An article today by Wolfgang H. Thome of eTurboNews (ETN) raises two disturbing scenarios:
1. It is only a matter of time before Somali pirates hijack a cruise ship, and
2. There are no plans in place to rescue the passengers when this happens.
The article is entitled "Somali Piracy – a Problem from Hell – What is the Naval Coalition Doing
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
Yesterday, U.S. Customs and Border Protective Services arrested a rape suspect who had flown to Miami to go on a Carnival cruise aboard the Destiny.
The Georgetown Times newspaper reports that 32-year-old Tyrone Green has been on the run for two years after he allegedly brutally attacked and raped a 77-year-old woman in her home
A report entitled "Getting a Grip on Cruise Pollution" released today by the Friends of the Earth (FOE) organization concludes that the billions of dollars earned by the cruise industry 
each year comes at a significant cost to our nation’s air and water.
The report was researched and authored by Ross Klein, a Professor
The Associated Press and an Italian newspaper are reporting that a crew member employed by Princess Cruises aboard the Coral Princess cruise ship "disappeared" on either November 25th or 26th.
The AP article is entitled "Italian Chef Missing at Sea on Caribbean Cruise."
The Italian newspaper Leggo Cronaca’s article is entitled "GIALLO SU NAVE
Over the last four years, there have been an incredible number of high profile stories regarding the cruise industry: the "missing honeymooner" case of George Smith IV on Royal Caribbean’s Brilliance of the Seas, the cover-up of Merrian Carver’s disappearance from Celebrity Cruises’ Mercury cruise ship, and the case of Laurie Dishman who, after she was sexually assaulted, was handed a trash
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 fall-out from last Saturday’s robbery of 18 Royal Caribbean and Disney cruise passengers on the Segway Tour at "Earth Village" continues. The Tribune, Bahama Journal, and Nassau Guardian newspapers have reported daily 
on the crime spree in the Bahamas and the inability of the government to do anything about it.
Fort Lauderdale’s Sun Sentinel newspapers also recently
Those of you who have followed my blog over the last three months know that I have been hard on Royal Caribbean. I think that this cruise line treats its injured crew members terribly, and it has 
handled the problem with sexual assaults on its cruise ships even worse. I also think the Oasis of the Seas is
The Tribune newspaper in the Bahamas reports that two men wielding shotguns robbed 18 cruise passengers who were on cruise sponsored eco-tours on Saturday.
The passengers were from cruise ships operated by Disney and Royal Caribbean cruise lines. They were part of two groups touring the "Earth Village," which is a preserve.
The Nassau Guardian also reported on the brazen robbery and other robberies this
Last night, a member of the one of the leading online cruise communities – CruiseCritic – contacted me about a cruise line passenger who had been harassed and battered by a cabin attendant in 
her cabin. This was far from a rape, but it certainly sounds like something other than a "cultural misunderstanding."
Some of the CruiseCritic members supported the passenger and made some
The U. S. Coast Guard reports via its Twitter page @uscoastguard that the Coast Guard Air Station Miami helped rescue a 62-year-old man who went overboard from the Silver Shadow cruise ship last night.
Passenger Ronald Shulman went overboard about 20 miles east of Miami at around 3:00 a.m. last night. He was initially located by the crew
U.K. ‘s Mail Online has an informative article in its Sunday edition today addressing the use of bunker fuels by cruise ships and other large shipping vessels entitled "How 16 Ships Create As Much Pollution As All The Cars In The World."
I wrote about the cruise industry’s use of bunker fuels in a blog
At this moment, the Oasis of the Seas is sailing with newspaper reporters, travel writers, cruise bloggers, and other cruise enthusiasts. They are tweeting their observations on Twitter under the hashtag #oasis.
One of the tweters is @johnnyjet who has a nice travel portal called JohnnyJet.com. He posted a photograph of the Royal
AF Family.com in Phoenix, Arizona reports on the story of the family of Merrian Carver, a 40 year old who "disappeared" from a cruise ship. The cruise line, Royal Caribbean, tried to cover the incident 
up. The Carver family fought back.
And won.
We have commented on the Carver family’s struggle and other "disappearances" in a prior article.
On Thursday, a Los Angeles Federal Court jury acquitted a headwaiter working for Princess Cruises of sexually assaulting a woman passenger during a cruise on the Coral Princess.
A woman from Kansas City accused Princess Cruises crew member Jorge Manuel Teixeira (from Portugal) of sexually assaulting her during a cruise last March between Fort Lauderdale and Los Angeles, while the ship was at sea
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"
I
Today, six crew members filed a lawsuit seeking compensation for injuries sustained when the Maersk Alabama was hijacked by Somali pirates in April. The crew members sued Maersk Line 
Ltd., the operator of the vessel, and Waterman Steamship Corp., the crewing company which hired them. They are seeking damages for physical and mental injuries and loss of income.
The seaman allege that Maersk failed to
