November 2009

Over the last four years, there have been an incredible number of high profile stories regarding the cruise industry: the "missing honeymooner" case of George Smith IV on Royal Caribbean’s Brilliance of the Seas, the cover-up of Merrian Carver’s disappearance from Celebrity Cruises’ Mercury cruise ship, and the case of Laurie Dishman who, after she was sexually assaulted, was handed a trash

Oasis of the Seas - A Floating Mall?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

Unlike the majority of cruise groupies who have gushed praise for the mega-ship, Mr Adams’ article is not exactly what the executives of Royal Caribbean were hoping for.  

The article is entitled "Oasis

The fall-out from last Saturday’s robbery of 18 Royal Caribbean and Disney cruise passengers on the Segway Tour at "Earth Village" continues.  The Tribune, Bahama Journal, and Nassau Guardian newspapers have reported daily Bahamas Triibune Newspaper - Cruise Crime on the crime spree in the Bahamas and the inability of the government to do anything about it.

Fort Lauderdale’s Sun Sentinel newspapers also recently

Those of you who have followed my blog over the last three months know that I have been hard on Royal Caribbean.  I think that this cruise line treats its injured crew members terribly, and it has Royal Caribbean - Richard Fain - Who's the Daddy?handled the problem with sexual assaults on its cruise ships even worse.  I also think the Oasis of the Seas is

The Tribune newspaper in the Bahamas reports that two men wielding shotguns robbed 18 cruise passengers who were on cruise sponsored eco-tours on Saturday. 

The passengers were from cruise ships operated by Disney and Royal Caribbean cruise lines.  They were part of two groups touring the "Earth Village," which is a preserve. 

The Nassau Guardian also reported on the brazen robbery and other robberies this

Last night, a member of the one of the leading online cruise communities – CruiseCritic – contacted me about a cruise line passenger who had been harassed and battered by a cabin attendant in Royal Caribbean Cruise Ship - Sexual Harassment and Sexual Assault her cabin.  This was far from a rape, but it certainly sounds like something other than a "cultural misunderstanding."

Some of the CruiseCritic members supported the passenger and made some

The U. S. Coast Guard reports via its Twitter page @uscoastguard that the Coast Guard Air Station Miami helped rescue a 62-year-old man who went overboard from the Silver Shadow cruise ship last night.  

Passenger Ronald Shulman went overboard about 20 miles east of Miami at around 3:00 a.m. last night. He was initially located by the crew

Twitter Cruise - #oasisAt this moment, the Oasis of the Seas is sailing with newspaper reporters, travel writers, cruise bloggers, and other cruise enthusiasts.  They are tweeting their observations on Twitter under the hashtag #oasis.

One of the tweters is @johnnyjet who has a nice travel portal called JohnnyJet.com.  He posted a photograph of the Royal

On Thursday, a Los Angeles Federal Court jury acquitted a headwaiter working for Princess Cruises of sexually assaulting a woman passenger during a cruise on the Coral Princess.  

Coral Proncess - Sexual AssaultA woman from Kansas City accused Princess Cruises crew member Jorge Manuel Teixeira (from Portugal) of sexually assaulting her during a cruise last March between Fort Lauderdale and Los Angeles, while the ship was at sea

The San Francisco Chronicle is a great newspaper.  Like the L.A. Times, it has an endless staff of intellectually curious, bright journalists instilled with an ethic of investigative journalism of the likes Miami Herald - Cruise Line Fanof super-journalist Douglas Franz.  All qualities which our newspapers here in South Florida are  sorely missing.

Miami Herald – An Enabler of the "Greed of the Seas" 

I

Today, six crew members filed a lawsuit seeking compensation for injuries sustained when the Maersk Alabama was hijacked by Somali pirates in April. The crew members sued Maersk Line Maersk Alabama - Pirate AttackLtd., the operator of the vessel, and Waterman Steamship Corp., the crewing company which hired them. They are seeking damages for physical and mental injuries and loss of income.

The seaman allege that Maersk failed to

The success of the Cruise Vessel Safety and Security Act of 2009 (HR 3360) can be traced directly to Congresswoman Doris Matsui of Sacramento California.

Congresswoman Matsui’s constituent, Laurie Dishman, called upon her three and one-half years ago after Ms. Dishman was a victim of a crime on a cruise ship operated by Royal Caribbean Cruises. 

We have discussed

The House of Representatives passed the Cruise Vessel Security & Safety Act (HR 3360) today. This cruise bill was previously part of the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2009, but was voted on today as a ‘stand alone" bill to speed up its enactment.  

Elijah Cummings - Cruise Safety LawCongress approved the bill by a resounding vote of 416 to 4.

A number of "All Star"