Caribbean Cruise Line Lies and Steals?

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 00:13:51 GMT

A television station in Louisville, Kentucky reported on an interesting story today entitled "Woman Claims Cruise Company Promising Free Cruise Lied, Stole."

Amy Zetina, a hard working mother of three in Kentucky, responded to an ad which offered a "free cruise."

Ms. Zetina was taken for a ride, but it wasn't on a cruise ship.

It turns out that "Caribbean Cruise Line" offers “free” Caribbean cruise package, with some ads featuring Carmen Electra promoting a "free" cruise.

Ms. Zetina received a packet in the mail telling her that she was the lucky winner of a "free" cruise, including a $1,300 voucher. She agreed to pay only for port taxes and then gave her credit card number over the telephone. The cruise company then began sucking money out of her account.

Ms. Zetina did not know that 458 customers had lodged complaints against Caribbean Cruise Line. Nor did she know about it's "F" rating with the Better Business Bureau. An investigation by the television station revealed that the company made unauthorized charges against customers' credit cards.

After Ms. Zetina contacted the television station, she called the Better Business Bureau, the Attorney General's office and the local police. Only then did she get her money back.

You can find complaints about this company on the Complaints Board and Ripoff Report and throughout the internet.

Moral of the story? There are no free cruises in life. And when someone rips you off, fight back.

Enjoy the official ad of Caribbean Cruise Line with Carmen Electra (in Spanish - Cruceros Gratis!)

PS: There have been criticism of marketing scams by "Caribbean Cruise Line" which is not a cruise line at all but a marketing company which also sells time shares in the Bahamas. We last mentioned this company two weeks ago in a story about an affiliated company, Celebration Cruise Line - Report of Rape on Bahamas Celebration Cruise Ship.

Photo Credit: Celebration Cruise Line website

Another Carnival Crew Member Busted for Child Porn

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 01:11:44 GMT

The Chronicle Herald in Canada reports today that a crew member on a Carnival cruise ship which that visited Halifax was arrested and charged with smuggling child pornography into Canada.

The newspaper indicates that 26-year-old crew member Nyoman Putra, an Indonesian working as an assistant room steward on the Carnival Glory, allegedly had child pornography on a laptop computer.

Canada Border Services Agency officers were inspecting crew members getting off the cruise ship when they nabbed the Carnival crew member at Pier 22 in Halifax. Canada's border agents do a good job catching crew members who try and enter the country with child pornography.

The Canadian newspaper writes that Putra is the second cruise ship employee to be charged with having child pornography so far this year in Halifax. In May, a Filipino who was an assistant waiter on the Costa Atlantica was sentenced to four months in jail for possession and importation.

Putra was an assistant cabin attendant. It should concern any parent who cruises with their children to think of pedophile cabin attendants coming into the stateroom.

Parents don't like to think about these things, and the cruise lines and travel agents hate to admit these things happen. Consider the following articles:

Costa Crew Member Caught With Child Pornography (caught at Pier 22 in Halifax too!)

Perverts, Child Predators and Cruise Ships (Carnival crewmember caught with child pornography in Halifax!!)

Carnival Cruise Ship Bartender Arrested On Charges Of Raping 14 Year Old Passenger

Sexual Predator Abuses 6 Year Old Aboard Royal Caribbean's Liberty of the Seas

Passenger Indicted for Sexual Abuse of 13 Year Old Girl on Disney Wonder Cruise Ship

Cruise Ship Passenger Sentenced in Child Porn Case

Most Wanted Rape Suspect Arrested On Carnival Cruise Ship - Worked As Manager Of Onboard Hair Salon

Top Ten Reasons Not To Cruise: No. 1 - Cruise Lines Are A Perfect Place To Sexually Abuse Children

Avoid Depression and Heart Disease - Take A Royal Caribbean Cruise?

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 14:59:39 GMT

Two months ago I commented on the absurd press releases issued by Royal Caribbean Cruises in an article "Royal Caribbean Press Statements And Other Gobbledygook."

Well here we go again!

Yesterday Royal Caribbean released a PR statement entitled "Over-Worked Americans Give Up an Average of 459 Million Vacation Days Each Year." Royal Caribbean points out that most Americans are "over-worked, over-tired and stressed-out." I agree, this sound like my law office.

In response, Royal Caribbean suggests that a cruise will solve everything. The cruise line tries to relate to the average Joe by reminding him - " . . . if the President of the United States, who just returned from a respite on Martha's Vineyard, can still find time, then shouldn't everyone?"

Yikes. I can just see an employee, struggling to pay the house mortgage and car note, telling his boss - I'm going spend a few thousands of dollars and chill out on a cruise with my family. See ya later!

The cruise line's marketing people even came up with a catchy phrase - "Cruise Them Or Lose Them."

The cruise line claims that vacations reduce the chances that a woman will suffer depression by 50% and reduce a man's risk of suffering a heart attack by 32%. Maybe the marketing slogan should have been even more straight forward: "Cruise Or Lose Your Life!"

Now, this strikes me as some pretty desperate marketing. Take a cruise or you are going to have a stroke? How exactly is a week long drinking binge and all-you-can-eat buffets on a cruise ship going to avoid a coronary?

But this is the "Nation of Why Not?" So ladies throw away your Paxil and gentlemen flush your Lipitor down the drain. All you need is a Royal Caribbean cruise.

You can have your heart attack when you get back to work.

More Cruise Ship Violence - A Drunken Brawl On Carnival's Dream

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 12:16:12 GMT

Last year I wrote a blog entitled "Cruise Ship Brawls - A Problem that Will Get Bigger with Bigger Ships" addressing the increasing violence on cruise ships. I posted the following comments and questions:

"Complicating matters is the huge amount of alcohol which the cruise lines sell to the passengers, which often leads to drunken brawls in the bars and discos and sometimes around the pools. It will be interesting to see how Carnival and the other cruise lines handle the "wider audience" flocking onto the larger cruise ships. If cruise ships are like cities and "stuff happens," what steps are they taking to protect U.S. families?

Will the cruise lines elect to hire a full complement of well trained and experienced security guards? Or will they continue to try and save money with only 2 or 3 inexperienced "guards" trying to protect 2,000 or 3,000 passengers?"

Well, the answers to these questions may be found in YouTube videos which have surfaced regarding a brawl which broke out in the Caliente Club on Carnival's Dream cruise ship three weeks ago.

The August 12th fight was widely reported by the news media, including Professor's Ross Klein's Cruise Junkie which contained the following account from a passenger:

"We were on the Carnival Dream sailing 08/07 to 08/14 and heard that a brawl broke out in the dance club around 3:00 a.m. on the morning of the 12th. We heard from passengers and a bartender that the brawl started over a song. It involved so many young people (men and women) that the security on board was unable to handle everyone and had to call in assistance from wait staff and other crew members. The fight spilled over into the art gallery located next door and apparently a $10K painting was ruined with blood spatter. Flat screen tvs were smashed and there was a lot of damage done. We heard that people on the ground were getting kicked in the head by men and women and that one person needed to be revived because he was hurt so badly. We also heard that the crowd spilled out of the dance club and that innocent people were getting punched in the face as they were walking by.

The next morning in Costa Maya there were a bunch of people (10 people) sitting by the side of the ship with all of their luggage as they were kicked off the ship and their relatives were shipped off to Mexican jails. Carnival needs to learn a lesson here and not serve alcohol after a certain time and perhaps shut down the 18+ dance club before 3:00 a.m. Nothing good can come of drunk teenagers at 3:00 in the morning."

An article in Florida Today "10 Cruise Passengers Evicted After Brawl" contained a rather understated PR statement by Carnival:

"A fight occurred on the vessel. It was broken up by ship's security and the cause of the fight was investigated which resulted in 10 guests being disembarked in Mexico . . . The safety and security of our guests and crew is of utmost importance and we will not tolerate behavior that could put any of them at risk."

Carnival has a problem with way too much alcohol served on their cruise ships and way too few security guards to handle the unruly drunks. Here are two videos of the fight.

Video credits: i008 YouTube

Photo credit: Szymek S.'s Flickr photostream

Passenger With Meningococcal Disease Rescued From P&O Cruises' Pacific Sun Cruise Ship

Mon, 30 Aug 2010 23:27:57 GMT

A "Careflight Rescue" helicopter winched a 48 year-old passenger with a suspected case of the potentially fatal meningococcal disease from a cruise ship off the south-east coast of Australia.

Several news have reported the incident; however, no one disclosed the name of the cruise ship or cruise line. The passenger was taken to a hospital in Australia.

ABC News in Australia has finally identified that the passenger was rescued from the Pacific Sun cruise ship (web cam photo left). The news station reports that the ship is traveling from Sydney to New Caledonia.

The Pacifc Sun is operated by P&O Cruises in Australia. Information about P&O Cruises and the Pacific Sun can be read here.

It is not uncommon for the press to try and avoid publishing the name of the cruise line or cruise ship in cases like this.

Photograph Credit: P&O Cruises Pacific Sun webcam

#MaritimeMonday - Top 20 Maritime Twitters

Mon, 30 Aug 2010 09:46:13 GMT

Today, I'm recommending a list of my favorite maritime web sites and blogs. Each Monday, I'll shout out my recommendations for other interesting maritime Twitters using the hashtag #MaritimeMonday.

There are other top maritime Twitter lists based on the number of followers or the "influence" of a Twitter page. But there is nothing mathematical or scientific about this list. It's just my favorites. The only criteria I used in compiling the list is that the tweets must contain information which is current, useful and interesting.

Here's the list, in alphabetical order. If you have your own favorites which I omitted, please leave a comment below or list your favorites each Monday using the #MaritimeMonday hashtag.

@Amver is the acronym for the "Automated Mutual Assistance Vessel Rescue System" sponsored by the United States Coast Guard. It is a voluntary global ship reporting system used worldwide by search and rescue authorities to arrange for assistance to persons in distress at sea. @Amver is one of the best maritime Twitters around today, with a steady stream of timely and informative tweets. The Amver blog is interesting. Its all about saving lives and helping mariners in distress.

@CruiseBruise is the twitter account for the popular web site known as the "Cruise Ship Bruising Report." The sinking ship logo says it all - the blog covers missing passengers, shipboard murders, sinkings and fires, overboard crew members, and injuries, sexual assaults and sicknesses on cruise ships. I advertise on the site, so perhaps I'm biased, but Cruise Bruise is one of the best sites covering crimes and cover-ups on cruise ships. Its the one site which the cruise industry wishes would just go away.

@CruiseLaw: Who lists their own twitter account on a top 20 list? I do. Yes, its self promotion, but around 8,000 people follow my tweets about the strange world of cruising - a sub-section of the maritime community unique to itself. I link to my blog - Cruise Law News - where you will find lots of information and legal commentary on cruise ship accidents and crimes. We try and keep the cruise lines honest, while having a lot of fun in the process.

@CruiseVictims is the Twitter voice of the non-profit organization, International Cruise Victims (ICV) Association. Its President, Ken Carver, lost his daughter on a Royal Caribbean cruise ship and leads the ICV in assisting victims of violent crimes aboard cruise ships. The ICV website is packed with first hand accounts of how things can go terribly wrong on cruise ships, and contains suggestions on how to protect yourself during a cruise vacation. President Obama just signed the Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Act due to the efforts of the ICV. Making cruises safer is its goal.

@gCaptain is the Twitter page of John Konrad, who accurately bills himself as the "Master Mariner Tweeting From The High Seas." Like Amver, gCaptain routinely delivers the most relevant and interesting tweets about the maritime world. If you had to follow only one person on Twitter to find out what is happening on the high seas, I would recommend gCaptain. Master Konrad's blog is probably the best maritime blog around and is worth reading on a daily basis.

@Gentedimare is the Twitter page of the Italian maritime web site La Voce dei Marinai which reminds us of the international nature of the maritime industry. Gentedimare reminds us that "Seafarers are the keystone of the society . . . without them society doesn't develop - - 2010 Year Of The SEAFARER." Gentedimare tweets are straightforward and informative and, don't worry, he tweets in Italian and English too.

@Itajaipraticos is the Twitter page of the Brazilian maritime website Itajai Praticos. Like his Italian seafarer brother Gentedimare, Itajaipracticos focuses on maritime pilots,international shipping stories, piracy issues and the well being of seafarers around the world.

@JensenMaritime is the Twitter feed of John Jensen who has a wide perspective of maritime issues and approaches his interests from a practical point of view. He is a marine surveyor, a ABYC master technician, and a NTSB trained investigator. You can count on Mr. Jensen, a consultant to the recreational boating industry and vessel owners in New England and around the world, for interesting maritime tweets on a daily basis.

@JonesAct is the Twitter page of Houston Texas lawyer Matt Shaffer. He tweets about maritime issues in the Gulf of Mexico like the BP oils spill, injuries to workers in the offshore oil and gas industry, and the rights of injured crew members. Mr. Shaffer links to his firm's informative web site. He is a trusted source for information regarding maritime law.

@jtweed is the shipping feed on Twitter from U.K.'s James Tweed. He has a keen interest not only in maritime issues but on line education, shipping podcasts and social media. His website Coracle contains internet shipping courses for maritime professionals. He publishes the "Shipping Industry Twitter Top 40," which contains no mention of cruise ships or me for that matter. Hmmm.

@LloydsList is the Twitter feed from Lloyd's List - a leading daily newspaper for the shipping industry. The page links to the Lloyds List's website which is worth a daily read, particularly the excellent Bill Bantry's Blog, billed as "an irreverent view of the shipping industry." Some witty insight here.

@madmariner Mad Mariner is an online boating magazine that publishes daily articles about boat buying, boat restoration, boating equipment, boating tools, inflatables, marine electronics, boating safety, seamanship, and marine piloting. It has a number of related Twitter pages, like DIY Boat, BoatingLine, and Maritime Network. You will find a consistent number of tweets about everything nautical in nature.

@maritimeaccide is the Twitter page of Bob Couttie whose motto is "empowering seafarers to keep themselves, their ships and the seas safer." Mr. Couttie publishes the interesting web site Marine AccidentCasebook (MAC). The MAC site contains great materials regarding mariner safety and links to some of the leading mariner blogs, many of which don't have Twitter feeds.

@MarineSurveys comes from Captain Henriquez who is a master mariner, certified marine surveyor and maritime consultant from Maracaibo,Venezuela. Master Henriquez has his finger on the pulse of the international maritime community and shares timely tweets about shipping issues from his perspective from South America.

@MaritimeLawyers is the twitter page from maritime lawyer Lisa O'Neill, who is not only my law partner but my spouse. Yes, nepotism is alive and well - I am not crazy enough to leave my wife off of a top 20 list. Ms. O'Neill is the only female maritime lawyer on Twitter. She tweets about maritime issues and cruise line and yacht cases involving passengers and crew members.

Mar_Ex is the Twitter page of the Maritime Executive publication. Its Twitter profile is "strategies & solutions through case studies, interviews and articles that address the most critical issues in the maritime industry today." Mar_Ex links to its web site Maritime-Executive.com which contains news about the shipping and cruise industries, shipbuilding, executive interview and other interesting articles.

@petermello is the founder of Sea-Fever Consulting LLC and the Weekly Leader (a leadership forum). He writes a blog called - the Sea Fever Blog - which contains well written content, a great design, and an interesting use of mixed internet media. Mr. Mello's tweets are an eclectic mix of maritime issues, technology, innovation and leadership. He is one maritime Twitter who entertains while he educates.

@safeseas is by Brazilian maritime pilot and lecturer Alexandre Gonçalves da Rocha from Itajai, Brazil. The Brazilian has been working as a maritime pilot at the port of Itajai for the past decade. He tweets about maritime related news from an international perspective. The Safe Seas web site is one of the better maritime blogs covering shipping, environmental issues, piracy issues and other international topics.

@tradewindsnews is the Twitter feed for the TradeWinds publication which is a best selling international shipping newspaper. The TradeWinds tweets are similar to the tweets from Lloyds List. I became a fan of TradeWinds when it interviewed me in a article entitled "Man For The Other Team." TradeWinds focuses more on international shipping issues, and less on the cruise industry, but is clearly an authoritative source of international maritime information.

@USCGAuxVin is from sea captain and master mariner Vincent Pica who tweets about Coast Guard issues and boating safety. He is the District Captain in the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary for USCG Auxiliary activities on Long Island, New York. He writes a seamanship column for a number of newspapers. Captain Pica's Twitter page links to the Atlantic Marine Academy which teaches boating skills and seamanship. He is a patriot and a real supporter of the U.S.C.G. whose Twitter page is here.

Top number of Twitter followers: @CruiseLaw - 7,951

Top number of tweets: @USCGAuxVin - 19,517

Did we forget your favorite? Please leave a comment below. And don't forget to mention your favorite maritime Twitters on #MaritimeMonday.

Clipper Adventurer Cruise Ship Runs Aground in the Arctic

Sun, 29 Aug 2010 18:21:35 GMT

Canada's National Post reports that a cruise ship has run aground in the Arctic.

The newspaper reports that the Clipper Adventurer, operated by Adventure Canada and carrying around 200 passengers and crew, ran aground Friday evening in "three meters of water." The location of the grounding is about 55 nautical miles from Coppermine, Nunavut, near the border with the Northwest Territories

Another news source, CBCNews, mentions that the cruise ship ran aground on an "uncharted rock."

Evacuation efforts are underway. A Canadian Coast Guard ice breaker is en route to the scene to transport passengers to Coppermine where the ship was headed. The cruise began in Greenland.

The newspaper indicates that there were no reports of injuries or environmental damage. This is probably a report from the cruise ship operators.

This is the second time in recent months that an incident like this occurred. Earlier this year, we reported on an incident where the Clelia II ran into rocks in Antarctica - The Clelia II - Another Antarctic Cruise Ship Skirts Disaster.

In 2009, the Ocean Nova cruise ship, ran aground. To see some amazing photographs of a similar cruise ship grounded, look at the Komar.org website. Ironically, the Clipper Adventurer came to the rescue of the passengers aboard the Ocean Nova.

Cruise Junkie has a list of cruise ship groundings on its web site.

Do you have information about this latest incident? Please leave us a comment below.

PhotoCredit: cruzeirospdl.blogspot

California Ban On Cruise Dumping To Be Enforced

Tue, 24 Aug 2010 12:13:02 GMT

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.

"This is going to cover the entire California coastline," said state Senator Joe Simitian "Oceangoing vessels should not consider our coastline a place for dumping sewage."

In 2005, Simitian wrote a bill that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger which signed banning sewage discharges in state waters from cruise ships. The bill -- the first of its kind in the nation -- made it illegal for such ships to discharge oily bilge water, "gray water" from sinks and showers and other hazardous waste. But a key provision that also banned sewage releases could not legally take effect until the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency gave permission under the federal Clean Water Act. The Bush administration did not act on California's request to enforce the state law.

The impetus behind the bill was a cruise dumping incident in In 2003. The Crystal Harmony (photo left) dumped around 35,000 gallons of grey water, sewage, and bilge water in a marine sanctuary in Monterey Bay.

According to the L.A. Times, Crystal Cruises said didn't have to report the incident to authorities because it broke no laws. It is "perfectly legal" under maritime laws to discharge even untreated wastewater more than 12 miles offshore, and the ship was 14 miles offshore at the time, said Crystal spokeswoman Mimi Weisband.

"We didn't break any law," Weisband said. "We did break a promise."

The city of Monterey thereafter banned all Crystal cruise ships for life.

"I remember picking up the paper and thinking, 'you gotta be kidding me,' " Senator Simitian said. "Their answer was 'we didn't break any rules.' I remember thinking, if this isn't against the law it ought to be."

In the 2010 Green Report Card by the environmental group Friends of the Earth, Crystal Cruises received the lowest grade - "F." Cruise spokesperson Weisband responded by saying that Crystal Cruises "deserved an A ... if not an A+."

Seven Clauses To Be Aware Of In Your Cruise Contract

Tue, 24 Aug 2010 06:36:53 GMT

MSNBC published an article yesterday about cruise passenger tickets entilted "Seven Clauses to Be Aware Of In Your Cruise Contract." There is a lot of "fine print' designed to take away or limit passenger rights drafted in the ticket by the cruise lines.

Compared to the one page ticket issued to passengers on the Titanic 100 years ago, the cruise contracts today read like mini enclyclopedias crammed full of every imaginable clause to protect the cruise line.

The article is by Christopher Elliott who is the ombudsman for National Geographic Traveler magazine. He also is a consumer travel advocate who writes at Elliott.org.

Mr. Eliott interviewed me and some others in the article:

Seven Clauses To Be Aware Of In Your Cruise Contract

If you ever want to feel confused, outraged and powerless all at the same time, just read your cruise line’s ticket contract.

Carrie Streahle didn’t know what was in hers until her cruise arrived late in Houston, and she had to pay an extra $1,900 in airfares and accommodations to get home. She contacted Carnival, asking for reimbursement.

“Carnival’s first response was that we didn’t have travel insurance,” she says. She protested. The cruise line responded again, this time blaming Mother Nature. “They said they can’t control the weather,” she says.

No kidding. Carnival’s ticket contract specifically says it can change arrival or departure times without notice, for any reason whatsoever, including weather. “Carnival shall have no liability for any compensation or other damages in such circumstances,” it adds.

“Carnival is not at fault because they were delayed by an act of nature,” says Anita Dunham-Potter, who writes the blog ExpertCruiser. “When this happens, they have no control over the port, or the time it takes customs to clear the ship, which is ultimately what decides the time you can get off the ship.”

Cruise contracts are filled with clauses and supported by laws that the average passenger doesn’t know about. If they did, they might think twice before setting sail. The paperwork addresses everything from what the cruise line owes you when something goes wrong (not much) when it’s responsible for your well-being (hardly ever) to where and when you can sue them (in a faraway court, and almost never).

“No one reads the fine print,” says Al Anolik, a travel attorney in San Francisco. But if you do — and a warning to all you non-attorneys out there, this isn’t light reading — you’ll find the law limits the rights of passengers in many key areas, such as a cap on damages you can collect from a cruise line and time limits on any lawsuit.

“There are no consumer protections in the ticket,” adds maritime attorney James M. Walker, who writes a blog about cruise law. “It was drafted by the cruise lines lawyers to protect the cruise lines at the consumer’s expense. It is a one-sided document.”

So what do you need to know before you set sail?

Your laws aren’t our laws. That’s not hyperbole. It’s literally true, according to Robert M. Jarvis, a maritime law professor at Nova Southeastern University Law Center in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. “The law governing cruises has nothing to do with where a passenger lives or buys a ticket,” he says. “Instead, federal maritime law, international law, the law of the country where the cruise ship is registered — typically the Bahamas, Liberia, or Panama — and the law selected by the cruise line are going to control, and all of these favor the cruise line.” That’s why it’s so hard to find a good lawyer to sue a cruise line. There aren’t many. Maritime law, or admiralty law, is “incredibly complex,” says Jarvis. “Only a few lawyers have the necessary training and experience to deal with such matters, and most of them are working for the cruise lines,” he adds.

Don’t hold us to the brochure. The ship may — or may not — keep the promised schedule. This is perhaps the most irritating contract provision. Here’s Royal Caribbean’s: “Carrier may for any reason at any time and without prior notice, cancel, advance, postpone or deviate from any scheduled sailing, port of call, destination, lodging or any activity on or off the Vessel, or substitute another vessel or port of call, destination, lodging or activity.” What’s more, it owes you nothing if it does. “Everything is subject to change and availability,” says Kristen Bentz, a travel consultant in Mesa, Ariz. “Basically, prices, rooms, excursions, itineraries, and anything not guaranteed is up to the cruise line’s discretion.”

The quack who treated you isn’t our problem. Most medical care on cruise ships is perfectly adequate. But just in case it isn’t, cruise lines have a clause that say they aren’t responsible for the malpractice of the ship’s doctors. Have a look at paragraph 13 of Princess’ passage contract: “Doctors, nurses or other medical or service personnel work directly for Passenger and shall not be considered to be acting under the control or supervision of Carrier, since Carrier is not a medical provider. Similarly, and without limitation, all spa personnel, photographers, instructors, guest lecturers and entertainers and other service personnel shall be considered independent contractors who work directly for the Passenger.” In other words, when a doctor’s negligence leads to the death of a family member, the cruise line is off the hook. “The passenger is left with the problem of having to bring a claim against the doctor who inevitably is not a U.S. citizen, often has no insurance, and is not subject to personal jurisdiction here in the U.S.,” says Walker.

Kids and retirees are second-class citizens. The survivors of children or retired passengers who die on cruise ships have no right to compensation except for burial and funeral expenses, according to Walker, who recently wrote about this quirky provision on his blog. It turns out that when passengers die on the high seas, the “Death On The High Seas Act” applies. “It limits the recovery of the surviving family members to what is called pecuniary losses,” he says. “This means that only lost wages and burial or funeral expenses are permitted.” If you’re a child or a retiree, and not earning wages, the only compensation is for the costs of the burial.

Wanna sue us? Come to Miami. These are called “forum selection” clauses, and they require you to sue the cruise line in a particular court. “Forum selection clauses have been routinely enforced for many years,” says Thomas Dickerson, author of the book Travel Law. “However, recently, the courts have consistently enforced a federal forum selection clause, which requires injured passengers to sue in federal court in Miami instead of state court — the significance being that jury trials may not be available in federal court.” That makes suing a cruise line difficult, and often impossible.

Time is short. There’s a one-year limitation period to file a claim, and a six-month period to write a letter to the cruise line when the passenger has been injured, says Walker, the maritime attorney. “This is a relatively short period of time, compared to the statute of limitations of most states,” he says. “Florida, for example, has a four-year limitations period.” What if you miss your deadline? Walker says people who have, contact him all the time. “There is nothing we can do for them.”

If you think that’s bad, get this: Experts agree that the contracts are getting worse. “In the last decade, cruise lines have had to tighten the reins,” says Bentz. “Contracts have gotten a little longer and a little less customer-friendly.” That means we may one day look back on 2010 as a time when cruise lines still cared about their passengers.

I have a sinking feeling that might be true.

Christopher Elliott is the ombudsman for National Geographic Traveler magazine. You can read more travel tips on his blog, elliott.org or e-mail him at celliott@ngs.org .

Jones Act Repeal Would Hurt Jacksonville Shipping Companies

Sat, 21 Aug 2010 18:37:03 GMT

Sen. John McCain’s proposed repeal of an 80-year-old maritime law could, if passed, shake up Jacksonville’s most entrenched trade lane and endanger three hometown shipping companies dependent on it. McCain, R-Ariz., argues that requiring all goods shipped between the nation’s ports to be transported by U.S.-built ships and sailed by American crews is protectionist and raises prices by excluding foreign competition. Supporters of the Jones Act counter that the law preserves security and the domestic maritime industries. The repeal of the law “would be devastating,” said Fred Schloth, Sea Star Line LLC’s assistant vice president of marketing. “When you look at [shipping] rates to Puerto Rico, they’re already competitive and can’t come down more.” Read more: Jones Act repeal would hurt local shipping firms - Jacksonville Business Journal

Recent Florida Boating Accidents

Sat, 21 Aug 2010 17:40:49 GMT

News on two recent boating deaths:

It is the second boating fatality in four days in the Fort Pierce area. On Saturday, commercial fisherman Cory Brangan, 26, of Fort Pierce, was found dead alone in a 20-foot-long fishing boat that ran aground before dawn on a spoil island in the Indian River Lagoon north of the North Bridge in Fort Pierce. “It is certainly tragic,” Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission spokeswoman Gabriella Ferraro said Tuesday about the deaths. “In both cases, the men had a lot of experience on the water. Brangan was a commercial fisherman and McPhall had 25 years on the water.”

Cruise Ships Turn British Columbia Waters into "Toilet Bowel of Raw Sewage"

Fri, 20 Aug 2010 21:38:38 GMT

The Vancouver Sun published a provocative headline this weekend entitled "B.C. Waters a Toilet Bowl of Raw Sewage."

It caught my attention after my family just returned from a vacation from British Columbia, where my kids surfed and we went whale watching in the B.C. waters.

Environmentalists' believe that waters off British Columbia in Canada are the "toilet bowl of North America" as dozens of cruise ships heading to and from Alaska dump sewage in Canadian waters. U.S. regulations in states like Alaska and Washington have tightened in the last decade forcing cruise ships to follow stringent sewage treatment rules before disposing of waste those states.

The article indicates that cruise ships have another option: they can dump sewage and grey water —waste water from showers, sinks and laundry — into B.C. waters where rules are "lax."

Cruise ships are taking advantage of Canada's weaker laws on sewage discharge to save money.

"B.C. is now the toilet bowl of the West Coast of North America. In Canada, says Ross Klein, a professor in Canada. Klein points out that Alaska and Washington monitors grey water discharges, but there is no such monitoring in Canada where cruise ships are free to dump.

The article points out that the U.S. cracked down on cruise ships in 2007 when the Mercury cruise ship operated by Celebrity Cruises was caught illegally dumping into waters between Washington and Vancouver Island.

The Mercury faced 10 charges, but three charges were dropped because the infractions were in Canada. Celebrity received a $100,000 fine in Washington, but didn't face any punishment in Canada.

I have written many articles about the cruise industry's practice of pollution Here are a few to consider:

Earth Day - Spotlight on Cruising - A Dirty Business

Cruise Industry: "Notorious Polluters"

Reason No. 8 Not To Cruise: Blackwater, Blackwater, Blackwater

Reason No. 9 Not To Cruise: Bunker Fuel - Nasty Tar Sludge!

Dirty Cruise Industry Tries to Wiggle Out Of Clean Air Law

When I began practicing maritime law, cruise lines openly dumped raw sewage into the water and threw hundreds of black garbage bags overboard during every cruise. Only through the enactment and enforcement of legislation has there been an improvement in the U.S. But the cruise lines are free to pollute in the waters of countries like Canada and the powerless Caribbean islands which are desperate for U.S. tourist dollars.

Credits:

Cruise Ship Cartoon Shields via EarthIsland.org and Campaign to Safeguard America's Waterways

Cruise Forum Selection Clauses: Do You Speak French?

Fri, 20 Aug 2010 12:18:18 GMT

One of the surprises awaiting passengers after they have been injured or assaulted on a cruise ship is language in the passenger ticket which requires them to file suit in a jurisdiction far from their home.

Most passengers are required to file suit here in Miami. Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, and Norwegian Cruise Lines have prepared "forum selection clauses" which include Federal District Court in Miami as the location where the passenger is required to file suit. The United States Supreme Court has upheld the right of cruise lines to use "forum selection clauses," even though the passenger lives far away in California or New York and travel to Miami provides an economic hardship.

A case decided recently by the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeal illustrates the extreme lengths cruise lines will go to prejudice the ability of passengers to obtain compensation for their injuries.

In Seung v. Regent Seven Seas Cruises, a passenger was injured while cruising on the Paul Gauguin cruise ship, operated by Regent Seven Seas Cruises. After Ms. Seung filed suit in South Florida where the cruise line is based, the defense lawyers moved to dismiss the case arguing that the forum selection claim required the lawsuit to be brought in France.

It turns out that the Regent Seven Seas passenger ticket (like most other cruise tickets) requires suit to be filed in Federal Court in the Southern District of Florida. However, this ticket contained a curious twist - if the cruise ship did not call on a U.S. port, the passenger has to file suit in Paris, France.

Mrs. Seung argued that traveling to Paris was unfair and unreasonable because she was an elderly woman; she was financially unable to bring a lawsuit in Paris; she was a California resident with medical limitations, due in part to her injury, that prevent her from traveling to Paris; she would not be entitled to Medicare benefits if she became ill in France during her case; and Paris is a remote, alien forum chosen merely as a means of discouraging passengers from bringing legitimate claims.

The Eleventh Circuit rejected all of Mrs. Seung's arguments and upheld the district court's dismissal of her case.

We hope that Ms. Seung knows how to speak.

For other articles about cruise line forum selection clauses, consider reading:

Cruise Passenger Rights and Wrongs - Interview With Maritime Lawyer Jim Walker

Cruise Ship Accident and Injury Law - Miami Florida - Forum Selection Clauses

Miami Cruise Ship Accident and Injury Lawyer

Credits: Case summary by Leagle.

Report of Rape on Bahamas Celebration Cruise Ship

Thu, 19 Aug 2010 23:34:32 GMT

The FBI is investigating a passenger rape aboard the MS Bahamas Celebration cruise ship which is operated by Celebration Cruise Line from the Port of Palm Beach.

A blog associated with the Palm Beach Post - Jose Mambiet's Page 2 Live - reports that a 52 year old woman was forced to have sex with a man, another passenger, on a ping-pong table on the ship's deck around 4:00 a.m. Monday. The ship's nurse treated the passenger and administered a rape kit.

The article quotes the vice president of the cruise line's marketing, Glenn Ryerson, stating that "It's only a crime if the FBI deems it to be one. At this point its only an alleged rape."

This is one of the more insensitive press statements I have heard from a cruise line over the years.

Unfortunately, the FBI's track record of successfully investigating shipboard rapes is dismal. At a Congressional hearing I attended in 2007, the FBI admitted that its investigations resulted in prosecutions only 7 times out of every 100 sexual assault allegations. And cruise lines often work hard to make certain that no one convicted of a crime on the cruise ships. Consider reading:

Cruise Ships Are A Perfect Place to Commit A Crime, And Get Away With It!

If You Are A Victim On A Cruise Ship, The Cruise Line Will Treat You Like A Criminal

Marketing VP Ryerson is also quoted stating that this is the first criminal allegation on the Bahamas Celebration "since its Palm Beach launch."

That's not saying much - because this cruise ship started sailing out of Palm Beach in mid-March.

The cruise line has a Twitter page @CelebrationBS. It is offering cruises for as little as $199 a day, although there have been consumer complaints. Read Cruise Critic's article about about what are described as marketing scams by the cruise line or an affiliated wholesale company called "Caribbean" Cruise Line.

I wonder if the cruise line has any surveillance cameras on the decks or security guards patrolling at night.

Were you on the cruise or have information about this incident? Please leave a comment below.

Credits: Photo theBahamasWeekly.com

Seaman hit by ship 'tugger' sues two captains and a company

Thu, 19 Aug 2010 19:18:52 GMT

Claiming the "tugger" winch he was operating broke free from the vessel's deck and struck him, seaman Jesse Turner filed a Jones Act suit against the ship's owner and two captains. Turner, along with his wife Sonja, filed their suit against Cal Dive International and Captains Allen Brough and Glen Delahoussey on Aug. 16 in Jefferson County District Court. Court papers show Turner was a tension machine operator working aboard the vessel Rider owned by Cal Dive and captained by Brough and Delahoussey. On Aug. 20, 2008, Turner operated the ship's "tugger" winch laying pipeline between Alabama and Mississippi when it "broke free from the deck and slammed into him, causing in injuries," court papers say. "Unbeknownst to plaintiff, the tugger winch used to lay pipeline was improperly fixed to the deck," the suit states. "Cal Dive transported plaintiff ... past several facilities in order to take him to what they termed 'our hospital' in New Orleans." Turner claims the defendants negligently installed the winch and that the vessel was unseaworthy. He claims that two years after the incident he is still unable to return to work and is suing for past and future lost earnings and medical expenses. Huntsville attorney Hans Barcus of the Cantrell, Ray & Barcus law firm is representing him. Judge Gary Sanderson, 60th District Court, has been assigned to the case.

Passenger Death On Norwegian Cruises Lines' Epic Forces Cruise Ship's Return To Miami

Sun, 15 Aug 2010 18:50:02 GMT

The Miami Herald and CBS-4 are reporting that the NCL Epic cruise ship returned to port in Miami late last night shortly after leaving on a Caribbean cruise due to a medical emergency involving a passenger.

The Miami Herald's article "Emergency Forces Cruise Ship's Return to Miami - Passenger May Have Died" stops short of stating that the passenger died. But numerous on line sources are indicating that the emergency involved a passenger death.

The newspaper's story is based on comments posted on what is described as a "popular cruising website" (probably CruiseCritic.com). The comments apparently suggest that a 21 year old passenger may have died due to an allergic reaction to something he ate. A number of police officers boarded the cruise ship when it returned to port in Miami, and there is alot of speculation about what happened.

There has been no information released by NCL, which adds to the speculation. This cruise line public relations contacts are Susan Robison, vice president, corporate communications & media promotions (305) 436-4762 srobison@ncl.com, and AnneMarie Mathews, director, public relations (305) 436-4799 amathews@ncl.com.

And its vice president of sales and passenger services, Andy Stuart, is a regular on Twitter @nclandy and tweeted non stop when the Epic made its inaugural voyage a few months ago.

Cruise lines like NCL lose alot of credibility when the only time you hear from them is when they are selling cruises and they disappear when trouble strikes.

Update:

A travel agent and blogger's website Chris Cruises has the following statement from NCL:

“After setting sail on a seven-day Eastern Caribbean cruise yesterday at approximately 4 pm, Norwegian Epic returned to the Port of Miami at approximately 12:45 am for a medical disembarkation. While the ship was approximately 40 nautical miles from Miami, a guest on board suffered a heart attack and passed away. All local authorities were notified and some met the ship upon arrival. The ship departed at approximately 2:45 am. Norwegian Cruise Line extends its sincerest thoughts and prayers to the guest’s family during this difficult time.”

Please leave a comment below if you are on the cruise or have information about what happened.

On Chief Justices, Experiences and Bicycles

mmm@hawaiilawyer.com (Mark M. Murakami) — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 22:38:00 GMT

Governor Linda Lingle nominated Associate Justice Mark Recktenwald to be the next Chief Justice of the Hawaii Supreme Court. As a service to the public, my fellow bloggers and bloggers-to-be, have begun to digest the opinions of Justice Recktenwald. We...

Governor Linda Lingle nominated Associate Justice Mark Recktenwald to be the next Chief Justice of the Hawaii Supreme Court.

As a service to the public, my fellow bloggers and bloggers-to-be, have begun to digest the opinions of Justice Recktenwald. We are posting them to www.inversecondemnation.com.

We also will be following the confirmation process and will live blog the Senate confirmation hearing. Details to follow.

On a side note, former Chief Justice Richardson often would recount how his personal experience being excluded from beaches in Hawaii colored his decision in In Re Ashford.

One wonders what experiences will color Justice Recktenwald's decisionmaking.

Hopefully, it doesn't involve bicycles! This morning as I was helping train my 7 year old to ride a bicycle, we encountered Justice Recktenwald. My son was on the sidewalk, avoiding the busy thoroughfare. I was behind him coaching when I realized that Justice Recktenwald was jogging and approaching the other way. I quickly left the sidewalk to the street (bikes are banned on some Oahu sidewalks), but my bike is a little heavy with my three year old kiddie seat on back. Of course, Justice Recktenwald gave my family room by heading further into the street and into traffic.

Mortified at this development (future CJ catches you breaking the sidewalk ordinance and making him run in traffic), all I could muster was "Congratulations on the nomination." He just said, "thank you."

Ponderings on Judicial Takings, Beaches and .. Woodchucks?

mmm@hawaiilawyer.com (Mark M. Murakami) — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 22:23:23 GMT

Once in a while we lift up from the trenches of litigation and ponder the metaphysical questions of law, like how much would could a woodchuck chuck, if a woodchuck could chuck wood? Robert Thomas, Tred Eyerly and I filed...

Once in a while we lift up from the trenches of litigation and ponder the metaphysical questions of law, like how much would could a woodchuck chuck, if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

Robert Thomas, Tred Eyerly and I filed an amicus curiae brief in the case of Stop the Beach Renourishment v. Florida Dep't of Environmental Protection. We were recently asked to submit an essay to the Vermont Law Review analyzing the property rights impacts of the decision.

More when we publish, but as a hook to grab your interest, a Justice Scalia quote:

Justice Breyer must either (a) grapple with the artificial question of what would constitute a judicial taking if there were such a thing as a judicial taking (reminiscent of the perplexing question how much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?), or (b) answer in the negative what he considers to be the “unnecessary” constitutional question whether there is such a thing as a judicial taking.

Our introduction:

Eighty-four years after the Supreme Court acknowledged that an exercise of governmental authority other than the eminent domain power could be a taking, it appears the search for what might fit the bill has devolved from "the lawyer’s equivalent of the physicist’s hunt for the quark" to the riddle of a nursery rhyme. Having now acknowledged Justice Scalia’s reference to one of the most unlikely phrases ever turned in a Supreme Court opinion, we can move on to the more intriguing questions presented by Stop the Beach Renourishment v. Florida Department of Environmental Protection, the case in which the Court came tantalizingly close to answering the most metaphysical of legal issues: can a state supreme court decision "take" property when it changes state law?

The case held out the promise of providing long sought guidance about whether a state’s exercise of judicial power is constrained by the Takings Clause, but ultimately fell one vote short. Six justices agreed that in certain circumstances, a state supreme court’s recharacterization of property from private to public would violate the Constitution; the four-justice Scalia-led plurality concluded it would be a Takings Clause problem, while Justice Kennedy, joined by Justice Sotomayor, saw it as involving the legitimacy of the state court’s action – in other words, substantive due process. Justice Breyer, joined by Justice Ginsburg agreed there was no judicial taking in the case, but demurred on expressing any opinion of when there would be.

. . . .

No doubt the fractured opinions in the case will be a boon for academics who may continue the search for the takings quark (if not woodchucks) in the pages of law journals. But what about practitioners laboring in the trenches of takings law in the courts, struggling to determine whether a state supreme court’s decision changed the law in a manner such that, from the property owner’s perspective, the state might as well have exercised eminent domain and taken it? In this essay we will attempt to provide a view of how we see the issue, focusing on the Scalia plurality opinion and the PruneYard case, the only other case where the Court has expressly weighed in on the judicial takings question. We conclude with a suggestion of how PruneYard and the plurality opinion in Stop the Beach Renourishment may provide a roadmap for asserting and winning a judicial takings claim.

Westport Fisherman Injured on Fishing Vessel RONDYS

Thu, 12 Aug 2010 23:49:05 GMT

A crewman working aboard the fishing vessel RONDYS suffered a head injury requiring emergency medical evacuation today. The accident happened 160 miles off shore from Westport. The fishing vessel RONDYS is a 113-foot steel hulled vessel built in 1993; records indicate the vessel is owned by Rondys Tendering LLC of Westport. The crewman was airlifted to Emanuel Hospital in Portland for treatment, and his condition is unknown. What caused the accident is unknown at this time.

Most Wanted Rape Suspect Arrested On Carnival Cruise Ship - Worked As Manager Of Onboard Hair Salon

Wed, 11 Aug 2010 13:59:45 GMT

A frequent topic on Cruise Law News is the danger of sexual assault on cruise ships. One of the problems we write about frequently is that the cruise lines do not conduct adequate background checks on their employees. The cruise lines deny this, of course, and claim that they subject their crew members to rigorous pre-employment screening.

Well, Carnival has a lot of explaining to do considering an article published today in the Oakland Tribune entitled " Man Sought Longest on Fremont's "Most Wanted" List Finally Caught."

It turns out that a rape suspect on the "Most Wanted" list of the city of Fremont, California was arrested last week in Mexico aboard a Carnival cruise ship where he worked as the manager of the onboard hair salon. Kaloyan Kaloyanov (photo left), age 36, was a former star athlete from Bulgaria who was wanted by the police for raping a 15 year old child who he coached in gymnastics.

The article indicates that the former international gymnastics star was placed on Fremont's Most Wanted list in 2002 after he abandoned his wife and daughter and fled the country after the girl informed police that Kaloyanov sexually assaulted her.

The article indicates that Kaloyanov competed in the 1997 and 1998 Aerobic Gymnastics World Championships, and he also participated in several events with his wife (photo below).

The article also indicates that the police interview Kaloyanov in 2002, and he admitted to "having sex" with the girl. It is less than clear why the police did not arrest him at that time. After the interview, Kaloyanov fled and has been on the run for eight years.

The police finally caught up with him when they Googled his name and they found photographs of him in front of a cruise ship. The police then determined that Kaloyanov had worked for Carnival Cruise Lines for four years, as a fitness instructor and the manager of a hair salon on a Carnival ship.

Congratulations to the police in Fremont for arresting the bad guy.

Its a shame that Carnival's "rigorous" pre-employment screening does not even include Googling the applicant's name. The cruise line would have learned that Kaloyanov's photograph is posted on an on line "Most Wanted" criminal database.

Story credit: Oakland Tribune / Ben Aguirre Jr. twitter.com/benaguirrejr

Photo one: Fremont "Most Wanted" page

Photo two: San Fransisco Chronicle / Kurt Rogers "Gym-dandies / Sportaerobics champions put Fremont on the map"

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Passenger Death On Norwegian Cruises Lines' Epic Forces Cruise Ship's Return To Miami

On Chief Justices, Experiences and Bicycles

Ponderings on Judicial Takings, Beaches and .. Woodchucks?

Westport Fisherman Injured on Fishing Vessel RONDYS

Most Wanted Rape Suspect Arrested On Carnival Cruise Ship - Worked As Manager Of Onboard Hair Salon