MSC Opera

The MSC Opera  smashed into a dock located on the Giudecca canal in Venice this morning. Tugs could not maintain control of the MSC cruise ship as it violently struck the dock and then struck the stern of the River Countess (a river cruise ship) which was docked and disembarking passengers, as shown in a

The local police in Madeira arrested a dozen people after the police boarded a cruise ship at port in Funchal for involvement in smuggling cocaine weighing around 18 kilograms and worth two million pounds (£) aboard a cruise ship operated by MSC.  The police were assisted by Britain’s National Crime Agency (NCA).

The police detained

The Port Authority of Genoa is engaged in the research of a 75 year old woman who disappeared last night from the MSC Opera arriving from Civitavecchia to the port of Genoa.

An Italian newspaper says that the passenger was not aboard the MSC cruise ship when it arrived in Genoa.  

Searches are under

Last week I was away from my computer traveling in Jamaica to visit crewmembers while the story broke about the U.K.’s Maritime and Coastguard Agency detaining the MSC Cruises’ Opera cruise ship for safety violations.   

The incident was the type of event which I would normally and quickly write about.  But by the time I returned to Miami the cruise

My Brazilian friend, Alexandre Gonçalves da Rocha, alerted me today to an accident which recently occurred at the port in Buenos Aires when the MSC Opera struck the dock. 

Alexandre is a Brazilian who works as a maritime pilot at the port of Itajai since 1998 (no, he was not piloting this cruise ship!).  He writes a great maritime blog