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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.

Seabourne QuestA number of new sources are reporting that a woman went overboard from the Seabourn Quest this evening. The cruise ship had left Boston and was headed for Bar Harbor, Maine. 

The Glouster Times reports that a woman fell off the Seabourn cruise ship 10 miles off the Cape Ann coast tonight. The U.S. Coast Guard dispatched a

Carnival BreezeYesterday, while the cruise world was following the news of the fire aboard the Carnival Liberty, a cruise passenger went overboard from the Carnival Breeze.

Reportedly, a highly intoxicated passenger (people are saying 30 – 35 years of age) went overboard while the Carnival cruise ship was off the coast of Cuba.

Fortunately

Carnival LibertyThere are reports that the Carnival Liberty cruise ship sustained an engine room fire today.

The fire took place when the cruise ship was docked in St. Thomas USVI.  Cruise passengers were reportedly evacuated ashore, some wearing life vests.

John Heald, the popular blogging cruise director for Carnival, posted this statement in his Facebook page:

Independence of the SeasI received these comments today from a Royal Caribbean passenger:

"Just got off the Independence of the Seas. We had a medical emergency on 9/1 and headed full speed to San Juan because a woman gave birth to a little boy on Tuesday morning at 3am. According to the captain he told us on Friday that the

Coast Guard HelicopterI have been contacted by three cruise passengers stating that there have been medical emergencies and two evacuations during cruises,

The Oasis of the Seas had to turn around near the Cayman Islands at the beginning of the week, apparently because of a medical emergency involving a passenger.

Another person said that there was a

Sapphire PrincessInstead of hiring trained lifeguards in response to the drownings on the Sapphire Princess, Princess has tasked bartenders, dishwashers, and other crew members to add an hour of work each day to being "pool monitors" or "pool rovers".

The U.K.’s Maritime Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) recently criticized Princess after a passenger drowned on the Sapphire Princess.

Several crew members from the Vision of the Seas notified me that earlier this morning the cruise ship was involved in the rescue of 45 or 46 migrants.

The crew of the Vision provided food and water to all of the migrants.  It then transported the migrants on a tender boat to a nearby Greek

Today I received a message from a passenger aboard the Celebrity Equinox that the Equinox was skipping the port of Istanbul because of the threat of terrorism.

Gabriele Giambrone commented that "Celebrity Equinox canceled our planned stop in Istanbul tomorrow due to terrorist fears and high security alerts. We will be having a day at

Carnival Glory Overboard PassengerThere is a report of a "man overboard" this afternoon from the Carnival Glory cruise ship. 

A reader from Honduras listening to channel 16 heard the report and said that the Honduran Navy and locals were searching for a person overboard at certain coordinates in Honduran waters.

A person also notified me on my Facebook

I have written several dozen articles in the last several years about the high crime rate in Nassau.  The murder rate in the Bahamas is well over 30 per 100,000 compared to the U.S. murder rate of around 4.5 per 100,000. I have published articles about cruise passengers being raped and robbed ashore (29