This past month, I have spent a lot of time back home in Arkansas tending to some family matters.  Being in a down-to-earth location like El Dorado, Arkansas makes it exceedingly clear just how greedy the Miami-based cruise lines truly are.

My home town of El Dorado has a Fortune 200 company called Murphy Oil

Amsterdam established a tax on cruise passengers effective January 1, 2019. The new tax of €8 ($9.12) applies to every cruise passenger over 3 years old per 24-hour period.

As reported by the LA Times, two cruise lines have cancelled port visits to Amsterdam because of the nominal tax.  MSC Cruises and Cruise & Maritime

According to WRLN in Miami, FEMA grossly overpaid Carnival Cruise Line to charter the Carnival Fascination to provide housing for FEMA workers following Hurricane Maria. 

According to documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) by Daniel Rivero, WLRN states that FEMA agreed to pay Carnival $74,700,000 to provide accommodations aboard the Carnival Fascination

Last year, following a series of hurricanes which struck the Caribbean, FEMA decided to charter the Carnival Fascination to house relief workers in St. Croix. The news was widely reported last October. Carnival cancelled its sailings of the Fascination from October 2017 through January 2018 with the cruise line planning to return the cruise ship

Carnival Cruise TaxesCarnival Corporation announced its second quarter profits today.

Its revenues to date for 2015 (June 30th) were $7,180,000,000 (billion), consisting of passenger fares (tickets) of $5,425,000,000 and onboard purchases (booze, spa, specialty meals, casino) of $1,755,000,000. It’s net income was $271,000,000.

And Carnival paid taxes of?  Nothing.

You have heard me say this before. By

KHOU 11 reports that alcohol and cigarettes purchased by cruise passengers, represented by cruise lines as "duty-free products," are being taxed by the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) once the ships return to Galveston.

The state of Texas will start collecting similar taxes from cruise passengers at the Port of Houston by in October.

The

Multiple sources are reporting that Royal Caribbean entered into an agreement to sell the Celebrity Century cruise ship to a Chinese cruise company. 

The company buying the Century is identified as Exquisite Marine Ltd., a holding company controlled by Ctrip International Ltd.

Royal Caribbean says that the Century will "complete its scheduled sailings through the

Richard Fain Adam GoldsteonReuters reports that Royal Caribbean’s CEO Richard Fain recently sold 94,850 shares at average price of $62.38 for a total value of $5,916,743.00; and exercised options for 51,143 shares at $7.27 per share for a total value of $3,190,300.00.

CEO Fain holds over a million shares of his cruise line’s stock.  Reuters says he holds

Media reports say that Royal Caribbean Cruises Chief Operating Officer (COO) Adam Goldstein sold 42,152 shares of his cruise company’s stock yesterday.

The shares were sold at an average price of $61.68 for $2,599,935.36.

COO Goldstein still owns 370,724 shares of Royal Caribbean stock, valued at $22,866,256.

Royal Caribbean announced its earnings results on Thursday.