Earlier today I blogged that the Italian judges released Costa Captain Schettino of the doomed Concordia cruise ship from house arrest. The judges also released him from the strict prohibition against speaking with anyone other than his lawyer and close family friends.
So by this afternoon we have one of Captain Schettino’s first statements.
Reuters is reporting that yesterday Italian judges released the captain of the doomed Costa Concordia cruise ship from house arrest.
Francesco Schettino was arrested following his abandonment of the Concordia on on January 13th in a disaster in which 30 passengers and crew died and two people are lost and presumed dead.
The judges in
The cruise industry’s trade group, Cruise Line International Association (CLIA), announced two new safety initiatives last week. I was rather amazed when I read what the new proposals involved.
The first policy is what is being called the "Nationality of Passengers" policy. This policy states that each passenger’s nationality should be documented for use by
Tonight CNN will broadcast "Cruise to Disaster," a documentary into the Costa Concordia disaster. Here is the lead in to the CNN special program:
"What we found will be unsettling for anyone who has taken or is thinking of taking a cruise: allegations of inadequate safety briefings and chaos in the minutes after the collision
The L.A. Times is the latest major newspaper to discuss the behind-the-scenes alteration of the Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Act.
In Drop in Cruise Ships’ Reported Crimes Raises Questions written by Dan Weikel and an accompanying editorial Cruise ship crimes: Why so hush-hush? by Paul Morrison, the L.A. Times takes a look at
A newspaper in Italy is reporting that the doomed Costa Concordia was sailing with its sealed doors open, unapproved maps and faulty instruments, based on information leaked from investigators.
The Milan daily newspaper Corriere della Sera states that a court hearing is scheduled on July 21st when the full results of technical analysis will be revealed.
In May we reported on exploitative labor practices by Carnival subsidiary P&O Cruises.
In Profits Over People: Carnival’s Exploitation of Crew Members is Standard Industry Practice, we explained how P&O decided to pay its crewmembers a basic salary of 75 pence an hour (approximately $1.20 an hour / $400 a month). The company phased out
A newspaper in Savannah reports that yesterday the U.S. Coast Guard medevaced a 63 year old woman from a cruise ship sailing in the Atlantic Ocean approximately 60 miles east of Savannah to a local hospital in Savannah.
Coast Guard Sector Charleston received notification at about around 10:08 p.m. Saturday night from crew members aboard
I have written about Royal Caribbean’s new port development in the town of Falmouth Jamaica before. It seems to me that the new development for the cruise line perpetuates the historical master (cruise line) – servant (Jamaica) relationship which continues to exploit the Jamaican people.
My tour of Falmouth reinforced those beliefs. Most of the
Following the Costa Concordia tragedy, there was considerable debate about where the survivors would file suit and what legal claims against the cruise line would be raised.
As we approach 6 months after the disaster, there is even more confusion. Lawsuits have been filed all over the place.
A group of New York lawyers
A couple of years ago I blogged about the nastiest fuel on the planet – bunker fuel. It’s the dredge at the bottom of oil refineries, a nasty tar like substance which is impossible to be completely burned. It leaves non-combustible particles that blacken the sky and, if inhaled, cause lung disease, cancer, asthma
This evening my twitter feed came alive with a number of fascinating tweets by passengers sailing aboard the Royal Caribbean Oasis of the Seas as it sailed between Florida and Cuba.
The passengers, Jason Cochran, whose Twitter name is @Bastable and has a cool website, and "Nomadic Matt" (I could not figure out his real
The Daily Business Review released "Top Verdicts & Settlements" for last year. You can click on the digital version here.
We obtained the highest award in an admiralty / maritime case in Florida in 2011. The case involved an injured crew member from Royal Caribbean’s Jewel of the Seas who the cruise line sent
The recent articles about the FBI assisting the cruise lines in covering up ship crimes has sparked a re-newed interest in the safety of cruise passengers on the high seas.
Fox News published an article this morning "How Safe Is Your Cruise Ship" mentioning the cruise lines’ talking points that cruise ship crime
It’s approaching six months since the death of ill fated Costa Concordia. But it seems like yesterday that the renegade Costa captain crashed the $500 million cruise ship ingloriously into the granite underwater rocks surrounding the little island of Giglio, terrorizing over four thousand passengers and crew and killing innocent souls who were simply
Every once in a while a story comes along which blows the lid off of the status quo.
Such a story broke yesterday when Salon Magazine published a blockbuster article "Erasing Cruise Ship Crime." Written by Matthew Harwood, the Salon article tackles the ugly spectacle of our nation’s FBI sabotaging the efforts of
Salon Magazine published a blockbuster article today about how the FBI gutted a cruise safety law designed to protect the cruising public.
The article states that the grassroots International Cruise Victims (ICV) association worked for years with Congress to pass, on an overwhelmingly bipartisan basis, the Cruise Vessel Security & Safety Act. The new cruise
A Cruise Law News reader has alerted us to a major engine problem for the Saga Sapphire cruise ship which has broken down during a cruise through Norway. A passenger aboard the stricken cruise ship writes:
"The Saga Sapphire is currently struck with motor-problems again – this time whilst on a Norwegian Cruise – and
