Cruise Law News : Maritime Lawyer & Attorney : James M. Walker : Walker & O'Neill Law Firm : Admiralty Law, Cruise Ship Accidents & Injuries

We have been contacted by several different individuals today inquiring into the facts and circumstances surrounding a crewmember going overboard from the Monarch of the Seas cruise ship.

We are informed that the overboard involved a crewmember from India.  No other information is known at this time.  The cruise ship is in Nassau today and was in CoCo Cay yesterday.  There are no news outlets reporting on this incident so far.

Royal Caribbean / Celebrity cruise ships have seen the most overboards over the course of the last 2 years.

On December 27, 2011 we reported on a Celebrity crewmember's disappearance - Celebrity Crewmember Missing From Summit Cruise Ship.  Here are other recent stories:

Another Celebrity Crewmember Goes Overboard

Crew Member Goes Overboard from Celebrity Constellation Cruise Ship

Crew Member Missing from the Grandeur of the Seas - Why Are So Many People Disappearing From Royal Caribbean Cruise Ships?

Another Overboard From A Royal Caribbean Cruise Ship? - Oasis of the Seas

Crew Member Overboard from Royal Caribbean's Explorer of the Seas

"Man Overboard" Reported on Radiance of the Seas

Asleep At the Wheel: What Does the Delayed Reporting of Neha Chhikara's Disappearance from the Monarch of the Seas Reveal About Royal Caribbean's Shipboard Security?

Wife of Royal Caribbean Crew Member on Monarch of the Seas Goes OverBoard

The last two articles involve a wife of an Indian crewmember going overboard from the Monarch of the Seas. 

The last time the Monarch of the Seas was in the news was when it failed a CDC inspection in November - Dirty Dishes & Fruit Flies Flourish on Royal Caribbean's Oldest Cruise Ship

Does anyone have information about this latest crew overboard?   If so, please leave a comment below.

January 12, 2012 Update:

DIS, the "Internet's largest unofficial on-line guide to Disney Cruises," contains the following information:

This report is coming live from the Disney Dream.  An unknown Carnival Cruise Line ship and Coast Guard helicopters are currently next to the Dream helping with a search for a man overboard from the Monarch of the Seas.  On schedule today for the Dream is a day at sea, but overnight, guests began noticing unusual movement from the ship.  Guests later learned that the ship had docked at Nassau overnight, but weren't sure why.  An officer from the Dream made an announcement overhead at 9:00 am alerting guests of the situation.  This is the first official notification passengers have received; if any news-worthy updates are given, this story will be updated.

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In a story widely reported in the national media, the Centers for Disease Control failed Royal Caribbean's Monarch of the Seas after conducting a surprise vessel sanitation inspection last month. 

On November 18, 2011, CDC inspectors boarded the Monarch of the Seas, which is the cruise line's oldest vessel, and found numerous public health risks and violations if the CDC's sanitary standards.

The popular online cruise community, Cruise Critic, first reported on the nasty situation, followed by the USA Today cruise blog, CruiseLog.  

The CDC found a whopping 43 unsanitary conditions and "deficiencies" in the cruise ship's procedures which were in violation of the CDC's Vessel Safety Program (VSP) manual.  Included in the report were the following:

• Dish-washing equipment in poor condition;
• Improper cooling temperatures for stored provisions;
• Improper cooking temperatures for cooked food;
• Accumulations of food debris in wash and rinse areas;
• "Clean" plates soiled with food residue;
• Soiled plates stacked with clean plates;
• Waiter stations, food preparation counters, slicers, and strainers soiled with dirt and food particles;
• Live and dead fruit flies on food preperation surfaces throughout the galley; and 
• Improper procedures for public toilets, shower-head disinfection, and disease outbreak and prevention.   

You can read the complete inspection report here. 

It is rare for a cruise ship based in the U.S. to fail a CDC inspection.

For a cruise line which spent billions on its gigantic new Genesis class cruise ships the Oasis and the Allure of the Seas, it looks like its oldest cruise the Monarch is showing significant signs of neglect which risk sickening its passengers. 

Anyone who sailed recently on the Monarch care to leave a comment?  

Photo credit: amNY Photo Illustration

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Last week a number of news organizations reported on the story about the release of hydrogen sulfide aboard the Monarch of the Seas in 2005 which killed three crewmembers, injured at least nineteen other ship employees and threatened the health of thousands of cruise passengers.

We blogged about this disastrous event last week in our article "Royal Caribbean Demonstrated "Gross Indifference" to Passengers' Lives."  Our article followed NBC Los Angeles's report that a Miami Judge found that Royal Caribbean Cruises demonstrated "a gross indifference to the life and health" of passengers by continuing to cruise with a ship that "that allowed poison gas exposure to its passengers." 

In following up on this story, we found that Royal Caribbean staff captain Bjørn Eidissen, who is now at the center of this story, reported that four months after the poison gas incident, the Monarch of the Seas dumped "tons" of  sediment, chemicals and bacteria while the cruise ship was approaching a dry dock in January of 2006.  

Staff Captain Bjørn Eidissen was apparently on vacation when this occurred, but he subsequently complained on an U.S. Coast Guard forum that the dumping was reported to CEO Richard Fain.  Yet, the cruise line apparently did not report this intentional discharge to the U.S. Coast Guard. 

Here is what staff captain Bjørn Eidissen posted online in 2008:  

"Need to report of environmental crime and ships safety issue . .

Cruiseship Monarch of the Seas, while underway to dry dock in Jan. 2006.  San Fransisco
emptied tanks to sea, against Marpol and Royal Caribbeans SQM environmental policy.
Tank concern was DD11,usen as fixed ballast, contained tons of sediment,chemicals,and bacterias . . the tank had been the source of an accident in San Pedro Sept.  2nd.2005.  Methan gas accident, 3 casualties.

Probobly cause of the crime,was to save money and time in Drydock, cleaningwork was scheduled.  According to ships stability manual,DD11 was not to be emptied at sea,due to negative stability would occour.  Ship had approx. 1000 peoples onboard,crew and contractors
The ballastrepport sendt to USCG does not reflect correct status,as the tank was emptied just before DD.and was free of liquids when entering drydock.

Ship was given gas free cerificate by the yard,although over 100ppm methane and H2S was measured when in ddrydock . . cleaning work was cancelled due to that fact.  The most serious action was putting the cruiseship in negative stability jepardizing all lifes onboard,in addition to the environmental crime by discharging the tank inside legal borders.

This was reported to CEO Richard Fain early may 2006,by mail from Norway, but no action was taken, and ot was not reported to USCG,as the intention of the repoting letter was. 

Please take notice of this message and forward it to whom it may concern.  Please contact by e-mail Chief Officer Jan Andreassen..e-mail janjacoba@gmail.com or Captain B.Eidissen mail b_eidissen@yahoo.no, chief officer was onboard at the time of the crime,and witness all actions.but was kept out of the loop by RCCL superintendant and Chief Engineer - Chief Officer protested, but was not heard.  I was at home in Norway when I was told by acting Captain Jørn Clausen, that the tank had been emptied against his knowledge, and had put him in a imposssible position towards the cruise company, and coast Guard.

I took action from Norway,while on vacation, and wrote to CEO Richard Fain, as mentioned erlyer, but it has come to my knowledge that the cruise company Royal caribbean International, did not pass my report over to USCG, as whas my intention with lthe report in the first place.

Please forward this message to coast guard high ranking officers,PLEASE,IMPORTANT
It has seemed almost impassible to get authorities here in Norway,to understand the seriousness of this crime,and to even believe in it.

Thanks for your help.

Captain Bjørn Eidissen"

Assuming this information is accurate, did Royal Caribbean cover this up?  I see no mention that this incident was reported to the Coast Guard or that there were any fines levied against the cruise line.

Royal Caribbean has a dreadful history of environmental crimes and a corporate culture of covering the crimes up.

In the late 1990's, the U.S. Coast Guard caught Royal Caribbean engaged in widespread dumping of oil and chemicals.  The Justice Department responded by fining the cruise line $1,000,000.  In response, the cruise line went to its PR people who dreamed up a campaign of "Save the Waves."  The PR experts posed the cruise line as a leader in protecting the environment.  Royal Caribbean posted this mantra on signs all over its cruise ships.  All of the waiters, bar tenders, and cabin attendants had to wear "Save the Waves" badges touting the cruise line's commitment to protecting the seas on which it sailed. 

The problem, however, is that the cruise line didn't change its ways.  Royal Caribbean continued to illegally discharge oil, waste and fecal matter everywhere from the Caribbean to the pristine waters of Alaska.

The Feds caught Royal Caribbean dumping again.  And the U.S. government fined the cruise line again - this time $8,000,000 - and placed it on probation.  Did Royal Caribbean learn its lesson?  No, the illegal discharges increased.  While the crew members wore their "save the waves" buttons above deck while serving passengers cocktails, Royal Caribbean engineers below the decks fabricated secret by-pass values to dump everything from raw sewage to chemicals used in the photography labs directly into the ocean. Royal Caribbean cruise ship even dumped oil and sewage into the waters right outside of the executives' windows overlooking Biscayne Bay.

The U.S. Attorney General, Janet Reno, a Miami resident herself and an environmentalist as well, was not amused. The discrepancy between how the cruise held itself out to the public as a green company versus its actual criminal conduct was not lost on the Attorney General.  By the time she was through, Royal Caribbean pled guilty to multiple felonies, received another whopping fine of $18,000,000, and agreed to a five year probation.

The U.S. leveled the felony charges not just because of the repeated and massive scale of the dumping of pollutants but because the cruise line continued to lie. U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno stated at a press conference: 

.  .  . at the same time that their ships were sailing into the inland passage of Alaska, one of the most sensitive and beautiful eco-systems in our nation, their crew members were wearing buttons that said, 'Save the Waves.'  That's what they were wearing above deck.  Below deck, business as usual was going on and oily contaminated bilge water was being dumped overboard . . .

Attorney General Reno was rightfully outraged: " .  .  . if people flim-flam us, they should expect the consequences .  .  ."  When the sentencing was over, the U.S. Government fined Royal Caribbean a total of $27,000,000 and placed the cruise line on probation for five years. 

A number of environmental organizations considered Royal Caribbean to be the poster child for cruise dumping.  The Oceana organization initiated a campaign against the cruise line which included flying banners over Royal Caribbean ships saying "Got Sewage? Royal Caribbean Dumps Daily."   

Did the cruise line resort to its old ways and empty the bilges of the Monarch of the Seas off of the shores of San Francisco in 2006?    

Does anyone have information about this January 2006 alleged incident?

June 20, 2011 Update:  This article was picked as a top 10 law blog by LexBlog.

Photo credit:  National Sky Ads

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NBC Los Angeles reports today that Royal Caribbean Cruises demonstrated "a gross indifference to the life and health" of passengers by continuing to cruise with a ship that "that allowed poison gas exposure to its passengers," according to Miami Dade County Judge Marc Schumacher.

The ruling today involved a leak of hydrogen sulfide that killed three Royal Caribbean crew members and injured 19 others in September 2005.

Over the 2005 Labor Day weekend, the Royal Caribbean Monarch of the Seas cruise ship had just returned to San Pedro, California after a cruise to Mexico.

More than three thousand, four hundred people were on board the cruise ship.  

Crewmembers were attempting to replace a leaking section of pipe connected to the ship's food waste system.  The pipe burst and hydrogen sulfide gas escaped into the engine room.  The poisonous gas killed three crewmembers.  Nineteen other crewmembers were rushed to the hospital. 

Passengers on the cruise ships complained at the beginning of the cruise that they smelled the noxious gas the first night of the cruise, raising the issue whether the cruise should have been canceled.

Staff Captain Bjørn Eidissen was injured when he responded to the crisis. 

He alleges that Royal Caribbean provided inadequate and delayed medical treatment and then terminated his employment. 

According to the news report, when county health investigators measured the levels of hydrogen sulfide gas in the engine room five hours after the incident the levels were at 100 parts per million -well above OSHA’s limit of 20 ppm. 

Photos taken during a Coast Guard investigation of the incident document the "extensive corrosion" they say they found in engine room pipes where the leak originated.  The Coast Guard report concludes: "early signs… of hazardous H2S gas …were missed."

Staff Captain Eidissen reportedly observed the holes in the engine room pipes.  Despite patches that were applied over the holes, he felt the ship was unsafe and warned his superiors.  "It was totally crazy," Eidiseen said in an interview from his home in Norway. "We should never have sailed . . . the cruise line knew about it and they ignored the danger."

Judge Schumacher's order states: "Royal Caribbean’s actions demonstrated a gross indifference to the life and health of not only the plaintiff but other passengers onboard the Monarch of the Seas when it continued to cruise with measures that allowed poison gas exposure to its passengers."

In addition to compensatory damages, the Court held that Eidissen could seek punitive damages for the cruise lines' egregious conduct.

A copy of the order can be viewed here.  The order indicates that there was a prior gas leak on the Monarch in March 2005, which the cruise line was aware of yet it failed to take reasonable steps to fix the problem and protect the crew and passengers.

The case is handled by our friend, Miami lawyer Jack Hickey.  He issued a press release last year, stating in part that when the cruise ship was drifting, at anchor, or at dock, the noxious gas was sucked back into the vessel and into the passenger areas including cabins, through the air conditioning intakes. This reportedly allowed the methane and hydrogen sulfide gas to leak into habitable areas on the ship including the areas in which Mr. Eidissen worked. The Monarch of the Seas received numerous passenger complaints about a foul smelling gas, in addition to several complaints from a stevedore company, dockside businesses, and the workers who eventually fixed the pipe while the ship was in dry dock.

Although the cruise line initially denied liability, it subsequently filed a stipulation that it is legally responsible for releasing the gas.

Royal Caribbean is being defended by Curtis Mase. 

We have found over the last 10 years, Royal Caribbean has consistently exhibited the worst corporate malfeasance of any of the Miami based cruise lines.  Last year, we reported on an incident when 6 crew members were taken to the hospital in Baltimore for suspected carbon monoxide poisoning caused by a welding operation in the engine room as the Celebrity / Royal Caribbean cruise ship was returning to port.  Read: Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Reported Aboard Celebrity's Mercury Cruise Ship

Photo credits:

Top:  Bjørn Eidissen (via facebook)

Bottom:  NBC Los Angeles

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A video has been circulating on the internet which shows the new Disney Dream cruise ship coming perilously close to colliding with Royal Caribbean's Monarch of the Seas, just days before the Dream was christened in Port Canaveral. 

A passenger's YouTube video shows the Dream drifting very close to the Royal Caribbean cruise ship.  

The Orlando Sentinel reports that before the video was uploaded to YouTube, officials with Disney Cruise Lines, Port Canaveral and the U.S. Coast Guard said they were unaware of any such incident.   Disney's PR people are now claiming that the ship was never in danger of a collision. 

"The ship was under the control of our captain the entire time," spokeswoman Christi Donnan said. "There was never a safety concern."

Yeah, right.

The interesting thing is that a Royal Caribbean crewmember stopped the passengers from filming or taking photos of the incident.  You can see the Royal Caribbean employee blocking the passenger's video camera: 

The passenger left the following comment on his YouTube page:  

THIS WAS NOT REPORTED ON THE NEWS AND THE CREW TRIED TO KEEP PASSENGERS FROM FILMING!!  Standing on RCI Monarch of the Seas during the mandatory Muster drill when Disney Dream began to turn around.  Mickey got closer .... and Closer.... AND CLOSER!!!!!  The crew tried to keep us from video taping so this is in parts.  We were all certainly bracing for the BUMP!!!!  An officer ran by us, gesturing to the Dream and taking on a radio - Muster came to a STOP until the Disney Dream missed us.  The officer said it was less than one foot - JUST BARELY!!!!  This happened in Port Canaveral as the Monarch of the Seas was leaving.  The Harbor Master was aboard the Monarch and the Disney Dream did not have the authorization to move the ship.  The Disney Dream was set to have the christening on the 19th for the maiden voyage, but it almost didn't happen!!!

Video credit:  Floridagalrb's YouTube page

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The news today is filled with stories about a cruise ship which "rescues" rafters adrift in the Atlantic.

What the news reports fail to mention is that the "rafters" were trying to get to Florida.  They are  probably already back in Cuba pursuant to U.S. immigration policy. 

Royal Caribbean’s Monarch of the Seas cruise ship reportedly "rescued" six people who were floating on a raft near the Bahamas. 

A passenger on the cruise ship spotted the raft and the ship stopped.  As most of the news reports claim, the cruise ship then "rescued" the people on the raft.

An employees of a Houston news station FOX 35 employee (Scott Schroeder)  was on cruise ship and reported that the raft looked like "it was a group of tires tied together with green burlap and a makeshift sail."  

The make-shift raft had apparently been at sea for 15 days.  The Fox employee says the captain of the ship told the cruise ship passengers that there were seven people on board the raft and one of them died.

As tragic as this is, the indignity is that the survivors, probably related in some way to the deceased "rafter," will be deported back to the evil Castro regime in Cuba.  If they made it ashore to the U.S. they would one day be raising their children in Miami (God bless them).  But if they are "caught" in the water by the U.S. Coast Guard, they will be "deported" / "repatriated" back to Cuba to face, at best, an uncertain future.   

Perhaps this is a "rescue' in the minds of the happy-go-lucky cruise passengers and the PR people at the cruise lines, but according to the Cubans in the raft seeking freedom in Miami - they undoubtedly feel that they are screwed.

May 15, 2011 Update:  Royal Caribbean "rescues" another boat of Cubans fleeing Castro: Allure of the Seas "Rescues" Migrants Fleeing Cuba.

Credits:  Fox 35 Houston

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Three newspapers in India are reporting that a Royal Caribbean employee, Ankit Dalal, abused his wife, Neha Chhikara, shortly before she apparently jumped from the Royal Caribbean cruise ship Monarch of the Seas on New Year's Eve.  

Mr. Dalal is identified in a newspaper articles as a manager for Royal Caribbean on the cruise ship. 

We previously reported on this story - Wife of Royal Caribbean Crew Member on Monarch of the Seas Goes OverBoard

The newspapers report Ms. Chhikara married Mr. Dalal in 2008.  His family reportedly demanded additional dowry and was allegedly abusive toward her. 

According to an article entitled "Air Hostess Death at Sea: Kin Cry Foul" in the Times of India, Ms. Chhikara's husband physically and mentally tortured her for additional dowry - as alleged by Ms. Chhikara's family.  Ms. Chhikara previously worked as a flight attendant. 

Ms. Chhikara's father filed what is called a "dowry complaint" with the police in India.

The family alleges that Mr. Dalal mistreated her.  "She was asked to bring cash and jewelry every now and then and when she refused, they would beat her up. Once she was beaten so badly by Dalal that her jaw got dislocated and she also lost her job as air hostess,'' Atul Ahlawat, Ms. Chhikara's cousin, alleges.

The Times of India reports that shortly before she went overboard, Ms. Chhikara emailed her family: 

"I don't think he wants me to work here on the ship  . . .  he keeps threatening to call up security and get me detained by US authorities so that I can never come to the US.  He threatens to handcuff me and lock me up in a cell on the ship  . . ."

The Tribune in India also reports that Ms. Chhikara sent what is called a SOS shortly before her death complaining of being abused.  The India Express, in an article entitled "Gurgaon Woman Jumped Off Cruise Liner," also reports that an e-mail she sent an hour before her death said:

"Ankit has been beating me up every day  . . .  I have lost the strength to live and am very depressed.  I do not think he wants me to work on this ship.  He has threatened me that he would get my appointment canceled  . . .  I am under extreme torture  . . ."

None of the newspapers were able to obtain quotes from Mr. Dalal or his family.

These articles suggest that Ms. Chhikara was about to begin work as a crew member for Royal Caribbean.  Previous PR statements by this cruise line characterize Ms. Chhikara as just a "passenger."  She apparently had applied to Royal Caribbean and been accepted for employment aboard a Royal Caribbean cruise ship.    

This is a sad story to see a young beautiful person's life end, under these alleged circumstances, at the beginning of a new year. 

Credits:

Photograph           IndiaExpress.com

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News sources are reporting that a 23-year-old woman, Neha Chhikara, went overboard from the Monarch of the Seas cruise ship near Nassau, Bahamas, around 4 a.m. this morning. 

The Monarch of the Seas is operated by Royal Caribbean Cruises which has had more than its share of overboards in the last few years.  The cruise ship left Port Canaveral, Florida on Tuesday for the Bahamas and was scheduled to return to port on January 2, 2010.

Royal Caribbean issued a press statement which is as follows:

“The guest was last seen at 3:45 a.m. At that time, the ship was sailing from Nassau to CocoCay, Bahamas. As soon as the guest was reported missing, various public announcements were made onboard and a complete search of the ship, as well of CocoCay, was initiated.”

“Shipboard closed-circuit camera footage captured the guest going overboard on deck 11, port side at approximately 4:11 a.m. Government officials have reviewed the footage and determined that the guest jumped overboard.”

The Royal Caribbean PR spokesperson, Cynthia Martinez, is quoted by Florida Today as stating that the passenger was reported missing by her husband at 12:15 p.m. 

The popular cruise on line community CruiseCritic reports that the "passenger" was the wife of a Royal Caribbean crew member.

The U.S. Coast Guard reports that although Ms. Chhikara went overboard a little after 4:00 a.m., the cruise ship did not report her missing until around 2:00 p.m. - almost 10 hours after she went overboard.   

There is no explanation why it took this long for the cruise line to report her overboard, nor is there any explanation why her husband, Ankit Dalal, waited until 8 hours later to report her missing.

There is technology available to the cruise industry for surveillance cameras to be triggered by motion with an alarm being immediately sent to the bridge to alert the cruise ship's officers that a passenger has gone overboard.  This system would capture the video and permit immediate notification of the emergency. Tracking devices would drop into the water so that the exact location of the passenger overboard could be determined.

Some - but certainly not all - cruise lines employ "surveillance camera operators" whose job descriptions require that the cameras be monitored 24 hours for passenger safety and security. 

Are the cameras on the port and starboard sides of the cruise ship actually monitored by operators?  Or are only the cameras in the casino or other similar locations being monitored to prevent theft of the cruise ship's money?

Unfortunately, Royal Caribbean is one of the cruise lines which does not monitor its closed circuit cameras on the decks and hallways.  This negligence causes an incredible waste of resources when the Coast Guard was finally notified 10 hours later.  The Coast Guard assigned an HU-25 Falcon jet crew from Air Station Miami, an HH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew from the Atlantic Undersea Test and Evaluation Center (AUTEC) on Andros Island, Bahamas, a C-130 Hercules aircraft from Clearwater, and the crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Cormorant to search for Ms. Chhikara.

Due to the cruise line's delay, this made the Coast Guard's job of locating Ms. Chhikara nearly impossible.

Credits:

Monarch of the Seas   Jonathon_V Flickr photostream

Monarch of the Seas   boatnerd.com

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