This past month, I have spent a lot of time back home in Arkansas tending to some family matters. Being in a down-to-earth location like El Dorado, Arkansas makes it exceedingly clear just how greedy the Miami-based cruise lines truly are.
My
The safe operation of a cruise ship to and from the port of Miami depends in large part on someone who few cruise passengers will ever meet – a pilot from the Biscayne Bay Pilots.
Cruise ships, tankers and cargo ships are all piloted in and out of the narrow channel of Miami’s Government Cut
Today, Univision Noticias and Columbia Journalism School published the results of four months of investigation which resulted in a major multi-media presentation titled Vacations In No Man’s Seas – "The billion-dollar cruise industry operates under the laws of the tax havens where it operates, making it one of the least regulated industries in the United States."
The cruise lines and the cruise industry’s trade organization, the Cruise Line International Organization ("CLIA"), spend many millions of dollars lobbying our U.S. Congress each year.
In 2015, CLIA spent $1,380,000 lobbying Congress. Carnival Corp. spent an additional $898,710, plus $80,000 on behalf of subsidiary Carnival Cruise Line and another $80,000 for subsidiary Holland America Line. Royal Caribbean
Every day it seems that there is an article about another cruise line expanding into China.
The Wall Street Journal just reported that cruise lines are posting some of the strongest earnings in history with profits this year for Carnival more than quadrupling. Earnings at Norwegian grew 26% and Royal Caribbean earnings rose 20%. Much of
A reporter for the Marketplace interviewed me yesterday regarding the state of the cruise industry.
I explained that compared to a year or two ago, the general perception of cruise lines is up. More than 23,000,000 passengers will cruise this year. Bigger and bigger cruise ships are being constructed. Travel agents seem more energized than
This weekend I read an article in a Bahamian newspaper (the Guardian) about – are you ready for this? – a “homosexual Mexican demon” called “Charlie” who the teachers in the Bahamas were concerned with. Kids in the schools in Nassau were apparently playing a game with paper and a couple of pencils where
Three Shots In Just 12 Hours reads the headlines in the Tribune newspaper today. Other articles in the local newspapers in Nassau include Tourist: I was Victim of Sex Attack by Jet Ski Operators.
The U.S. Embassy in Nassau has issued a warning to U.S. citizens of the danger of women (including girls) being
The U.S. Coast Guard made a remarkable statement during the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) conference in March regarding passenger safety aboard cruise ships.
It said that it targets cruise ships with a history of safety problems. That’s a good idea, of course. But the NTSB failed to ask the Coast Guard a simple follow-up
Cruise fan sites rushed to Carnival’s defense following the CNN special on the Triumph fire.
CNN cited maintenance records and advisory notices showing one of the generators on the cruise ship was poorly maintained and lacked the recommended spray guards to prevent ruptured fuel lines from igniting. The documents revealed a ship not in compliance
Last week, I received a tip about the Saga Ruby cruise ship (ex – Vistafjord), which is on her last cruise for Saga to the Caribbean from Southampton, that the ship is stranded in Canary Islands due to generator problems.
I had mentioned that the old cruise ship is already apparently sold to Chinese investors and
Today the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation will conduct a hearing on whether there needs to be greater Congressional oversight of the cruise industry in light of recent cruise ships mishaps.
There are two recent examples of cruise line conduct which the committee should consider in determining whether Congress should take a closer eye
A new "super-fast" cruise ferry service between Miami and Bimini, the Bahamas started off on the wrong foot when the ship flunked U.S. Coast Guard requirements. The Resorts World’s Bimini SuperFast was suppose to sail passengers from Miami over to a new gambling resort in Bimini.
On June 28th the wife of the Bahamian Prime Minister
A police officer in Nassau, Bahamas finds himself in the middle of a controversy regarding another botched investigation by the Bahamas into a Bahamian-flagged cruise ship matter.
Nassau police superintendent Paul Rolle is quoted in an article in the Nassau Guardian about the molestation of an 11 year old girl by a 33
In an exclusive story, Cruise Line News has learned that cruise industry giant Carnival Corporation recently incorporated its business in the United States (in the state of Delaware). Carnival intends to announce this historic development tomorrow, April 2nd, at Carnival’s headquarters in Miami.
Since 1972, Carnival has incorporated its business and registered its cruise ships in
With Carnival under a microscope, the cruise line continues to experience bad PR as yet another Carnival cruise ship experienced a mechanical failure.
The Chicago Tribune reports that last weekend, the Carnival Elation had to get a tugboat escort down the Mississippi River after a mechanical problem.
In the last 2 months, four of Carnival’s
Newsweek’s Daily Beast Blog published an insightful article about the real issues behind the Triumph cruise ship fire. Entitled "Carnival Cruise From Hell," the article explains that the situation involves a lot more than just another stinky ship bobbing around on the high seas. Rather, Newsweek writes that the fiasco is "a troubling
Cunard’s three cruise ships, Queen Mary 2, Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth, will no longer fly the Union Jack.
After 171 years of flying the Union Jack with Southampton painted on the stern, Cunard’s cruise ships will now be registered in Bermuda and will bear the name Hamilton – Bermuda’s capital.
The question arises
