A week ago we discussed a controversy which erupted in Brazil when around 60 bathers on Turtle Beach in the beautiful resort town of Buzios became ill. Government officials suspected that a cruise ship discharged noxious liquids and waste into the waters. 

A newspaper in Brazil, Globo, covered the story and posted aerial photographs of

Like any employee, crew members are not immune from being terminated. But termination on a cruise ship is a bit different from being fired at a regular job. It’s like being fired and kicked out of your apartment all at once.

Better known as the "6 AM knock," crew members wake up to the ship’s

In 2006, Alaskan citizens sent a clear message to the cruise industry that cruise ships could not treat the beautiful waters of Alaska like a toilet.  

Seven years ago Alaskan voters approved legislation that prohibited cruise ships from discharging "untreated sewage, treated sewage, graywater or other wastewaters in a manner that violates any applicable

Do you know this former Royal Caribbean crew member?

He’s on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s "Most Wanted" List. Here’s the story:

In 1993, Michael Evangelos Psomadakis was the chief engineer aboard RCCL’s Nordic Empress cruise ship which routinely discharged oil into the water. But the Nordic Empress was no island to itself.  RCCL’s

The San Jose Mercury News reports that the Obama administration will enforce a California law designed to prohibit cruise ships from dumping any kind of sewage — even highly filtered wastewater — along California’s coast out to three miles from shore.

California will now have among the strictest laws in the nation limiting pollution from large ships.

The Juneau Empire reports that Alaska just weakened its wastewater regulations at the cruise industry’s request.  Cruise ships are now permitted to dump greater amount of ammonia (from fecal matter), copper, nickel and zinc in Alaska’s pristine waters.

The newspaper reports that the cruise industry is "pleased" and  and "appreciates" the new wastewater discharge rules.

The cruise