| dd/mm/yy |
2010 |
Incident |
| 15.11.10 | SKNVibes reports 17 tourists aboard a coaster tour bus was this morning (Nov. 14) robbed of an undisclosed sum of money, jewellery, cellular phones and other personal items while on their way to visit the Brimstone Hill Fortress National Park (St. Kitts). The tour bus was travelling along the access road to Brimstone Hill Fortress National Park in the vicinity of Lime Kiln with 17 tourists (including a baby) when the incident occurred. “While the bus was driving up the road to Brimstone Hill, the driver saw a large branch from a tree was in his path; so he stopped the bus and disembarked to remove it. But in the process of removing the branch, two masked gunmen emerged from the bushes and said to the driver, ‘This is a #@+# robbery.’ Two other men were also in the bushes. However, the driver then ran towards a nearby gas station on the Island Main Road, from where he got assistance to call the police. “Officers from the Sandy Point Police Station responded to the call and the driver returned to the scene. However, the gunmen had already robbed the tourists of their valuables and cash and made their escape in thick bushes in the area,” said a taxi operator on the condition of anonymity. According to a release sent this afternoon from the Police Public Relations Office, police received a report of the robbery at approximately 11:15 this morning and investigations revealed that the tourists were robbed but none of them were physically harmed. | Pax robbed ashore |
| 30.3.10 | Charleston Regional Business Journal reports the ship departed two hours late (at 7PM) on Monday in order to accommodate extra cleaning given the norovirus outbreaks on the four previous cruises. While more than 22% of passengers reported ill on the cruise before the last one, on the most recent cruise only 0.5% reported ill. | Delayed departure |
| 26.2.10 | The ship's departure from Charleston has been delayed for one day in order to permit deep cleaning. The Post and Courier reports Ppssengers who live more than a two-hour drive from Charleston were being put up in area hotels, compliments of the cruise line. All guests were being credited $50 for any extra expenses incurred, plus a $20 credit. To accommodate the delay, the cruise's itinerary was shortened by a day, with a planned call in Key West, Fla., being canceled. Passengers who sail today were to be given on on-board credit for two-days worth of their fare and a 25 percent discount on future Celebrity cruise bookings, | Delayed embarkation |
| 13.2.10 | WBAL-TV (Baltimore) reports six people onboard the ship are being treated for exposure to carbon monoxide. Baltimore City fire officials said six crew members have been taken to local hospitals. Crew members were performing a welding operation on board the ship inside the engine room Friday and after the work was done the members began to report respiratory problems and other medical issues, and reported to the ship's medical facility. The 6 crew members were transported to local hospitals upon arrival in Baltimore. Baltimore City hazmat crews are trying to determine where the leak was coming from. | Carbon monoxide poisoning
(crew) |
| dd/mm/yy |
2009 |
Incident |
| 27.4.09 | KFMB Radio in San Diego reports the ship arrived at 7 a.m. but passengers didn't get to leave the ship until three hours later (missing flights home). That's because the passenger count didn't match with the number of people on the ship -- about five or six people were missing. The cruise started on the U.S. East Coast with stops in Acapulco and Cabo San Lucas before arriving in San Diego. | Delayed disembarkation |
| 15.2.09 | The Juneau Empire reports the ship has been cited for air quality violations in Alaska during the 2008 cruise season. | Environmental |
| dd/mm/yy |
2007 |
Incident |
| 18.2.07 |
On-board the Mercury: the ship was forced to return to San Diego after five hours at sea so that divers could remove fishing line and rope wrapped around the starboard propeller shaft. When the ship finally left San Diego it was 13 hours behind schedule on its 14-day cruise to Fort Lauderdale. The itinerary was modified to skip the first port, Cabo San Lucas, and the scheduled arrival and departure for the second, Acapulco, was altered. Staterooms received a shipboard credit that varied based on stateroom category.. |
Delay -- Missed port |
| dd/mm/yy |
2006 |
Incident |
| 16.11.06 |
The Seattle
Times and Seattle
Post-Intelligencer report that Celebrity Cruises faces
a $100,000 fine for the Mercury dumping 500,000 gallons of untreated
wastewater into Puget Sound. Though it initially claimed it
hadn't dumped, shipboard documents contradicted the company's
claim. The dumping happended 10 times over nine days in September
and October 2005. |
Environmental |
| 19.5.06 |
Coast Guard officers removed the captian from them ship after he failed a breath-alcohol test during a routine safety inspection. The ship delayed its departure from Seattle until a new captain was located. On July 31, the Captain pled guilty to operating a ship while under the influence of alcohol; he paid 1 fine of $15,000 and placed on probation for one year. He also was banned from entering U.S. waters as an employee of any commercial vessel for one year. | Intoxicated Captain |
| 1.5.06 |
From a passenger: On the 4/28-5/8 2006 sailing from San Diego to Mex. Rivera the ship lissed Mazatlan due to a partial breakdown of main bearings in one of the propeller shafts. The ship went from Cabo San Lucas to Acapulco in order to effect repairs. The engineering staff said considerably abnormal levels of metal shavings were noted in the bearing packs indicating an imminent breakdown. A $25/person credit was issued for missing Mazatlan -- we spent 2 days in Acapulco instead of one. | Missed Port |
| dd/mm/yy |
2005 and earlier |
Incident |
| 27.8 - 3.9.04 |
A 40 year old passenger went
missing the second day of the cruise. The cruise line calls the
disappearance a suicide but the family thinks otherwise, especially
given that the cruise line had withheld information from them.
(See Arizona Republic, November 10, 2005, "Daughter vanishes while on
Alaskan cruise: The strange disappearance of Miriam Carver) For
more information see
here. |
Passenger missing |
| 16.5.03 |
Miami Herald reported on May 17 that a suit had been filed
charging that RCI and Celebrity Cruises charged
at least $150 million in fraudulent taxes
to passengers that the companies pocketed as additional fare revenue.
A settlement reached in 1997 in a similar case barred RCI and
Celebrity from charging customers "any fees in addition to the
advertised initial ticket price, except those fees acrually passed on
by the company to a government agency." (See "Cruise lines accused of
fraud," Jay Weaver and Dale K. Dupont, Miami Herald, May 17, 2003) |
Port taxes |
Illness Outbreaks at
Sea by Mercury
Illness Outbreaks by Ship:
| dd/mm/yy |
Reported Illness Outbreaks |
| 15.3.10 | USA Today reports the ship is ending the current cruise a day early, on Thursday (March 18), in order to allow for a deep cleaning. This is the third successive cruises with a gastrointestinal illness outbreak -- numbers of ill have not yet been reported. The Miami Herald reports the port call at British Virgin Islands was cancelled and that the number reporting ill was 350 of 1,829 passengers. CNN reports the CDC is making a no-sail recommendation for at least four full days for the Celebrity Mercury cruise ship to investigate recurring outbreaks of gastrointestinal illness, a CDC spokesman said Monday. "The CDC and the cruise line corporate staff have not yet determined why the controls that they were following have not been effective," said CDC spokesman Ricardo Beato. Celebrity Cruises has been notified of the no-sail recommendation, Beato said. CNN reports the ship will depart two day late for its next cruise, alotting three days for a deep cleaning. The CDC's no-sail recommendation was for four full days. Celebrity Cruises spokeswoman Cynthia Martinez said the cruise line worked with the CDC on a sanitation plan "that was agreeable to both parties." UPDATE March 17: The CDC reports that 369 of 1829 passengers (20.17%) and 13 of 857 crew (1.52%) have reported ill with gastrointestinal illness. Update March 18: The CDC now reports that 406 of 1829 passengers (22.1%) and 13 of 857 crew (1.52%) have reported ill with gastrointestinal illness. |
| 5.3.10 | The Charleston Post and Courier reports since the ship set sail from Charleston on Saturday, 55 of the 1,880 passengers have fallen ill with norovirus. The ship's most recent departure was delayed a day as a cleaning crew sanitized it, and three officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention went aboard to test for the virus.UPDATE: The CDC reports that 182 of 1749 passengers (10.41%) and 14 of 850 crew (1.65%) reported ill on the cruise ending March 8 in Charleston. |
| 22.2.10 | Associated Press reports 326 guests and 27 crew members have fallen ill with a stomach ailment -- passengers began complaining Sunday of upset stomachs, vomiting and diarrhea. A company spokesperson said the ship's medical facilities were overwhelmed and another doctor and nurse came aboard in St. Kitts in the British Virgin Islands. The ship made four other stops in the Caribbean. It's not clear what pathogen was involved, but samples were being dropped off in Puerto Rico for testing. The ship left Charleston on Feb. 15 and is scheduled to return Feb. 26. UPDATE: WIBW reports the numberofill passengers is now 419. UPDATE Feb 25: CDC reports the numbers ill were 411 of 1833 passengers (22.43%) and 32 of 843 crew (3.8%) Disembarking passengers spoke of a rumor that the outbreak stemmed to a Caribbean excursion that included punch and cookies, but this is unconfirmed. |
| 12.3.09 | The ship reported 4 of 834 (0.48%) crew and 93 of 1862 (5.0%) passengers had reported ill with gastrointestinal illness on a 16 day circle cruise to Hawaii from San Diego. The cruise began February 28 and ends March 15. UPDATE March 13: CDC has revised the numbers to 6 crew (.72%) and 113 passengers (6.1%). |
| 18.3.07 | The ship reported that 11 (1.30%) crew and 58 (3.23%) passengers had reported ill on a 14 day cruise from Fort Lauderdale to San Diego (4 - 18 March). |
| 9.6.06 |
The ship reported that 4 of 848 (0487%) crew and 121 of 2025 (5.98%) passengers were ill. The predominant symptoms were vomiting and diarrhea. The 7 day Alaska cruise ended in Seattle on June 9. |
| 4.4.06 |
From a passenger onboard after two cruises with illness
outbreaks: We left San Diego on 03/27 - 4/07 cruise to the Mexican Riviera. Embarkation was slightly delayed so the ship could be completely sanitized as 5% of the pax on previous cruise reported symptoms of GI illness. We were told that some sanitizing efforts would be ongoing while the ship cruised. The reality was this: On day three they began spraying every surface with chlorine bleach around the clock. Doors, walls, hand rails, chairs, tables, desks, mirrors, elevators both inside and outside. Literally everything. We left the ship in Acapulco on Sunday (April 2) because the living conditions were unbearable. Walls were running with chlorine, clothes were being ruined, breathing was difficult, eyes and mucus membranes irritated from exposure to the fumes. Many pax were annoyed and angry but I guess my tolerance is far less than theirs. Celebrity agreed to pay for a flight home from Acapulco. Passengers remaining onboard were told Tuesday night (April 4) that they would receive a 25 percent refund of the amount paid for this sailing, and a 25 percent credit for a future Celebrity cruise (based on the amount paid for this sailing). |
| 27.3.06 |
The
San Diego Union-Tribune reports that the ship returned from a 10-day
Mexican Riviera cruise during which 107 of 1976 (5.41%) passengers and
24 of 841 (2.85%) crew members reported ill with symptoms consistent
with norovirus. The cruise line's Director of Corporate
Communications
said the virus was brought on board by a guest, but the fact is that
this is the second cruise in a row with the illness -- it was likely
already on the ship. Go here for
a passenger's account of being onboard. |
| 17.3.06 |
On March 14, 2006, Celebrity Cruises reported that an elevated number of passengers and crew were experiencing symptoms consistent with acute gastroenteritis, mainly diarrhea and vomiting. On March 17, the ship’s medical staff indicated 14 of 840 (1.67%) crew and 191 of 1902 (10.04%) passengers had reported ill. The ship is on an 11 night Mexican Riviera cruise due to end in San Diego on March 17. |
| 2.3.04 |
I
received a report from a passenger who had been
quarantined in his room for three days that a number of passengers
became ill with gastrointestinal illness on the February 20th ten day
cruise to Mexico. The total number reporting ill is unknown and
probably remained below the 3% threshold (for this ship, less than 56)
of the CDC. |
| 16.8.02 |
Health
Canada is investigating an outbreak of salmonella
on two separate cruises (July 28, August 4). 30
cases were reported, though the outbreak likely affected
more people who have not reported illness. Salmonella is a
bacteria that is transmitted through food or drink. |