Business Week reports that the Cruise Lines International Association ("CLIA") spent $453,444 lobbying the federal government in the second quarter this year.

CLIA is the cruise industry’s trade organization which promotes the interests of the cruise industry. 

It lobbied Congress, the Department of Homeland Security, the State Department, and the U.S. Coast Guard on issues such as vessel sanitation, safety and security.

Professor Ross Klein maintains a data base of the cruise industry’s lobbying on his popular cruise site "Cruise Junkie."  

CLIA has spent a total of $1,644,094 so far this year (six months).  Royal Caribbean alone has spent an additional $741,000 lobbying Congress, with Holland America Lines and a Carnival / Arison family group spending $120,000 each.   The total money spent by the cruise industry so far this year is $2,505,094.

CLIA and the cruise lines have spent $36,389,955 since 1997 lobbying the U.S. Congress and federal agencies. 

Royal Caribbean spent over $6,000,000 in the last five years, during a time when most of the cruise crime hearings involved incidents which occurred on Royal Caribbean ships.

To understand how the foreign flagged cruise industry uses its tax free money to lobby U.S. Congressmen and Congresswomen, consider reading:

Cruise Industry Lobbies Congress To Kill Amendment To Death On High Seas Act

Cruise Industry Spent $400,000 Last Quarter Lobbying Against Safety & Environmental Regulations