The success of the Cruise Vessel Safety and Security Act of 2009 (HR 3360) can be traced directly to Congresswoman Doris Matsui of Sacramento California.
Congresswoman Matsui’s constituent, Laurie Dishman, called upon her three and one-half years ago after Ms. Dishman was a victim of a crime on a cruise ship operated by Royal Caribbean Cruises.
We have discussed
The House of Representatives passed the Cruise Vessel Security & Safety Act (HR 3360) today. This cruise bill was previously part of the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2009, but was voted on today as a ‘stand alone" bill to speed up its enactment.
Congress approved the bill by a resounding vote of 416 to 4.
A number of "All Star"
The New York Times just published two articles regarding outbreaks of norovirus on cruise ships and the unsanitary condition of cruise ship bathrooms. The article are entitled "Study Ties Restrooms to Illnesses on Cruises" and "When Illness Spoils the Cruise Vacation."
The Times is finally reporting on a study reported in the Clinical Infectious Disease Journal over
Royal Caribbean’s new "Genesis" class cruise ship, Oasis of the Seas, arrived this morning in Port Everglades (Fort Lauderdale, Florida).
It looks big.
Here are two videos. The first by the Miami Herald shows the arrival of the cruise ship in port. The second by CBS News, featuring Peter Greenberg, is an introductory piece.
Prayers for
Over the past week, those of you who read my blog but don’t Twitter missed the remarkable phenomenon of bickering between a small group of travel bloggers invited by Princess Cruises to promote cruising under the hash tag #followmeatsea – and a larger group of green travelers who could not stomach the wow-cruising-is-amazing tone of the tweets.
"Bickering" may be an understatement. The
Today I received a telephone call and two emails from crew members from Trinidad, India and Nicaragua.
Their stories all sounded the same.
They worked on cruise ships as a waiter or assistant waiter until they suffered back, shoulder or 
wrist injuries. After being sent home, they had to call and email the cruise line repeatedly before a medical appointment was
The Daily Breeze newspaper reports that the criminal trial has begun in Los Angeles of a Princess Cruises headwaiter who is accused of sexually assaulting a passenger from Kansas City.
Coral Princess Head Waiter – Sexual Predator or Family Man?
Princess crew member Jorge Manuel Teixeira, 39, from Portugal, is charged in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles
From time to time, Cruise Law News will have a guest blogger. Caitlin Burke is our first guest author. Ms. Burke is a recent graduate from the University of Florida. She majored in Recreation, Parks and Sport Management. Ms. Burke wrote a senior honor’s thesis entitled a "Qualitative Study of Victimization and Legal Issues Relevant to Cruise
The Daily Breeze newspaper reports that three ambulances and about 20 paramedics and rescue personnel were sent to a Royal Caribbean cruise ship in the Port of Los Angeles yesterday to treat three passengers with serious injuries and medical complications. This is an unusual story, given the large number of emergency response personnel involved.
The injuries occurred aboard
Royal Caribbean Cruises plans on using Falmouth, in Jamaica, as a port for its new monster of a cruise ship Oasis of the Seas. There is a concern in Jamaica that Royal Caribbean is exploiting it’s historic town in the process.
A Historic and Quaint "Colonial" Town – Sugar, Rum & Slaves
Falmouth is the chief town and capital
A 73-year-old cruise line tourist died after being shot by robbers in Santo Thomas de Castilla. The Latin American Herald Tribune identified the victim as Paul Wolfgang Ritter. There has been some confusion regarding his nationality, as different newspapers identified him as either a Dutch or German tourist.
Mr. Ritter was a passenger aboard a NCL cruise ship. Although the name of the ship
Professor Ross Klein’s CruiseJunkie website reports a passenger is missing from the Solstice cruise ship, operated by Celebrity Cruises. Another passenger notified the CruiseJunkie website 
that a passenger may have jumped from the cruise ship on November 6th:
I’m a passenger on Celebrity Solstice between Santorini and Naples. At 9PM local time tonight, a female passenger jumped purposefully from Deck 14. She
The Virginia Pilot newspaper reports that a passenger was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison for downloading child pornography.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents arrested passenger Timothy David Webb, 32, after he disembarked Royal Caribbean’s cruise ship 
Grandeur of the Seas at the Norfolk cruise ship terminal. Webb is a convicted sex offender and has a conviction in
A Court in Australia has scheduled a new trial in the trial of P & O Cruises passenger Mark Wilhelm who was charged with the manslaughter death of fellow passenger Dianne Brimble aboard the P & O cruise ship Pacific Sky.
In October, a jury failed to reach a verdict in the first trial.
The Crown charged Wilhelm of manslaughter of Ms. Brimble who died
When I was in high school in the early 1970’s, my prep school provided students with an opportunity to read the English version of the Russia newspaper Pravda. The thought was that we 
should be reading every perspective to develop a complete understanding of international issues.
Officially referred to as the "Organ of the Central Committee of the Communist
The Wall Street Journal reported today that Royal Caribbean Cruises’ third-quarter earnings fell 44% as ticket prices remained soft and the travel industry continued to slump. Royal Caribbean reported a third-quarter profit of a little over $230 million, down from around $412 million a year earlier.
In an article entitled "Royally Grounded," the Motley Fool put things in simpler terms, reporting that
A popular part of Cruise Law News is the monthly "Worst Cruise Line in the World" award. This is a special award, reserved only for the cruise line which demonstrates the worst treatment of passengers, crew members, and the environment.
And the Winner for October Is . . . Royal Caribbean Cruises.
A Little Background Info on Royal
A local news station in Phoenix Arizona, KPHO, aired an interview with Ken Carver whose daughter, Merrian, "disappeared" on a cruise ship operated by Royal Caribbean’s subsidiary, Celebrity Cruises. KPHO’s story is entitled "Valley Father Fights For Cruise Ship Safety."
The video of Mr. Carver’s interview can be viewed here.
