Photo of Jim Walker

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.

In most cases involving overboard passengers and crew, the cruise line faces criticism that it failed to respond quickly to the emergency.  Cruise lines are often guilty of trying to bamboozle the passengers after-the-fact and act like nothing happened.

So with the recent tragedy of a crew member jumping overboard from Royal Caribbean’s Radiance of the Seas, we were expecting the usual criticisms from

Cruise Ship DrugsBBC News reports that a cruise passenger was jailed for seven years for smuggling 1.5 kilos of cocaine into the United Kingdom. 

The UK Border Agency arrested cruise passenger Ben Hartland as he disembarked the Black Watch cruise ship in Southampton last November.  He was busted after the custom officers found the drugs in his "rucksack."

BBC News has a less than flattering photo of the

Today marks the four year anniversary of the death of Richard Liffridge, who died during a vacation cruise on March 23, 2006 when the cruise ship caught fire.

Mr. Liffridge was a devoted husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather.  After 20 years of honorable military service, he retired from the United States Air Force.  His Air Force

The cruise industry is preparing to fight against clean air regulations which will protect the U.S. and Canada from the nasty bunker fuels burned by hundreds of cruise ships.

Reuters reports that the International Maritime Organization (IMO) is proposing a plan to create a buffer zone around the U.S. and Canada which will require low emissions from cruise ships. 

Stein Kruse Scold Alaskan Governor ParnellEarlier this week, I attended the "Cruise Shipping Miami" convention here in Miami and reported on the threats against Alaska’s Governor Parnell leveled by Holland American Lines’ CEO Stein Kruse to pull HAL cruise ships from Alaska. (photo courtesy Travel Agent Central)

As we all know, HAL is wholly owned by Carnival and Kruse reports directly to Carnival CEO and multi-billionaire Mickey

A reader sent us a link to the photograph below which, if you have been following our blog for the past month, you should recognize is the site of the tragic cruise excursion bus accident in Tortola in February.  One young man died and several other passengers from a Princess Cruises cruise ship were injured as the bus sped down "Windy Hill"

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reports that 406 of the 1829 passengers (22.1%) aboard Celebrity’s Mercury cruise ship have reported fever, vomiting, and/or diarrhea.  These CDC statistics are based entirely on the information provided by the cruise line.

In the past week, we have received information from crew members that although they were sick, they were required

The Celebrity Mercury cruise ship returned to port in Charleston South Carolina today with over 400 sick passengers.  The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reports that 406 of the 1829 passengers (22.1%) have reported fever, vomiting, and/or diarrhea.

Unlike the last two cruises where the CDC determined that norovirus caused the outbreak, the CDC has not yet determined

ABC’s Good Morning America (GMA) discusses Celebrity Cruises’ sick cruise ship, the Mercury, in this morning’s program. 

The Mercury has been hit with three continuous outbreaks of sickness which has plagued hundreds of passengers.  We have covered the outbreaks in prior articles

GMA begins its show by describing the Mercury as the "cruise ship which

The popular Italian TV Show "Chi l’ha Visto?" featured the story of Angelo Faliva last night.

Mr. Faliva was a healthy, happy and well-liked chef aboard the Coral Princess cruise ship when he "disappeared" on the high seas near Columbia last November.  The cruise line is content with throwing its hand up and claiming "we don’t know what happened"

The hometown newspaper for missing crew member Angelo Faliva, reports that the popular Italian program "‘Chi l’ha Visto?" will again feature the mysterious circumstances surrounding the disappearance of young Mr. Faliva from the Coral Princess cruise ship operated by Princess Cruises.   

Cremona On Line’s website states:

"Questa sera a ‘Chi l’ha visto?’ sarà trattato il caso di Angelo Faliva, il

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has issued a rare no-sail advisory for Celebrity Cruises’ Mercury cruise ship.  The CDC has instructed Celebrity not to sail the sick cruise ship until Sunday in order to permit its inspectors to investigate the ongoing outbreaks of gastrointestinal illness. 

Over the course of the last month, hundreds of passengers have become sick on the Mercury over

Celebrity Cruises’ disastrous string of "diarrhea-cruises" out of South Carolina continues with the cruise line’s decision to return the Mercury to port in Charleston a day early.

USA Today’s Cruise Log reports that sickness has marred three straight voyages in "Celebrity to End Cruise Out of Charleston Early as Outbreak Continues."  Royal Caribbean indicates that