From time to time, I receive an email or a Tweet from someone tired of hearing negative comments about the cruise industry. I hear you. Trust me, I’m as tired of tweeting or blogging about bad things that happen on cruise ships as you may be hearing about them.
Usually, the tweet is something like – Do you
Paul Ash, who writes columns for the Times Live in Johannesburg under the name “The Wanderer,” addresses the issue of violence by cruise passengers in an interesting article entitled “Punch-Ups and Brawls on Cruise Ships: Whose Fault is it Anyway?”
The article mentions what is described as a “mini-rampage” on the P&O cruise
Seven years after passenger Dianne Brimble died after ingesting a date rape drug aboard P & O Cruises’ Pacific Sky in 2002, the jury has finally retired to consider its verdict.
Australian citizen and fellow passenger Mark Wilhelm is accused of the manslaughter death of Ms. Brimble after he allegedly gave her the drug Gamma Hydroxybutyrate ("GHB") during a cruise aboard the
In April 2008, I attended the Congressional Victim’s Rights Awards Caucus Ceremony in Washington, D.C. One of my clients and good friends, Laurie Dishman, was being 
honored by the Caucus. Ms. Dishman had been raped on a Royal Caribbean cruise ship. The cruise line mistreated her following the shipboard crime.
Ms. Dishman became a zealous advocate for rape victims after experiencing first-hand how the cruise line treated
The Clinical Infectious Disease Journal issued a report yesterday after studying why norovirus infection outbreaks occur frequently on cruise ships.
The results were quite telling. Cruise lines always blame the passengers whenever a norovirus outbreak sickens a cruise ship. Some cruise lines know when they have a “sick ship” on their hands. Yet, the cruise
ABC News in Australia reports that police are investigating a sexual assault which occured on the cruise ship Pacific Sun operated by Princess Cruises’ sister company P & O Cruises. The alleged crime took place on the P & O cruise ship during a seven day cruise of the South Pacific near Noumea. Australian police boarded the Pacific Sun when the ship
I read an interesting articleby a staff writer for the Take Part Blog about nasty discharges by cruise ships. The article is entilted "Cruise Ship Environmental Report Card Grim."
Hamida Kinge was a 2008/09 Environmental Reporting Fellow for the Metcalf Institute for Marine and Environmental Reporting and a 2009 Fellow at the Scripps Howard Institute on the
A Canadian newspaper reports that a crew member from Indonesia will soon find out whether he will serve additional jail time for possession of child pornography. Crew member Hendri Dharmawan, age 29, was working as a pastry chef on the Carnival Triumph when he was arrested September 1 in Halifax. He has been in a Nova Scotia jail for the
In a prior article, I discussed how cruise lines can report on breaking news by using social media applications like Twitter and Twitpic and manage their reputations in the process.
Twitter was the first to report the collision between Carnival and Royal Caribbean’s cruise ships at port in Cozumel. Neither Carnival nor Royal Caribbean used
In an article in today’s Miami Herald entitled "Carnival’s Plan to Switch Port of Call Upsets Antigua," the newspaper reports that Carnival has dropped Antigua and Barbuda from its regular seven night Southern Caribbean cruise itinerary.
Antigua’s tourism minister, John Maginley, told the Herald that Carnival informed him of their decision via e-mail:
There was no
Cruise lines which are in touch with their market understand the need to be versed with all aspects of Social Media 2.0. Twitter, FaceBook, Flickr, and YouTube all present an inexpensive and highly effective way to get a company’s message out to the public. This is particularly important in times of crisis management, such when a fire breaks out or a bout of swine
The so-called "Alaska Cruise Association" (more properly called the Miami Cruise Association) has been caught exaggerating the effects of Alaska’s $50 per person "head tax."
The Juneau Empire reports in an article by Pat Forgey entitled "Attack On A Tax" that the cruise industry is misleading the public. Cruise lines claim that cruise prices have dropped as low as $300, and the $50 tax is driving passengers away
The criminal trial arising from the death of P & O Cruises’ passenger, Dianne Brimble, has now seen another witness suddenly forget incriminating details surrounding Ms. Brimble’s death.
In a previous article, I commented on the phenomenon of "crawfishing" witness, who like crawfish crawling back into a hole, backpedal from the truth when placed under pressure.
Today, the trial included another one of the "8
I first became intrigued with Twitter when I watched President Obama’s State of the Union speech in February of this year. The galley was filled with people twittering away on their Blackberries and iphones, sending out their own spin on the President’s speech. CNN covered the story and added their own perspective via @CNN.
In 2004, The Miami New Times interviewed me as part of an investigation into how cruise lines treat their crew members once they become ill or injured. The article was entitled "Screwed If By Sea – Cruise Lines Throw Workers Overboard When It Comes to Providing Urgent Medical Care."
The article focused on
Last week’s news stories regarding Princess Cruises’ passenger Ms. Edelgard Carney ended sadly with a report from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police that she committed suicide. A Canadian newspaper wrapped up the story with an article entitled: "Cruise Ship Mystery Ends in Suicide Finding."
By this weekend, the public’s focus seems to have evolved from a discussion of cruise ship mysteries
Earlier this month, I announced that I will be awarding the "Worst Cruise Line in the World" award to the cruise line demonstrating the worst in gross negligence and indifference towards passenger and crew member health and safety. This will be a monthly award.
Over the past month, we have received many e-mails nominating a variety of cruise lines and a
Neighbors of Ms. Edelgard Carney who disappeared from the Princess Cruises’ Sapphire Princess indicate that she never intended to return home once she left California.
Vancouverite, a newspaper in Vancouver, Canada, reports that Ms. Carney sold her $300,000 house to the Catholic Church for just $125,000, left her furniture and disposed of her personal belongings.
