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Earlier this week, I attended the "Cruise Shipping Miami" convention here in Miami and reported on the threats against Alaska’s Governor Parnell leveled by Holland American Lines’ CEO Stein Kruse to pull HAL cruise ships from Alaska. (photo courtesy Travel Agent Central)
As we all know, HAL is wholly owned by Carnival and Kruse reports directly to Carnival CEO and multi-billionaire Mickey
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
