Security failed the tourists from the Costa and MSC cruise ships visiting Tunisia last week. The result: 17 dead cruise passengers and two dozen injured.
Tunisia acknowledges it. The risk of jihadists attacking tourists was readily foreseeable. Security analysts and security forces blew it.
In response to this failure, Tunisia fired the country’s leading security
For the past couple of years I’ve been troubled by the increasing violence in North Africa and the Middle East and the unprecedented nature of the cruelty of jihadist terrorists who have beheaded and burned “infidels” alive. I have worried about various scenarios where cruise passengers are at risk of attack.
We already know that
The cruise industry’s favorite publication, Travel Weekly, just published an article titled After Tunis attack, Impact on Cruise Sales Pondered.
The article speculates whether cruise sales will drop following the Islamic State’s massacre of cruise passenger’s in Tunis last week.
In the last couple of years, first quarter "wave" sales were negatively impacted by
According to a Greek newspaper, a high speed catamaran, High Speed 5, undergoing repairs in an area near Piraeus Greecearea, called Keratsini, caught on fire today.
40 fire fighters and 13 vehicles battled the fire.
Unfortunately, the ship’s Chief Electrician lost his life during the firefighting operations.
The vessel is operated by Hellenic Seaways.
March
NBC News and local WPTV are reporting that a man has gone overboard from Royal Caribbean’s Liberty of the Seas last night.
U.S. Coast Guard Chief Petty Officer Ryan Doss says that search crews are looking for a man who "either voluntarily jumped or fell" from a cruise ship overnight near the Florida Keys. NBC
The Merco Press and Crew Center reports that Argentinian Police arrested two Royal Caribbean crew crew members on the Splendour of the Seas cruise ship for trying to smuggle cocaine to sell in Europe. The cruise ship was anchored in the port of Buenos Aires.
The crew members had taped the coke to their bodies.
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As the death toll increases in Tunis, the former Director of Princess Cruises says that cruise security was lax and the cruise lines failed to assess the danger associated with sailing passengers into Tunis.
Commander Mark Gaouette told IHS Maritime that cruise security measures for passengers should have been stronger.
"I believe the risk management
Anyone who has attended a Cruise Shipping Miami convention knows that cruise executives make comments which hype the cruise industry.
It’s interesting to attend the convention and watch the cast of characters. Who will say the greatest whopper in their efforts to promote the cruise industry? The executives are all type A personalities, full of
Newspapers are reporting that several gunmen stormed a popular museum in Tunis, Tunisia today killing 17 tourists, as well as a police officer and Tunisian civilians. Some news accounts report that as many as two dozen people were also injured.
Two cruise ships were in port and had sent thousands of passengers into the city on
A passenger on the Carnival Triumph appears to have gone overboard last night.
Carnival Cruise Director John Heald states on his Facebook page that "they are conducting a search and rescue – thoughts with the family at this time."
The incident allegedly happened when the cruise ship was near Progreso, Mexico.
There is a
A newspaper in Malaysia is reporting that the body of a man who fell overboard from the Star Cruises MV Super Star Libra was found last night.
The body of Mulianto Raik, age 50, an Indonesian, was found by fishermen in Malaysia waters.
Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency Penang Maritime District 2 took possession of the
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The Miami Herald published an interesting article last week entitled Watch Out for the Fine Print, a well written and researched article by prominent Miami maritime lawyers Robert Peltz and Carol Finklehoffe. It explains how cruise lines strip the rights of U.S. consumers by burying exculpatory fine print in the cruise line tickets. It’s
This week the cruise industry is meeting in Miami as part of the annual trade show, Cruise Shipping Miami #CMS2015. One topic that cruise lines will avoid talking about is automatic man overboard systems and the industry’s refusal to comply with the 2010 Cruise Vessel Safety and Security Act.
Last week, Senator Robert Blumenthal (D-CT)
What’s the easiest way to move cocaine from Colombia to the United States? Taking it through the jungle in Honduras and then through Belize or Guatemala to Mexico and then across the border to the U.S.? No, that’s too much work. How about just putting it on a U.S. based cruise ship in the Caribbean
Two years ago, I wrote about the prospect of suing Carnival for the infamous Triumph “poop cruise” where an engine room fire knocked out the propulsion to the cruise ship and left the passengers and crew members with no air conditioning, over-flowing toilets, and other disgusting conditions.
“Unless you have a serious physical injury or
Cruise expert Professor Ross Klein reports that a cruise passenger has gone overboard from the Carnival Glory.
According to his CruiseJunkie website:
"From a reader: RE: Carnival Glory, departing Miami, Florida 2015-03-07 16:00. Sometime in the early morning hours of 2015-03-08, en route to Half Moon Cay, Bahamas the passenger went overboard. Carnival
A number of newspapers in Europe are reporting that the Costa neoRomantica sustained damage which it encountered high winds and rough weather last Wednesday night.
An Italian newspaper reported that the Costa cruise ship was hit by high waves (seven meters) raised by gusts of wind that exceeded 125 kilometers per hour. The neoRomantica was sailing
National Geographic Traveler magazine ombudsman Christopher Elliott is often asked to try and recover canceled cruise fares when passengers suffer serious illness, a death in the family or other misfortune.
All cruise passenger tickets contain draconian terms and conditions, drafted by the cruise line attorneys, which address what happens when a passenger is forced to
