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Jim Walker

Everything the cruise lines don’t want you to know” is the motto of Cruise Law News, authored by Jim Walker.

Jim is the founding partner of Walker & O’Neill, a Miami-based maritime law firm that has represented more than 2,500 clients, including survivors who testified before Congress on cruise ship safety.

Over the years I have learned that the single most critical factor that drives clients to our office is not when a cruise passenger has been injured or inconvenienced.  Stuff happens, and most people understand that.  But when a cruise line treats passengers poorly after injuring or inconveniencing them, that’s when our law firm’s telephone begins to ring.

Over 75% of

Welcome to Miami Nana!This past week I have received a few emails from Cruise Law News subscribers wondering why there have been no blogs for the past week. 

There certainly have been no shortage of interesting cruise stories.  Another public relations snafu by Royal Caribbean, a cruise ship collision, a couple of interesting legal cases, and even a

Yesterday, Paul Motter’s popular online cruise community "Cruisemates" published an interesting article entitled "Mainstream Media Stupidity over Cruising."  The article is about the weird and sad story of an irate and perhaps drunk father throwing his 7 year old son overboard during a cruise around a harbor in Southern California on a sight-seeing boat.   

Cruisemates was upset that

Yesterday, in the case of Lindo v. NCL, a federal appellate court entered a decision which further stripped the legal rights away from seriously injured cruise employees.   

The Lindo case is the latest decision which reflects that our judiciary has little concern for the rights of cruise employees outside of the U.S. 

Eight years ago the

Pavillion Queen - Sloane Briles - Overboard SonMultiple news sources are reporting that a passenger threw his 7 year old son overboard from the Pavillion Queen, which is being referred to as either a cruise ship or sight seeing boat.

The incident occurred yesterday afternoon, when Sloane Briles, age 35, was sailing on a sight seeing cruise in Newport  Harbor, California with his girlfriend and two sons, ages

The Juneau Empire published an interesting article this morning about how the cruise industry routinely ignores a U.S. law requiring the use of U.S. longshore workers to perform certain duties, such as operating tender boats and handling cargo and luggage.   

The newspaper reports that the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) plans to picket today over the practice of the cruise lines which refuse to utilize

Hurricane Irene has been the big story this week as the cruise lines juggled itineraries to keep their cruise ships out of Irene’s path.

The Right Way, and Wrong Way, to Abandon Families in a Foreign Port as a Monster Storm Approaches

Carnival and Royal Caribbean received a lot of press for leaving hundreds of passengers in

Man Overboard - George Smith - Cruise CrimeThis week I received a copy of a paperback book about the disappearance of George Smith IV during his honeymoon cruise on Royal Caribbean’s Brilliance of the Seas in July 2005.

The book is written by a reporter from the Greenwich Post, Joan Lownds, who covered the story from the beginning. 

The back cover of the book promises

The images of the "rebel forces" advancing into Tripoli mesmerized me this weekend.  It has been a surreal experience to see the "Green Square" in Tripoli filled with joyful Libyans celebrating the anticipated fall of Colonel Gaddafi. 

Tripoli LibyaIn 1965 my Dad took our family to Tripoli after he obtained a job as a geophysicist for a major U.S. oil company in Libya.  

Dad had

The Tribune newspaper in the Bahamas is reporting that a pleasure cruise  on board the Discovery cruise ship turned into terror and aggravation for hundreds of passengers when a bomb threat stopped the ship at night en route to Port Everglades in Ft. Lauderdale.  The incident began when Miami Dade Police Department received a 911 call around

Yesterday the Bermuda Sun reported on two additional drugs busts involving both cruise passengers and crewmembers.

The Bermuda Sun reports that yet another cruise passenger was arrested with a small amount of marijuana in his cabin.  This arrest involved a 48 year old US tourist who was arrested after Customs officers from Bermuda entered his cabin.  The cruise passenger

This year we have been reporting on the high number of arrests by the Bermuda customs officials of cruise ship passengers for small amounts of marijuana. 

A Pattern of Invading Cruise Cabins and Shaking U.S. Passengers Down for Money 

Bermuda Flag - Drug BustsAll of the cases fit into a pattern. 

After the cruise ship arrives in port, the passenger leave their

The cruise industry is struggling with its own form of "reefer madness" over the last month.  Here’s what has been happening in the weird world of cruise ship pot heads, dealers and smugglers.  

Bermuda Bust No. 1:   Earlier this week, customs agents in Bermuda arrested two Royal Caribbean crewmembers for importing cocaine into the islands on a

Cruise Line International Association CLIA Lobby CongressBusiness Week reports that the Cruise Lines International Association ("CLIA") spent $453,444 lobbying the federal government in the second quarter this year.

CLIA is the cruise industry’s trade organization which promotes the interests of the cruise industry. 

It lobbied Congress, the Department of Homeland Security, the State Department, and the U.S. Coast Guard on issues such as vessel