Yesterday, Travel Pulse published an "interview" of Christine Duffy, the incoming president of the Cruise Line International Association ("CLIA"). CLIA is the cruise industry’s trade organization responsible for promoting the cruise lines’ interests and lobbying Congress.
We have written a few articles about CLIA and their Pravda-like view of the facts regarding the cruise industry. We were hoping
A temporary power outage on Cunard’s Queen Mary 2 in September was caused by the "catastrophic failure of a capacitor and explosion in an 11kV harmonic filter" on the vessel, according to the U.K.’s Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) which issued a marine safety report yesterday.
On September 23rd, the Queen Mary 2 was approaching Barcelona early in the morning when
This was a historic week in the world of cruising.
Congress passed the Cruise Vessel and Safety Act, which will help make cruising safer for U.S. families. Cruise lines will be required to install peepholes in cabin doors, maintain anti-retroviral medications and rape kits for victims, improve crime evidence handling procedures and – for the first time in
Today, the House of Representatives passed a bill – H.R. 5503 (also known as the SPILL Act) – which will amend the Death on the High Seas Act (DOHSA). H.R. 5503 will permit the widows and children of the oil rig workers killed in the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster to be compensated for their grief, mental anguish and suffering due to the deaths
As we suspected, the Cruise Line International Association (CLIA) is working behind the scenes to derail efforts to amend the Death On The High Seas Act (DOHSA).
Yesterday we obtained a copy of a letter (below) sent by CLIA to Congressional representatives in Florida. CLIA is trying to rally opposition against H.R. 5503 which will permit widows and children recover compensation for their grief and
Mother Jones published an interesting article this morning by Stephanie Mencimer, "Will the Cruise Industry Do BP’s Dirty Work?" about how the cruise line lobbyists may join forces with BP to help the oil company dodge liability for the eleven workers killed on the Transocean drilling rig.
You see the drilling rig is considered to be a
A local ABC affiliate in Boston WCVB TV5 recently aired a special investigation into the issue of cruise ship crime: "Crimes On Cruise Ships Often Not Reported – Local Victims Hope Laws At Sea Change."
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The ABC affiliate accurately concludes that cruise lines are not required to report crimes on cruise ships in international waters. The
A handful of recent stories have shed light unwanted light on the image-conscious cruise industry. Cruise lines like Carnival and Royal Caribbean spend hundreds of millions of dollars a year to paint pictures of care free vacations. But here are some stories published in the last few days which make you realize that the fun-filled family cruise may a bit different than
Today Business Week published an article "Cruise Trade Group Spends $400K on 4Q Lobbying" which is re-printed, unedited, as follows:
"Cruise Lines International Association spent almost $400,000 in the fourth quarter to lobby on security and environmental issues along with other matters, according to a recent disclosure report.
The trade group that represents
When I was in high school in the early 1970’s, my prep school provided students with an opportunity to read the English version of the Russia newspaper Pravda. The thought was that we 
should be reading every perspective to develop a complete understanding of international issues.
Officially referred to as the "Organ of the Central Committee of the Communist
Congressman Bobby Scott (D-VA) has introduced an amendment to the Death on the High Seas Act ("DOHSA") to permit families to recover reasonable compensation when a loved one dies in international waters.
DOHSA Is Unfair to Passengers
As matters now stand, a cruise line is the only place in the world where a child or a retired
Lawyers USA (@LawyersUSA) just published an interesting article entitled "Federal Cruise Ship Bill Pending in Congress but Plaintiff’s Lawyers Say Measure doesn’t Hold Water." Written by Sylvia Hsieh, the article discusses what’s new in the specialized field of cruise ship litigation.
The article features our firm and our clients and friends.
Cruise Crime
The article first mentions
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
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
KTUU Channel 2 in Anchorage Alaska reports that the cruise industry has filed suit to avoid paying Alaska’s head count tax. In an article entitled "Sources: Cruise Ship Industry Files Suit Over Head Tax," Channel 2 reports that cruise lines are trying to avoid the $46 infrastructure tax levied at Alaska ports which the cruise ships use. The cruise industry
For the past many years, I have watched cruise lines respond to each disappearance at sea by blaming the passenger.
Selling Dreams of Carefree Vacations
Cruise lines like Carnival and Royal Caribbean spend hundreds of millions of dollars a year to create the illusion of carefree vacation getaways where hard working Americans can relax, let
Over the course of 26 years practicing maritime law, I have seen some remarkably bad conduct by cruise lines. Covering up crimes, abandoning injured passengers in foreign ports, or quickly concluding that "missing passengers" committed "suicide" are just a few examples. I have kept a list of what I consider the most outrageous moments in cruise line history.
If you are retired or a child and die on a cruise ship due to the cruise ship’s negligence, the cruise line will consider your life to be worthless under current maritime law.
Your family will face a law called the Death on the High Seas Act, commonly known as “DOHSA.” In 1920, Congress
