Oasis of the Seas - Wow! - Another Cruise Puff Piece By the Miami Herald
An article this morning caught my eye: "Newest and Biggest Cruise Ship: Oasis of the Seas." The article contains the usual "wow-look-how-big-it-is!" style of writing which is most typically associated with travel agents. You know, those travel agents doubling as authors whose interest .jpg)
in describing this monster-of-cruise-ship is hopelessly intertwined with obtaining commissions by selling cruises.
Then I realized that the article (appearing in a Dallas newspaper) was written by Jane Wooldridge who is the business editor of the Miami Herald.
I have written about the Miami Herald and Ms. Wooldridge in several prior articles: Miami Herald: Asleep at the Wheel Regarding the Cruise Industry and Miami Herald - See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil.
There have been an incredible number of newsworthy developments involving cruise lines over the past five years - missing passengers, high profile sexual assaults, endless pollution fines, fires, sinkings, and five Congressional hearings involving Miami based cruise lines. But the Miami Herald wouldn't touch these stories. It did not even report on the passage of the first cruise crime bill in the 40 history of the cruise industry.
The Miami Herald's writers never publish anything negative or controversial which might embarrass their cruise line friends. Credible newspapers with real journalists are left to cover these legitimate stories - like the Los Angeles Times, the San Fransisco Chronicle, or the New York Times.
The Miami Herald sold out to the Miami-based cruise industry long ago. This latest article is just the same old cruise cheerleading that the Herald is known for. Consider the gushing adjectives chosen in the description of the mega ship: "wow ... amazing . . . .jpg)
revolutionary." Can you imagine a business editor anywhere writing such drivel? The article contained quotes only from other cruise enthusiasts, travel agents and the cruise line's CEO, Richard Fain.
The spectacle of the Oasis of the Seas raises disturbing questions which I have mentioned in numerous articles. But you will find no hint of controversy in articles by Miami Herald employees who consistently write travel pieces designed to sell tickets for their cruise line advertisers.
Is it just coincidence that the article uses the word "Wow" (caps in original), when the corporate mantra at Royal Caribbean is "Deliver the Wow?"
And the latest controversy of this Cloverfield-like-beast-of-cruise-ship sailing past the ruins of Haiti to the cruise line's "private destination" of Labadee seems to many like corporate malfeasance on steroids. But the Herald will look the other way.
See no evil. Hear no evil. Speak no evil. The tradition of the Miami Herald continues.
Credits:
Newspaper vending machine Daquella Manera Flickr Photostream
Oasis of the Seas Kenneth Karsten via shipspotting.com
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?
each year comes at a significant cost to our nation’s air and water..jpg)
air with engines that burn bottom-of-the barrel bunker fuel.”
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 "
handled the problem with sexual assaults on its cruise ships even worse. I also think the Oasis of the Seas is a boondoggle.
article written by John Honeywell a/k/a "
paperwork. Very innovative. .jpg)
defending the case to make certain that an American flag was positioned behind him as he sat in front of the videographer. They didn't have a flag so they had to go and rent one for the afternoon. .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 
Falmouth is the chief town and capital of Trelawny parish, Jamaica, and is located on Jamaica's north coast near Montego Bay.
Meticulously planned in the Colonial style, it is often compared to Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia, here in the United States. 
Royal Caribbean's President Adam Goldstein 
don't get off, because this ship itself is the destination. This is better than a lot of the islands.”
"In beautiful and historic Falmouth, we are busy making a billion-dollar cosy corner for the Royal Caribbean Line on the alleged promise that they will be bringing 6,000 visitors a week to Falmouth. What we don't know is that we have probably been conned.
Jamaica has a history of being exploited by foreign plantation owners, sugar barons, slave owners, bauxite-mining companies and now the mega ships of the $15 billion Royal Caribbean cruise line. 
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. 
But a few journalists have questioned the environmental appropriateness of this monster of a cruise ship. In an article entitled "
