The last thing that a family going on vacation wants to think of is being victims of crime. Cruise lines spend literally hundreds of millions of dollars a year creating idyllic illusions of tropical vacations on beautiful Caribbean beaches. But behind that slick marketing facade lies danger.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime recently
The captain of the sunken ferry Korean ferry Sewol reportedly was one of the first to abandon ship and make it safely to shore.
Only one of the 47 lifeboats were deployed. The abandon ship order was not made until 30 minutes after the ferry began to sink.
There are around 275 people, mostly teenagers
The last two weeks has been an eye opener for knowledgeable tourists thinking of traveling to Roatan. A cruise line employee was gunned down near the port. The bloody death was widely reported in the local newspapers which published gruesome photographs of the dead crew member.
As a result, a major cruise line temporarily pulled
Earlier this morning we posted an article on Facebook about a terrible maritime disaster involving a South Korean ferry carrying 462 passengers and crew members.
The ferry is the Sewol and was carrying hundreds of school children. The official count was 325 students and 14 teachers
The ferry was sailing south to the resort island of
The Nassau Tribune reports on a criminal hearing last weekend in the Bahamas after five cruise ship passengers from two different ship were arrested for possessing small amounts of marijuana. The five passengers each had between one and five grams of pot. I’m told that’s enough pot for a couple of joints.
A 28 year
A number of people have sent me links to news sources in Roatan indicating that the local police arrested a 20 year old islander, identified as Cory Lee Beckner, as a suspect in the robbery of several cruise passengers and tourists.
Teledifusora Insular indicates that the young man is the son of the owner of Palm
The Telegraph reports that Cruising Excursions, a company which operates tours exploring Roatan’s "fishing villages, mangroves, iguana farms and beaches," announced that it is canceling its tours on the island.
An excursion company representative said that “a string of reports of robberies, violence against visitors and now this horrific murder have forced us to suspend
A newspaper in Brazil reports that the police arrested crew members on a cruise ship who were smuggling 100 pounds of cocaine.
The Globo newspaper identified the cruise ship as the M/S Empress, owned by Royal Caribbean and operated by the Royal Caribbean brand Pullmantur.
The police officers arrested Honduran crew members after finding
This week has been a public relations disaster for the cruise lines and the travel industry.
A Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) crew member from the Norwegian Pearl was gunned down in Roatan after he walked off the ship to call his wife and check on his child back in the Philippines (suspect photo below right).
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has documented passengers sailing on Royal Caribbean’s Grandeur of the Seas out of Baltimore have been sickened on two consecutive cruises.
The CDC website reflects that 97 passengers and 8 crew members on the Grandeur of the Seas became ill with vomiting and diarrhea. It left April
This week I have read a couple of articles about the Cruise Lines International Association’s (CLIA) "Cruise 3 Sixty" conference in Fort Lauderdale. I read an article in the Sun Sentinel (Cruise Execs Talk About Industry’s Future) and an article in Travel Weekly (CEOs Say Cruise Lines Must Wow Travelers).
CLIA’s Christine Duffy
The BBC reports that a British citizen from Winnipeg, Canada was shot and killed while visiting the Bahamas earlier this week.
56 year old Edgar Dart was visiting his mother in Emerald Bay, Grand Bahama after his father died. The BBC says that around 7:00 AM on Tuesday, a masked gang of three robbers broke
Multiple news sources are reporting that an outbreak of a gastrointestinal illness has stricken "at least 66 passengers and 17 crew members" aboard Princess Cruises’ Crown Princess.
A spokesperson for Princess Cruises says that the nasty digestive bug is likely norovirus.
There have been 6 prior gastrointestinal outbreaks on cruise ships calling on U.S.
A number of news sources are reporting that the national police and special forces in Honduras arrested a suspect last night for the murder of the Norwegian Cruise Line crew member in Roatan.
The Honduran newspaper Tiempo reports that an arrest of Guzman Ramirez has been made in the murder of NCL assistant cook "Jacob."
A Harris Poll released today reveals that the public has a lack of confidence in the reliability and safety of the cruise lines. Although the cruise industry was improving the public’s perception of cruising, the numerous norovirus outbreaks aboard cruise line ships this year seem to have "effectively stolen the wind from the industry’s collective
Last month Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) pulled its cruise ships out of Tunis after Tunisian officials at the port prohibited Israeli passengers from entering the country.
It could have been confusion over visa and immigration issues, but NCL issued a stern public statement condemning what it perceived as discrimination against its Jewish clients.
“We
This evening we received reliable information that a Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) crew member was shot and killed in Roatan, Honduras earlier today.
The crew member reportedly was from NCL’s Norwegian Pearl cruise ship.
The only information we received is that a Pearl crew member named "Jacob" from the Philippines was killed by a gunshot
.jpg)
The Italian publication Medi Telegraph reports that the MSC cruise ship, Preziosa, collided with a large passenger walkway at the port of Venice.
The newspapers in Italy, such as La Nuova, refer to the pedestrian corridors at the maritime station as "fingers" which provide access to the upper decks of the cruise ship..
