Yesterday cruise passengers at Port Everglades waited for up to four hours in long lines to be processed by customs and border protection officials.  

Due to budget cuts caused by the federal budget sequester, there were only three U.S. Customs Border Protection Officers working.

There were also long lines of passengers waiting to board

Last night NBC Rock Center with Brian Williams aired a special on Carnival CEO Micky Arison who has a net worth reportedly of around $5,700,000,000.

One of the secrets to Arison’s wealth is that his cruise line, Carnival, according to NBC News, paid around 0.6% in taxes at the federal, state, local and international levels

USA TODAY has an interesting article today entitled "Titans of the Cruise Industry See Net Worth Rise."

Forbes’ annual ranking of the world’s billionaires for 2013 lists Carnival mogul Micky Arison at No. 211 with a net worth of $5.7 billion, up from $4.7 billion a year ago.  Arison’s net worth has nearly doubled

Barron’s reports that Royal Caribbean Cruises’ top executive recently bailed out on a large block of cruise line stock just before the cruise line’s shares touched a new 52-week intra-day high.

On December 13th Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Richard Fain sold 143,140 shares of RCL stock for $4,964,095, an average of $34.68 each. Barron’s says

Royal Caribbean Cruises - A Liberian CoporationToday I read an interesting case analysis from the Journal of Business Case Studies (May/June 2012), which studied the business model of the second largest cruise company in the world, Royal Caribbean Cruises, Ltd.   

The article is entitled "Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.: Innovation At A Cost?" (click on the pdf link)

The article

An interesting editorial appears today in the Jamaica Gleaner about a proposal to increase the head tax on visitors who arrive via air to Jamaica from $10 to $20. The writer characterizes this proposed increase as unfair considering the head tax on cruise passengers is only $2 per person.  These taxes help pay the Tourism Enhancement Fund (TEF) which funds projects