cruise ship approximately $9,500,000 as compensation for serious injuries sustained on a NCL cruise ship.
Danny Simpson, a citizen of the U.K., was employed by spa concessionaire, Steiner Transocean, as a fitness instructor aboard the Norwegian Crown. In 2006, he slipped on the spa floor and injured his back.
Mr. Simpson sustained nerve injury to his spine which caused urological damage. He now suffers from impotence and underwent penile implant procedures. Mr. Simpson also experiences bowel and urinary problems and has to use a catheter. His family has to wash out her bowels several times a week.
Mr. Simpson, age 42, is married and has six children.
The verdict was obtained by my friend, David Brill, and his law partner Julio Ayala.
David Horr and Eduardo Hernandez (photo, right) of the law firm of Horr Novak & Skipp defended Steiner Transocean at trial.
Previously, NCL reached a settlement with Mr. Simpson before trial.
Following the filing of post trial motions by Steiner's lawyers, this case will go on appeal for another year.
For other breaking cruise law news, don't forget to read: Top Cruise Story of 2009 - Sister of Missing Princess Crew Member Angelo Faliva Speaks Out: "Vogliamo la Verità!" - "We Want the Truth!"
Credit:
Norwegian Crown Tim Martin (via worldshipny.com)
Cruise Ship Overboards - Enough Already?
Yesterday the U.S. Coast Guard located a Royal Caribbean crew member who reportedly jumped off of the Majesty of the Seas around 4:30 a.m. as the cruise ship approached Miami.
Thirty-one-year-old Robert Mado was found treading water off Cutler Bay about two hours after the Royal Caribbean cruise ship issued a distress call Friday morning. Crew member Mado was an assistant purser on the cruise ship.
Royal Caribbean claims that witnesses watched Mr. Mado jump overboard.
This sounds rather strange - why would several crew members be awake and on the deck at 4:30 in the morning?
There are a lot of questions surrounding this overboard - the twenty-fourth from a cruise ship this year alone.
Did he really jump? Why? We know first hand that many crew members face a great deal of stress caused by working long hours, seven days a week, away from their families. Working on cruise ships operated by Royal Caribbean - which is experiencing financial problems - can be particularly stressful. But who knows exactly what happened?
The good news is that crew member Mado is recovering and apparently is in good condition.
Jaunted - the pop culture travel site - has an interesting perspective of "man overboards" in an article entitled "Enough With People Jumping Off Cruise Ships Already!" The article contains a lot of erroneous information, such as suggesting that the majority of overboards are suicides or intentional jumps. But there is one thing that Jaunted has absolutely right:
. . . as long as the cruise industry grows, the number of people who go overboard will grow as well . . .
Credit:
"Overboard Catcher" drawing Roque Mocán Quan
Jim Walker practices admiralty and maritime personal injury law. He has been involved in maritime litigation since 1983. Based in
