Following the horrific crime perpetrated by the Holland America Line crew member against the passenger on the Nieuw Amsterdam cruise ship on Valentine’s Day, the cruise industry is pulling out all of the stops to convince the public that the cruise lines carefully screens their employees.
But it’s not true.
Cruise lines don’t vet their
Tonight at 11:00 P.M. WKMG-TV 6 (CBS Orlando) will air a special report on crimes which occur during cruises, including ports of call.
Investigative producer Lauren Sweeney and investigative reporter Tony Pipitone take a look at dangers ashore in countries like the Bahamas where cruise passengers have recently been robbed at gunpoint and sexually assaulted.
We
A newspaper in the U.K. reports on a "dream luxury cruise turned into a holiday from hell" when an elderly couple were brutally assaulted by a fellow passenger.
The Gazette Live states that the violent crime occurred aboard the Thomson Celebration. The woman suffered "serious spinal injuries" and her husband incurred "serious facial injuries." Both
Today there is a report in El Universal newspaper that German cruise line AIDA Cruises announced the suspension of its two next port calls on Margarita Island, Venezuela.
Last week we reported that a 76 year old passenger was shot and killed while ashore on an excursion from the Aida Luna cruise ship.
Venezuela has one
Today, "America Now – News You Can Use" aired a video about the issue of cruise ship crimes.
The video shows images of 15 cruise passengers who were victimized during cruises.
Although cruising appears to be a "hassle-free" vacation, there are crimes which occur. The number one crime is sexual assault, with over
Yesterday a cruise passenger was murdered while ashore in Venezuela’s Margarita island.
The international press reports that "a gunman shot dead an elderly German tourist on Venezuela’s Margarita island," in the latest incident "illustrating the country’s rampant crime."
Reuters identified the dead man as Goldhahm Hors Kurt, age 76, from Germany.
A German cruise blog explains that
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We have recommended in prior articles that people thinking of cruising to the Bahamas should first read the local news papers in Nassau.
Today the Tribune published two interesting articles which cruise passengers and crew members should consider reading.
The first article is entitled "Hospital Reports Show 40% More Rapes Than Police Statistics."
The newspapers in Nassau continue to report the high rate of armed robberies and murder.
If you are thinking of taking a cruise to Nassau, don’t trust the U.S. based cruise lines or U.S. travel agents to be transparent with you. That would be a mistake. There are hundreds of millions of dollars to be
Today I received something from a cruise passenger who reads this blog that I don’t see very often – a cruise line providing warnings to their passengers about crime in a port of call.
We have written a number of articles recently about the high rate of crime in Nassau. The U.S. Embassy released the warning
Travel Weekly published an article today entitled The New Wave of Attacks on the Cruise Industry. It was written by a contributing editor, Richard Turen, who runs a travel agency and a marketing group.
Its an interesting article which discusses who Mr. Turen views as the critics of the cruise industry.
He discusses cruise
A week ago, a popular cruise line blogger wrote a glowing review of the port of Roatan, Honduras as a wonderful place that cruise passengers should consider. But nowhere in the review was there any mention of the high crime rate there. The murder rate in Honduras is the highest of any country that a
Recently there have been a number of signs that crime in the port of Nassau is out of control.
The U.S. Embassy in Nassau and the U.S. Department of States issued warnings that crime and armed robbery have reached "critical" levels.
The crime has affected all aspects of life in Nassau. There are armed robberies
Yesterday the Nassau Guardian published an interview of me discussing the crime situation in Nassau which cruise passengers face when disembarking at the port.
You can read that interview here: “U.S. attorney raises alarm over crime – Bahamas ‘one gunshot away’ from cruise line exit says maritime lawyer who represents victims.” My opinion
On Friday, I published an article regarding whether travel agents and cruise lines are warning passengers about the high rate of violent crime in Nassau. My article followed an article in the Tribune newspaper in Nassau reporting on the cruise industry’s concern with crime against its passengers and crew members, as well as the U.S.
Cayman 27 reports that three armed men robbed a jewelry store in downtown George Town, Cayman Islands this morning. It was initially reported that shots were fired during the robbery although no one was injured. The local newspaper now indicates that the local police deny that shots were fired.
The armed robbery occurred while five
As a maritime lawyer in Miami Florida, I have mostly followed and reported on the schenanigans of the Miami-based cruise lines.
But after learning of the plight of the Fearnside family who lost their son, Richard, on a P&O ferry based in the U.K, I have broadened my horizons.
What on earth is going
The non-profit International Cruise Victims (ICV) organization released an interesting press statement today.
Earlier this year, the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee convened a hearing about protecting cruise ship passengers. Senator Rockefeller planned to introduce legislation which required the cruise industry to report crimes and overboards which occur on cruise ships.
Under intense pressure
Newspapers in Nassau continue to cover the bickering over whether Carnival Cruise Line should be warning its passengers about the high rate of crime in the Bahamas.
In an article last week, we pointed out the criticism leveled against Carnival by the Atlantis mega-resort that Carnival’s warning letter provided to cruise passengers had the
