Obtaining accurate information from the cruise industry is difficult. Whenever passengers have a complaint, the cruise lines either ignore them or the cruise lines’ customer relations departments send them a nonsensical letter several weeks later dismissing their complaints or offering a 25% on a future cruise. This often infuriates the passengers who have no intention of ever sailing on a
Just when you think you have seen everything, a story like this comes along.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed a lawsuit against a brokerage firm, alleging that it stole $120 million from clients in a series of fraudulent schemes. The money would be diverted into the pockets of some of the principals of the firm to buy luxury
This is reason no. 3 in the series: Top 10 Reasons Not To Cruise
In law school, I learned that evidence of a felony or a crime involving dishonesty can be introduced at trial to be considered by the jury to assess a person’s credibility. The same rule of evidence applies equally to corporations, like cruise lines.
Would you do business
Barbados Free Press reports that in September, Royal Caribbean is hosting a "Tea Party At Sea" aboard the Liberty of the Seas.
In an article entitled "Anti-Obama Tea Party Cruise Conceals Haiti Destination As “Hispaniola,” the Barbados Free Press explains that Royal Caribbean is teaming up with the right-wing conservative website World Net Daily to sail
KTUU News in Alaska reports on the practices of a cruise line hiring European students, over local citizens, to staff its excursion company in Alaska.
Princess Tours, a subsidiary of Princess Cruises, hires many students from places like Bulgaria because it pays the foreign workers virtually nothing. According to cruise industry watchdog Chip Thoma of Responsible Cruising in Alaska, cruise lines
The popular on line cruise community CruiseCritic.com recently ran an article "Top 10 Reasons To Cruise." By the time I read reason number 3 – "Cruise Ships are Family Friendly" – I was repulsed enough that I felt compelled to explain why the Cruise Critic article was dangerously inaccurate.
Cruise Critic published the photo (below) of the
We have been contacted by a number of passengers from Royal Caribbean’s Explorer of the Seas about a frightening experience when the cruise ship suddenly listed around four a.m. on February 28th. All of those individuals who contacted us simply wanted an explanation regarding what happened, and they were frustrated regarding the lack of factual
While reading cruise expert Dr. Ross Klein’s most excellent cruise site – Cruise Junkie – I found an excerpt of a letter written by a grandmother who was upset that her two grandchildren were booted from the Sapphire Princess cruise ship. As it turns out, security personnel reviewing the 
surveillance cameras spotted the kids throwing some food overboard.
Dr. Klein found
There are lots of interesting blogs out there, one of them being Kenneth Cole’s Awareness Blog, which contains an article "Cruise Boat Docks in Haiti." It has the following political cartoon by Mikhaela Reid at her Flickr page, which pretty much sums up my view of spending several thousands of dollars to sail on
In 1986, Royal Caribbean shook hands with the tyrant Baby Doc Duvalier (middle photo) to seal a deal where it obtained exclusive control of 260 acres of sovereign waterfront land from Haiti. 
Royal Caribbean trademarked it’s new "private island" – "Labadee®" – derived from the name of the 1600’s French plantation baron and slave owner Marquis de La’Badie. It then erected a 12
An Israeli business newspaper Globes Online reports on an unusual defense asserted by a Microsoft distributor in litigation pending against it by Microsoft in a business lawsuit pending in Israel.
Microsoft sued one of its distributors, EIM Computerized Technologies Ltd. (EIM), in Tel Aviv after its business relationship with EIM soured. Microsoft claimed that EIM’s refusal to participate in certain unnamed "activities" during
Royal Caribbean’s crisis management team remains in over-drive as the international press continues to focus on the incongruity of tens of thousands of affluent U.S. citizens sailing to Royal Caribbean’s "private destination" in Labadee, as Haiti remains in turmoil.
Over the weekend even the Arab news station Al Jazerra sent a film crew to Labadee to
Marketing sex on cruise ships has been around ever since the Love Boat television program which I watched in the 1970’s. OK I admit it. I had a crush on Julie McCoy – "Your Cruise Director" – as she introduced herself. Her line in every show "Hi! I’m your cruise director" – was too much for most young boys to handle.
The show
Today the Internet is a buzz regarding Royal Caribbean’s much touted $65 million dollar settlement with Rolls Royce – the manufacturer of the "Mermaid pod-propulsion system" on Celebrity Cruises’ Millennium-class ships. The pods were installed on four Celebrity ships – Millennium, Summit, Infinity and Constellation.
Royal Caribbean sent out a new release today on PR NewsWire regarding
I come from a family of prolific readers. My Dad has read every Louis L’Amour book ever written. My Mom started my brother, sister and me out on the Hobbitt when we were little kids. She bought me J.R.R. Tolkin’s Lord of the Rings Trilogy when I was 9 years old (its still sitting in my home office, mostly unread).
My Mom
TIME magazine’s not-yet-published December 14th edition contains a story about Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas called “Floating Island.”
I thought that the title of the article was rather weak. “Floating Foreclosure” might be more accurate . . .
The best line in the article – to cruise lines, every passenger is a
Tim Adams of the U.K.’s Observer is one of hundreds of travel writers invited aboard Royal Caribbean’s new mega-liner Oasis of the Seas.
Unlike the majority of cruise groupies who have gushed praise for the mega-ship, Mr Adams’ article is not exactly what the executives of Royal Caribbean were hoping for.
The article is entitled "Oasis
The San Francisco Chronicle is a great newspaper. Like the L.A. Times, it has an endless staff of intellectually curious, bright journalists instilled with an ethic of investigative journalism of the likes 
of super-journalist Douglas Franz. All qualities which our newspapers here in South Florida are sorely missing.
Miami Herald – An Enabler of the "Greed of the Seas"
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