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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.

Cayman News Service reports that three crew members were arrested for possession of two kilos of cocaine.  The cruise employees were from St. Vincent and Jamaica. 

As is often the case, the local police did not identify the name of the cruise ship or cruise line. 

The three cruise ships in port at the time of the arrest were Royal Caribbean’s Jewel of the Seas

A horrific crime occurred in Nassau involving a twenty-four year old Canadian woman cruising to the Bahamas. 

"Jane Doe" (whose name is being withheld to protect her confidentiality) cruised aboard Royal Caribbean’s Majesty of the Seas from Miami, leaving February 21st.   Jane Doe sailed with her father and friends.  The cruise ship docked in Nassau on February 23rd. 

While ashore the

Cruise Law News (CLN)’s readership exploded last month.  In February, our followers read 100,000 pages of CLN which remains the 10th most popular law blog in the U.S.  Here is what people are recently saying about Jim Walker and CLN:

"Top Maritime Lawyer" – ABA Journal.

"Top Cruise Lawyer" – USA Today.

"Prominent Private Practice Maritime

We are approaching the five year anniversary of the March 2006 Congressional hearings into the issue of crimes on cruise ships.  Due to the efforts of the newly formed International Cruise Victims (ICV) organization, Congress convened a hearing in March 2006 to investigate the disappearances of cruise passengers and the sexual assault of women during cruises.

Merrian Carver - Missing - Celebrity CruisesThe cruise industry was caught flat footed.  The ICV

One of the interesting things about having a blog is that there are programs which indicate how many viewers you have, how many pages they look at, and the countries where they are from.

For the first two weeks of this month alone, Cruise Law News (CLN) has been viewed over 62,000 times.  We have been the tenth most

Every so often, I will read an article which reminds me why I practice maritime law and represent crew members from around the world.  Here is an article from Miami’s New Times about several of our clients.  Although it was published several years ago, it reveals how cruise lines today mistreat crew members to try

Its been a while since I awarded my monthly "Worst Cruise Line in  the World" award.

But for one cruise line – Royal Caribbean – this year has been a such nightmare that it wins the first worst cruise line award for 2011 hands down.  

Last week started off with the disappearance of a 32 year old musician

Nelson Perez Torres - Murder - Monika MarkiewiczNelson Perez Torres, age 24, reportedly confessed to striking Royal Caribbean crew member Monika Markiewicz in the head with a rock and then throwing her into the ocean, according to the chief prosecutor of the Mexican state of Quintana Roo where Cozumel is located.

As we reported in a prior article, Ms. Monika Markiewicz, a 32-year-old Polish musician

The AP is reporting that a second person has died after arriving in Cozumel on Royal Caribbean’s Allure of the Seas cruise ship last Friday, February 4, 2011.  We previously reported on the death of Royal Caribbean crew member, Monika Markiewicz, whose body was recovered Saturday from the sea off of Cozumel and is believed to be the victim