December 2010

The international press is reporting that Gahadhar Pradhan, a crew member (waiter) from P&O’s Aurora cruise ship, was pistol-whipped over the head and shot during a mugging while ashore in Philipsburg, on the Caribbean island of St Maarten. 

We first learned of the incident via Crew Member Shot - Caribbean Violence - Cruise Shipthe cruise blogs by Captain Greybeard in the U.K. 

The crew member was shot in

Today, two stories broke about cruise ship crimes issues.

The first story involved three Royal Caribbean crew members arrested for trying to smuggle drugs into Baltimore from the Dominican Republic via Royal Caribbean’s Enchantment of the Seas cruise ship.   We have written a lot about passengers and crew members using cruise ships to smuggle drugs.  Earlier this year, passengers

Cruise Law News was featured in an article yesterday about the Carnival Splendor fire and the new Coast Guard marine bulletins criticizing the cruise line’s fire suppression system which malfunctioned.  The article is by Joel Siegfried in the National Examiner entitled "Coast Guard Blasts Carnival Splendor for Fire Negligence."   The Examiner is one of the

Its that time of the year to be thankful for your family and friends as we celebrate Christmas.

Many, many thanks to my friends, clients and extended family.  

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from Cruise Law News!  And don’t forget, Its a Wonderful Life –   

https://youtube.com/watch?v=lxNXtjGY_Us%3Ffs%3D1%26hl%3Den_US%26rel%3D0

Pacific Sun Storm CCTV VideoThere have been a number of articles about Royal Caribbean initial efforts to down-play the effects of the storm which rocked the Brilliance of the Seas off of the coast of Egypt last week.  The cruise lines corporate office here in Miami are electronically linked to the cruise ships and  instantly receive electronic images and video transmitted from the

Emerald Princess - Passenger DeathA newspaper in Connecticut is reporting that a 59 year old passenger fell while disembarking a Princess cruise ship in a Caribbean port and injured his neck.  After being flown by air ambulance to Miami, the passengers died due to complications during surgery.

The incident occurred on December 14, 2010, when Timothy Scheibel sailed with his wife to the island

This weekend we received an anonymous email that a passenger died while waiting for an airlift off of the Sea Princess.  Also a passenger had gone overboard from the Sea Princess and is still missing. The ship stopped, turned around, and was still looking for the passenger as of yesterday.

As usual, passengers aboard the Sea Princess

I have been critical of Royal Caribbean’s PR skills over the years, thinking that this particular cruise line’s credibility is at the bottom  of the cruise industry.  So when RCCL announced after the terrifying storm which rocked the the Brilliance of the Seas and injured its passengers that the cruise ship "had full power and was operating as normal" and that no

The U.S. Coast Guard evacuated a 46 year old passenger from a cruise ship in the Gulf of Mexico following a fall on Saturday.

Passenger Andrew Spicer was aboard Holland America Line’s Ryndam cruise ship when he was reportedly injured.  The cruise  was roughly 120 miles southwest of St. Petersburg when the Coast Guard helicopter arrived around

The United States Coast Guard crews medevaced an ill thirteen year old from the Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) Jewel cruise ship near Cape Hatteras, North Carolina on Saturday. 

The boy had symptoms of acute appendicitis.  The Coast Guard lifted the boy and his mother from the deck of the Jewel and flew them to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital.

This is the type of story which

CBS News is reporting that a "ferocious winter storm" pounded Royal Caribbean’s Brilliance of the Seas as the cruise ship was heading into port in Alexandria, Egypt yesterday.  

Hurricane force winds and thirty foot waves caused the ship to roll violently.  Passengers complained of furniture and beds being tossed around.  Cruise Critic contained this account from a