Several cruise lines announced yesterday that they are suspending cruising due to the emerging coronavirus outbreak. Following Viking Cruises and Princess Cruises’ suspension of cruising, Disney Cruises, AMA River Cruises, Avalon Waterways, Celestyal 
Cruises, Saga Cruises, and Uniworld Boutique River Cruises are all suspending their cruise operations.
European lines such as Saga made the
The United States State Department issued another travel warning for the Bahamas today.
The U.S. State Department reissued a “Level 2: Exercise Increased Caution Due to Crime” for the Bahamas, stating:
“Violent crime, such as burglaries, armed robberies, and sexual assault, is common, even during the day and in tourist areas. Although the
The Minister of Tourism (MOT) for the Bahamas yesterday denied claims recently made in a travel agent’s YouTube video that Nassau is a dangerous port for cruise passengers, according to a newspaper article in the Bahamas titled MOT refutes claims made in YouTube video about Nassau port.
The YouTube video in question, styled “
Last week, a senior vice president of the Cruise Line International Association (CLIA) spoke to the residents of Rockland, Maine, in an effort to try and convince them that cruise lines will be respectful of Rockland’s environment.
We wrote about the meeting in our article titled CLIA visits Rockland.
Several residents brought to my
A dispute is brewing in the Bahamas over a tug boat fee that the government plans to charge cruise ships and other commercial vessels using the harbor of Nassau.
Earlier this week, the Bahamas Tribune reported that the Miami-based cruise industry believes that it does not need tug service in the port of Nassau.
The
In Falmouth, Jamaica, the Port Authority of Jamaica is continuing to pursue dredging projects in order to permit the gigantic "mega liners," including Royal Caribbean’s Oasis Class (sometimes called "Genesis-class") cruise ships to squeeze into the port, which was rebuilt in 2011. During the construction of the two new two piers, the port was originally dredged.
.jpg)
Yesterday, the Jamaican police reportedly seized a pound of cocaine and arrested a man at the cruise port in Falmouth, Jamaica, according to the Jamaican Observer newspaper.
The Observer reported that around 4:30 on Monday, January 15, 2018, "security checks were being conducted on passengers and crew returning to a cruise ship that was
Today, at the port of Barcelona, the Fantastic ferry from the Italian shipping company, Grandi Navi Veloci (GNV), collided with the Viking Star cruise ship operated by Viking Cruises.
There were no injuries involved in the mishap which took place around noon local time.
The incident was brought to my attention by a reader
This morning, a person aboard the Caribbean Princess notified me that there is a bomb scare aboard the cruise ship, which is at the Grand Bahama shipyard. The worker stated:
“I am currently on board the Caribbean Princess in the Grand Bahama Shipyard where today a bomb threat was called in to the shipyard. The
On September 13, 2016, a passenger on the Carnival Magic was robbed at gunpoint at the port of Belize. We received the following information from the passenger:
"We were at the port next to the belize sign taking pictures. A vendor selling wood and jewelry was trying to sell us some of his handmade work
Newspapers in Europe are reporting that seventy-seven passengers and crew members were evacuated from a ferry and pier at the port of Joliette, in Marseilles, France after "after loud noises were heard below deck.’
The ferry was identified as the Jean Nicoli which was scheduled to leave for Sardinia this morning.
The Jamaica Gleaner reports that Royal Caribbean and it’s subsidiary, Falmouth Jamaica Land Company, are required to disclose their contractual arrangements with the Port Authority of Jamaica (PAJ) to build Falmouth Port because they were a day late in filing a notice of appeal.
An environmental watchdog group, the Jamaica Environment Trust (JET), had previously requested
.jpg)
There are reports that the Carnival Liberty cruise ship sustained an engine room fire today.
The fire took place when the cruise ship was docked in St. Thomas USVI. Cruise passengers were reportedly evacuated ashore, some wearing life vests.
John Heald, the popular blogging cruise director for Carnival, posted this statement in his Facebook page:
I have received several calls this morning from friends in Montego Bay and Ocho Rios that the Freedom of the Seas is on fire as it approached the port of Falmouth, Jamaica.
I also have friends / former Royal Caribbean crew members in Falmouth who are going to obtain photographs of the blaze on the
One of the focuses of Cruise Law News is not only crime on cruise ships, but crimes in ports of calls.
Cruise lines have a legal obli.jpg)
gation to warn passengers of crimes which occur in the ports of call where they take their passengers. Cruise lines like Carnival and Royal Caribbean have agents in
This morning I received a number of emails from residents of Roatan about an extremely violent murder of a local merchant in Roatan (Coxen Hole) near the port.
Four men attacked and repeatedly beat Mr. Marcelino Vásquez (age 58), the proprietor of a store called "Commercial Vasquez." An article in Teledifusora Insular states that Mr. Vásquez
This weekend saw some excitement involving the Oasis of the Seas.
On Saturday night, PTZtv (which operates the web cam for the Port of Ft. Lauderdale) began tweeting that the Oasis, which had just left port in Ft. Lauderdale, was quickly heading back to port after a cruise passenger had experienced an injury
This week the "Banana Coast" cruise port in Honduras opens for mega-cruise ship business.
The travel publications all appear to have written essentially the the same article announcing with great fanfare that large cruise ships will begin calling at the port in the Bay of Trujillo, Honduras. Billed as the newest cruise port in the
