The Calgary Herald reoprorts thst a Spanish woman fell to her death Saturday off the gangway of a cruise ship moored in Genoa, Italy.
Maria Mercedes Bonastre, 62, of Barcelona was boarding the ship with her husband and friends when the top step of the plank gave way.
The newspaper reports that the passenger was killed immediately
Today the Senate will debate amending the Death On The High Seas Act (DOHSA) to permit the families of the oil workers killed in the BP Deepwater Horizon explosion to recover compensation for their emotional damages for losing their husbands and fathers. The House of Representatives previously voted to amend DOHSA.
We have discussed the inequities in this archaic law which has been
The Washington Post has published an article about the new Cruise Security and Safety Act, written by veteran travel writer Christopher Eliott. Mr. Elliott is a a travel consultant for MSNBC and a writer for National Geographic Traveler magazine and for the Consumer Travel Alliance.
The article was originally entitled " A Long Way To Go To Ensure
Heart attacks on cruise ships are one of the leading causes of passenger deaths. The U.S. and the Canadian Coast Guards do a remarkable job rescuing passengers from cruise ships, far distances from the mainland.
The video below show the rescue by the Canadian Coast Guard of a 78 year old passenger who suffered a heart attack and was in critical
I instantly took a liking to Jamie Barnett when I first met her.
In 2007, Jamie traveled to Fort Lauderdale to attend a meeting between the International Cruise Victims ("ICV") and the cruise industry trade association, the Cruise Line International Association ("CLIA"). Jamie had flown in from Los Angeles for the meeting.
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Jamie, a Mississippi-native-turned-L.A.-resident, traveled to Florida as part
Ever since the Senate and House passed the Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Act, the cruise industry and its trade organization, the Cruise Line International Association (CLIA) which spent millions of dollars vigorously opposing the new legislation, have minimized the ground-breaking new law.
So it was to my great interest and amusement today when a Cruise Law News
In an article last month, we reported that Royal Caribbean is threatening Rockland Maine after the quaint town increased its port call fee to $6 per passenger.
Rockland is proposing a modest $2 port development fee and a dockage fee of $4 which reflect the actual costs to the city associated with accommodating large cruise
A number of articles published this weekend reveal the plight of young women sexually assaulted on foreign flagged cruise ships and cargo vessels.
Yesterday, in Cruise Rape – Is Royal Caribbean Up To Its Old Tricks?, we reported that a South African crew member claims that another crew member raped her on a Royal Caribbean cruise ship. The Captain of
A beauty therapist employed by Royal Caribbean reports that she was raped by another crew member, according to the Times Live newspaper in South Africa.
The crew member, who is known by her first name, "Taryn," states that she was forced to leave the cruise industry after her ordeal aboard a cruise ship owned by Royal Caribbean International.
The newspaper indicates that she was raped
Yesterday evening, the International Cruise Victims (ICV) organization hosted a reception in Washington D.C. to celebrate the passing of the Cruise Vessel Safety and Security Act.
The reception was held in the Capital building and was well attended by Congressional leaders and their staff, members of the ICV, members of victim and rape crisis non-profit
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A 14 year Carnival cruise passenger was shot and killed today after arriving in St. Thomas aboard the Carnival Victory cruise ship. Lizmarie Perez Chaparro was riding in a "safari bus" with her family when she was caught in the crossfire of a gang shootout.
According to the AP, the young girl and her family had
This has been another exciting week in the strange world of the cruise industry. I thought that I would spend this Friday recapping some of the interesting cruise stories this week.
Cruise Shills?
The week started with the travel site Tnooz picking up our article Cruise Crime and the Indifference of Travel Writers and asking Are Travel Writers Shills For The Cruise
OK time to brag a bit. Today my blog was added to Avvo’s "Top Legal Blogs." Cruise Law News is currently the 55th most popular law blog in the United States. The blog has been the highest climbing law blog this year.
For bloggers like me, that’s exciting news. Blogs are vehicles for education and ultimately social and political change. The higher
Five years ago yesterday, George Smith IV (below with his dad, George Smith III) disappeared from Royal Caribbean’s Brilliance of the Seas cruise ship between Greece and Turkey. This was a terrible, terrible night, which filled the public’s imagination with speculation about what happened, night after night on the cable news programs.
Behind the news, families grieved with hearts filled with heartbreak and sorrow.
Mr.
This was a historic week in the world of cruising.
Congress passed the Cruise Vessel and Safety Act, which will help make cruising safer for U.S. families. Cruise lines will be required to install peepholes in cabin doors, maintain anti-retroviral medications and rape kits for victims, improve crime evidence handling procedures and – for the first time in
Today, the House of Representatives passed a bill – H.R. 5503 (also known as the SPILL Act) – which will amend the Death on the High Seas Act (DOHSA). H.R. 5503 will permit the widows and children of the oil rig workers killed in the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster to be compensated for their grief, mental anguish and suffering due to the deaths
As we suspected, the Cruise Line International Association (CLIA) is working behind the scenes to derail efforts to amend the Death On The High Seas Act (DOHSA).
Yesterday we obtained a copy of a letter (below) sent by CLIA to Congressional representatives in Florida. CLIA is trying to rally opposition against H.R. 5503 which will permit widows and children recover compensation for their grief and
For those of you who read Cruise Law News know that I report regularly on the numerous norovirus cases which plague the cruise industry. I am rather fascinated by the cruise lines’ PR departments which always blame norovirus outbreaks on the passengers for bringing the virus aboard, rather than contaminated food and water which infect the passengers.
According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
