The Miami Herald reports today that Florida’s cruise ports are booming.

A report from the Florida Ports Council shows that Florida leads the nation in cruise operations.  13.5 million passengers embarked on cruises leaving Florida in 2011.  This figure accounts for 60 percent of all U.S. cruise embarkations. 

The combination of the Port of Miami, Port

Chinese Cruise Ship Strikes BridgeAnd here’s some weird cruise news from China.

A new cruise ship under tow in China struck a passenger bridge in eastern China, causing damage to the vessel’s funnels.    

According to the Xinhua News agency, the bizarre incident involved a newly constructed cruise ship, called the No. 7 Mingzhu Pearl cruise ship.

Four

Greenwich Magazine - Mystery at Seas - Murder of George Smith  A publishing company in Connecticut issued a press release today indicating that there is additional evidence to support the conclusion that George Smith was murdered during his honeymoon cruise in July of 2005. 

Greenwich Magazine indicates that its June edition will contain "new information released for the first time" which will provide additional proof that

Courthouse News reports today on a disturbing story regarding a cruise passenger’s death due to what is alleged to be delayed and inadequate shipboard medical care.

The story involves John and Victoria Showers who sailed from Miami on a Caribbean cruise aboard the Carnival Dream.

After leaving Miami, Ms. Showers complained of constipation. She went

Bad news for our friends in the Bahamas and cruise passengers intending to vacation there. 

The U.S. State Department’s 2012 "Crime and Safety Report" has labeled New Providence island’s (including Nassau) criminal threat level as "critical" with Grand Bahama’s island’s (including Freeport) level as "high."

"In previous years, most violent crimes involved mainly Bahamian

Closed circuit television (CCTV) video helped the Sun Cruz Casino defend a claim made by a passenger who staged a fake accident at the bottom of a stairwell on the ship.

The video shows an elderly man walking repeatedly up and down a stairwell, apparently rehearsing how the accident will unfold.  When no one is

There are lots of strange things that happen on cruise ships. I’ve written many articles about excessive alcohol consumption and aberrant conduct during cruises. I even created a category of "weird" cruise stories. 

This morning I read an article which fits squarely in the "weird" category.

The New York Post writes about about "two pals"

Its amusing to watch a cruise line caught in a scandal pretend to be outraged over “unfair” media scrutiny.

Royal Caribbean’s response to Inside Edition’s out-of-control cruise booze expose’ reminds me of the the quotation from Shakespeare’s Hamlet “The lady doth protest too much, methinks,” spoken by Queen Gertrude, Hamlet’s mother.

Last week, InsideEdition

After publishing Cruise Law News for the past two and one-half years, I decided to create a second blog: "Maritime Lawyer."   It will cover maritime issues and events which don’t involve cruise ships.  I registered MaritimeLawyer.com long, long ago and will be using that domain for the new blog.

My friends at LexBlog

A judge in the U.K. has sentenced a notorious child predator who filmed himself sexually abusing children on Cunard cruise ships to jail for four years.

Cunard child supervisor Paul Trotter, age 34, worked as a "play zone supervisor" on the Queen Victoria, Queen Elizabeth and Queen Mary II cruise ships where he sexually abused