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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.

Cruising for Trouble As the death toll increases in Tunis, the former Director of Princess Cruises says that cruise security was lax and the cruise lines failed to assess the danger associated with sailing passengers into Tunis.

Commander Mark Gaouette told IHS Maritime that cruise security measures for passengers should have been stronger.

"I believe the risk management

Anyone who has attended a Cruise Shipping Miami convention knows that cruise executives make comments which hype the cruise industry. 

It’s interesting to attend the convention and watch the cast of characters. Who will say the greatest whopper in their efforts to promote the cruise industry? The executives are all type A personalities, full of

Costa FascinosaNewspapers are reporting that several gunmen stormed a popular museum in Tunis, Tunisia today killing 17 tourists, as well as a police officer and Tunisian civilians. Some news accounts report that as many as two dozen people were also injured.

Two cruise ships were in port and had sent thousands of passengers into the city on

A passenger on the Carnival Triumph appears to have gone overboard last night.  

Carnival Cruise Director John Heald states on his Facebook page that "they are conducting a search and rescue – thoughts with the family at this time." 

The incident allegedly happened when the cruise ship was near Progreso, Mexico. 

Carnival TriumphThere is a

Carnical Poop CruiseTwo years ago, I wrote about the prospect of suing Carnival for the infamous Triumph “poop cruise” where an engine room fire knocked out the propulsion to the cruise ship and left the passengers and crew members with no air conditioning, over-flowing toilets, and other disgusting conditions.

“Unless you have a serious physical injury or

National Geographic Traveler magazine ombudsman Christopher Elliott is often asked to try and recover canceled cruise fares when passengers suffer serious illness, a death in the family or other misfortune.

All cruise passenger tickets contain draconian terms and conditions, drafted by the cruise line attorneys, which address what happens when a passenger is forced to

According to the SEC, Royal Caribbean CEO Richard Fain (below right) sold 87,488 shares of his RCL stock at an average price of $76.41, for a total value of $6,684,958.08.

After the transaction, cruise executive Fain still owns 1,139,613 shares of his cruise line stock valued at approximately $87,077,829.33.

I wrote a similar article

A newspaper in the Bahamas is reporting that a passenger from a Disney cruise ship drowned while visiting Disney’s private island Castaway Cay.

According to reports by the Tribune, on Thursday afternoon, a 38–year-old man from New York who was a passenger on board the Disney Wonder moored at Castaway Cay drowned while swimming. 

Castaway CayThe