Carnival Cruise Line suddenly and unexpectedly canceled all future port stops to Antigua, according to the AntiguaNewsRoom today. Carnival’s announcement comes two weeks after Antigua Prime Minister Gaston Browne accused the Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association (“FCCA”) of “exploiting the region.”
As reported by the Daily Observer on February 26th, Prime Minister Browne accused the association of
Three and a-half years ago, I wrote about a large fine leveled against Royal Caribbean for violating labor rules and regulations while the Oasis of the Seas was dry-docked in the Netherlands. Dutch labor inspectors had arrived at the shipyard in Rotterdam and found that numerous employees who were working on the Royal Caribbean cruise
In a media blitz, Royal Caribbean recently announced that it plans a massive overhaul of its "private island," CocoCay, in the Bahamas.
USA Today reported that Royal Caribbean’s will spend $200,000,000 for what is described as a "massive makeover" of its private destination in the Bahamas that will include the addition of one of the
The BBC reports that Brazilian police boarded a MSC cruise ship and rescued 11 crew members working in "slave-like conditions."
Brazilian officials say that the 11 crew members were forced to work up to 16 hours a day on the MSC Magnifica. Some of the crew members were subjected to sexual harassment.
The Brazilian
Last week, I reported on a Filipino crew member who apparently jumped off of the Grand Princess cruise ship after it left San Francisco. The 34 year old man was the fifth person to go overboard in the last 18 days.
Although Princess did not notify the Coast Guard until approximately two hours after the
I have written around 1,500 articles about the cruise industry on this blog.
I’ve covered the issues which are important to me, like the negative environmental impact caused by cruise ships which dump raw sewage into the water and belch toxic high-sulfur smoke into the air. Like the exploitation of vulnerable citizens of India and
The AP published an article today regarding the plight of Falmouth. The world’s biggest cruise ships are sucking most of the money out of the Jamaican port and leaving little behind except crushed expectations of the local community.
“World’s Biggest Cruise Ships Drop Anchor in Caribbean, But Ship-to-Shore Feud Brews Over Cash” takes
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Today I read an interesting case analysis from the Journal of Business Case Studies (May/June 2012), which studied the business model of the second largest cruise company in the world, Royal Caribbean Cruises, Ltd.
The article is entitled "Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.: Innovation At A Cost?" (click on the pdf link)
The article
Jamaica’s Gleaner newspaper reports that the average amount of money spent by a cruise ship passenger in Jamaica has dropped to just $71.
The hardest hit Jamaican port has been Falmouth where Royal Caribbean convinced the county of Jamaica to spend over $160,000,000 so far to develop the port (at great destruction to
In May we reported on exploitative labor practices by Carnival subsidiary P&O Cruises.
In Profits Over People: Carnival’s Exploitation of Crew Members is Standard Industry Practice, we explained how P&O decided to pay its crewmembers a basic salary of 75 pence an hour (approximately $1.20 an hour / $400 a month). The company phased out
A newspaper in the Bahamas published an interesting article quoting the newly appointed tourism minister, Obie Wilchcombe, in the Bahamas: Cruise ships are " . . . floating shopping malls now, casinos and hotels. The Caribbean made a mistake 20 years ago when they didn’t limit what cruise ships could do; now the cruise ships own the
A dozen newspapers in the U.K. have reported on P&O Cruises’ decision to pay its crewmembers a basic salary of 75 pence an hour (around $1.20 an hour) which turns out to be approximately $400 a month. Cash tips are being phased out with automatic gratuities being added to the passengers’ bills. But rather than
In an article last month, we reported that Royal Caribbean is threatening Rockland Maine after the quaint town increased its port call fee to $6 per passenger.
Rockland is proposing a modest $2 port development fee and a dockage fee of $4 which reflect the actual costs to the city associated with accommodating large cruise
Cruise Critic ran an article a couple of weeks ago about the Top 10 Reasons To Cruise. I responded with my article "Top Ten Reasons Not To Cruise." I previously addressed the first six reasons not to cruise, which are at the bottom of this article.*
The purpose of this series is not to convince you not to cruise, but to educate consumers
A fascinating article appeared in USA Today’s Cruise Blog by Gene Sloan – "Titans of the Cruise Industry See Their Net Worth Soar."
This is an amazing article reporting on the Forbes 400 richest people in the U.S., which includes Carnival fat cat billionaires Mickey Arison, Royal Caribbean’s Pritzker family, and entrepreneur Leon
Royal Caribbean Cruises plans on using Falmouth, in Jamaica, as a port for its new monster of a cruise ship Oasis of the Seas. There is a concern in Jamaica that Royal Caribbean is exploiting it’s historic town in the process.
A Historic and Quaint "Colonial" Town – Sugar, Rum & Slaves
Falmouth is the chief town and capital
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
