After months of silence, the Hagel and Smith families were losing their patience with Royal Caribbean. By Thanksgiving it had been almost five months since George’s death. The cruise line had released no information about the circumstances surrounding George Smith’s disappearance.
As soon as Jennifer Hagel retained our firm to represent her, we retained forensic scientist Dr. Henry Lee.
Royal Caribbean did not permit Jennifer Hagel back into her cabin after blood was discovered on the awning below the cabin. No one on the ship explained to Jennifer that she had been found unconscious on the floor near a stairwell early in the morning, or that her husband’s blood was covering the awning.
Eventually, the cruise
Following Mr. Smith’s disappearance, the Master of the Brilliance of the Seas quickly concluded that his disappearance was simply an “accident.”
Royal Caribbean never told the families that there was blood on the awning below the cabin (which the cruise line quickly cleaned off with high pressure hoses) or that four men had entered Mr. Smith’s
George Smith and Jennifer Hagel married in late June 2005 in Newport Rhode Island. Their honeymoon was a cruise in the Mediterranean Sea aboard Royal Caribbean’s Brilliance of the Seas, which departed from Barcelona to ports in Italy, Greece and Kusadasi Turkey.
Little did George and Jennifer know that these would be their final days together.
In the early morning hours
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While the city of Charleston South Carolina is resisting the expansion of the cruise industry into its city, the southernmost city of the U.S. may be heading in the other direction. Key West appears to be poised to accommodate bigger and more cruise ships, including the new mega ships the Allure and Oasis of the Seas.
The KeyNoter newspaper
Numerous news sources are reporting that a cruise ship carrying 173 passengers and crew sank in Russia’s Volga river today.
The sinking involved the Bulgaria cruise ship, which had 140 passengers and 33 crewmembers aboard.
To date, there have been reports of two confirmed dead bodies recovered and 96 people unaccounted for after the Bulgaria sank at 1358 local time (0858 GMT)
This past week marked six years since George Allen Smith IV disappeared from Royal Caribbean’s Brilliance of the Seas.
Mr. Smith’s disappearance, and the manner in which Royal Caribbean chose to handle the incident, brought much needed attention to the cruise industry. The events which followed Mr. Smith’s death led to five Congressional hearings into
A newspaper in the Philippines reports that legislation has been introduced in the Philippines to protect passengers and crew of cruise ships from sexual and physical assaults while at sea.
Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo from Pampanga sponsored a bill which requires passenger and cargo ships to adhere to specific requirements to protect of passengers and crewmembers.
The legislation is patterned after the 2010 Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Law
Things are suppose to slow down in the summer, but there are no signs of that yet.
Royal Caribbean recenty tried to muzzle a Miami lawyer who issued a press release about a cruise line case scheduled for trial in November. Gagging lawyers from talking to the pubic requires introducing substantial evidence establishing that the parties will not receive a
I have avoided watching anything to do with the sad case of Caylee Anthony over the past two years.
The image of the big brown eyed pretty little child, missing but then found skeletonized in a swampy dump, juxtaposed against the photos of her smiling mother dirty dancing at clubs have been broadcast, it seems, like 25 million times on cable news
ABC News is reporting that a chartered fishing boat with 44 tourists aboard capsized and sank off Mexico’s Baja California peninsula. A 115 foot long vessel called "The Erik" was reportedly struck by a storm and then capsized early yesterday 87 miles south of San Filipe, Mexico, in the Sea of Cortez
There are conflicting reports regarding the number of survivors. The
Happy Fourth of July!
Two hundred and thirty-five years ago – on July 4, 1776 – the Second Continental Congress voted to declare the independence of the thirteen colonies from Great Britain.
In the 1700"s my family’s ancestors got in a boat and sailed from Great Britain to the U.S. I have always thought about what that must have been
