November 2009

Over the past week, those of you who read my blog but don’t Twitter missed the remarkable phenomenon of bickering between a small group of travel bloggers invited by Princess Cruises to promote cruising under the hash tag #followmeatsea – and a larger group of green travelers who could not stomach the wow-cruising-is-amazing tone of the tweets.  

"Bickering" may be an understatement.  The

Today I received a telephone call and two emails from crew members from Trinidad, India and Nicaragua. 

Their stories all sounded the same. 

They worked on cruise ships as a waiter or assistant waiter until they suffered back, shoulder or Royal Caribbean Crew Member = Trinidadwrist injuries.  After being sent home, they had to call and email the cruise line repeatedly before a medical appointment was

The Daily Breeze newspaper reports that three ambulances and about 20 paramedics and rescue personnel were sent to a Royal Caribbean cruise ship in the Port of Los Angeles yesterday to treat three passengers with serious injuries and medical complications.  This is an unusual story, given the large number of emergency response personnel involved.

Mariner of the SeasThe injuries occurred aboard

A 73-year-old cruise line tourist died after being shot by robbers in Santo Thomas de Castilla.  The Latin American Herald Tribune identified the victim as Paul Wolfgang Ritter.  There has been some confusion regarding his nationality, as different newspapers identified him as either a Dutch or German tourist.

Mr. Ritter was a passenger aboard a NCL cruise ship.  Although the name of the ship

Professor Ross Klein’s CruiseJunkie website reports a passenger is missing from the Solstice cruise ship, operated by Celebrity Cruises.  Another passenger notified the CruiseJunkie website Missing Cruise Passengerthat a passenger may have jumped from the cruise ship on November 6th:

I’m a passenger on Celebrity Solstice between Santorini and Naples. At 9PM local time tonight, a female passenger jumped purposefully from Deck 14. She

The Virginia Pilot newspaper reports that a passenger was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison for downloading child pornography. 

U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents arrested passenger Timothy David Webb, 32, after he disembarked Royal Caribbean’s cruise ship Cruise passenger sex offenderGrandeur of the Seas at the Norfolk cruise ship terminal.  Webb is a convicted sex offender and has a conviction in

A Court in Australia has scheduled a new trial in the trial of P & O Cruises passenger Mark Wilhelm who was charged with the manslaughter death of fellow passenger Dianne Brimble aboard the P & O cruise ship Pacific Sky.

In October, a jury failed to reach a verdict in the first trial. 

Dianne Brimble Cruise Ship TrialThe Crown charged Wilhelm of manslaughter of Ms. Brimble who died

When I was in high school in the early 1970’s, my prep school provided students with an opportunity to read the English version of the Russia newspaper Pravda.  The thought was that we Pravda - Cruise Line Propagandashould be reading every perspective to develop a complete understanding of international issues.

Officially referred to as the "Organ of the Central Committee of the Communist

The Wall Street Journal reported today that Royal Caribbean Cruises’ third-quarter earnings fell 44% as ticket prices remained soft and the travel industry continued to slump.  Royal Caribbean reported a third-quarter profit of a little over $230 million, down from around $412 million a year earlier.

Royal Caribbean - Cruise LawIn an article entitled "Royally Grounded," the Motley Fool put things in simpler terms, reporting that

A popular part of Cruise Law News is the monthly "Worst Cruise Line in the World" award.  This is a special award, reserved only for the cruise line which demonstrates the worst treatment of passengers, crew members, and the environment.  

And the Winner for October Is  . . .  Royal Caribbean Cruises.

A Little Background Info on Royal