A Brazilian labor court ordered the payment of fines, wages, overtime and "moral damages" to eleven (11) crew of the MSC Magnifica after finding that they had been subjected to working conditions similar to "slaves." You can read the order here.
According to Defonsoria Publica Da Uniao, in 2014 eleven crew members were
An Italian news station reports that a Costa crew member allegedly sexually molested a 15 yer old girl aboard the Costa Diadema.
The Costa crew member is described as a 50 year-old Honduran man employed on the cruise ship as a cleaner. Italian police arrested him and criminally charged him with sexually assaulted the
In the last couple of weeks I’ve posted photographs of the crew mess on a number of cruise ships. Some of the photos are gross, Some of the photos don’t seem too bad. One crew member said the food on the Queen Victoria was great.
Today a crew member on the Queen Elizabeth
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The other day I posted an article entitled Grub on the High Seas. I also posted photographs on Facebook of the food served in the crew mess, primarily on MSC, Costa and Cunard cruise ships.
A number of crew members sent me photos of some nasty looking stuff (photo left from Cunard). One cruise
In past months, I have posted photographs and videos sent to me by crew members depicting life on cruise ships.
The “ship life” photos are not the pretty images carefully arranged for the guests to see during behind-the-scene tours.
Ship Life – The Pot Wash Blues revealed the incredible amount of work required daily by
The Bahamian newspapers report today on a dispute which has arisen between the government of the Bahamas and the competing party, the Democratic National Alliance (DNA), over Carnival Cruise Line’s apparent intention to issue crime warnings to its passengers.
A DNA official produced copies of e-mails which seem to reveal that Tourism Director Obie Wilchcombe failed
The St. Lucia Times reports today that, according to the the Saint Lucia Vendors Association, crime is escalating to the point that cruise lines may consider dropping Saint Lucia from their itinerary. Five years ago, Norwegian Cruise Lines, (NCL) dropped St. Lucia because of attacks on cruise passengers (see below).
The president of the vendors association
As reported in the Nassau Guardian yesterday, the United States Department of State again warned U.S. citizens about traveling to the Bahamas because of high crime.
A recent travel advisory posted on the Department of State’s Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC) website warns visitors of an increase in armed robberies in tourist areas in New
The Tribune newspaper in the Bahamas has a headline Lawyer Says Nassau ‘Is A Dangerous Dump.’ It quotes me talking about Nassau, something I have done in the past when the Nassau Guardian quoted me saying that the Bahamas are ‘one gunshot away’ from cruise line exit.
My personal opinions about the problems
Multiple news sources are reporting that a Carnival crew member was detained today in Puerto Rico on allegations that he raped a woman onboard the Carnival Liberty cruise ship.
Yahoo News says that, according to police, the alleged rape occurred in one of the cabins on the Carnival cruise ship which is now docked in
An Italian newspaper reports today that a Costa crew member is accused of raping a young passenger aboard the Costa Diadema while the cruise ship was docked in Naples.
The newspaper says that a Costa bartender allegedly followed an 18 year-old French woman into her cabin and raped her brutally.
The accused rapist is identified
Italian newspaper L’Unione Sarda reports what it is calling an excursion boat from the Costa Mediterranea apparently broke a cable while it was being lowered in Montenegro.
Photographs sent to me shows what appears to be a lifeboat dangling on the side of the Costa cruise ship.
The news article says:
"There was a
Le Télégramme reports that a British chef was found hanging in his cabin aboard the Crystal Serenity cruise ship.
The ship left Bordeaux yesterday for Brest. The crew member was found in his cabin Saturday morning.
The investigation and the autopsy reportedly will be held in Bordeaux.
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This is the third alleged suicide by hanging
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Yesterday I announced that we will begin regularly featuring photos and videos from crew members of the conditions which they face working on cruise ships.
There was a spirited debate which followed on our Facebook page about the issue.
One cruise passenger commented: " No one forces these people to work on the cruise ships.
Over the years, crew members have sent me lots of stories about what it’s really like to work on a cruise ship. Lots of time they send photos and videos of the working conditions they face.
It’s not the pretty images shown to the guests who occasionally go on behind-the-scene tours.
"Ship life" is how
Cruise ships losing power or propulsion have been a dime a dozen in recent years.
But two major cruise ships losing propulsion and being stranded in an U.S. port seems just a tad unusual. That seems to be the situation with the Holland America Line’s Maasdam and the Celebrity Summit cruise ships this weekend.
Cruise passengers from the Westerdam and the Noordam Holland America Line (HAL) cruise ships were on three Promech excursion flighseeing planes on the fateful day of June 25th when 8 HAL passengers died.
These passengers experienced substantially similar experiences regarding the weather conditions as the dead passengers. They experienced the same or very similar flight
A retired couple from Canada, together with a captain, sailing from mainland Honduras to Roatan were reportedly attacked by four men armed with guns and knives who boarded the boat, threatened them with death and stole their money.
The article in CBC News quotes the Canadian woman saying "they actually had me, pulling my hair and
