The Daily Breeze newspaper reports that the criminal trial has begun in Los Angeles of a Princess Cruises headwaiter who is accused of sexually assaulting a passenger from Kansas City.
Coral Princess Head Waiter – Sexual Predator or Family Man?
Princess crew member Jorge Manuel Teixeira, 39, from Portugal, is charged in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles
From time to time, Cruise Law News will have a guest blogger. Caitlin Burke is our first guest author. Ms. Burke is a recent graduate from the University of Florida. She majored in Recreation, Parks and Sport Management. Ms. Burke wrote a senior honor’s thesis entitled a "Qualitative Study of Victimization and Legal Issues Relevant to Cruise
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.
The injuries occurred aboard
Royal Caribbean Cruises plans on using Falmouth, in Jamaica, as a port for its new monster of a cruise ship Oasis of the Seas. There is a concern in Jamaica that Royal Caribbean is exploiting it’s historic town in the process.
A Historic and Quaint "Colonial" Town – Sugar, Rum & Slaves
Falmouth is the chief town and capital
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 
that 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 
Grandeur 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.
The 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 
should 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.
In 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
A local news station in Phoenix Arizona, KPHO, aired an interview with Ken Carver whose daughter, Merrian, "disappeared" on a cruise ship operated by Royal Caribbean’s subsidiary, Celebrity Cruises. KPHO’s story is entitled "Valley Father Fights For Cruise Ship Safety."
The video of Mr. Carver’s interview can be viewed here.
According to the Advocate.com, a board member of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation ("GLAAD") died of a "heart attack," allegedly due to drug use, while on the Royal Caribbean Mariner of the Seas. Mr. Spencer Yu, a Los Angeles attorney, died after suffering a heart attack on the Royal Caribbean cruise ship which was chartered
Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas coming to a port near you . . .
HOLY CRAP!!!
Here’s my take: Monster of the Seas – a Cruise Line Only Gordon Gekko Could Love . . .
Photo credit:
Oasis of the Seas DailyMail.co.uk "Inside the world’s biggest and most expensive ever cruise ship, the £810million Oasis of
This morning I read an interesting article regarding the cruise industry’s nasty practice of dumping raw sewage just three miles offshore and, sometimes, in state waters.
Fox News ran an article entitled "Federal Agencies Raise Alarm About Cruise Dumping." Its "fair and balanced" report included some disturbing facts:
"Raw sewage contains disease pathogens and toxins, impairs the respiratory
Most passengers don’t realize the danger which women and children face on cruise ships. For example, who would think that they are at risk of being raped on the cruise line featured in the popular television series the "Love Boat?"
The "Love Boat" – Carefree, Romantic Cruises
Princess Cruises is a cruise line headquartered in Santa Clarita, California. It
On Friday, the United States House of Representatives passed landmark legislation requiring cruise ships to promptly report crimes at sea to the United States Coast Guard and the Federal Bureau of Investigations. Newspapers throughout the United States covered the historic legislation which finally brought some long overdue accountability to the cruise industry. And, as usual, the Miami
In a previous article "Congress Passes Cruise Crime Bill," I thanked the International Cruise Victims (ICV) organization for their efforts in enacting the Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Act of 2009. I also thanked Congresswoman Doris Matsui (D-CA) for her leadership in enacting this ground breaking bill. Congresswoman Matsui has been working on this legislation for the past
