|
Date
|
Ship
Cruise Line
|
Event
|
Type of Incident
|
December 31
|
Nippon Maru
|
Guam
Daily Post reports the U.S. Coast Guard is
investigating an incident that occurred Sunday night when a
cruise vessel ran into a U.S. Navy fuel pier at inner Apra
Harbor, the Port Authority of Guam confirmed. The Nippon
Maru cruise vessel, originating from Yokohama, Japan,
collided with delta pier as it was departing to Saipan. The
546-foot vessel was carrying 524 passengers and a crew of
224. The incident was reported around 9:14 p.m. Sunday. An
initial assessment indicated the lower portion of the stern
on the starboard side of the vessel was punctured resulting
in a gap measuring approximately 5 feet by 7 feet, stated a
release from the Port Authority. |
Collision with pier - cruise canceled
|
December 31
|
Carnival Elation
|
From a passenger:
We received emails this morning that our cruise from JAX
leaving 12/31 has been delayed due to fog! UPDATE:
The port is now open for parking as of 3 pm! They have moved
our boarding times back by 4 hours. People are parked at the
Pilot and sleeping on sidewalks with their luggage. |
Delayed by fog
|
December 31
|
Carnival Dream
|
Cruise
Law News reports a lifeboat broke free from the ship
as it was sailing back to New Orleans on December 30, 2018,
according to a travel agent on the ship. Mum’s
Travel Blog reported that a lifeboat sheered from the
davit hook and fell into the water around 2:00 p.m.
yesterday. Fortunately, there was no one in the lifeboat at
the time. The ship was unable to raise the lifeboat and
decided to abandon it at sea. There are comments posted on
social media that the Coast Guard may later retrieve the
lifeboat. |
Loses lifeboat - left adrift
|
December 30
|
Multiple ship
|
ABC
Action News reports heavy fog in Tampa led to
disruptions among cruise ships trying to get in and out of
the Port Tampa Bay.
Even though it's now open and operating normally,
passengers and cruises are still dealing with significant
delays which could get worse with the Coast Guard expecting
the fog to return tonight. The Coast Guard closed the port
because visibility was under a mile, but later reopened it
when the fog cleared. Still, the delay was enough to cause
around 6,000 passengers to be displaced, according to a
spokesperson for Port Tampa Bay. Janie Hollerorth is waiting
to leave on a 7-day Holland America Cruise, but she's been
told they won't be boarding until between 9:30 and 11:30
p.m. |
Delayed by fog
|
December 29
|
MSC Preziosa
|
Trinidad Express
reports, after being robbed, slashed on her hand with a
knife, hospitalised and having to undergo surgery, British
cruise ship tourist Sally Wilson left Trinidad yesterday
with her husband, Michael, grateful for life and the help
they received. The Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS)
said in a release yesterday that Sally, 72, and Michael, 74,
who came to Port of Spain on board the MSC Preziosa on
Boxing Day, were sitting on a bench at the Queen’s Park
Savannah (QPS) when they were approached by a man armed with
a knife. The man cut the strap of Mrs Wilson’s handbag and
escaped with her belongings. She was cut on the left arm in
the process. |
Robbery/slashed
|
December 28
|
Carnival Conquest
|
Cruise
Law News reports the cruise ship was delayed for
several hours in Aruba last night due to what the local
press is reporting to be a sexual assault. Several
passengers stated that they reported what they described two
things of significance: (1) a van at the port where local
police are placing bags of some type of forensic evidence
from the ship, and (2) a security guard posted outside of a
passenger cabin. Several newspapers in Aruba report that a
passenger was arrested and taken into custody in Aruba by
the local police. The cruise ship crime reporting portal
maintained by the U.S. Department of Transportation reflect
that there have been 53 sexual assaults reported on cruise
ships in the last year (October 1, 2017 – September 30,
2018). Of the 53 alleged incidents listed on the portal, 31
occurred on cruise ships operated by Carnival Cruise Line.
The last sexual crime on the Carnival Conquest which we
reported on involved an adult passenger who sexually
assaulted a 12 year-old girl during a cruise in January
2016. The man was arrested and pleaded guilty to sexual
abuse of the minor. |
Sexual assault
|
December 26
|
Harmony OTS
|
Miami
Herald reports the U.S. Coast Guard is searching for a
20-year-old Royal Caribbean cruise line crew member who went
overboard Tuesday in the Atlantic Ocean. The Coast Guard
first learned that Arron Hough, 20, of the United Kingdom
had gone overboard at 1:45 p.m. Christmas Day. At the time,
the Harmony of the Seas ship was traveling from its home
port of Fort Lauderdale to its first stop of St. Maarten
island on its seven-day Caribbean itinerary. According to
his Twitter account, Hough was a performer in the musical
“Grease” aboard the ship. Royal Caribbean said in a
statement that Hough did not show up for work on Tuesday.
Ship crew members reviewed footage from the ship’s security
cameras and found that Hough entered an area on Deck 5 at
around 4 a.m. and was not seen on camera again. On Wednesday
the Coast Guard continued to search for Hough with an
airplane and cutter ship. They are focusing their search on
the area of ocean 267 miles northwest of Aguadilla, Puerto
Rico where Hough reportedly went overboard. The Harmony of
the Seas continued on its regularly scheduled itinerary,
arriving in St. Maarten Wednesday. |
Crew overboard
|
December 18
|
Arcadia
|
Royal
Gazette reports the ship’s mooring lines broke during
strong winds in Dockyard at about 2.53am yesterday morning.
According to a caption on a video posted by the Port Bermuda
webcam, “the ship drifted backwards and sideways for a short
time before the ship’s crew brought manoeuvring power
online.” |
Breaks moorings
|
December 17
|
Carnival Fantasy
|
AL.COM
reports a passenger (22 year old male with special needs) is
missing from a Mobile-based cruise ship. Citing reports from
passengers, Cruisehive reported announcements were made on
board the Carnival Fantasy last night about a missing guest.
The passenger was still missing as of Monday as onboard
security searched the vessel. The Fantasy is currently on a
five-day western Caribbean cruise after departing from
Mobile on Dec. 15. Cruisehive reports the passenger went
missing as the ship was sailing towards its first port of
call of Progreso on Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. The ship is
scheduled to be in Cozumel, Mexico tomorrow before arriving
back in Mobile on Dec. 20. Miami
Herald reports the man was traveling in a group of
nine from Wishes4Me foundation on a five-night Carnival
Fantasy cruise from Mobile, Alabama, when his travel
companions reported him missing. The group was traveling
with three chaperones. Carnival confirmed Wednesday that
Renner climbed over the deck rail and jumped off the ship.
His family said in a statement that they believe he may have
mistakenly believed he was going swimming. They now presume
he is dead but do not blame the group that organized the
sailing, they said via a statement. |
Pax missing
|
December 14
|
NCL Jade
|
From a passenger:
I was aboard the NCL Jade on Friday dec 14. The
Jade left the dock at 5pm and the rear thrusters pushed us
about 50 feet off the dock….the front thrusters did not come
on….so we were bow in aft out and headed for the dock….as I
watched in utter disbelief, we rammed straight ahead hitting
the dock and 2 finger piers as the thrusters finally came
on. The ship redocked and damage pictures etc were taken.
Eventually after an hour we departed for St. Martin for the
second time.!! |
Allision with pier
|
December 14
|
Celebrity Infinity
|
From a passenger:
Celebrity Infinity currently docked at Key West Naval
Station scheduled to leave at 1700 is delayed due to
malfunction of bow thrusters. Delay considered temporary.
Ship is docked at alternate location due to damage at
Mallory square dock. This situation is discussed, with
details, at Cruise
Critic.
|
Propulsion issues
|
December 14
|
Carnival Cruise Lines
|
Florida
Record reports a judge has ordered sanctions ahead of
a trial against the Carnival cruise ship company, which
claims to have lost the footage of a woman allegedly
slipping and falling near the buffet on one of its ships.
U.S. District Judge Jonathan Goodman, on the bench of the
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida,
issued a 50-page ruling on Dec. 4, ordering the sanctions in
the lawsuit filed by Ruby Sosa against Carnival Corporation.
Sosa sued Carnival for damages after she allegedly slipped
and fell on board the ship Freedom. She stated that she fell
in a buffet area. She argued that security officer James
Desouza, in charge of the CCTV, "failed to complete his
investigation because 'halfway through, for reasons unknown
and never explained,' Desouza unilaterally decided to stop
his investigation," the ruling said. Carnival denied acting
in bad faith, and said it did not know how or why the
security camera footage went missing after a security
officer watched it and took steps to download the video into
a computer drive. |
Sanctioned by court
|
December 14
|
Carnival Victory
|
Cruise
Law News reports a cruise guest is reportedly missing
from a Carnival cruise ship this morning, according to
several passengers including a journalist on the ship.
According to at least one passenger on the ship, CCTV
“cameras confirm that the passenger went overboard. It’s
unknown if he jumped or fell. The U.S. Coast Guard
is searching by air.” The overboard passenger appears
to have gone overboard around 4 or 5 hours earlier,
according to passenger accounts. The Carnival ship was
returning to Miami at the time of the overboard. The Miami
Herald reports the Coast Guard announced at 9:35 a.m.
that it sent a helicopter, ship and plane to look for the 27
year old man early Friday. By 10:15 a.m. the Carnival
Victory was back on its normal route to Miami as the Coast
Guard continued the search. |
Pax overboard
|
December 13
|
NCL Star
|
Bloomberg
Law reports Norwegian Cruise Line (Bahamas) Ltd.
defeated a Canadian’s man’s suit over his drunken tumble
down a cruise ship hatch. Olivier Caron waited too long to
filed his claim that the cruise line served him too much
alcohol, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
said Dec. 13. And his claims of a dangerous hatch lacked
support because he had to pass through two doors emblazoned
with “Crew Only” signs to get there. |
Lawsuit dismissed
|
December 13
|
Allure OTS
|
ABC13
reports a woman claims Royal Caribbean Cruises is
responsible for a zip line accident that killed her husband
on the Honduran island of Roatan. Court records show that
attorneys for 27-year-old Shir Frenkel sued the company in
Miami federal court last month, seeking more than $1 million
in damages. The lawsuit says Frenkel and her husband,
24-year-old Igal Tyszman, were passengers on the Allure of
the Seas in July when they booked the Extreme Caribe Zip
Line Tour at the ship's excursion desk. The suit claims they
collided in midair, killing Tyszman and seriously injuring
Frenkel. The suit says the excursion was operated by an
independent contractor, but guests were misled to believe it
was operated by Royal Caribbean. |
Lawsuit
|
December 12
|
Multiple ships
|
Cayman
Compass reports high seas and windy weather in George
Town on Tuesday led to four cruise ships missing their
scheduled stops, and sent the one ship that did arrive to
Spotts Dock. Tuesday had been expected to be a busy day for
George Town, with five ships carrying more than 14,000
passengers scheduled to arrive. However, just one ship, the
Carnival Magic with 3,690 passengers, made the stop as
Cayman experienced strong north to northeasterly winds of 15
to 20 knots and rough seas with swells along the west and
northern coasts. The Norwegian Pearl, Crystal Symphony,
Disney Fantasy and Carnival Freedom skipped Cayman. Rough
seas are expected to continue this week, with wave heights
of 6 to 8 feet forecast for Wednesday and waves of 4 to 6
feet on Thursday.
|
Skipped port call
|
December 11
|
MSC Preziosa
|
Cruise
Law News reports a female cruise passenger reportedly
went overboard from the ship in the Caribbean several days
ago, according to the France-Antilles newspaper. The
Martinique newspaper reports that a 69-year-old Dutch
citizen was not located on the MSC Cruises ship when it
arrived in Fort-de-France last Saturday, December 8th. The
last port before Martinique scheduled on the cruise
was Philipsburg, St. Maarten on Friday, December
7th. The unidentified passenger was last seen Friday
night on the balcony of their cabin by her husband. The
newspaper concluded that “most likely hypothesis would be a
fall” from the cruise ship” estimated at 30 meters. The ship
left Fort-de-France at its scheduled departure time of 11:00
p.m. on Saturday. A helicopter and Navy jet conducted a
search for the woman after he was not located on the cruise
ship on Saturday morning in Martinique. The search was
called off on Sunday, December 9th following which
transmissions of the missing passenger continued to be
circulated to merchant ships in the area. This appears to be
another case where a cruise line failed to have an automatic
man overboard system installed on the ship. Such systems
automatically send a signal to the bridge when a person goes
over the railing. The cruise ship can quickly try to locate
and rescue the person using sophisticated motion detection,
infrared and radar technology. |
Pax overboard
|
December 11
|
Marco Polo, Cruise and Maritime Voyaqes
|
Independent
reports two British pensioners have been arrested on a
cruise ship after “a large amount of cocaine” was found in
their cabin. The suspects, aged 70 and 72, were
detained on suspicion of international drug trafficking
moments after the vessel docked at the terminal in Lisbon.
Portuguese police said a search revealed the cocaine had
been “ingeniously concealed” within four suitcases. The
authorities did not identify the pensioners but indicated
the suspects have already appeared before a judge and remain
in custody. BBC
reports the ship had left Tilbury in Essex on 5 November and
travelled to the West Indies and Azores with 610 passengers
and 294 crew on board. The couple were arrested on 4
December following a tip-off from the UK National Crime
Agency. They appeared before a judge and will be held
separately while a joint Portuguese and British
investigation continues. A spokesman for the operator said
the firm "does not tolerate any criminal activity or
anti-social behaviour on board its ships".
The Times says drugs gangs are trying to use
penshioners as mules,.
|
Drug bust
|
December 11
|
Crystal Symphony
|
CDC
reports 30 of 700 (4.3%) passengers and 17 of 585
(2.9%) crew have reported gastrointestinal illness on the
8 November - 2 December cruise. |
Illness outbreak
|
December 10
|
Unstated
|
New
Zealand Herald reports Coffee. Tea. Ink. That is how
Napier residents are describing the water which came out of
their taps at the weekend. One resident Chris Baylis, said
the water was bad enough she would not let her granddaughter
bath in it. "We used bottled water to clean our teeth." She
wanted council to take responsibility and communicate with
residents about the problem. One resident, who did not wish
to be named, said he believed it was caused by the cruise
ships taking water. "What's left is just dredges on the
bottom." However, council denied that cruise ships were the
cause of the problem. The resident said they had run their
water for 45 minutes before it was clear. "You can't drink
it, it came out the colour of black coffee." |
Tap water = sludge
|
December 9
|
Celebrity Millennium
|
Crew
Centre reports a fellow crew member has informed Crew
Center that a young officer working onboard Celebrity
Millennium was found dead in his cabin on December 6, just
one day before the ship arrived in Singapore. According to
the source the officer is identified as Anton Ilichev
from Ukraine who was working as a Suite Manager. Anton was
working for Celebrity Cruises for several contracts. This
supposed to be his final voyage before the end of the
contract because the young officer was scheduled to
disembark in Singapore for his regular vacation. The
terrible tragedy was also confirmed by other crew members
and Anton’s close friends. Celebrity Millennium was on a 14
Night Southeast Asia Cruise from Hong Kong to Singapore when
this tragic event took place. |
Suicide (crew)
|
December 9
|
Jewel OTS & Celebrity Summit
|
Cruise
Law News reports a strike in San Juan today
impacted cruise passengers. Departing passengers have been
unable to retrieve their luggage and take taxis to the
airport and arriving passengers have been delayed or unable
to travel to the port due to the strikes. The current strike
involves an organized protest against governmental cuts of
employee benefits in Puerto Rico. |
Delays in port - Strike
|
December 6
|
Silversea Silver Spirit
|
Miami
Herald reports the ship got caught up in a heavy
sustained wind last week and crashed into a mooring in Key
West. It did enough damage to leave the port of call at
Mallory Square unusable for at least three months The ship
was leaving Mallory Square at about 6:30 p.m. Nov. 27 when
the winds stopped it from turning around to get underway. No
injuries were reported and the ship was not significantly
damaged. |
Ship collides with pier
|
December 6
|
Pacific Dawn
|
Cruise
Law News reports a crew member from Vanuatu was
sentenced to five years and eight months in jail on
Tuesday after he was found guilty two months ago of raping a
co-worker during their employment for P&O Cruises.’ The
court found beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. Isaac
trespassed into the victim’s cabin on the morning of
December 6, 2017. Despite her pleas, he overcame her
resistance and committed what the newspaper described as
full and forcible sexual intercourse with her without her
consent shortly before he disembarked from the cruise
ship.She reportedly did not return to her job duties and was
forced to leave the ship due to the trauma. She later
notified P&O that she would not return to work due to
the assault. She reported the crime to the local police who
reportedly had to halt the investigation awaiting the ship’s
next visit to obtain the CCTV images. She was a new hire who
worked in the galley. She boarded the< ship in Brisbane
in early December 2017; the ship thereafter sailed for New
Caledonia and Vanuatu. The assault took place just a few
days after she started work on the cruise ship. |
Rape (crew on crew)
|
December 1
|
Dinner cruise (unnamed)
|
KOMO
reports the Coast Guard issued a $5,000 fine to someone who
jumped overboard from an entertainment vessel into the
Columbia River in Richland in June. The fine was issued in
mid-November after The Coast Guard received an investigation
report from the Benton County Sheriff's Office. The
sheriff's office responded to the June 15 incident after
they say a man climbed over the rail of a dinner cruise boat
and jumped off. The sheriff's office says the man had asked
the captain if he could jump but the captain said no. The
man swam to shore safely after the jump. His name was not
released. Intentionally jumping into the water from a
passenger vessel is considered interfering with the safe
operation of the vessel and is illegal. |
Passenger fined for jumping overboard
|
November 30
|
Carnival Cruise Lines
|
Cruise
Radio reports Carnival Cruise Lines has increased
mandatory gratuities for drinks (and presumably all other
services) from 15% to 18%. That is a whopping 20% increase.
The question is where that money goes -- there is no
indication that Carnival has increased its salaries for
service staff by 20% so it must end up in the corporate
coffers (as though they need more than the $3 billion in net
profit they already earn -- profit on which they PAY NO
INCOME TAX). Cruise
Law News reports a Carnival employee sent a copy of a
letter from Richard Morse, Carnival’s Senior Vice President
of Hotel Operation, explaining that from the the 3%
increase, 1.5% will go to the Carnival server and the
remaining 1.5% will go into a pool to fund Carnival expenses
including the costs of uniforms and return airline
tickets for crew members. |
Mandatory gratuities increased a whopping 20%
|
November 29
|
Multiple ships
|
The
Telegraph reports tourists planning a winter getaway
on a romantic cruise along Europe’s rivers are
facing stranded ships and long coach journeys after the dry
summer left water levels at record lows. Holidaymakers
expecting to travel between Budapest and Vienna on the
serene waters of the Danube have been told they will be
bussed between the cities instead because the water is too
low for the cruise ships to navigate. Instead of
settling into a cabin for a week they will be forced to move
between stranded cruise ships that have been
turned into floating hotels as cruise companies
frantically try to rescue as much of their itineraries as
possible. But it has left many customers angry and
frustrated. “We are starting to wonder how many bus trips we
are going to have as we booked a seven-day
river cruise on a boat not a bus trip. We have
absolutely no interest in bussing around Europe or any other
country let alone at Christmas time,” one Australian
traveller wrote on an internet message board. |
Water level too low for ships to operate
|
November 29
|
Anthem OTS
|
Royal
Gazette reports Luis Samudio believes birthdays should
be more about giving than gifts. His 50th was no different.
The Pennsylvania resident brought three suitcases filled
with things for charity when he visited on Bermuda two weeks
ago. He and his wife, Sarah, and their two daughters then
spent a good part of their three days here putting their
plan in place. “These things are only a few dollars [in the
United States],” Mrs Samudio said of the soaps, shampoos,
toothpastes and other toiletries they donated to the Centre
Against Abuse. We know there are not thousands of low-income
people in Bermuda, but there are enough.” The family
initially planned to bring in 20 bags filled with 13
toiletries each but, as many friends wanted to help, they
tripled their expectations. Laurie Shiell-Smith, the
charity’s executive director, “seemed very grateful” for
their efforts. “I think she was a little surprised when I
e-mailed her a month ago,” Mrs Samudio said. “We
didn’t know each other but I figured if someone is either
looking to leave an abusive situation or anything it could
be a help to have some essentials to help them relocate.
Usually we fly. On an aeroplane you really pay for the
suitcases but this time we were on a boat so we thought we’d
try it.” The problems began when they tried to get the
luggage off the ship. Bermuda Customs told them that as long
as they did not bring in anything illegal and paid the duty,
all was fine. Royal Caribbean International, the cruise
liner’s operator, was not as keen. “They were very unhappy
with the idea,” Mrs Samudio said (what happened to the
cruise lines' supposed care and concern for the locations
they travel to?). “When we arrived on November 12,
they wouldn’t let us leave with the donations. “They were
suspicious because it is not something that people normally
do. “Laurie called the port agent for me. She also spoke to
customs on the ground. Everyone was on the same page, and
said, ‘We don’t mind if you bring these items in, as long as
you have documentation.’ “We spent maybe two or three hours
on Monday and another couple of hours on Tuesday. When they
finally gave us permission, we took a taxi to Laurie’s
office. |
RCI tries blocking philanthropic effort by
pax
|
| November 28 |
Norwegian Escape
|
Navy
Times reports the Coast Guard rescued two crew members
severely burned in a Monday afternoon during an engine room
accident onboard the Norwegian Escape while the cruise liner
sailed off the coast of North Carolina. What we know is that
there appeared to be an accident in the engine room,” said
Public Affairs Specialist 3rd Class Ronald Hodges, a Coast
Guard spokesman. Because the vessel was more than 12
nautical miles offshore of the United States and the two
victims were from the Philippines serving onboard a
Bahamas-flagged vessel, the Coast Guard is unlikely to
probe the incident, Hodges added. On Wednesday, the
Coast Guard said that the injuries appeared to have been
caused by a steam pipe that burst. Coast Guard watchstanders
at the Fifth District command center in Portsmouth,
Virginia, were contacted Monday at 3:50 p.m. by the
Norwegian Escape that the two crewmen, 25 and 26 years of
age, needed emergency medical attention for second-degree
burns, officials say. The Coast Guard scrambled a Jayhawk
MH-60T rescue helicopter from Air Station Elizabeth City,
North Carolina, to fly 24 miles east to the cruise ship. NOTE:
in May 2003, a boiler explosion on NCL's Norway
killed 8 crew members and left 10 with serious injuries. The
explosion was likely caused by Norwegian Cruise Line's
improper operation, maintenance and inspection of the steam
chamber, federal
investigators said. |
2 crew members severely burned in accident
|
| November 28 |
NCL
|
AZ
Family reports a seven-day cruise to Alaska is
supposed to be one of the most scenic, domestic vacations
you can take. That's exactly what a Mesa couple was in for
until the unexpected happened. They never got around
to taking that cruise and the reason wasn't even their
fault. As a result, they're out of the cruise and the money.
VaDonna and Richard Stich were surprised with a seven-day
Alaskan cruise paid for by their kids and grandchildren. "We
were thrilled," said VaDonna. "We heard so much about going
to Alaska. It's supposed to be gorgeous up there! "The
$4,000 trip was purchased through Norwegian Cruise Line and
was much deserved. Richard served more than three decades in
the Air Force and today he still flies at special events.
"We do a lot of flybys for veterans because the military
won't do them anymore," said Richard. Richard and VaDonna
were supposed to set sail from Seattle on Sept. 16. To get
there, they were scheduled to fly out of Sky Harbor Airport
in Phoenix. However, when they arrived at the airport,
they were in for a big shock. Bomb squad, SWAT, police K9s
surrounded Sky Harbor, all because of an unattended car.
Their flight was canceled and they were unable to make the
cruise. The family immediately called Norwegian Cruise Line
to tell them about the airport's security problem and asked
if they could reschedule the $4,000 cruise. They were told
no and NCL wouldn't budge. They said the couple should have
purchased travel insurance from NCL. As readers know from
other incidents, \the travel insurance sold by cruise lines
often does not cover problems encountered by passengers. |
Veteran has flight canceled; cruise line says
that's not their problem
|
| November 28 |
HAL Westerdam
|
News.Com
Australia reports a confused couple was booted off
their cruise and left stranded in South Korea — and
thousands of dollars out of pocket — over a simple but
profound error they made when booking their trip. And their
mistake is a lesson for all of us, said Michelle
Couch-Friedman from consumer rights group Elliott Advocacy,
which was not able to get compensation for the devastated
couple. American man William Coates and his wife had booked
a 14-day Holland America Line cruise through Japan, South
Korea and China on the Westerdam in October. “This is a trip
we had planned for a long time. At 71 years old, we were
looking forward to this adventure,” Mr Coates told Elliott
Advocacy. The couple flew to Japan, where they boarded the
ship at Yokohama and settled into the voyage as they cruised
to South Korea. But on the third day of the 14-day trip, a
member of the ship’s guest relations staff told the Coates
they would be kicked off the ship when it reached the South
Korean port at Pusan. They would have to gather their things
and leave, their journey suddenly over. “She (the staff
member) told us that it was our responsibility to get
ourselves home. We couldn’t believe it,” Mr Coates said. The
reason the Coates were told to leave the ship was because
they didn’t have the necessary visas to enter China.
Americans, like Australians, on cruise journeys have to have
the right visas for all ports of entry on the voyage. And
American and Australian travellers need visas to enter
China, where authorities “strongly enforce penalties for
entry and exit visa violations” according to the Department
of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Mr Coates said that was the
first time they were made aware of this. “Holland America
removed us from the ship. They left us, literally on the
dock,” he said. “It was up to us to find our way to the
airport and then pay $US2400 ($A3320) for additional airfare
to get home.” Last I traveled on HAL to a country where
a visa was needed, we were told be the cruise line several
times -- they were sure to let us know how to purchase a
visa (through a compant from which HAL got a commission.
|
Pax kicked off ship and left to fend for
selves
|
| November 28 |
Starboard Cruise Services (ship unknown)
& Royal Caribbean International
|
Daily
Business Review reports the latest installment in
the battle between a cruise ship passenger and a
Doral-based cruise line over a diamond worth nearly $5
million has handed a victory to the passenger. The Third
District Court of Appeal denied Starboard Cruise
Services’ motion for attorney fees from former passenger
Thomas DePrince in a ruling issued Wednesday. The two
parties have been locked in litigation for several years
over DePrince’s purchase of a 20.64-carat diamond for
only $235,000 in 2013. In reality, the stone was valued
at $4.75 million. A former fine-jewelry dealer, DePrince
bought the deeply discounted diamond while aboard one
of Starboard’s ships. Once the cruise line learned of its
vendor’s pricey mistake, it reversed the charge on
DePrince’s credit card, prompting him to file suit
for breach of contract. Following years of
litigation, the Third District Court of Appeal issued a
favorable ruling to Starboard in August. The appellate
panel held that “a party seeking rescission of a
contract based on a unilateral mistake does not have to
prove that she was induced into making the mistake by the
other party.” But after handing Starboard that legal
victory, the same appellate court ruled against the
company in its pursuit of attorney fees. The latest
opinion written by Chief Judge Leslie Rothenberg affirmed an
order denying the cruise company’s motion for fees based on
its settlement proposal. Judges Vance Salter and Robert Luck
concurred.(FYI, Starboard Cruise Services is wholly owned
by Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessey (LVMH).
|
Pax loses (and wins) lawsuit over being sold
a diamond at deep discount
|
November 28
|
MSC Seaview
|
Cruise
Law News reports MSC touted the ship as the “first of
a new generation of MSC ships with revolutionary
architecture and cutting-edge technology” when it christened
the ship in Miami last year. USA TODAY explained that
MSC specifically designed the MSC cruise ship to
“appeal to American cruisers.” But when U.S. passenger Laura
Eka and her newlywed husband, Ebong, boarded the MSC
ship several weeks ago to celebrate their honeymoon, they
were greeted by a caricature of a black person. Ms. Eka
complained to MSC that she and her husband (who is black)
felt “unwelcome and uncomfortable” by the blackface artwork.
MSC refused to acknowledge the racially insensitive artwork
which it chose to display on its Miami-based cruise ship. So
Ms. Eka has gone to Twitter to express her disgust with the
racist caricature. |
Racist artwork
|
November 26
|
P&O Azur
|
The
Guardian reports the captain of a cruise ship found to
be burning fuel with excessive sulphur levels has been fined
€100,000 (£88,500) in a Marseille court, the first such
ruling in France. The prosecution was intended to signal a
new seriousness in tackling pollution from cruise ships
after a spot-check in March on the Azura, operated by
P&O Cruises, found it contained unauthorised bunker
fuel. The American captain, Evans Hoyt, knew the fuel was
illegal – it contained 1.68% sulphur, 0.18% above the
European limit – and the company was using it to save money,
prosecutors said during the trial. The judge handed Hoyt a
fine of €100,000, but specified that the parent company of
P&O, the US-based Carnival, should pay €80,000 of the
sum. The company had “wanted to save money at the expense of
everyone’s lungs”, the prosecutor Franck Lagier told the
court in October. |
Fine for environmental violation
|
November 26
|
Emerald Princess
|
Otago
Daily Times reports the Emerald Princess – operated by
the Bermudan-registered firm Princess Cruise Lines Limited –
was docked at Port Otago on February 9 last year carrying
3115 passengers on a tour between Australia and New Zealand.
While docked, the vessel's crew members were tasked with
checking the pressure of nitrogen cylinders - used to launch
lifeboats in the event of an emergency. Allan Alarde Navales
and Bernabe Santos carried out the maintenance work on boat
24, filling the canisters to the required level. Once it had
been refilled, Mr Navales instructed Mr Santos to start the
hydraulic system. After a minute of operation, one of the
cylinders exploded. Mr Navales, standing beside it, was
killed. Judge Kevin Phillips told the Dunedin District Court
this morning the staff had not been trained how to do that
aspect of the job. The force of the blast caused another
nitrogen container to be thrown onto the wharf. It spun
around in an area where passengers and crew were walking but
no one else was injured, court documents said. After a
Maritime New Zealand investigation, Princess Cruise Lines
were charged with causing a maritime product to be
maintained or serviced in a manner that caused unnecessary
danger or risk to other people. An inspection of the failed
cylinder on board the cruise liner found areas of corrosion,
“significant wastage and pitting” which was clearly visible.
Princess Cruise Lines subsequently pleaded guilty to the
charge and came before the court today for sentencing. Judge
Phillips heard submissions from counsel on both sides but
reserved his decision as to penalty. The charge carries a
maximum fine of $100,000 but the judge may award reparation
outside that. Prosecutor Dale Lahood said Mr Navales' family
were living in poverty in the Philippines and his wages were
a significant crutch for them. He told the court the victim
had a sick mother, a sibling with an intellectual
disability, one with a hole in their heart and a sister now
caring for two children alone. Mr Lahood argued the
reparation figure should by more than $800,000. Defence
counsel Matthew Ferrier accepted the company's shortcomings
and acknowledged them. However, he disputed the reparation
amount, saying aspects of his calculation were speculative.
|
Fine for failure to maintain equipment,
leading to crew member death
|
November 26
|
MSC Seaside
|
Miami
Herald reports Seven MSC Cruises crew members were
arrested on charges of smuggling cocaine into the U.S. at
PortMiami earlier this month. Customs and Border Protection
found six crew members with a total of 17 pounds of cocaine
on their bodies or in their cabins during a K9 drug sweep of
the MSC Seaside on Nov. 17, according to court filings.
Another employee, Damion Hawthorne, 32, was arrested on
charges of hiring five of the crew members into the
smuggling operation. Federal prosecutors said Hawthorne
recruited Londiwe Shange, 27, Wandile Mhlongo, 29, Thembeka
Sokhulu, 36, and Viwe Tshaka, 23, all from South Africa, to
pick up drugs when Seaside was docked at the port in Jamaica
and deliver them to someone in Miami. Shange, Mhlongo and
Sokhulu told investigators they had been earning around
$2,000 for each run over the past couple of months,
according to court flings. Tshaka said Nov. 17 was her first
time making a run. |
Drug bust
|
November 25
|
Radiance OTS
|
Radio
New Zealand reports an Australian cruise ship
passenger has been deported this morning after he was
refused entry to Dunedin because he didn't meet character
requirements. The 59-year-old man was a passenger aboard the
Radiance of the Seas cruise ship when he was refused entry
to Dunedin on Sunday. Immigration New Zealand confirmed the
man was held in custody overnight before flying back to
Australia on Monday morning. National border manager
Stephanie Great said the man did not meet character
requirements. Ms Great did not specify which requirements he
did not meet. More than 14 people have been refused entry
when they arrived at the border by sea since July 2015. |
Passenger detained & deported at
disembarkation
|
November 24
|
Carnival Pride
|
Cruise
Hive reports Carnival Cruise Line has stated that
arrival into Baltimore, Maryland tomorrow will be delayed.
The ship won’t be arriving until the afternoon instead of
the usual early morning hours. The ship is suffering from
its maximum cruising speed and due to adverse weather
conditions, the delay is unavoidable. The disembarkation for
guests from the 7-night November 18 sailing will commence
not long after the ship docked at Baltimore but this will
have a knock-on effect for the next scheduled voyage. |
Propulsion problems - delayed arrival and
departure
|
November 24
|
Adventure OTS
|
Cruise
Law News reports a number of cruise passengers say
that the captain announced to the cruise ship yesterday that
a crew member disappeared from the ship. The Adventure of
the Seas was in Cozumel when the captain made an
announcement that an unidentified crew member could not be
accounted for and was missing from the cruise ship.
The crew member did not appear at his work station and the
remainder of the crew was unable to locate him.The fact that
a crew member could “disappear” without a trace from the
cruise ship indicates that Royal Caribbean has still not
bothered to install an automatic man overboard system on
this ship. Nottingham
Post reports the 26 year old man was a member of the
sport staff.
|
Crew member missing
|
November 24
|
MSC Cruises
|
NL
Times reports cruise ship company MSC Cruises will no
longer stop in Amsterdam from next year, due to the new
tourist tax of 8 euros per day for passengers for whom
the Dutch capital is a stopover. The company does not want
to recover these costs from its customers. The cruise ships
will instead stop in other Dutch cities, from where
passengers can travel to Amsterdam by bus. Seatrade
Insider subsequent reports CLIA Europe chairman David
Dingle honed in on the prickly subjects of passenger head
tax and custom duties, citing two recent examples where he
believes a city, in one instance, and a government in the
other, are viewing visiting cruise ships as ‘providers of an
easy source of extra income.’ It is curious in that I
thought it was the reverse, the cruise lines see ports as an
easy source of income as the ouch them around, threaten
them, and exploit them. And then Dingle goes on (like Trump
woruld), calling the city fathers' decision 'stupid.' The
industry's arrogance and narcissism rears its ugly head
again. |
Ships stop port calls at Amsterdam
|
November 21
|
Le Boreal
|
Crew
Center reports a horrible tragedy occurred during a
dry dock refurbishment of the cruise ship Le Boreal in the
port of Valparaiso, Chile on November 19, resulting in the
death of a young crew member. The authorities say that the
crew member died in the early morning hours after he slipped
from a ladder placed on the ship's deck and fell 23 meters
on the dock. The young man was identified as Andrei Madalin
Circhea, age 25 from Constanta, Romania working as
electronics engineer. Some sources say that he was
previously working for Royal Caribbean International. |
Crew death in accident
|
November 19
|
Norwegian Jade
|
Miami
Herald reports thousands of passengers will have to
fly back to Miami from San Juan, Puerto Rico, cutting their
10-day Caribbean vacation short. The ship left from Miami on
Friday, Nov. 16, and arrived in San Juan on Sunday. Late
Sunday evening, about an hour before the ship was supposed
to leave the port, the captain announced that the remaining
seven days of the cruise had been canceled. The ship’s
itinerary included stops in Barbados, St. Kitts, and St.
Lucia before its planned return to Miami on Nov. 26. The
company will refund the price of the cruise for passengers
and offer a 100% credit for a future cruise. A passenger
on board who first wrote to me about this situation
(before it was reported in media) now writes:
Getting worse by the minute. Told us we were booked on
first flight out this morning. We were up and ready to
go at 6:30am. Get to buses for the airport.
“Sorry folks we don’t have your name... and all
flights out are booked today. You will have to wait
until 5pm tomorrow. (Wednesday) now. Still no
guarantee we will get out. Now ship is closed.
We've been standing out here for 2.5 hours in the
heat. I’ve been very patient but about to flip
the switch.
|
Mechanical problems / Cruise canceled
|
November 19
|
Carnival Magic
|
Cruise
Hive reports the cruise line canceled the scheduled
call at Grand Cayman on November 16 due to bad weather
conditions. Grand Cayman is a tender port where
passengers need to use a water shuttle to and from the
ship, if sea conditions aren’t good this can impact the
safety of guests. The ship called at Cozumel, Mexico
instead. |
Port call canceled
|
November 15
|
Le Soleal
|
Maritime
Bulletin reports the ship contacted bottom while
passing Kirke Narrows, Chile (Patagonia) on Nov 14, and
damaged one of her propellers. In latest reports hull breach
wasn’t mentioned, though in initial report it was said, that
the hull was breached. The ship was brought to anchor for
underwater survey. She was said to cancel her cruise and
sail to Punta Arenas, where tourists will be disembarked,
and ship will be taken to ship repair yard for repairs. As
of 0000 UTC Nov 15, the ship was still at anchor. She’s to
be either towed, or escorted by tugs, on her way to Punta
Arenas. |
Scraped bottom
|
November 14
|
Volendam
|
CDC
reports 68
of 1285 (5.29%) passengers and 9 of 599 (0.50%) crew
have reported gastrointestinal illness on the 3-18
November cruise |
Illness
|
November 14
|
MSC Musica
|
From a reader:
Last Friday (9 Nov 2018) the ship arrived at Portuguese
Island, Mozambique, from Durban, South Africa for the start
of the summer cruise season. Master and senior officers and
the ship's security team went ashore via tender and
determined it was unsafe for pax to go ashore. On a
subsequent cruise also from Durban on Monday 12 Nov the ship
arrived at Pomene also in Mozambique this morning 14 Nov.
Swell was to big for paz to tender ashore so the ship is now
on her way back to Durban where she is due on Friday 16 Nov.
|
Missed port calls
|
November 13
|
Royal Princess
|
Cruise
Law News reports several passengers say a passenger
fell from an upper deck and struck a lifeboat last night.One
passenger, who wishes to remain anonymous, stated: “A women
on royal princess princess cruise line was pushed or fell
from the lido 15th or 16th deck onto the top of life
boat #2 at 4 am in the morning. She died instantly. Once the
ship arrived into Aruba, authorities boarded the ship.
Outcome of investigation is unknown. Passengers said the
scene was gruesome.” Passenger were first alerted to the
incident when they heard an announcement around 4:30 a.m.
for the security team to respond to deck 7 underneath
lifeboat number 2. When the cruise ship arrived at port in
Aruba, the captain made an announcement that the crime scene
investigators were coming on board and no one would be
allowed to get off until they cleared the ship. Mas Noticia
refers to the incident as a “possible murder.” USA
Today subsequently reported the 52 year old woman fell
after struggling with a man on the upper deck.
|
Pax falls to death - murder?
|
November 11
|
Norwegian Escape
|
From a passenger:
Norwegian Escape November 4th Left NYC at 3 PM for 7 night
cruise. At 5PM heard code Alpha and coast guard came along
side ship. 28 year old man with wife on board (married 6
months) jumped or fell from 17th floor to 7th floor on to
shuffle board area. Got to Port Carnival Police and FBI on
Ship. Confirmed by officers and crew members. |
Pax falls to death
|
November 11
|
Maasdam
|
Cruise
Law News reports a cruise passenger on board Holland
America Line’s Maasdam was killed on November 7th when she
slipped and fell between a tender and the HAL cruise ship.
At the time of the incident, the ship was in Rarotonga in
the Cook Islands. The source of the information is a
passenger, wishing to remain anonymous, who stated that: . .
. the seas were very rough and it was debatable whether we
should have been tendering at all. She was traveling by
herself. It would appear that this incident is being covered
up. The safety on this ship is rather haphazard.” The
passenger later stated that “the tender service was
definitely operated by HAL. The staff members were offered
counseling by phone. I am particularly surprised how
unsafe it is on their tenders . . . This particular day was
the roughest I have ever seen at sea. It was
definitely not safe and that poor lady paid the ultimate
price.” The ship is currently sailing on a 28 night
“Polynesian & South Seas Sampler” cruise. |
Pax death in tender accident
|
November 11
|
Norwegian Escape
|
Royal
Gazette reports an American tourist who claimed to be
disabled was fined $2,000 yesterday after he admitted having
cannabis for medical reasons. Magistrates’ Court heard Sean
Finnerty, 48, plead guilty to possession of the drug in his
cabin on the Norwegian Escape. He told the court he used the
drug to treat anxiety, depression and pain after an
operation during which he had a cancerous kidney removed.
But he admitted neither he or his wheelchair-bound wife, who
also used the drug for relief of back pain, had a medical
marijuana card. The defendant confirmed that the plant was
cannabis and that the items were his. The incident happened
on November 4. |
Drug bust
|
| November 2 |
Star Princess |
Star
Advertiser reports a 74-year-old Nevada man was
charged with assaulting another passenger aboard a
cruise ship en route to Hawaii from California on October
23. The 73-year-old victim had to be evacuated to Hilo
via a military helicopter. He told the FBI when he opened a
bathroom stall door on the seventh deck of the ship to
exit, an agitated male confronted him. The two
exchanged words and he was struck in the head as he
was attempting to leave. Mcavay told the FBI that he
was the one in the bathroom stall and that the other
passenger tried to enter it while he was still inside.
He said the other passenger kicked him in the leg when
he tried to push his way out. In response Mcavay told
the FBI he hit the other passenger with his right hand.
The other passenger went down, hitting his head on the
toilet. |
Physical Assault |
| October 31 |
Oceania Marina |
From passengers: We are
passengers on board trip from Venice which left on 10/26/18
on way to Rome. We were diverted from Zadar, Croatia on
October 28th due to weather concerns. We stopped in
Dubrovnik, Croatia instead. Seas have been rough all week,
but captain and crew have been great. Many excursions have
been cancelled all week due to weather as well. |
Change of itinerary |
| October 31 |
Carnival Sunshine |
Daily
Mail reports passengers on board the Carnival Sunshine
embarking on a five-day cruise to Eastern Caribbean on
Sunday were left terrified after the ship listed to one side
just hours after setting sail from Florida, sending
furniture sliding across the floor. Carnival has since
issued an apology to its customers, explaining that a piece
of equipment called a fin stabilizer was to blame for the
listing. According to a letter sent by the captain of
the ship t the passengers Monday, an electrical switchboard
malfunction disrupted the fin stabilizers, which are not a
safety feature but are designed to make the sea voyage
smoother. |
Severe List |
| October 31 |
Excellent (cruise ferry) |
Old
Salt Blog reports at around 8AM, local time, the 663′
long ship was caught in high winds. While waiting for
additional tugs, the ship was blown down on to
the dock, striking and toppling a container gantry
crane. The gantry crane fell on stacks of containers,
causing a fire. Some of the burning containers were reported
to contain hazardous materials. Barcelona firefighters
were able to extinguish the blaze by around 11AM. No
injuries were reported on the ship, the dock or among
the firefighters. The cruise/ferry Excellent has
a capacity for 2253 passengers and 760 vehicles and is owned
by the Italian firm Grandi Navi Veloci. |
Allision with pier |
| October 30 |
Celebrity Constellation and Costa Magica |
As already reported below, Newsweek
reports the Celebrity ship collided with Costa Magica on
Monday in the port of La Spezia, Italy, after strong winds
and stormy weather conditions reportedly broke its mooring
lines. |
Allision |
| October 29 |
Navigator OTS |
The
Express reports panic engulfed the ship when staff
wearing life jackets rushed to deal with a flood after the
ship began taking on water in the Atlantic Ocean. The cruise
ship was forced to dock in Vigo following technical issues.
Passengers described hearing a “loud bang” at about 3am on
Sunday before the ship began to take on water. A crew member
onboard said a "Bravo code" was used, which many cruise
lines use to alert crew. A crew member told said: “Captain
announced bravo code at night, the crew bar was full and
suddenly everyone started running. “One of the stabilisers
on the Navigator of the Seas broke and made a hole at the
hull, they had to close an entire fire zone because it was
leaking water like crazy. The ship, which had set sail from
Southampton on October 26 for a 10-night tour to the Canary
Islands, was forced to make an emergency stop at the nearest
port. Crew members had managed to make a temporary repair
until it arrived at the port of Vigo, Spain. Passenger Paul
Edwards from Worcestershire said: “We were experiencing
rough sea last night, and then in the early hours last night
we heard a bang. “We were told there was a minor technical
fault with the stabilisers and we had to dock in the Port of
Vigo, Spain for 24 hours while they fixed it. The vessel was
due to arrive in Vigo on November 3 as a final port of call
before heading back to the UK. The ship is still docked in
Vigo with passengers offered only a 25 percent of their fare
to spend on board the ship and 25 percent off any future
fare with the company as compensation. Some fear they could
be charged for extra days, with passenger Tina blasting on
Twitter: “Currently on Navigator of the Seas, can totally
appreciate the ‘technical problems’ but this change of
itinerary is a joke! “Just seems like a money maker for
Royal Caribbean to me with the extra days at sea. 25 percent
onboard credit?!” Mr Edwards added: “It feels like being in
prison. Can’t do anything, can’t go anywhere.” Royal
Caribbean said in a statement: “Navigator of the Seas is
making repairs to resolve a technical issue. The ship is
fully operational with no impact on its manoeuvrability or
the safety of our guests and crew. However, because of time
needed to make the repair, it was necessary to modify her
current itinerary. “Navigator will now call on Vigo, Spain
for an overnight stay on Sunday, October 28. It will then
sail on to Gran Canaria, Canary Islands on Wednesday, Oct 31
and Tenerife, Canary Islands on Thursday, November 1. The
ship will return to Southampton, England on Monday, November
5 as scheduled.” |
Holed - takes on water - held in port |
| October 29 |
Norwegian Breakaway |
Cruise
Radio reports medical emergency, a search-and-rescue
mission and inclement weather created a perfect storm which
caused a major delay for the Halloween-week sailing of
the Norwegian Breakaway as she departed
New York City for her repositioning trip to New Orleans this
weekend.Norwegian Cruise Line said that as a result of the
problems which beset her latest voyage, the Breakaway’s
itinerary “for her New York to New Orleans sailing has been
modified. Breakaway will no longer call
into San Juan, Puerto Rico. She will instead sail directly
to Tortola. Our team is working to assist impacted guests.
We apologize for any inconvenience this unforeseen change
has caused.” |
Late departure, itineray change |
| October 29 |
Multiple ships |
From a reader: Italian
seas are upset by bad weather. Many ships are sailing with
difficulty. More than one in the last two days blocked
inside the ports or unable to access them. Costa
Deliziosa blocked from Saturday in Venice
and Costa Luminosa left yesterday
evening after a two day break. Costa Magica stops
in La Spezia together with Celebrity
Constellation. The latter
broke the moorings for the wind and hit the bow of Magica.
Costa Fascinosa and MSC
Seawiew this morning unable to enter
Naples waiting in the Gulf of Naples. Many other units have
accumulated significant delays and canceled stopovers or are
sailing as Costa Luminosa in the
Southern Adriatic with Scirocco gusts over 60 knots and
consequent wave motion. |
Delays, missed port calls, allision of two
ships |
| October 28 |
Ausonia Grimaldi Lines |
MediTelegraph
reports a fire broke out Saturday night, shortly after
3 o’clock, in the engine room of the Grimaldi Lines’ cruise
ship Ausonia, sailing from Ustica to Livorno with no
apparent consequence for the 262 passengers and the 85 crew
members, as well as for cars, trailers, motorbikes and
campers that were in the hold. The fire involved collectors
leaving the ship with one engine running on three. The
damaged ships was taken back to Palermo, at some 6 knots
speed. |
Fire |
| October 27 |
Carnival Fantasy |
Newsweek
reports a couple from Florida have spoken of their
shock after they found a hidden camera pointed at their bed.
In an exclusive interview set to air on Monday’s episode
of Inside Edition, the couple say they’ll
never set foot on another Carnival Cruise ship again. Chris
and Dana White from Pensacola were staying aboard the Carnival
Fantasy for a three-day Caribbean cruise from
Mobile, Alabama to Mexico last October when they noticed a
recording device among TV wires in their room. "I said, 'Is
that what I think it is?'" Chris told Inside
Edition. "And [Dana] looked at it and she became
concerned. And we were just really flabbergasted that
there's a camera in the room and it's plugged up and it's
working." The couple immediately called security and Chris
took a video of an employee on the ship inspecting the
device and taking it apart. "I was thinking, 'I can't
believe this is actually happening to us,'" he said. The
couple say they are speaking out now because they feel
Carnival did not handle the situation in an acceptable
manner. Initially, a representative for the company said the
device was not a camera, according to the pair. "It was a
camera," Chris said. Dana added, “It was wired up. It was
working. It was warm to the touch. I just immediately
felt like we had been invaded; our privacy had been
invaded." Carnival provided a statement to Inside
Edition saying that they conducted a full
investigation and acknowledged a “video transmitter” was
found. However, the company say that it was “not connected
to an electrical source and not capable of
recording. The safety and security of our guests and
crew is of paramount importance and we have taken measures
so that this sort of situation does not happen again," the
statement read. After the incident, the device was given to
the FBI for further inspection. |
Hidden camera in cruise cabin |
| October 26 |
Carnival Sunsine |
Cruise
Hive reports the ship was stuck in San Juan,
Puerto Rico due to some kind of mechanical/technical
issue. The ship didn’t depart until late last night which is
way beyond the scheduled departure of 4:00 PM. Due to the
issues, it has been decided that the ship will not call in
Grand Turk on Friday, October 26 The ship only resumed
service on October 21 after a major 2-week dry
dock at the Grand Bahama Shipyard in Freeport, Bahamas.
As usual when it comes to a ship drydock maintenance was
also completed. There will be some question marks to why the
ship has an issue less than a week after dry dock. |
Mechanical problems, delayed, canceled port
call |
| October 25 |
AIDAnova |
NL
Times reports arson may be involved in a fire on
cruise ship AidaNova in Groningen's Eemshaven on Wednesday
morning. The police started an investigation into the cause
of the fire, at the request of the captain, RTV Noord
reports. The ship will remain in the harbor during the
investigation. A planned six days long trip was therefore
canceled. Around 3 thousand people work on AidaNova, most of
whom stay on board overnight. Due to the fire, owner Meyer
Werft decided to book hotel rooms for the staff. |
Fire |
| October 25 |
Ruby Princess |
From a reader: I have
learned that our Mexican Riviera Ruby Princess cruise
Saturday (27 October) has been over
sold. Princess is paying people to “move over” to
another cruise. |
Cruise oversold |
| October 23 |
Pacific Explorer (Carnival Corp) |
The
Guardian reports the ship spilled 27,000 litres of
food waste and grey water into the Great Barrier Reef marine
park in August, a Senate estimates hearing has heard. The
Greens senator Larissa Waters told
the hearing a report from the Australian Maritime Safety
Authority – which is investigating the incident – had been
supplied to her anonymously. The report says the spill
occurred on 26 August after food waste was transferred to
the Pacific Explorer’s galley holding tank due to a shortage
in capacity in its food waste tanks. Waste from the galley
tank was then discharged by engineers in the marine park.
The report says the vessel became aware of the incident late
on 27 August. The hearing heard P&O reported the spill
to Amsa but the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority was
not informed until 4 September. After the hearing, Waters
questioned why the incident had not been made public. “It
shouldn’t have taken an anonymous source and me asking
questions in estimates for the public to find out about
this,” she said. “If a major cruise ship company thinks that
the public won’t find out about their pollution, then they
are less likely to take the issue seriously. “The public
have a right to know about pollution breaches in our Great
Barrier Reef and the government should be upfront about such
incidents.” She also expressed concern the vessel was one of
the ships being leased for events as part of
November’s Apec summit in Port Moresby.
In its defense, the cruise line said it was
an isolated incident -- in other words, they didn't
expect to be caught.
|
Environmental violation |
| October 23 |
Carnival Victory |
Cruise
Law News reports Carnival Victory cruise
ship which departed yesterday from the port of Miami. It was
supposed to sail from Miami to Key West arriving this
morning around 7:30 a.m., and then sailing on to Cozumel,
Mexico before returning to Miami in October 26, 2018.
However, yesterday Carnival stated that an unspecified
“issue” is affecting the ship’s “maximum cruising speed.” A
letter to the ship’s guests signed by the Master of the
cruise ship stated that although technicians were doing the
“necessary work,” the ship would operate on a modified
itinerary. The ship would sail to Nassau in the Bahamas
where it would arrive at 10:00 a.m. today and it would then
spend the day tomorrow at its private destination in
Princess Cays in the Bahamas. The Carnival Victory would
then spend a day at sea on Thursday and would return to
Miami Friday morning. AIS shows the ship in Nassau this
morning after sailing at an average speed of around 11-12
knots. Carnival was offering a $50 onboard credit and a full
refund for anyone who wished to cancel the cruise. |
Power loss |
| October 23 |
Grand Classica |
Cruise
Law News reports a passenger reportedly died following
a fall aboard the Grand Classica cruise
ship operated by the Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line according
to several sources. WPTV
in West Palm Beach reports that the Grand
Classica contacted the U.S. Coast Guard on
Friday evening when an unidentified passenger fell and was
injured on the cruise ship after it left the Port of
Palm Beach heading toward Freeport. The Coast Guard
medevaced the passenger from the cruise ship to St. Mary’s
Medical Center in West Palm Beach, where hospital staff
pronounced him dead. The news stations report that another
passenger on the ship stated that the the man fell to his
death, but the cruise line has not confirmed that account.
After the medevac, the cruise ship then resumed sailing to
Grand Bahama Island. A passenger on the cruise commented on
Facebook, “I heard code blue I ran to the staircase where
everyone was huddled … I saw a pool of blood … they were
wiping the blood like nothing.” |
Man falls to death |
| October 22 |
Carnival Elation |
Jacksonville
Timse Union report a 23-year-old Jacksonville man was
sentenced to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to
aggravated sexual abuse by force when he forced himself upon
a young woman with special needs late Feb. 27 aboard the
locally-ported Carnival Elation cruise ship while on a trip
to the Bahamas, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Brian James Holland was sentenced Monday, Special
Agent-in-Charge Charles Spencer saying the case highlighted
the importance of working relationships FBI Jacksonville has
with local security organizations like the Carnival Cruise
Lines security team, “and will continue to work with them to
protect travelers while on land and at sea.” The female
victim told investigators she was in the cruise ship’s
Jacuzzi last winter when Holland repeatedly tried to put his
arm around her, according to the federal complaint. She
moved from him, but he became more aggressive and forcefully
touched her sexually under her bathing suit, the complaint
said. Two others in the hot tub corroborated her complaint,
the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. The woman reported the
incident to her family, who told ship security. Shipboard
medical personnel examined her and found abrasions
consistent with what was reported, the U.S. Attorney’s
Office said. Authorities were waiting at Jacksonville’s
cruise ship terminal when the ship returned to port in early
March and arrested Holland, who pleaded guilty to his charge
in July.
|
Sexual assault |
| October 18 |
Radiance OTS |
Daily
Mail reports a woman was heard screaming in terror as
her boyfriend allegedly attempted to throw her over the side
of a luxury cruise liner. David James Fysh, 46, of Wamuran
in Queensland, is tonight languishing in a Tasmanian prison
cell after being charged with attempted murder. The alleged
incident happened on the Radiance Of The Seas cruise ship
hours before it was due to dock in Hobart. The father of
three fronted the Hobart Magistrates' Court on Friday
evening where he formally pleaded not guilty to a charge of
attempted murder. The court heard allegations Fysh attempted
to throw his partner into the Tasman Sea by grabbing her
under the arms from behind on a balcony about 3.30am on
Thursday. The ship was in the middle of a five-night return
cruise from Sydney to Tasmania. Police alleged the couple
had been seen arguing before the alleged incident. Stunned
witnesses told the Mercury they heard an emergency alarm and
screaming in the early hours of Thursday morning. Tasmania
Police were called to the Hobart Cruise Terminal to arrest
Fysh when the ship docked about 8.30am. |
Attempted murder (by throwing overboard) |
| October 18 |
Celebrity Reflection |
Cruise
Law News reports a crew member reportedly went
overboard last night, according to a
passenger on the cruise ship. The Celebrity cruise ship
was sailing from Mykonos, Greece to Rhodes, Greece.
A Greek
news source identifies the crew member as a 36
year-old from the Ukraine. The news source says that the
man went overboard around 11:30 p.m. Tuesday night but the
search efforts did not begin until “early on Wednesday”
(at around 5:00 a.m). |
Crew member overboard |
| October 16 |
Mulrtiple ships |
CBC
reports four cruise ships set to dock Tuesday in
Charlottetown were forced to cancel due to a wind
warning. The cancellations were a setback for
businesses relying on tourism during the shoulder
season. Nessya Neemron, the owner
of Nessya's Gems and Jewels and another
store near the Seaport, said the cancellations have a
ripple effect. "The loss is very big. It's to me personally,
to the people that work with me, to my suppliers," she said.
"Next year, I might … order less product because I'm
left over with more product than I expected. It's
unfortunate, but it's always weather related, so there's not
much we can do about it." Corryn Clemence, Port
Charlottetown's business development manager, said the port
was expecting just over 6,000 passengers today. On October
2, four ships visited Charlottetown, offloading more than
10,000 passengers.
|
4 ships cancel port call |
| October 16 |
Baltic Princess |
YLE Finland
reports the body of a woman was discovered in a cabin aboard
Tallink Silja's Baltic Princess cruise ship at Turku harbour
on Monday night, according to local police. Later on
Tuesday, police said they do not suspect a crime was a
factor in the woman's death. Police said that the woman's
cause of death will be investigated. The woman, who was in
her thirties, was found by ship cleaning staff after the
Baltic Princess had docked in Turku, south-west Finland, at
about 7:15 pm on Monday. Tallink Silja told newspaper
Ilta-Sanomat the woman was a Finnish citizen. Turku police
department's Detective Superintendent Jussi
Helesvirta said the woman had been
accompanied by her husband. According to Helesvirta, he did
not notify anyone about her death but instead disembarked
the vessel in Turku on his own. The ship had just arrived
from Stockholm and the couple had apparently taken a 23-hour
cruise. Police said they were able to locate the deceased
woman's husband at the harbour area and took him into
custody, according to Ilta-Sanomat (in Finnish). The
ship was scheduled to depart Turku at 8:15 pm, but the
incident caused a 90-minute delay. Passengers were
told the postponement was due to a medical emergency, the
cruise line's communications chief Marika Nöjd told the paper (in Finnish). |
Murder?
|
| October 16 |
Celebrity Solstice |
New
Zealand Herald reports Auckland commuters aboard
ferries were thrown into an aquatic holding pattern in the
harbour as they were forced to wait for a cruise ship to
come into dock. All inner harbour services were affected by
the Celebrity Solstice docking at Princes Wharf this
morning. One 9.30am ferry from Auckland to Waiheke Island
had to be cancelled. "All inner harbour services were
impacted, as well as Waiheke and Devonport services. "The
inbound Waiheke and Devonport vessels were delayed about 20
and 15 minutes respectively, as they waited to safely enter
the ferry basin," Horne said. A cruise ship of that size
halted traffic for the entire ferry basin, due to its thrust
it was not safe to operate any ferries in or out. Cruise
ships coming in to either Queens or Princes wharf always
caused some level of disruption, but many arrive before
commuter hours, before 6.30 or 7am, which minimised the
impact on ferry services. |
Cruise ship disrupts morning communters |
| October 10 |
Unknown |
ABC
News reports a Queens man has been indicted for
allegedly strangling and suffocating a woman he was dating
while they were on board a cruise ship in international
waters.Carlos Batista Jr., 22, was sailing from New
York to the Bahamas with his girlfriend on
Sept. 8 when he allegedly grabbed and choked her until she
passed out. Batista allegedly pulled the woman through the
hallways of the ship and covered her mouth when she screamed
for help after she told him she wanted to end their
relationship. He allegedly suffocated her to the point her
body went limp, authorities said in the indictment.
Batista allegedly dragged the woman into his cabin and
assaulted her until other people were able to enter,
according to the indictment. The alleged assault lasted five
minutes, the FBI said. The 22-year-old was charged with one
count of assault of a dating partner by strangling or
suffocating, which carries a maximum of 10 years in prison. |
Assault |
| October 9 |
AIDAprima |
Daily
Mail reports hundreds of passengers on a luxury
Mediterranean cruise were reportedly struck down with a
sickness bug that left them quarantined in their cabins.
Around 300 people were left suffering from vomiting and
diarrhoea after a virus is thought to have swept the vessel
following its departure from Palma in Majorca on September
22. The cruise liner had been bound for destinations
including Corsica, Rome, Florence and Barcelona. A wave of
illness also spread over one of the Prima's sister ships,
the Perla, recently. Last month dozens of passengers
on it fell ill and they were quarantined on board after it
moored in the Dutch port city of Rotterdam. |
Illness outbreak |
| October 8 |
Brilliance OTS |
From a passenger: RCI
Brilliance of the Seas could not tender in Cayman due to
weather safety issues. |
Cancel port call |
| October 7 |
Azura (P&O) |
Channel
News Asia reports the American captain of a massive
cruise ship faces trial in Marseille on Monday (Oct 8)
accused of using fuel with sulphur levels above European
limits, as the Mediterranean port city grapples with the
polluting effect of its drive to increase boat tourism. The
Azura is one of the largest in the fleet operated by P&O
Cruises, whose parent company Carnival is also being
charged. Prosecutors in Marseille say it is the first time
pollution charges have been lodged against a ship's captain
on France's Mediterranean coast. Authorities say shipping
could be responsible for 10 to 20 per cent of the damaging
particulate matter inM Marseille's air, which can cause
respiratory problems and lung disease. A spot check onboard
the Azura in March found it was burning bunker fuel
containing 1.68 per cent sulphur, above the 1.5 per cent
limit. High-sulphur fuel, which is cheaper than cleaner
versions, produces sulphur oxides which contribute to acid
rain and the acidification of oceans. The ship's 58-year-old
captain, whose name has not been disclosed, faces up to one
year in prison and a 200,000 euro (US$230,000) fine. Tracked
down by investigators a few days after the testing during a
stop east of Marseille, he admitted using the fuel. But he
did not appear at a previous court hearing in July, when
Carnival lawyers argued that the company was not
responsible. |
Environmental offense |
| October 5 |
Anthem OTS |
Royal
Gazette reports an American cruise ship passenger was
fined $4,000 yesterday after she admitted possession of
cannabis and drug equipment. Magistrates’ Court heard Meghan
George, 41, from Pennsylvania, George was caught with two
bags of plantlike material in her purse by Customs officers
as she tried to board the Anthem of the Seas in
Dockyard. Officers searched her cabin and found three
marijuana pipes, a grinder and an electronic cigarette
cartridge holding cannabis oil in her suitcase. She was
arrested the next morning and remanded in custody. |
Drug bust |
| October 2 |
L'Astral |
NZ
Press reports a French cruise line company has been
fined $70,000 and one of its captains $30,000 for grounding
a ship on a rock in the waters near the protected
sub-antarctic Snares Islands south of New Zealand. Compagnie
Du Ponant runs small cruise ships in sub-antarctic waters
including the L´Austral which had 356 passengers and crew on
board in January 2017 when it hit a submerged rock less than
300 metres from an island. It was captained by master
mariner Regis Daumesnil who had been with the company for 23
years.
|
Fine for grounding |
| October 2 |
Costa Lumionosa |
Cruise
Radio reports a Florida jury ordered a cruise
line to pay a woman who tripped over a bucket while
getting breakfast over a million dollars in damages. This
was, however, less than she had originally been awarded. According
to CaseLaw,
Joyce Higgs and her family were cruising on board the Costa
Luminosa in December of 2015 when, after fetching breakfast
from the buffet, she fell. Higgs’ daughter Christina
testified during the original trial which took place after
the incident that her mother had tripped over a bucket of
water left in the area — presumably by the cleaning crew.
Higgs was taken first to the ship’s medical center and later
to shore, where she was hospitalized in Grand Turk. While on
shore, Higgs saw a doctor and had X-rays taken. With the
party slated to return to the states in a few days, she
decided to return to the ship, her arm in the sling, and
finish out the vacation. Upon returning home, she would
eventually have an operation during which a metal plate and
numerous screws were inserted into her shoulder. When the
resulting lawsuit went to trial, Higgs was awarded just over
$1.3 million in damages… but that ruling was soon overturned
by an appellate court, which ruled that a new trial should
be held. The reason? During the pre-trial deposition phase,
Ms. Higgs made reference to having fallen several times over
the course of the previous year. This was not only blatantly
untrue, but something which — because of the
already-ruled-on motion, something Costa’s attorneys were
unable to rebut. Taking this into consideration, the court
of appeals overturned the case… and so back to court
everyone went. According to Law360,
the second trial culminated in a very similar outcome on
Thursday, with the jury this time to award Higgs $1,211,000,
approximately $100,000 less than she’d been awarded in the
previous trial. |
Lawsuit |
| October 2 |
Unknown |
St.
John's Source reports a cruise ship passenger enjoying
the day snorkeling at St. John’s Trunk Bay died Tuesday
afternoon. The V.I. Police Department said the man’s next of
kin identified the victim as 67-year-old Guoquiang Wang.
While the cause of death is not known, pending an autopsy,
the police report indicated drowning was considered a
possibility. According to the police report, at 12:53 p.m.
Tuesday the 911 dispatcher received a call of an
unresponsive male at Trunk Bay on St. John. Units from the
National Park Service and the V.I. Police Department
traveled to the scene, where emergency medical technicians
concluded that the male, later identified as Wang, did not
have any vital signs. |
Death while snorkeling |
| October 2 |
Voyager OTS |
Newsweek
reports a dream cruise turned into a nightmare for
passengers after their ship was overrun with more than
a thousand men from a tobacco company who held wild parties
featuring women dressed as Playboy bunnies. The cruise on
the Voyager of the Seas, operated by Royal
Caribbean International, was inundated with 1,300 workers
from the Indian gutka company Kamla Pasand, who came
onboard for a conference just before the boat left its
Sydney dock last month. Passengers described how the
men proceeded to run amok, taking over the pool decks,
bars and buffets. They were also said to have brought
burlesque dancers onboard, who starred in parties on deck.
The men would also harass other passengers and film young
girls on their mobile phones, passengers said. Royal
Caribbean International issued full refunds to passengers,
news.com.au reported. |
Full refunds given |
| September 30 |
Boudicca, Fred Olsen |
Daily
Mail reports two British women have been killed while
on a coach trip excursion in the middle of an 'Authentic
Arabia' cruise in the Middle East. The pair were stepping
off a coach in Salalah, Oman, near the Haffa market, when
they were hit by a car. The driver, who did not have a
licence, had veered into the wrong lane, Royal Oman Police
say. A third person, a British man, was also seriously
injured and taken to hospital where he is now said to be in
a stable condition. |
Pax death on Shorex |
| Septemer 30 |
Carnival Fantasy |
WEAR
TV reportsa Birmingham woman has been charged with
assault within maritime and territorial jurisdiction in
Mobile Federal Court. Jenetrice Williams of Birmingham,
Alabama is accused of cutting her boyfriend during an
altercation on the Carnival Fantasy on August 19, 2018. |
Assault |
| September 29 |
Carnival Dream |
Cruise
Hive reports departure of the ship is delayed on
Sunday, September 30 so that essential work can be done to
the ship. The cruise line has stated that no guests can be
onboard during that time and the embarkation process will
commence once the work is complete. The ship will now be
setting sail around three hours later than usual. No details
of what kind of work being done to the ship have been
released. |
Delayed departure |
| September 29 |
Carnival Freedom |
Cruise
Hive reports a notice has gone out that the ship will
now leave at 7 PM with the final boarding time at 6 PM. Many
people traveling to the ship in Port of Galveston Texas have
been delayed due to significant flooding. |
Delayed departure |
| September 29 |
CCL, RCI, & NCL |
Sun
Sentinel reportsthere’s a good chance you spent more
than you should have on travel insurance and deserve to get
paid back, according to federal lawsuits filed in South
Florida. The companies targeted in the suits: Carnival,
Royal Caribbean and Norwegian cruise lines, and American,
Delta and JetBlue airlines. The suits follow increased
scrutiny of the travel insurance industry, including an August report
concluding that policies sold through third parties provide
dubious value to travelers The lawsuits, which seek
class-action status, accuse the companies of violating
Florida laws by failing to disclose to consumers that they
were earning “kickbacks” from travel insurance companies for
every policy sold. The travel companies misled consumers by
creating the impression they were merely collecting the
purchase price on behalf of the insurers providing the
coverage, including Nationwide (Norwegian, Carnival),
Transamerica (Royal Caribbean, Norwegian, Carnival), Arch
(Royal Caribbean) or Allianz (American Airlines, Delta,
JetBlue). The “kickbacks” increased the cost of the
insurance to consumers beyond what they otherwise should
have paid, the suits charge. |
Cruise line sold travel Insurace |
| September 25 |
Liberty OTS |
From a passenger: At
approximately 1:45 AM, we are asleep in our cabin aboard the
Liberty of the Seas, when we hear over the ship’s
loudspeaker, “Bravo, Bravo Bravo...” in an Italian voice.
It alarms me because I have been on a few cruise ships
and you never hear loudspeaker announcements in the middle
of the night. A few short minutes later, we hear
another announcement, and I am waking my husband and getting
dressed so I don’t really hear what they are saying, but it
is also in code. Then I decide to google up “Distress signal
at sea, Bravo, Bravo, Bravo” and this is what I find, ( and
now I am scared shitless): https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vessel_emergency_codes
Update: 2:30 AM - we just heard the 3rd
announcement over the loudspeaker (in an Italian accent):
“All crew, all crew, we have the situation under control,
you can now ignore the call. “. Then he says in a very shaky
voice: “ To our guests, we are had...an emergency, a FIRE in
the engine room, but it is now under control. We are
sorry to have woken you” 10:30 AM - Just
had an announcement from the bridge. Per the Captain’s
announcement: One of the main engines caught fire & is
now out of commission. But no concern as there are 5
more working! They did a great job of commutation to
the guests today. We are very happy the fire was put
out! |
Fire emergency |
| September 20 |
AIDAperla |
MedicalXpress
reports dozens of cruise ship passengers who fell ill during
their voyage were temporarily held on board Thursday after
the liner moored in the Dutch port city of Rotterdam. The
sickened passengers were on board the AIDAperla. The ship's
German operator Aida Cruises said in a statement that crew
increased hygiene measures after "gastro intestinal
infections occurred among passengers." Local emergency
services said in a statement that 70 passengers reported
feeling sick and received treatment onboard. By early
afternoon, port authorities and the cruise company said that
all passengers were being allowed on and off the ship. |
Illness |
| September 19 |
Nautica Oceania |
BBC
reports tugs had to come to the aid of a cruise liner - the
Nautica - in Greenock as Storm Ali causes problems across
Scotland. About 500 passengers and crew are stranded after
their ship parted its mooring lines. No-one was injured. |
Broke from mooring |
| September 15 |
Carnival Victory |
From a passenger:
September 13 - Captain came on intercom said there was a
fire and that the smoke was from that fire. Called a
few times for fire crews and then said all was ok. Midday
off Cuba coast.
|
Fire |
| September 14 |
Multiple ships |
Juneau
Empire reports waste water quality
violations in Alaska this year. Princess Cruise Line accrued
the most wastewater violations. The Star Princess and the
Emerald Princess, both Princess Cruise Line ships, were each
cited twice. Other ships that were issued wastewater
discharge violations are the Noordam (Holland America Line),
Sojourn (Seabourn Cruise Line), Golden Princess (Princess
Cruise Line), Ruby Princess (Princess Cruise Line), Eurodam
(Holland America Line), Volendam (Holland America Line) and
Island Princess (Princess Cruise Line). (see www.cruisejunkie.com/alaskafines.html
for a complete list) |
Evironmental (water) violations |
| September 14 |
Multiple ships |
Juneau
Empire reports environmental managers issued air
quality violations to eight cruise ships on Friday, Sept. 7,
for violations throughout the summer cruise season. This
year’s to-date total of nine air quality
violations (one ship received two notices) is the
highest number of violations DEC has handed out in all but
four years (2000, 2001, 2008 and 2014). It’s also higher
than the last three years combined: only two violations were
handed out last year and zero violations were issued in 2016
or 2015. Holland America Line led the tally with four
violations from four ships. Princess Cruise Line received
two violations for two ships. Royal Caribbean ship Radiance
of the Seas was cited twice: once in Ketchikan in on Aug. 8
and again in Seward nine days later. Norwegian Cruise Line
ship the Norwegian Jewel was also cited. A full list of the
violating ships includes the Norwegian Jewel (Norwegian
Cruise Line), Radiance of the Seas (Royal Caribbean),
Amsterdam (Holland America Line), Eurodam (Holland America
Line), Nieuw Amsterdam (Holland America Line), Westerdam
(Holland American Line), Emerald Princess (Princess Cruise
Line) and Golden Princess (Princess Cruise Line). Most of
the violations took place in Ketchikan, where DEC has more
monitoring staff than elsewhere, White said. Five of the
nine violations stem from the first city. |
Evironmental (air) violations |
| 9 September |
AidaLuna |
CBC
reports a German singer is reportedly missing from a
holiday cruise off the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador.
Daniel Kueblboeck, 33, a contestant in 2003 on Germany
Seeks the Superstar — the German version of
talent search show Pop Idol — has gone
overboard from the ship, which was travelling from Hamburg
to New York, according to Aida Cruises.
Kueblboeck released four successful singles and an
album, as well as appearing in other reality TV
shows. The German news agency DPA and Bild
newspaper have reported that the coast guard is searching
for Kueblboeck. Kueblboeck was on the AidaLuna, which was
due into St. John's on Sunday afternoon. The
ship sent an alert to the Canadian Coast Guard around
6 a.m. Another cruise ship that was due in port Sunday has
reportedly turned back to assist the AidaLuna. Aida
Cruises confirmed via Twitter late Sunday morning that a
person went missing early Sunday. Ship staff carried out a
cabin check and confirmed that the missing person was
Kueblboeck. "The ship was stopped as a precaution and
returned to the place" where Kueblboeck went overboard,
the company tweeted. |
Passenger overboard |
| 8 September |
Multiple ships |
Travel
Agent Central reports NCL has modified upcoming
itineraries for both the Norwegian Escape and
the Norwegian Dawn. On Norwegian
Escape’s September 9 itinerary out of New
York City, the ship will call in Port Canaveral,
Florida, and Great Stirrup
Cayand Nassau in the Bahamas to avoid
the storm’s path, instead of calling in Bermuda as planned.
On Norwegian Dawn’s September 7 itinerary
out of Boston, the ship will call
in Halifax and Sydney, Nova Scotia; St. John,
New Brunswick; and Bar Harbor, Maine, instead of
calling in Bermuda. RCI
Blog says Grandeur of the Seas has also modified its
itinerary to avoid Bermuda. |
Itinerary changes (weather) |
| 8 September |
Star Pride |
WCBV
reports the vessel experienced a loss of cooling water for
the engine systems causing an automatic shutdown of the
propulsion and auxiliary engines while navigating Buzzards
Bay Friday afternoon. "During the time the ship was
without prolusion, the Star Pride was on emergency generator
power including power to navigational equipment and
essential safety systems as well as basic comforts for the
passengers and crew," the company said. The company said the
cause of the shutdown was identified and addressed and power
was restored and all ship operations about two hours
later. Late Friday, the Coast Guard ordered the vessel
to have a Coast Guard inspection prior to completing its
scheduled trip to Manhattan. "Under tug escort, the Star
Pride will moor up in Newport to await inspectors," the
Coast Guard said. It then proceeded to Newe York. |
Loss of power |
| September 6 |
Norwegian Pear |
Juneau
Empire reports as exhaust emissions poured from the
Norwegian Pearl’s exhaust stack on Tuesday, so too did
complaints to the Department of Environmental Conservation.
DEC received at least nine calls complaining about the
ship’s emissions, and at least one more complaint was lodged
electronically, according to Program Manager Ed White, who
runs the Commercial Passenger Vessel Environmental
Compliance program. That number is “probably as high as any
day that we’ve seen,” White told the Empire on
Wednesday. Cruise ships can incur hefty fines for
violating DEC air quality regulations. DEC handed out two
violations last year to cruise ships, the Norwegian Jewel
and the Amsterdam, which were both cited in Ketchikan. Those
violations can be as high as $46,192, a fine which was
raised this year from $37,500. |
Air emissions |
| September 6 |
Le Boreal & Le Soleal |
CBC reports the cancellation of two
luxury cruise ships that were supposed to land in
Ulukhaktok, N.W.T., this week is disappointing community
members that were prepared for an influx of tourists. The
ships cancelled due to difficult ice conditions in Bellot
Strait and Queen Maud Gulf. The cruise ships, Le Boreal and
Le Soleal, were set to land in Ulukhaktok on Sept. 3
and 9, respectively. The mayor said people in the community
have had to put their plans on hold due to the
cancellations, as the influx of tourists was expected to
bring new dollars into the Beaufort Delta economy. "Their
cancellations do impact the community a lot," she said. "It
impacts the people. It impacts them, their children, their
income." |
Port call skipped |
| September 6 |
Carnival Elation |
Cruise
Law News reports a man from Topeka, Kansas was
arraigned in United States District Court on charges of
murdering his wpartner during a Carnival cruise earlier this
year. On January 19, 2018, a passenger on the Carnival
Elation sent us photographs of the couple’s
cabin and the area where the woman fell to her death. The
woman reportedly died after she fell from her balcony on the
14th deck down to the 11th deck on the Carnival cruise
ship which has sailed from Jacksonville to Freeport, in the
Bahamas. |
Husband charged with murdering wife |
| September 5 |
Celebrity Equinox |
A Poster at Cruise
Critic reports the ship lost power and was dead in the
water for a half hour or so. |
Loss of power - Dead in the ater |
| September 3 |
Multiple ships |
Los
Angeles Times reportsthe Danube River has been
particularly hard hit by drought in Europe, leaving cargo
ships, day cruisers and river boats high and dry. River
cruise operators have been forced to find alternative
transportation, which usually means passengers will be
traveling by coach and perhaps staying in hotels instead of
ship cabins. The Upper Danube, which is the most popular
river boat destination in Europe, has been especially
plagued by low water issues, particularly the area between
Passau and Regensburg in Germany. Budapest, Hungary, another
popular Danube destination, has been closed to cruise
traffic for more than a week. River boats aren't the only
vessels in trouble; many cargo ships also are stranded,
according to media reports. iking Cruises, the largest river
boat carrier in Europe, announced on its website that:
"Unseasonably hot and dry weather in Europe has resulted in
low water levels on several of the European rivers ... To
varying degrees, these low water levels will affect select
itineraries. While ideally your ship would carry you along
the full length of the river, due to water levels on
sections where sailing becomes restricted, we may need to
make adjustments." Those adjustments may mean travelers will
be touring on a bus instead of a ship.
|
|
| August 31 |
Celebrity Summit |
Miami
New Times reportslast August, during a Celebrity
Cruises trip from New Jersey to Bermuda, a woman from New
York was approached by a crew member who said he was a spa
director. He had a surprising offer: a "complimentary
massage." Instead, the woman says in federal court,
the man "trapped her in a small room of the spa" and
"intentionally persuaded [her] to undress and eventually
fondled her breasts and vaginal area before she was able to
get away." The woman, identified only as Jane Doe in her
complaint filed against Celebrity and the Canyon Ranch
spa last week in Florida's Southern District
Court, says the assault happened on the Celebrity
Summit. Miami-based maritime lawyer Jim Walker, who
is representing the woman, argues the two companies are
negligent because they "failed to adequately vet the
assailant's background," which would have revealed his
"dangerous propensities and unsuitability for his job." A
man with the same name as Doe's assailant is on trial this
week in Jordan, Minnesota, for raping a 14-year-old girl in
2003, though Walker says he's been unable to determine if he
is the same man who allegedly assaulted his client on the
ship. "We were aware of the trial and charges against the
man in Minnesota, but we are not sure if it is the same
person," Walker says. "Celebrity Cruises and Canyon Ranch
are not cooperating with us and will not voluntarily provide
a photograph or any background information of the crew
member who assaulted our client. So we are proceeding with
the lawsuit. |
Sexual assault |
| August 30 |
Saga Pearl II |
Daily
Mail reports the ship ploughed into four luxury yachts
while attempting to enter a harbour in Dartmouth, Devon,
yesterday. Witnesses reported seeing boat owners
'running from their vessels in pyjamas', as the liner headed
towards smaller vessels which were moored in the bay. The
damage was caused to the yachts while the cruise ship tried
to turn as it was being piloted by the harbour master at
Dartmouth, Devon. Dart Harbour Authority said it is now
trying to track down the owners of all the boats involved in
the incident and has launched an investigation. Steve
McMillan, 54, of Brixham, Devon, who witnessed the incident,
said: 'The Saga Pearl II collided with four yachts on the
way in to Dartmouth. 'She turned in too wide and people were
running out of their boats, in their pyjamas on a nearby
pontoon adjacent to the yacht club. 'It really was close.' |
Collision with yachts in harbour |
| August 28 |
Carnival Horizon |
NY
Post reports the ship struck a dock on Manhattan’s
West Side; it smacked into the Pier 90 dock while mooring at
Pier 88 at West 50th Street. Carnival spokesman Vance
Gulliksen told The Post that “the impact to the bow of the
ship was minor. There has been no impact to our debarkation
process this morning and embarkation for today’s sailing is
expected to proceed as normal" Assessments of the pier are
currently underway. The Coast Guard said it was
investigating the cause of the incident, which it called an
“allision,” usually described as the running of one ship
into another that is stationary. The city’s Department of
Buildings was called to the scene at 711 12th Ave. to
conduct a structural stability inspection. According to a
preliminary investigation, the Horizon damaged two metal
support beams and a small section of the parking level
above, buildings. |
Allision with dock |
| August 25 |
Akademic Ioffe |
Nunatsiaq
News reports the 117-metre-long cruise ship Akademic
Ioffe, operated by One Ocean Expeditions, has been refloated
after running aground in the western Gulf of Boothia near
Kugaaruk yesterday morning “Following a full and successful
systems check the vessel has repositioned to anchor. We
remain in close contact with the captain, the coast guard,
and other agencies,” One Ocean Expeditions said. The company
said the vessel was refloated just after 10:30 p.m. Pacific
time and that all passengers are safe and being “well-cared
for.” The vessel appeared to have become grounded on a rock
on the morning of Aug. 24.
The Star reports there is damage to the vessel
(contained) and passengers are likely to be flown home.
UPDATE: Passengers were flown home and the Canadian Coast
Guard and Transport Canada have taken control of the damaged
vessel and are developing a plan for moving the vessel to
another location. CBC
reports the ship rescue cost the Canadian Government
$513,000. The amount does not reflect expenses
incurred by the Canadian Coast Guard. Two of its
icebreakers headed to the scene to offer assistance. |
Aground - refloated |
| August 18 |
Norwegian Star |
BBC
reports a British woman has survived after falling from a
cruise ship off the coast of Croatia, the country's
coastguard has said. Officials said she was rescued 10 hours
after falling into the Adriatic Sea - 60 miles offshore -
around midnight on Saturday. The 46-year-old, who had been
on the Norwegian Star cruise ship, was taken to hospital in
the town of Pula. She told reporters she fell off the back
and was "very lucky to be alive". Speaking to Croatian news
channel HRT after stepping off the coastguard patrol boat
the Cavtat, she added: "I was in the water for 10 hours, so
these wonderful guys rescued me." She was then taken to
hospital in an ambulance. The rescue vessel's captain, Lovro
Oreskovic, said she was found on Sunday "exhausted", adding:
"We were extremely happy for saving a human life." |
Person overboard - rescused alive |
| August 18 |
MSC Seaview |
Cruise
Law News reports water reportedly flooded down the
central stairwell on the new MSC Seaview while
the ship was cruising in the Mediterranean. The spectacle
was filmed by a number of cruise passengers with one such
video being posted on the home page of MSC Seaview Fans on
Facebook. Some people commented that there must have been a
broken pipe, although exactly what caused the water to pour
from the stairwell ceiling is not clear. Other commented
that there was a thunderstorm in Barcelona yesterday,
although that does not really explain why the water poured
into the ship. Other comments were to the effect that
this is a new ship just out of the shipyard, which had its
inaugural cruise in June of this year. You can see the
video here (after
we posted this article the video was removed) |
Water damage |
| August 17 |
Emerald Star |
From a reader: Europe is
experiencing an extended period of hot and dry weather,
resulting in low water levels across sections of the Rhine,
Main and Danube Rivers. As a result of these conditions
there are unavoidable impacts to the safe navigation of
vessels on the rivers. The incidence of low water and the
ability for continued cruising currently varies on a daily
basis and is a situation we monitor continuously. Currently
there are sailing restrictions on the upper Danube River
between Passau and Regensburg. Unfortunately, due to these
critical water levels we will be unable to sail this section
of the river in time to meet the scheduled embarkation of
your 19 August, Classic Rhine Cruise in Amsterdam. We have
reviewed all options for making alternate arrangements
including another Emerald Waterways Star Ship and the
opportunity to sail an amended cruising itinerary. However,
it has not been possible to make any suitable arrangements
that would provide you with the Emerald Waterways Cruise
experience that we had planned to deliver. In assessing the
low water impact to your cruise, the associated disruption
on the itinerary and our desire to provide you with the
planned cruise experience; we have found it necessary to
cancel this cruise departure. |
Canceled cruise |
| August 14 |
Norwegian Escape |
Royal
Gazette reports an American tourist was fined $2,000
for attempting to import cannabis he claimed he needed for
medical purposes. James Insalaco, 24, admitted to
bringing just over 20g of the controlled drug to the island
aboard the cruise ship Norwegian Escape at Heritiage Wharf,
Dockyard, on Wednesday. Housekeeping staff reported finding
the plant material in containers in the man’s cabin. He was
taken to the customs hall and later arrested. Insalaco told
Magistrate Khamisi Tokunbo on Friday that he used the drug
that had been prescribed to him in the States owing to a
boat accident that had left him in a coma for two weeks. He
said: “I know it was wrong. I am a medical patient, I really
need it. I have never left anywhere without it. Shouldn’t
they have seized it when I left New York?” Mr Tokunbo asked
to view his medical certificate which was produced. He
handed Insalaco a $2,000 fine which he said had taken into
consideration his medical condition. |
Drug bust |
| August 14 |
Unknown |
BerNews
reports a cruise ship passenger from New Jersey pled not
guilty to a charge of sexual assault. The 27-year-old man,
who cannot be named for legal reasons, was alleged to have
committed the crime against a fellow cruise ship passenger
on August 10. His trial is scheduled to begin on August 29.
He was granted $10,000 bail. The was ordered to surrender
his travel documents and appear at the Hamilton Police
Station on Monday and Friday between the hours of 6 am and 8
pm. |
Sexual assault alleged |
| August 13 |
Carnival Horizon |
Cruise
Radio reports a mechanical issue caused the ship to skip
a port of call, and is impacting the speed at which it can
currently travel. As a result, guests on board received a
note from Captain Gaetano Gigliotti explaining the
situation, and offering them a $50 onboard credit for their
inconvenience (the credit is consistent with the Cruise
Passenger Bill of Rights given that port fees were not paid
for the canceled port call). Although the captain did not
get specific about the issue in his letter, he said that it
had “limited our ability to safely maneuver during this
morning’s docking process” at the scheduled stop, Amber
Cove. “Given the narrow channel in Amber Cove and lack of
tug boat availability, it was necessary to cancel our call.”
The captain went on to explain that the issue was “also
impacting the ship’s maximum cruising speed” and that they
were making arrangements for a technician to come aboard and
make repairs. He made clear that the issues “is not
impacting the operation of the ship” and that they were
still expecting to arrive in New York City on Thursday. |
Propulsion problems |
| August 13 |
Carnival Horizon |
Cruise
Hive reports an Indian crew member in his 30’s named
Ravi Singh Bisht has sadly passed away while onboard the
newest ship in the fleet. He leaves behind his wife, mother,
father, sister and his brother who also works for the cruise
line. Ravi was working in the Culinary Arts department since
joining Carnival in 2012. It isn’t clear what actually
happened to him but an anonymous source from onboard
Carnival Horizon said it may have been related to a Galley
party he attended the night before. He was found the
following morning of Grand Turk which was August 11. We were
told more but don’t think it’s right to post how he passed
away and in what manner. |
Crew member death |
| August 9 |
Carnival Triumph |
From a passenger: We
just disembarked from a five day cruise to Mexico aboard
Carnival Triumph and a room with sealed off by security two
doors down from us - we were told that a passenger was
sexually assaulted in the room. Also were told a passenger
had a heart attack and died on another deck and was kept in
the room for 2 days... Strangest cruise we’ve been on. |
Sexual assault? |
| August 7 |
Norwegian Escape |
BerNews
reports an American tourist who said he had a medical
marijuana card admitted to several drug offences, including
importation, and was fined $2000. Randolph Knight, 46, from
Atlanta, Georgia, who was a passenger on the Norwegian
Escape, pled guilty to several drug charges. Those included
bringing cannabis, cartridges containing
tetrahydrocannabinol, a plastic grinder, and a smoking pipe
into Bermuda on August 1. Customs officers stopped Knight
and a woman after disembarking from the ship. When the
officers went to examine a suitcase Knight said it belonged
to him and the contents of the suitcase were all his. They
later searched his cabin and found more cannabis, another
pipe, and a plastic grinder. After being tested, it was
determined that there were 10.84 grams of cannabis and 0.2
grams in the grinder. |
Drug bust |
| August 7 |
Ruby Princess |
KHNS
reports Haines wasn’t scheduled to have any cruise ships in
port tomorrow. But, with high winds forecasted in Northern
Lynn Canal, around 3,000 extra visitors are headed for the
Chilkat Valley. The National Weather Service is
forecasting a southerly gale at 35 knots, with gusts to 50
knots and 7 ft. seas. Based on the forecast, the Ruby
Princess will dock in Haines instead of sailing to
Skagway. The Haines-Skagway fast ferry, which shuttles
cruise passengers between the two towns, is also cancelled
Tuesday. |
Change of port call |
| August 6 |
Fascination |
Crew
Center reports authorities in Puerto Rico are
investigating the death of a man. According to the police
report, the man was identified as the 22-year-old Serbian
national, Nikola Arnautovic. The young man was found
hanged in his cabin on Sunday at around 10.41 am
(14.41 GMT) after the vessel docked at Pier 4 in San Juan.
In the past years, there have been several tragic events
of cruise ship employees by hanging. On February 15,
2017, a 27-year-old
dishwasher from India was found hanging in his
cabin: his fellow cabin mate took him down in an attempt
to revive him, to no avail. In March 2016, a 21-year-old
crew member Eduardo Sanchez Smith, who was working
as a cook on Island Princess was found hanging in his
cabin. In July 2015, a 33-year-old British national who
was working as a cook
on Crystal Serenity was found hanging in the cabinwhile
the ship was in Bordeaux, France.
|
Crew member suicide |
| August 3 |
Amsterdam |
Coast
Guard News reports the Coast Guard suspended its
search Friday for a 35 year old man reported overboard in
Sitka Sound, Alaska. Coast Guard Sector Juneau
watchstanders received notification at 9 p.m., Thursday,
from the Amsterdam reporting the man missing after he did
not show up for his shift. The master was made aware of
the missing man at 7:45 p.m. The Amsterdam crew made
extensive searches of the vessel, but did not locate the
crew member. Weather was reported as 45-mph winds, low
visibility, 7-10 foot seas, a water temperature of 55
degrees and an air temperature of 62 degrees. |
Crew member missing |
| August 2 |
Golden Princess |
KRDB
reports following complaints in mid-June of a cruise ship
discharging discolored water while docked in Ketchikan, city
officials investigated and say the discharge was from the
Golden Princess cruise ship’s exhaust scrubbers. In a July
24th memo, City Public Works Director Mark Hilson
writes that those in-port discharges may not comply with
regulations, and are under investigation by state and
federal enforcement officials. Hilson says the ship’s agent
turned off the discharge after a notification from the city.
The city also has notified Cruise Line Agencies of Alaska to
cease all non-compliant discharges while in port. In a
separate memo, Port and Harbors Director Steve Corporon
writes that the state has ocean rangers on board vessels to
monitor all discharges. He writes that the discharge from
scrubbers is permitted through the federal Environmental
Protection Agency. The state does not have its own permit
for scrubber systems. In an email exchange with Corporon,
state Environmental Program Manager Ed White writes that
state ocean rangers have been asked to monitor scrubber
discharges, following reports of discharges that could
exceed state water quality regulations. The state could
intervene if those regulations are violated. NOTE:
On 28 July, 2018, CLIA's SVP (Brian Salerno) told
an audience in Rockland, ME that CLIA members discharge
nothing while a ship is in or near port, and he said a ship
NEVER DISCHARGES INTO THE WATER discharges from smokestack
scrubbers. He said compliance with these mandatory CLIA
requirements are a condition of membership in CLIA, |
Discharge scrubber sludge in port -
environmental |
| August 2 |
Celebrity Summit |
Star
Tribune reports a New Jersey man has been charged with
taking an "upskirt" picture of a 13-year-old girl on a
cruise ship. The U.S. attorney's office says Jeffrey
Goldstein is charged with violating a voyeurism statute
According to a criminal complaint, the 31-year-old Hoboken
resident was on a cruise ship leaving Bayonne on July 8 when
he allegedly took the picture. An adult allegedly saw
Goldstein approach the girl as she was watching the sun set
then point his cellphone under her skirt. Cruise ship
personnel also reviewed surveillance video. Investigators
say they found more than 40 similar images on Goldstein's
phone. Goldstein faces up to a year in prison and a $100,000
fine. He has been released on $25,000 bond. |
Arrest for upskirt photograph of 13 year old
girl |
| August 1 |
Viking Cinderella |
YLE
reports an intoxicated man aboard Viking Line's Cinderella
cruise ship on Tuesday night tried to light his underpants
on fire while he was being detained in a cell for unruly
passengers, according to police in the Åland islands.
Earlier during the cruise the man, who is in his 50s and
without a known fixed address in Finland, was detained by
crew members for drunkenness and placed in a cell to sober
up. On Tuesday night the Cinderella was on its way from
Stockholm, Sweden to Mariehamn, capital of Åland, an
autonomous Finnish archipelago province. The man was handed
over to local police when the cruise liner arrived in
Mariehamn. In the on-board holding facility, the man
reportedly tried to burn his underwear, according to
Christoffer Ahlfors of the Åland police. The smoke detector
was activated by the burning undergarment. Crew members put
out the flames with a fire extinguisher. |
Pax starts fire |
| August 1 |
Unknown |
KTOO
reports the U.S. Coast Guard carried out a rescue on the
Chilkat Inlet near Haines today after a canoe carrying 11
people capsized at Glacier Point, 9 miles south of the
Haines townsite. The canoe was being used for a guided tour
for passengers from three different cruise ships. A Jayhawk
helicopter from Sitka responded. One of the passengers was
unresponsive at the scene. First responders performed CPR,
but the passenger remained unconscious. The Coast Guard
transported the passenger to Juneau by helicopter. The
Associated Press reported that Steven Tod Willis, 50, of
North Las Vegas, Nevada, died. The remaining 10 passengers
were transferred to a small boat operated by the company in
charge of the guided canoe tour. |
Death on shore ex |
| July 29 |
Hapag Lloyd Bremen |
CBS
reports Norwegian authorities said a polar bear on Saturday
attacked and injured a polar bear guard who was leading
tourists off a cruise ship on an Arctic archipelago. The
polar bear was shot dead by another employee, the cruise
company said. The Joint Rescue Coordination for Northern
Norway tweeted that the attack occurred when the tourists
from the MS Bremen cruise ship landed on the most northern
island of the Svalbard archipelago, a region between
mainland Norway and the North Pole that is known for its
remote terrain, glaciers, reindeer and polar bears. The
injured man was taken by helicopter to the town of
Longyearbyen on Spitsbergen island. He was not identified
and no further information was given on him. All cruise
ships traveling in the northern region are obliged to have
polar bear guards on board. |
Polar bear attack ashore |
| July 27 |
Unknown |
Cayman
News Service reports police have said that
a 37-year-old man from the United States who was
arrested on board a cruise ship Wednesday on suspicion of
assault and possession of ganja is now in hospital in
critical condition. The authorities have given almost no
details about the man’s situation except to say that
after being taken into police custody yesterday, some time
during the day he was taken to the Cayman Islands Hospital
after “experiencing a medical issue”. He was arrested at
8:00am after the ship he was on docked in the George Town
port and a 911 call was made. The RCIPS said that man
and the woman he was travelling with had been involved in an
altercation in international waters aboard the ship. When
their cabin was searched by RCIPS officers they found an
undisclosed quantity of ganja. He was then arrested on
suspicion of assault ABH and possession of drugs. The female
victim was taken to the George Town hospital for treatment
for her injuries and later released. The police have not
said how long after being in their custody the man became
unwell or what the cause of the sudden critical illness or
injury was. |
Pax arrested onboard - hospitalized |
| July 27 |
L'Austral |
Radio
New Zealand reports the Southland Regional Council has
been criticised for not helping large ships navigate
Fiordland after a cruise ship collided with the ground in
Milford Sound. French-registered passenger ship L'Austral
was on a nine day cruise when it collided with the ground in
Milford Sound in February last year - the ship's second
crash while in New Zealand waters. It was dark and the crew
were relying on the ship's navigation systems to set their
course. A Transport Accident Investigation Commission
investigation found the council did not fully consider the
risks of navigating in with low visibility in the narrow
passage. The Commission recommended the council work out how
to mitigate the risks faced by large ships navigating the
limited space in Fiordland as there was "little margin for
error". The Commission also found the crew knew they were
off-course and were alerted by safety settings, but failed
to tell their pilot until it was too late. L'Austral also
collided with rocks at Snares Islands a month before, in an
area the Commission said was not suitable for safe
navigation. |
Accident investigation |
| July 21 |
Zuiderdam |
Elliott
Advocacy reports on a case where passengers were
kicked off their cruise. Elaine Chan and her husband booked
a 24-day cruise on Holland America’s Zuiderdam. But on day
five, things went terribly wrong. “We did not expect our
highly anticipated vacation to end as a nightmare in
complete humiliation,” Chan explained. “We were kicked off
the cruise by the Holland America captain in Helsinki.” Chan
said that at 8 a.m., the captain called the couple into his
office. He explained that there had been an incident during
disembarkation two days earlier in St. Petersburg. The
captain said that during that incident, several passengers
had become verbally abusive to crew members. While leaving
the ship, one passenger had escalated the situation by
pushing an employee. Another crew member identified Chan’s
husband as the person who did the shoving. As a result, they
were no longer welcome on his ship. The shocked couple told
the captain that they hadn’t been involved in any incident.
The captain was unmoved and told them his decision was
final. He ordered them to leave the cruise immediately. They
had no recourse. |
Pax kikced off ship in Helsinki |
| July 20 |
Explorer OTS |
Cruise
Law News reports two crew members, reportedly working
on a lifeboat on the Explorer of the Seas, fell
from the Royal Caribbean cruise ship near Victoria last
evening. The two overboard ship workers were rescued by a
rescue boat from the cruise ship, al;though other ships took
part in the search. The Joint Rescue Coordination Centre
stated that “the two were working on a lifeboat on the
Explorer of the Seas when they ended up in the water.” There
is no indication exactly how long the workers were in the
water or exactly how they fell from the cruise ship.
Royal Caribbean has work-aloft and working overboard
procedures which require ship employees to be equipped with
harness to prevent them from falling. Typically the work on
lifeboats is permitted only after the ship employees obtain
work-aloft certificates requiring that certain safety
protocols set forth in the Royal Caribbean safety management
system (called SQM on Royal Caribbean ship) be followed.
Department heads and the staff captain typically must be
aware of, approve and supervise the work. Crew
Center reports: Vessel Towing &
Salvage Company “C-Tow Victoria” responded to
the scene and released the following video of the accident
saying: “2 crew initially reported overboard the cruise
ship Explorer of the Seas after rescue boat flips while
either being lifted or lowered, crew fell from some
height...unsure why it was being launched in these
conditions. -two recovered by the pilot boat, then a
potential 3rd missing, then found on the ships rescue boat
along side. Ships rescue boat breaks down, towed by Vic 1
for a while before restarted, cut free and hoisted back
aboard. Pilot boat returned with the crew after being
checked out in Victoria by EMS and put back onboard, and
the ship is back on their way...” |
2 cew members accidentally go
overboard in life boat accident |
| July 17 |
Norwegian Escape |
Bermnews
reports a 41-year-old cruise ship passenger was today fined
a total of $1,300 for drugs offences and resisting Customs
officers. Rene Rosengart, from New York, admitted importing
cannabinoid oil and what she believed to be ecstasy pills —
although the pills were later found not to contain illegal
drugs. Customs officials found an e-cigarette cartridge that
contained cannabinoid oil which led to a search of the
couple’s cabin. A container of pills was found and
Magistrate Khamisi Tokunbo was told Customs officials had to
struggle with Rosengart, who tried to grab the pills and
swallow them. Rosengart admitted importation of the oil and
what she had believed to be ecstasy. |
Drug bust |
| July 15 |
Westerdam |
National
Park Traveler reports a 69-year-old passenger of a
Holland America cruise ship has been lost overboard at
Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve in Alaska. In a brief
news release, the park said Saturday night that it had
suspended its search for the man, who was reported missing
from Westerdam on Friday. The
individual was reported missing at 3:50 p.m. when he did not
appear for a medical appointment on board, a park release
said. The Park Service was notified 7:30 Friday evening
after a ship-wide search confirmed that the passenger was
absent. Searches for the unidentified passenger were
conducted both from Park Service boats and from the air,
supported by the U.S. Coast Guard. The release did not say
where along the 65-mile Glacier Bay the man was reported
missing, and park staff could not immediately be reached
Sunday morning. |
Pax overboard |
| July 15 |
Celebrity Equinox |
From a passenger: Ship
missed the San Juan port call due to a medical
evacuation. Glad to hear the passenger was ok. |
Skipped port call |
| July 13 |
Carnival Conquest |
Cruise
Law News reports a passenger is accused of sexually
assaulting a 12-year-old girl during an eastern
Caribbean cruise, according to a newspaper in West
Virginia where the young man resides. U.S.
Federal prosecutors reportedly filed a motion for
a guilty plea hearing in U.S. District Court in Charleston,
West Virginia yesterday. Judge Joseph Goodwin scheduled the
motion for hearing on Monday, July 16 at 10 a.m. If
convicted, Mr. Morrison faces up to 15 years in prison. The
newspaper articles state that he is being prosecuted via a
criminal information rather than a grand jury indictment,
"which usually indicates a suspect plans to enter a guilty
plea." According to the Charleston
Gazette-Mail, Joshua Morrison, of Kenova, West
Virginia, who was 18 years old a the time of the cruise and
is now age 21, is accused of coercing a girl from Utah,
then just age 12 years old, into performing sexual acts
while the two were on a cruise aboard the Carnival
Conquest. The alleged crime reportedly occurred
during the cruise on January 8, 2016, when he was 18 years
old. |
Sexual assault of minor |
| July 10 |
Seven Seas Mariner |
News
1130 reports a search is underway off southwest
Vancouver Island for a 73-year-old man who went into the
water early this morning from a cruise ship. The United
States coast guard confirms the man is missing from the
Seven Seas Mariner, which was heading to Victoria on the
10th day of an 11-day Alaska cruise that began in
Vancouver on June 30. Petty Officer Trevor Lilburn says
the captain of the cruise ship has reported the man went
overboard from the balcony of his stateroom at about 4:15
a.m. KOMO
reports two search helicopters and three rescue boats
searched the nearby water, eventually locating the
unconscious man Tuesday afternoon. He was flown to a
Port Angeles hospital where he was pronounced dead. The
Coast Guard said there is no indication of why the man
went overboard. An investigation will help determine
what happened. |
Pax overboard - body recovered |
| July 9 |
Norwegian Dawn |
WCVB
reports the Sargent family sailed from Boston to Bermuda on
the Norwegian Dawn last week, and every day, even after
their rooms were cleaned and sheets changed, they say they
noticed the same stains kept appearing. "We noticed on
our sheets there were like red bloody marks and these dark
black stains," Sargent said. "I just thought they had washed
the sheets with pens or markers that hadn't come out."
Looking closely at a photo of Room 8106, they saw a black
bug. Still, the family said they didn't think anything of it
and didn't have any kind of reaction, until they went
swimming in the ocean while still vacationing. They noticed
their skin was having a reaction and thought it had
something to do with tropical bugs. When they returned
home over the weekend, the Sargent family said the real
trouble began, seeing quarter-sized welts on their
bodies. "It started out with like five (welts) and
they just kept popping up," Megan Sargent said. A
doctor informed them it wasn't something tropical causing
this reaction. It was bed bugs. The reaction can be delayed
and varied. The trip of a lifetime cost the Sargent
family $5,000. Now on steroids, and unsatisfied with what
they call Norwegian's lack of action, they are warning
others of Room 8106. WCVB reached out to Norwegian for
comment. They said they are investigating. |
Bed Bugs |
| July 8 |
Unnamed |
WOWT
reports the owners of a popular dinner cruise ship in
Virginia are being sued by a customer who says the ship's
no-skid flooring worked too well. The lawsuit in federal
court accuses the Spirit of Norfolk cruise ship of
inappropriately using no-skid flooring on a part of the ship
where cruisers play the game cornhole. The plaintiff,
66-year-old Jeffrey Makuch, says he took a cruise on the
ship in June 2016 and fell while playing cornhole. He says
the no-skid floor made it impossible for him to properly
shift his weight while stepping to throw a beanbag. The
cruise ship owners have filed a reply denying that their
flooring presents a risk. The Virginian-Pilot reports
(https://bit.ly/2KPeNx9) the lawsuit seeks roughly $375,000
in damages. |
Lawsuit |
| July 7 |
Allure of the Seas |
Cruise
Law News reports two cruise passengers were involved
in a zip lining accident during a stop in Roatan, Honduras
on July 5, 2018. A couple who arrived in Roatan on a cruise
ship last Thursday collided with one another while on a zip
line. The newspaper in Honduras identified the passengers as
Egael Fishman and Shirf Fanken, reportedly both citizens of
Israel. Mr. Fishman was killed during the accident and Ms.
Fanken was seriously injured during the accident. Mr.
Fishman and Ms. Fanken were taken from the scene of the
accident to the Wood Medical Center in Coxen Hole; Ms
Fishman was and was subsequently flown
via air ambulance back to the U.S. A newspaper
in Israel state sshe died from his injuries. |
Death on shorex |
| July 6 |
Phoenix - Ferry |
Reuters
reports rescuers in Thailand deployed helicopters on Friday
in a search for 29 people still missing after the sinking of
a tourist boat off the island of Phuket, as the death toll
in the incident rose to 27. The Royal Thai Navy said
“quite a few bodies” were found in the vessel, the Phoenix,
after it capsized and sank in rough seas on Thursday
carrying 105 passengers, comprised of 93 Chinese tourists
and 12 Thai crew and tourist guides. Police are
investigating the incident, the Phuket Marine Police said,
adding that the boat was properly registered and had not
been overloaded at the time of the accident. |
Sinks |
| July 5 |
KM Lestari Maju - Ferry |
EDM
Digest reports 34 people have been confirmed dead
after an Indonesian ferry sank off the coast of Indonesia’s
South Sulawesi province on Tuesday. According to local
authorities, 155 people managed to swim or be pulled to
safety. The latest rescue effort was initially complicated
by bad weather. Heavy seas prevented large boats from
approaching the KM Lestari Maju ferry and trapped some
passengers on the stricken vessel overnight. The ferry
reportedly was over capacity with a total of 189 passengers.
In addition to the passengers, the vessel was carrying 48
cars and motorcycles. These vehicles were seen temporarily
floating after the sinking. As the ship
began taking on water, the captain steered the vessel toward
nearby Selayar Island. Then, he deliberately crashed the
ferry in the shallows to save as many lives as possible,
said Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, a spokesman for Indonesia’s
disaster management agency. |
Sinks |
| July 4 |
Unknown Norwegioan |
Eyewitness
News reports investigators are probing the alleged
drowning of a man near Great Stirrup Cay in the Berry
Islands – the second incident of its kind in the last
week.Police said it was after 1:00 p.m. when a man, who was
reportedly a passenger on a cruise ship, was discovered
unresponsive floating in waters off the cay.He was removed
from the water and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR)
was rendered. The man was transported to the local
clinic where he was pronounced dead, police said. Last
week a Chinese woman allegedly drowned on the same cay. |
Pax drowns at private island |
| July 3 |
Carnival |
Fklorida
Record reports a woman recently filed a lawsuit in
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida
against Carnival Corp. after allegedly suffering an injury
while aboard a cruise ship owned by the company.. The suit
May 29 claiming her injuries, including a damaged rotator
cuff, were the result of the company’s negligence and that
the duty of care owed to her was violated. The injury
occurred when Hutchinson stepped off an elevator and tripped
over an elevated threshold on July 22, 2017. Her suit claims
the injuries could have been avoided if warning signs had
marked the threshold and adds that the design of the
threshold was negligent to begin with. It is seeking damages
over $75,000 as well attorney’s fees and other costs. |
Lawsuit - tripped |
| July 3 |
Unnamed |
Royal
Gazette reports a woman cruise ship passenger was
fined $500 today after she admitted an attack on another
woman on board the ship. Gina Martell, 36, of Kingston,
Massachusetts, pleaded guilty to assault in Magistrates’
Court. The court heard that victim Alexandra Thornton
was at dinner in a restaurant on the cruise ship berthed in
Dockyard last night. Martell began yelling at Ms
Thornton outside a restroom at about 9.30pm. She then
pulled the woman to the floor and punched her on the back of
the head several times and pulled her hair. Ms Thornton
suffered head pain and bruises to both knees. She told
police that Martell was a complete stranger. |
Assault - Pax on Pax |
| July 1 |
Carnival Glory |
Times-Pacayune
reports a cruise ship crew member who had gone overboard on
Saturday (June 30) was found nearly a day later by another
cruise ship near Cuba, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.
A 33-year-old crew member aboard Norwegian Cruise
Line's Getaway was seen going overboard 28 miles
northwest of Pinar del Rio on Cuba's western side, the Coast
Guard said. A Coast Guard search for the crew
member began about 10 minutes later, eventually
covering 1,630 square miles, to no avail. But the
following day -- about 22 hours after the crew member was
seen going overboard -- the missing crew member was seen in
the water by someone on the Carnival Glory about 21 miles
north of Cuba. A steward saw the crew member. |
Rescues person overboard |
| June 30 |
Norwegian Getaway |
Local10
News reports the U.S. Coast Guard is searching for a
cruise ship crew member who fell overboard
Saturday off the coast of Cuba. The Coast Guard said
a 33-year-old Filipino crew member fell overboard from the
Norwegian Getaway around 3:30 p.m. about 28 miles
northwest of Pinar del Rio, Cuba. |
Crew member overboard - rescued alive |
| July 29 |
Norwegian Sky |
Eyewitness
News reports Berry Island Police are investigating the
death of a Chinese female, after she allegedly drowned.
Investigators said it was shortly after 11:00 a.m. Thursday,
when the woman was discovered floating in waters off Great
Stirrup Cay. Police said the unresponsive woman was removed
from the water and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR)
rendered, although it is unclear who removed her or
performed the CPR. She was transported to the local clinic
on Berry Island, according to police, where she was
pronounced dead. Investigations are said to be ongoing. |
Pax drowns at private island |
| June 29 |
Nissos Rodos (Ferry) |
Lifelinehellas
reports a 23 year old man went missing traveling from Chios
Island to Pireus Greece with the Nissos Rodos. The ship
departed Chios 27/6 and arrived in pireus 6.46 28/7 He is
still missing, Sarantis Koliadelis. |
Passenger missing |
| June 28 |
Seven Seas Mariner |
CDC
reports 38 of 652 (5.83%)
passengers and 0 of 457 (0%) crew have reported
gastrointestinal illness of the 20-30 June cruise. |
Illness outbreak |
| June 23 |
Zaandam |
CDC
reports 58 of 1,472 (3.94%)
passengers and 15 of 591 (2.54%) crew have
reported gastrointestinal illness of the 18 June - July
2 cruise. UPDATE 28 June:
95 of 1,472 (6.45%) and 18 of 591 (3.05%)
crew. |
Illness outbreak |
| June 21 |
Ferry - Indonesia |
CNN
reports search effort for more than 190 people presumed
drowned after a tourist
ferry sank on a crater lake in Indonesia earlier
this week has been extended a further four days, amid
growing anger over the government's failure to prevent the
tragedy. The boat, which was believed to be more than three
times its passenger capacity, sank on Monday after
encountering high-waves while crossing Lake Toba, on the
Indonesian province of North Sumatra. Only 18 survivors have
been found from an estimated 213 on board.
|
Sinks |
| June 17 |
Berlin |
Cruise
Law News reports the ship has been stuck in Dublin,
Ireland for the past several days. It arrived
early in the morning of June 14, where it has remained for
the past three days. The delay has already caused the
passengers to miss the remaining port of call. It appears
that the passengers will be disembarked today in Dublin and
flown back to Bremerhaven. Embarkation for new
passengers will reportedly occur tomorrow in Dublin.
"We arrived on 14 June suppose to sail same date
17.00. Suppose to sail yesterday then said today
finally this morning captain said to guest waiting for
information from the home office and port authorities.
Guests were given 250 euro on their cards and refunded their
excursion fares." Crew members meanwhile have not been
permitted to go ashore. The cause of the delay seems to be a
problem with one of its 14 lifeboats which, reportedly, is
"out of order." The exact problem with lifeboat no.
6 has not been disclosed to the guests or crew but it
was discovered by port authorities during an inspection on
June 14th. Maritime regulations including Safety of Life at
Sea (SOLAS) regulations mandated by the International
Maritime Organization (IMO) require a minimum number of
operational lifecrafts (a combination of lifeboats and
liferafts). |
Dedtained in port (Dublin) |
| June 16 |
Carnival Magic |
Cruise
Fever reports Carnival Cruise Line has altered the
itinerary due to an issue with the maximum cruising speed of
the vessel. Carnival Magic was scheduled to depart from Port
Canaveral today on a seven night cruise to the Eastern
Caribbean with port stops in Grand Turk, Amber Cove, San
Juan, and St. Thomas. The cruise line has canceled the port
stop in St. Thomas and will now just visit the other three
ports. Carnival Cruise Line is giving all passengers on
Carnival Magic $50 in onboard credit for the canceled port
stop. |
Propulsion problems - skipped port |
| June 14 |
Carnival Splendor |
From a passenger: Boy do
I have a story to tell you! We were on the Carnival Splendor
(departed Saturday, 9 June) with scheduled calls to Cabo San
Lucas (two days) and Puerto Vallarta. While underway, on
Saturday night, a guest had a medical emergency. We turned
around and sailed six hours towards San Diego to meet up
with a coast guard helicopter. Passenger was airlifted off
the ship early Sunday morning, and we proceeded south
towards Cabo San Lucas. While underway to Cabo, a tropical
storm that had been in the Pacific quickly became a category
2 and then category 4 hurricane (Hurricane Bud). Later that
Sunday, it was announced that we would miss our first Cabo
San Lucas port call due to the delay caused by the earlier
medical emergency. On Monday, our unexpected sea day, it was
announced that our call to Puerto Vallarta would be
cancelled due to the projected path of the hurricane. In its
place, they scheduled a call to Ensenada for that Friday.
Despite the hurricane barreling towards Cabo, Carnival was
confident they could make a port call both on Tuesday and
potentially Wednesday. According to the captain, this
decision was made because conditions had improved. So it's
Tuesday, we've been at sea for two days, and Splendor is
just off Cabo San Lucas. We stayed in the area for about
three hours monitoring the weather. However, the ocean
swells were just too high to operate tenders safely, and
were projected to get worse. Tuesday and Wednesday's calls
to Cabo San Lucas were cancelled, and replaced with a
Thursday call to Catalina Island. For this inconvenience,
guests were offered a $200 onboard credit and a voucher for
50% off a future cruise. An impromptu forum was scheduled
with the captain, cruise director, guest services manager,
etc. It was an absolute slaughter. Lots of angry guests
yelling, demanding more compensation, calling the captain
and Carnival reckless for sailing us into the storm,
questioning the health of the guest who was evacuated, etc.
As we were underway to Catalina Island, on 13 June, it was
announced that for logistical reasons we were unable to call
there. Instead, we would dock in San Diego.
---------------------------------
After the itinerary change from Catalina Island to San
Diego, the compensation offer to guests was increased to
100% off a future cruise, in addition to the $200 per
stateroom onboard credit. They also had a few other
enticements such as free games in the arcade and 20% off
liquor and Carnival logo item purchases in the Fun Shops.
Guests could also invoke Carnival's 110% vacation guarantee
and disembark the ship in San Diego. They would receive a
100% refund and an additional 10% towards their Sail &
Sign charges. Carnival also provided transportation from San
Diego to LAX, LGB, and the Long Beach cruise terminal. We
decided to disembark in San Diego, and safely returned to
Long Beach. All in all about half the guests elected to
disembark. |
Itinerary change - cruise shortened |
| June 14 |
Deutchland AIDAsol |
The
Orcadian reports the visit to Kirkwall of the cruise
ship Deutschland, which was due in alongside
Hatston Pier on Thursday, has been cancelled due to the
weather forecast. Earlier this week OIC Marine Services also
gave advance notice that the visit of the cruise ship AIDAsol was
also cancelled due to the high wind warning. |
Port calls cancelled (weather) |
| June 13 |
Nannamed - RCI |
Sydney
Morning Herald reports aman whose cruise ship holiday
was ruined by snoring neighbours has had his appeal to claim
more than $3000 from the cruise ship company dismissed by a
Brisbane court. Brendan Ritson and his partner took an
11-night cruise holiday from December 11, 2016, but,
according to a tribunal decision handed down by QCAT
adjudicator Michael Howe last week, “did not enjoy
themselve." Mr Ritson wanted RCL Cruises LTD, trading as
Royal Caribbean Cruises, to repay him $3270 for both himself
and his partner, covering all his expenses, an amount that
was reduced at the initial hearing to $2436 for the price of
accommodation. |
Lawsuit - "Did not enjoy themselves" -
neighbour snored and noisy |
| June 6 |
Unnamed |
Bernews
reports police have confirmed the death of 62-year-old
American cruise ship visitor Yvonne Aites, and said the
autopsy results confirm the cause of death as drowning. Ms.
Aites, from Massachusetts, apparently fell off of a Jet Ski
into the water near Cambridge Beaches, Sandys parish Monday
morning [June 4th] during a Jet Ski tour and became
unconscious. Despite lifesaving efforts on the water which
continued as she was rushed to King Edward VII Memorial
hospital via ambulance, Ms. Aites was later pronounced dead. |
Pax death ashore |
| June 5 |
Voyager OTS |
Cruise
Law News reports a Miami-Dade County jury returned a
verdict against Royal Caribbean Cruises of more than
$20,000,000 on behalf of an officer who was injured on the
Voyager of the Seas during an accident in 2008. Royal
Caribbean officer Lisa Spearman was seriously and
permanently injured when a watertight door crushed her right
hand when she came to the assistance of the cruise ship
nurse. The ship nurse stumbled while attempting to walk past
the door during an emergency test, according to the lawsuit
which her attorneys filed. Ms. Spearman alleged that
following the accident, Royal Caribbean refused to re-hire
her and then refused to pursue disability benefits on her
behalf. She sued the cruise line for negligence under the
Voyager of the SeasJones Act, unseaworthiness of the vessel
under the General Maritime Law, failure to provide prompt,
proper and adequate medical care (also under U.S. General
Maritime law), failure to pay wages under 46 U.S.C. 10313,
retaliatory discharge and breach of contract. The jury
returned a verdict of $20,300,000 after a three week trial.
|
Lawsuit |
| June 5 |
Pacific Jewel |
News.Australia
reports a holiday to celebrate Christmas has turned into a
painful ordeal for a young woman who was injured by pieces
of ceiling that fell on her during a P&O cruise.
Wollongong woman Montana Smith, 21, was 14 years old when
the incident happened on the Pacific Jewel in
2011, just two days after Christmas. She was struck on the
head and shoulder by three ceiling panels, each about one
metre long and 15cm thick, while she was standing on a
staircase on the ship. The NSW Supreme Court has ordered
P&O to pay more than $400,000 in damages to Ms Smith, as
the young woman said her injuries have left her in ongoing
pain that made her teenage years difficult. The court heard
Ms Smith was standing in a companionway with her cousins
when the panels dropped and landed on her. After months of
visits to doctors and specialists, Ms Smith was found to
have suffered an injury to her cervical spine — the neck
vertebrae. The injury has so far cost more than $8000 in
medical treatment, including painful injections, which has
so far been unable to alleviate her pain. She is still
likely to need surgery, more than six years after the
incident. The court heard Ms Smith was a gifted athlete and
dancer but many of her hobbies were impeded by her injury. |
Lawsuit settled |
| May 28 |
Carnival Miracle |
Fox13News
reports ... Selfies outside Tampa’s Florida Aquarium were
Plan B for this Pennsylvania family. Plan A had to be
scrapped because of an unanticipated maintenance issue
aboard the Carnival Miracle. “We got an email about a week
ago saying the cruise was going to be delayed by two days,”
said passenger Christopher Grilz. Carnival gave passengers
the option to cancel and receive a full refund, or
reschedule. But after months of planning his family’s
vacation, Grilz chose to stick with it. “So we’re like,
we’re already here, I guess were just going to sit there and
go with it, and see what happens,” he said. Carnival says
guests will receive a $200 credit, along with a 2-day
prorated stipend for their cruise fare. Grilz said he was
told about a third of the customers decided to cancel.
Though he knows staff is doing all they can, he was hoping
for more details. “Is it an engine issue, is it a propulsion
issue? A navigation issue? That’s the question we’re at
right now, we just want answers, we want to know why we’re
not going out to the ocean.” With his seven-day cruise now
down to five, he hopes it will be smooth sailing, come
Tuesday. In a statement, Carnival Cruise Lines said in part
their decision was made “With the goal of limiting the
overall impact to guests.” They booked additional
entertainment and activity options for guests over the next
two days. |
Stuck in port (2 days) |
| May 28 |
Blue Horizon (ferry) |
Safety4Sea
reports the Piraeus Port Authority and Hellenic Coast
Guard authorities are searching for a man, after he
reportedly fell overboard from the RoRo passenger ship
'Blue Horizon', while the ship was docked in the port of
Piraeus, in the evening hours of 23 May.The incident was
reported soon after the ship had departed from Piraeus,
heading to the port of Heraklion, with 255 passengers and
98 crew members onboard. However, this made the vessel to
come back to Piraeus. As soon as the Port Authority was
notified, five patrol boats of the Hellenic Coast Guard
and the Hellenic Navigation service headed to the scene in
search of the missing man. In addition, three two-wheelers
vehicles, as well as executives of the Special Missions
Group of the Piraeus Port Authority, participated in
the investigation in the port, with negative results so
far. Local media suggest the missing passenger is a
25-year old man. |
Passenger overboard |
| May 24 |
Silver Shadow |
CDC
reports 28 of 327 (8.56%)passengers and 8 of 290 (2.76%)
crew have reported gastrointestinal illness of the 10-24
May cruise. A CDC Vessel Sanitation Program epidemiologist
will travel to Seward, Alaska, to meet the ship in port on
May 24, 2018, to conduct an epidemiologic investigation
and monitor the ship’s sanitation procedures. |
Illness |
| May 22 |
Carnival Paradise |
WFMY
News reports a 50-year-old man from Greensboro is
reportedly missing from a cruise ship and the US Coast Guard
is actively searching for him. The man has been identified
as Brian Lamonds. The US Coast Guard Key West
watchstanders said they got the call around 10 a.m., from
the cruise ship saying a man was missing and reportedly went
overboard from the Carnival Paradise.Incident happened
Tuesday approximately 85 miles west of Fort Myers, Fla., the
Coast Guard says. |
Passenger missing |
| May 22 |
Vision of the Seas |
Cruise
Law News reports the ship lost power during the
early morning hours of May 22, 2018. Several passengers are
reporting that the Royal Caribbean cruise ship sustained a
power and propulsion outage, leaving the ship floating in
the Sea of Crete with only its emergency lighting on.
Subsequent information is that the ship regained power and
is now sailing slowly toward Santorini. AIS systems (right)
show the ship under power at a speed of a little over 7
knots. There is an unconfirmed rumor that the Vision
allegedly struck something, although this has not been
confirmed. The Vision of the Seas is
sailing on a 12 day cruise from Monday, May 14 to Saturday,
May 26 to the Greek Isles, leaving and returning to
Barcelona, Spain. It was sailing between Mykonos to
Santorini when it experienced power failure. |
Power loss |
| May 22 |
Carnival Sunshine |
Turks
and Caicos Weekly Nerws reports a 16 year old cruise
passenger died when his jetski collided with another.
Reports are that two jet skis, one of which the teen was
operating, collided in the water causing the teenager to
fall and break his neck. The other person, the teen's uncle,
sustained no injuries. |
Death in jet ski accident |
| May 22 |
Unnamed |
Bernewsreports
a 20-year-old visitor from the United States was fined
after pleading guilty to possessing a bullet. James Lathan
from Virginia was visiting Bermuda on a cruise ship when a
bullet was found in his backpack during a security check,
with Mr Lathan telling the Court today he was “unaware” it
was there. Mr Lathan told the Court he was on his honeymoon
and was “truly sorry” about the matter, saying he had “no
idea it was there.” After the bullet was found, he was
arrested and spent the night in jail, which he told the
Court was quite “scary,” and after appearing in Court this
morning, he was fined $250 to be paid forthwith |
Arrested for possessing one bullet |
| May 20 |
Marina |
Florida
Record reports a woman wants a cruise line to be held
liable for a slip and fall according to court
documents filed with
the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida
on May 9. Maureen Fisher filed the complaint against Oceania
Cruises Inc. after she allegedly slipped and fell on the wet
deck of one the Marina ocean liner. Another patron, Maureen
Starnes, reportedly fell on Fisher amid the incident. Fisher
suffered right fibula fractures around her ankle, fractured
ribs, and lots of bruising on the right side of her leg,
which ultimately led to problems with her circulation, the
lawsuit alleges. Fisher cited negligence as a cause of
action. She stated it was Oceania’s responsibility, as the
owner and operator of the ship, to perform reasonable care
for her and other passengers on the ship. It was also the
defendant’s responsibility to warn passengers of any
potential harm, she argued. |
Lawsuit for slip and fall |
| May 19 |
Sun Princess |
Freemantle
Gazette reports a search and rescue operation for an
elderly passenger who had fallen overboard on the Sun
Princess cruise ship has been called off. A Carnival
Australia spokeswoman said Princess Cruises had confirmed
it had called the operation off after the Australian
passenger in his 80s went overboard on its way to Port
Kelang. The ship is about 100 nautical miles south east of
Singapore on a 12-day voyage from Fremantle to Singapore.
It departed on May 13. Indonesian search and rescue
authorities tonight released the Sun Princess, whose crew
had searched until dark for the man. |
Passenger overboard |
| May 16 |
MSC Seaside |
NZ
Herald reports a search was underway near the U.S.
Virgin Islands on Wednesday for a crew member on a cruise
ship who apparently went overboard in rough seas.
Geneva-based MSC Cruises said the crew member on the MSC
Seaside was reported missing before dawn while the ship
was en route to Puerto Rico from St. Maarten. The ship
turned around to search for the crew member with the
assistance of the U.S. Coast Guard and other ships in the
area. The effort has been hampered by large swells and
winds of more than 30 mph. The Coast Guard said the man
went overboard from the seventh deck of the Seaside while
the ship was about 10 miles southeast of St. Thomas. The
missing man was identified as 37-year-old Michael Majaba
of the Philippines. Majaba reportedly went overboard from
the seventh deck of the Maltese-flagged cruise ship at
approximately 1 a.m. Wednesday. The cruise ship crew
launched a search and contacted watchstanders at the Coast
Guard Sector San Juan Command Center at approximately 4
a.m. alerting them of the situation. |
Crew member overboard |
| May 13 |
Silver Wind |
Cruise
Law News reports the ship recently failed a sanitation
inspection by United States Public Health (USPH) inspectors,
in March. On March 18, 2018, the USPH inspected
the Silver Wind in San Juan and found
numerous unsanitary violations. Repeated problems were noted
in the ship's potable water treatment. Inspectors located
over two dozen flies in the galley, food preparation and
dish washing areas. (This seems to be some type of record;
it certainly is the most flies I have ever seen recorded in
a cruise ship sanitation inspection report). Inspectors
located food items and food service equipment hidden in
crew member lockers inside a changing room near an engine
and air conditioning unit. You can locate the report, read
about other unsanitary conditions and the corrective action
report by searching for Silver Wind here. |
Failed sanitation inspection |
| May 6 |
Prince Vladimir |
Maritime
Bulletin reports Much touted in Russia cruise liner
PRINCE VLADIMIR, still berthed at Sochi port, Russian, Black
sea, was to kick off 2018 Crimea cruise season on Apr 29,
but opening cruise was delayed due to “monitoring system
failure”, whatever it may mean. PRINCE VLADIMIR was to fix
problem and set sail with passengers, bound for Crimea, on
May 6, but failed again, this time because of fire in engine
room, which took place during the night May 5-6. No
additional information was available in Russian media, it
was said only, that there were no passengers on board and
that “the fire was quickly extinguished”, all crew
meanwhile, were evacuated. |
Fire |
| May 5 |
Carnival Dream |
WAFB
reports experienced a water line break and began to flood, a
broken pipe flooded around 50 cabins on the ship and
sent water cascading down deck 9. .Guests affected
will receive a full refund, 50 percent off a future cruise,
and are being given the option to get off the ship to be
flown home. The 7-day cruise left New Orleans on Sunday,
April 29. |
Broken water pipe floods |
| May 4 |
Fantasia |
Irish
Times reports an 80-year-old Dublin man, who fell and
fractured his leg while on a Mediterranean cruise, has
settled a €60,000 damages claim against MSC Cruises Limited
for an undisclosed sum. In a claim before the Circuit Civil
Court, Anthony Harris alleged he had just disembarked
from the cruise liner Fantasiawhen he tripped
and fell on a dangerous and uneven cobbled surface while
walking towards Customs. The accident had happened after
the Fantasia berthed at Haifa, in Israel,
on February 26th 2016. He had gone back on the cruise ship
for treatment by the ship’s doctor as he had not wanted to
attend hospital abroad. His leg had been X-rayed and he had
been prescribed a course of paracetamol. When he had
returned home he had been treated by Keith Synnott,
consultant orthopaedic and spinal surgeon, for a fracture of
his right leg, Mr Harris and his wife had in September 2015
booked an 11-night €2000-plus cruise of the Greek Isles and
Israel with Travel Escapes in Carrickmines. Mr Harris sued
MSC Cruises Limited, of Uxbridge, Englandfor breach of
contract and for negligence as a consumer under the General
Sale of Goods and Supply Services Act 1998. Barrister
Abdulla Morgan Kamber told Judge Terence O’Sullivan when the
case was called that there were ongoing talks in the case
and asked for time. Following negotiations with barrister
Aaron Shearer, who appeared for MCS Cruises, Mr Morgan
Kamber told the court the case had been settled. |
Lawsuit over medical care |
| May 2 |
Multiple ships |
ITV
reports another cruise liner has cancelled its visit to
Guernsey today due to poor weather conditions. There have
been nine cancellations so far this year,
with seven due to weather and two because of itinerary
changes. Only one cruise liner has managed to visit the
island in 2018. Despite this Guernsey Harbours are still
expecting a busy season. Over 90 ships are scheduled to call
into St Peter Port |
Missed port calls |
| April 27 |
Celebrity Infinity
|
CDC
reports 111 of 2,140 (5.19%) passengers and 7 of 970
(0.72%) crew have reported gastrointestinal illness of the
17 April- 2 May cruise. A CDC Vessel Sanitation Program
epidemiologist and two environmental health officers will
board the ship in Ft. Lauderdale, FL, on May 2, 2018, to
conduct an environmental health assessment and evaluate
the outbreak and response activities. |
illness |
| April 15 |
Carnival Vista |
Cruise
Law News reports several passenger who
disembarked today stated that there was a suspicious
death on the cruise ship near the end of the eight day
cruise leaving from and returning to Miami. One of the
passengers stated that yesterday (Saturday) there was an
announcement over the ship's intercom where a passenger's
name (which I will keep anonymous) was repeatedly paged to
report to guest services. The ship was approximately 20
miles from Cuba at the time. "I just debarked from
Carnival Vista. There was a death on the 6th floor and they
kept someone inside their cabin with security not allowing
them to leave the room . . . There was a man with a
black jacket that said “Security” sitting outside of the
door with a walkie talkie and a clip board with a
pen." The passenger sent me a number of photos and
videos which she took of the of the cabin door sealed with a
sign which stated: "DO NOT ENTER This is a secured area and
can only be entered with authorization by the Captain or
Staff Captain" |
Suspicious death? |
| April 14 |
Fascination |
The
Daily Herald report the ship did not call due to the
massive dump fire that started Friday afternoon. “The
decision was taken to protect the image of the country and
to avoid a negative visitor experience,” according to a Port
St. Maarten statement |
Skipped port call (NOT weather) |
| April 14 |
Marella Discovery (formerly SPlendor OTS) |
WINN-FM
reports police have issued a statement on the death of a
tourist during a dive tour in St. Kitts on Thursday morning
and identified the deceased as 65-year-old Michael Henry
Dunn, of the UK. Police say that Dunn and his wife visited
St. Kitts aboard a cruise ship on Thursday and at about
10:30 am while out on a snorkeling excursion at Shitten Bay
“witnesses say he appeared to be gasping for air after a few
minutes in the water”. He was taken from the water and
placed back on the vessel and the crew members administered
CPR and returned to the marina at Port Zante. The Emergency
Medical Service arrived at the Marina to assist when the
vessel returned; however, Dunn was not breathing and was
later pronounced dead by the District Medical Doctor. |
Pax dearth on shore ex |
| April 13 |
Anthem OTS |
From a passenger:
Anthem of the Seas, April 7 sailing. It’s April 13, 4:45
PM EDT and they just announced a 24 yaer old male jumped
from the stern intentionally. We turned around and
everyone’s looking. The ship is enroute from Bahamas to
New Jersey. UPDATE: The
ship stopped its search at 7:00 PM and proceeded on to
New Jersey. Other ships in the area apparently continued
the search. |
Pax overboard |
| April 11 |
Pacific Dawn |
ABC
reports a woman has fallen overboard from the
P&O cruise ship Pacific Dawn, with a major search
for her now underway. P&O released a statement
saying a crew member saw the woman fall over the side of
the ship about 4pm, 300 kilometres west of New
Caledonia. According to Daily
Mail, the mother who went overboard had gone on
deck to be sick before she went into the water in
front of her shell-shocked husband. A crew
member raised the alarm after seeing the woman fall off
P&O cruise-liner Pacific Dawn at about 4pm on
Thursday when it was 300 kilometres west of Pacific
island New Caledonia. As of 1.30am on Friday, the
245-metre ship was still battling giant Coral Sea waves
as staff continued to search for the missing woman with
the ship's spotlights. NOTE: The
Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Act of 2010 originally
planned to raise the height of railings so passenger
couldn't fall overboard. At the time, the industry
argued the height was sufficient -- that passengers
couldn't fall overboard, however they continue to claim
when persons go overboard that they fell.owever
they continue to claim when persons go overboard that they
fell. |
Pax overboard |
| April 10 |
MSC Armonia |
Cruise
Law News reportsthe ship crashed into
the dock in Roatan, Honduras today, according to videos
which were posted on Youtube. The MSC cruise ship is shown
coming into the port at a higher than normal rate of
speed. In addition to the vesel damage, there was
significant damage to the pier. There are several
videos of the incident. Some of the videos show damage to
the ship along the forward, port side of the ship.
|
Collision with dock |
| April 10 |
MSC Opera |
Cayman
Compass reports a female crew member of a cruise ship
who stayed in Grand Cayman after her ship left on March 22
was sentenced to three months in prison for illegally
remaining on the island for 12 days when she appeared in
Summary Court on Friday. Yusmaidys Ortiz Perez, 34, who had
worked as a bar waitress aboard the MSC Opera, came ashore
while the cruise ship was in port on March 22 and did not
return to the ship. Defense attorney Prathna Bodden told the
court that Ms. Ortiz Perez “broke down” after leaving the
ship because her partner in Cuba had threatened to kill her
and a manager on the ship was “exploiting” her. “While on
the ship, she was exploited by a manager and she was asked
to perform certain duties and if she didn’t, she was told
she would lose her job,” Ms. Bodden said. |
Jailed for not returning to ship |
| April 9 |
Star Princess |
Daily
Astorian reports strong winds and rain prompted the
Star Princess cruise ship to cancel a planned stop in
Astoria on Sunday. The vessel was heading from San Francisco
to Vancouver, British Columbia, and had been scheduled to
stop in Astoria carrying up to 2,600 passengers. |
Cancel port call - weather |
| April 8 |
Norwegian Gem |
From a passenger: On
Monday, April 2nd two passengers were removed from the 9th
floor while docked in Barbados by armed ship officers. The
armed officers confronted the guests and asked them to open
their safe, upon which drugs were allegedly found and the
passengers were subsequently hauled off to local jail. On
this same ship, two different passengers that were running
late to the NYC embarkation arrived at 4pm and were hurried
through security WITHOUT being scanned or having their
belongings put through the X-ray scanner. Again, on this
same trip, two passengers on floor 11 came back to their
room to find security looking through their belongings with
flashlights. They were not given a reason why except for
“random inspection” and guest services and housekeeping and
security could were not informed about these random
inspections. |
Drug bust / random inspections |
| April 7 |
P&O Arcadia |
ITV
reports a drug dealer from Dunstable who used a Caribbean
cruise as cover for smuggling more than two hundred thousand
pounds worth of cocaine into the country has been jailed for
nine-and-a-half years. 55-year-old Kevin Enright, from
Milton Way, had collected the drugs while in St Lucia, but
Border Force Officers intercepted him when he docked at
Southampton. He had two suitcases with false linings hiding
around three kilograms of cocaine. "Our investigation
involved liaison with law enforcement partners in the
Caribbean, and through that, we were able to prove that
Enright's story was made up. It became clear that he had
contacts with others involved in drug trafficking on both
sides of the Atlantic. Cocaine fuels violence and
exploitation on our streets, and Enright's role was a
crucial one in a long criminal chain. That is reflected in
the sentence he received." |
Drug bust |
| April 4 |
Regal Princess |
From a passenger: During
the late evening on April 2, there were multiple
announcements about an event on deck 5, sector 6. It
was subsequently clarified that there was a small fire
involving a deep fat fryer during a maintenance procedure.
The Captain also reported the fire was quickly
contained and extinguished without injuries. No panic was
observed. Later the same day, at about 4:30
pm, there was a report of smoke in the crew quarters. It was
determined that the source was an overheated cell phone
charger. No injuries were reported. |
Small fire |
| April 3 |
Windstar Pride |
From a passenger: 2nd
day now on generators. No air conditioning at all. Every
room is hot. Dinner was outside on the deck last night. Some
passengers flew home. Seems like the boat struggled to power
from Martinique to st Lucia. A lot of rooms with no power at
all. Some rooms have power. Some lights are out throughout
the boat. Update: So now we have been
rerouted from Guadeloupe to the Castries where they will
dock overnight. Full open bar now. Not sure what is coming
next. Propulsion is still working. Waiting to hear more from
Seattle about compensation. |
Lack of electricity/AC |
| April 3 |
Radiance OTS |
Travel
Agent Central reports RCI has canceled the upcoming
11-night cruise on Radiance of the Seasdeparting
April 6. It said that it had to cancel the cruise in order
to conduct necessary repairs on the ship’s Azipod propulsion
system, which impacts the ship’s speed and ability to
deliver future scheduled cruises. Repairs are scheduled to
take place from April 6 to April 17. |
Cruise canceled |
| April 3 |
Norwegian Spirit |
Express
reports a search is ongoing for a tourist who went
overboard around 2am this morning. Spanish Civil Guard and
coastguards are taking part in a major sea search
involving several vessels. Two Spanish Coastguard
helicopters and a plane have also been mobilised. The
search is focusing on an area near Mazarron in Murcia,
south east Spain. Norwegian Spirit, which is understood to
have 3,000 holidaymakers on board, was due to dock in the
Costa Blanca capital Alicante early this morning. It took
part early on in the search before telling coastguards it
was continuing to Alicante, although it is thought it may
now carry on to Barcelona. The missing tourist, a
34-year-old described as a man of Saudi Arabian origin,
has not been named. According to a passenger,
a group of teenagers was nearby when it happened. They
were on deck 12 for quite a long time, and saw him
close to the rail, deck 12, aft, starboard. He had his
belongings, backpack phone`& cable, on a
table nearby. They went a bit out of sight, and not
long after they heard the cleaning person shout "no,
no, no". They came back, and the man was not there
anymore, but his belonging were still on the table. Guests
reported, they had talked to the suicide man before. He
came with family onto the cruise, but there were some
serious family-discussions, and the rest of his family
left on the first port in Casablanca. |
Pax overboard |
| April 3 |
Radiance OTS |
From a passenger: The
ship has propeller problems. Heading down east coast of
Australia. Captain just announced next cruise to New Zealand
has been cancelled. Lots of unhappy Americans on board who
are doing b2b2b cruises. |
Propulsion problems - cruise canceled |
| April 2 |
Norwegian Sun |
Cruise
Law News reports that several readers alerted to a
Facebook page called Panama
Canal Sun chronicling the ill-fated cruise aboard
Norwegian Cruise Line's Norwegian Sunthrough
the Panama Canal which left from Miami on March 16, 2018.
Construction related to a deck refinishing project
reportedly began on board the NCL cruise ship almost
immediately according to the website. As you can see in
the numerous
photographs posted online, the cruise involved the
sanding of the wooden decks and the application of noxious
smelling chemicals and compounds throughout the open decks
of the ship. Many of the ship employees/contractors involved
in the work were wearing respirators due to the dust but the
passengers obviously were not wearing personal protective
equipment. There are dozens of comments on the Facebook page
regarding dust generated by the work covering the public
spaces. The heavy construction caused NCL to shut down
numerous bars, deck spaces and restaurants. The photos show
paint particles and fibrous insulation covering the decks.
Flammable chemicals were stored on open decks. Many
passengers complained of burning, itching and runny eyes and
difficulty breathing due to the strong fumes and/or
particles. One passenger who complained to guest
services of what they believed to be toxic fumes which
were entering her cabin from the work on the outer decks.
Guest services sent a supervisor to the cabin who reportedly
sprayed "Fabrese" into the vent and around the cabin. The
passengers were expecting a dream vacation on a
luxurious cruise ship but paid for a construction zone which
woke them up in the early morning with noise and odors which
they heard and smelled throughout the day and into the
night. This appears to be a project which obviously should
have taken place in dry-dock, not during a cruise with
nearly two thousand people aboard trying to enjoy a relaxing
vacation. The Facebook page members realized that this
project was not due to the fault of the captain or crew but
was the result of poor leadership from NCL's corporate
offices here in Miami who essentially scheduled a floating
dry-dock at sea with passengers aboard in order to maximize
profits. |
Ongoing construction during cruise - noxious
fumes |
| March 31 |
P&O Azura |
From a passenger: I am
currently on P&O's Azura where today in Civitavecchia an
“extreme, unforecasted weather event” (Capain Evans Hoyt’s
words) caused Azura to break free of her berth (the mooring
lines snapped) and move adrift in the port. Tugs were
quickly mobilised and combined with use of the thrusters the
ship was safely docked on the opposite berth in the port.
Captain Hoyt praised the engineering team for bringing the
engines online so quickly. More than 1000 passengers (Cruise
Director’s statistic) were stuck on the pier for hours after
the gangway collapsed and passengers had to move to the
other side of the port. Fortunately no-one was injured.
Azura is still in port at the time of writing (20:00 local
time) while an investigation is completed. |
Broke free of berth - adrift |
| March 30 |
Norwegian Joy |
South
China Morning Post reports a group of Chinese tourists
who were angry that their cruise ship had
been delayed by bad weather staged a protest with strong
nationalist overtones by jostling staff while loudly
singing the country’s national anthem. The incident is
the latest in a series of cases where Chinese tourists
have resorted to shows of “patriotism” when inconvenienced.
It was not clear exactly when the incident occurred, but
images of the incident appeared online late this week.
A report published on Friday by sina.comdescribe how the
mainly middle-aged passengers angrily jostled crew
members while singing the
country’s national anthem, The March of the Volunteers. One
man responded to the protest by shouting “well done” at his
fellow passengers. The vessel had been due to leave
for Nagasaki in Japan on Tuesday and
was due to return to Shanghai on Saturday. But NCL said the
company had been forced to cancel the trip because of poor
weather. It added that the vessel Norwegian Joy had been
forced to stay in port
because of a fog alert issued by the Shanghai Observatory. |
Canceled cruise - Pax protest |
| Masrch 28 |
MSC Opera |
Cayman
Newws Service reports a 34-year-old Cuban woman
working on a cruise ship that docked in Grand Cayman Tuesday
was reported missing after she failed to re-board the ship
before its departure from George Town later that day. The
Royal Cayman Islands Police Service were told about the
missing woman yesterday (Tuesday 27 March) and are asking
for the public’s help in tracking down Yusmaidys Ortiz
Perez, who arrived here among the crew of the MSC Opera
at 8:15am but was not on board when it sailed out of port at
around 3:15pm. |
Crew missing ashore |
| March 25 |
Pacific Princess |
From a passenger: The
ship cancelled port calls today (Santorini) and tomorrow
(Aghios Nikolais/Crete) due to rough seas and high winds.
It will instead add a port call in Corfu on March 27.
|
Canceled port calls - change itinerary |
| March 20 |
Carnival Glory |
Cruise
Law News reports a crew member is missing from
the Carnival Glory which arrived in Amber
Cover, Dominican Republic yesterday morning around 7:00
A.M. The ship left Miami on Saturday, March 17, 2018 and
sailed at sea on Sunday, March 18th. The crew
member is reportedly a galley worker from India. Several
passengers reported the ship making constant
announcements for the crew member to report to the
galley yesterday morning, after
the ship arrived in the Dominican
Republic. Several crew members have also stated
that a galley worker went overboard prior to the
Carnival ship reaching Amber Cove. The ship has
not officially stated that the crew member went
overboard, and Carnival refuses to respond to our
request for information which we made yesterday
evening. Goa
Herald reports Deepak Gad, young seamen from
Velim, has gone missing from one more Carnival Glory
ship from Sunday. He is reported to have been
missing since Sunday, March 18, while the cruise ship was
at sea, en-route to Amber Cove, Dominican Republic. The
Goa Seamen Association of India has said they are in
constant touch with Mr Nelson Scott from Carnival Miami
head office as well as the local agent in Goa. As
per Carnival Glory shipping sources “all efforts are being
made to trace the body which has been untraceable till
date.” Deepak had called a night before he went missing
and complained of a back pain and was on treatment on
board. It is also learnt that he wanted to come home but
his company told him that he has to buy his own airline
ticket which he could not afford as he was only three
months in his first contract. He was very depressed and
disturbed according to his brother who the GSAI met on
Wednesday. The Indian consulate in New York is also
monitoring the situation as well as the NRI Department
Government of Goa. This is second incident in less
than a year from the same cruise line wherein Mr Symron
Almeida from Cuncolim went missing last year and the body
has still not been found. "It is a matter of concern as
many seafarers are going missing lately due to work load
and harassment on board. Our Government needs to be more
serious in handling such cases as most of the time the
families cannot get justice," says Dixon Vaz, spokesperson
for GSAI.
|
Crew member overboard |
| March 19 |
Carnival Fantasy |
WKRG
reports dense fog over the Gulf Coast Monday morning delayed
the return of the ship to the Alabama Cruise Terminal in
downtown Mobile. Subsequently, it was announced the ship
will arrive in port at 7 pm tonight and some passengers that
want to get off will do so, the remaining passengers will
debark tomorrow morning at 7 am. No one will be boarding
tonight, so folks will be looking for hotel rooms,
restaurants and other things to do tonight in town. Regular
boarding will commence tomorrow morning around 10:15 am for
those passengers who were supposed to leave today. |
Delayed arrival & departure (fog) |
| March 19 |
Carnival Breeze |
From a passenger: March
16, 2018 on the Carnival Breeze out of Galveston. While at
port in Cozumel about 1700 ship time, young male approx
18-21 yo fell from balcony stateroom. Suffered severe head
injuries, treated by passengers for about 10 min before
carnival medical personnel arrived. Luckily there was an
Army guy and EMT within 25 feet of where he landed (head
first) on railing of 5th Deck. They provided first aide
until carnival employees finally showed up. Carnival Dream
was in port on the same side as fall. There were multiple
people with cameras taking videos and pictures. |
Fall from balcony to lower deck |
| March 16 |
Disney Wonder |
Fox5San
Diego reports a Brazilian national who pleaded guilty
to embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars from the Walt
Disney Co. while working aboard the Disney Wonder cruise
ship was sentenced Tuesday to 15 months in prison. Renan
Dias Da Rocha Gomes, 32, admitted to making about $260,000
worth of unauthorized charges to a company bank account and
loading the value of the funds onto Disney gift cards while
employed as a merchandise host on the vessel over a two-year
period that ended with his arrest in San Diego last October.
During a search of Gomes’ cabin aboard the Disney Wonder,
investigators found more than 200 gift cards, a stolen watch
and $1,240 in cash, court documents state. According to his
plea agreement, Gomes executed the scheme by fraudulently
obtaining money through his access to an online payment
system. He also admitted that he spent roughly $37,700 of
the stolen funds by taking his family on a Disney World
vacation last spring. |
Guilty of embezzling money |
| March 15 |
Astoria |
The
Orcadian reports one of the first cruise liners due to
visit Orkney this season has cancelled its stop here due to
the harsh weather expected over the next few days The ship was
due to tie up at Hatston Pier tomorrow morning, Friday,
however, the ship’s itinerary has been changed and it will
now be bypassing Orkney altogether. High winds and rough
seas have been predicted for Orkney from yesterday until
Saturday night. |
Misssed port call (weather) |
| March 15 |
MSC Divina |
Royal
Gazette reports the ship has cancelled its Bermuda
visit today because of bad weather. It was scheduled to
arrive at Heritage Wharf in Dockyard this morning and depart
this evening. The Bermuda Maritime Operations Centre duty
officer said the ship arrived at the pilot station on
schedule at 7am. He added: “But the captain assessed
the weather conditions and with the winds at the time, not
less than 35 kts, decided for the safety of the vessel to
cancel the call into Bermuda. The vessel continued its
voyage onwards to the Azores.” |
Misssed port call (weather) |
| March 14 |
Regal Princess |
Cruise
Law News reports several Princess Cruises passengers
informed me that an incinerator fire occurred on the Regal Princess during
the week of February 25th (two weeks ago). An alarm was
sounded, and cruise passengers were later advised that the
incinerator fire had been extinguished. |
Incinerator fire |
| March 13 |
Carnival Spirit |
News
9 reports a Sydney father who says he was wrongly
accused of exposing himself to a young female passenger on a
Carnival cruise, then beaten up by her father and
interrogated by security before they noticed their obvious
mistake, is now suing the company. Passenger John Sun is
taking legal action against Carnival Australia after the
alleged incident on an eight-day return cruise from Sydney
to New Caledonia in December 2016. A statement of claim
lodged with the NSW District Court claims that on December
10 onboard security was told a man had exposed and then
touched himself in front of young female passengers.
According to the claim, security staff showed a particular
girl photographs of Mr Sun - who was travelling with his
wife and daughter - and the parents of the young girl were
provided with details about Mr Sun and then found him in his
room. The court documents state that at 10.45pm, in front of
Mr Sun's wife and daughter, the girl's father physically
assaulted Mr Sun in his own stateroom and accused him of
exposing himself to his child. They also state that Mr Sun
called security for assistance, but on arrival, they instead
marched him to a room where they grilled him for one and a
half hours. The security guards are alleged to have stood in
front of and behind Mr Sun. He felt he "was not at liberty
to refuse the direction to accompany them"."Security staff
acting on behalf of the defendant and the captain accused
the plaintiff of the conduct the subject of the
allegations," the statement of claims says. Mr Sun was
eventually shown footage of the incident and noted that -
unlike him - the man in the video was not heavily tattooed.
After these "obvious physical differences" were pointed out,
Mr Sun claims he was allowed back to his room about 12.45am
but was not given medical attention for the physical
assault. Mr Sun claims he was fearful of further attacks and
suffered humiliation and damage to his reputation. "The
investigation conveyed the imputation the plaintiff is a
pedophile," Mr Sun's statement of claim states. The Sydney
father and his family - including his parents - remained on
the Carnival Spirit following the incident. He's suing the
operator for breach of contract, misleading or deceptive
conduct, defamation, unjustified or unlawful detention and
negligence. He is seeking damages up to $100,000. A Carnival
spokesman told AAP the company wouldn't comment "while the
legal process is in train". |
Pax beaten by other pax - security no help |
| March 10 |
Queen Victoria |
CDC
reports 65 of 1,901 (3.42%) passengers and 9 of 968 (0.93%)
crew have reported gastrointestinal illness of the 21
February - 9 March cruise. A CDC Vessel Sanitation Program
environmental health officer and an epidemiologist boarded
the ship in Ft. Lauderdale, FL, on March 9, 2018, to conduct
an environmental health assessment and evaluate the outbreak
and response activities. |
Illness outbreak |
| March 7 |
Norwegian Epic |
Crew
Center reportsa passenger on board the ship was
rescued after going overboard on Tuesday night, as the
vessel sailed near the Bahamas. NCL has confirmed the
incident saying that a female guest went over the rail and
into the ocean. Crew rescue teams immediately responded to
the emergency and lowered a life boat to search for the
missing passenger around the ship. Passengers onboard
were reporting the teen was on the top deck with her family
when she leaned over the railing to take a selfie and fell
overboard. |
Passenger overboard - rescued |
| March 7 |
Carnival Glory |
Cruise
Law News reportsthe ship became stuck near the port of
San Juan, Puerto Rico this afternoon after the cruise ship
dropped several hundred feet of anchor chain and an anchor
after the ship left Old San Juan. A Carnival crew
member states that the cruise ship's starboard anchor became
stuck after the ship left port. A crew member states that
the anchor was cut and the ship finally was able to sail
away. |
Loses anchor - stuck |
| March 6 |
Seven Seas Navigator |
From a passenger:
Navigator grounding shortly after getting underway from
Benoa, Bali last night. Captain reported cause was
unexpected maneuver by fishing boat(s) in channel, forcing
his turn to avoid collision. No injuries, but Navigator was
grounded until high tide and tugs were able to free her just
after midnight. No leakage reported, but Navigator has now
returned to Benoa pier awaiting divers and Lloyd’s
inspectors to confirm no underwater damage before being
released to proceed. This is the Regent world cruise this
year - probable result will be deletion of scheduled visit
to Java. |
Aground |
| March 5 |
Grand Celebration |
CBS
12 reports stormy conditions at sea are causing a big
detour for more than a thousand cruise ship passengers in
and out of West Palm Beach. The ship is docking at Port
Everglades Monday because it can't get into the Port of Palm
Beach. The ship has 1435 passengers on board. Bahamas
Paradise Cruise Line told CBS12 it has arranged for 22 buses
to take passengers to West Palm Beach to collect their cars.
Those same buses will take sailing passengers down to Port
Everglades to board the Grand Celebration cruise ship. The
last buses will leave for Port Everglades at 3 p.m. The
Grand Celebration is set to return to Palm Beach on
Wednesday. |
Diverted |
| March 2 |
Princess and others |
Cruise
Law News reports an explosion aboard a Mexican ferry
in Carmen del Playa ten days ago, followed by at least one
explosive device planted on the hull of another ferry which
was discovered yesterday, triggered a United States
embassy's alert last night, prohibiting embassy employees
from using ferries operating between Cozumel and Playa del
Carmen, Quintana Roo. On February 21, 2018, we reported on a
violent explosition on a ferry in Carmen del Playa which
seriously injured around 25 passengers, includuing 7 U.S.
citizens. The explosion on the Barcos Caribe,
which has been operating a Playa del Carmen-Cozumel route,
injured passengers as they were disembarking from the ferry
to the dock. Mexican authorities initially said that the
explosion was the result of a mechanical malfunction;
however, news sources are now reporting that the explosion
was the result of an explosive device.
This news comes after a second device was
located on another ferry in Cozumel also owned by the
Barcos Caribe company, which provides regular service to
toruists between Cozumel and Playa del Carmen. At least one
cruise line, Princess Cruises, has cancelled excursions
which use ferries between Playa del Carmen and Cancun. |
Narco-terrorism on ferries (Cancun) |
| March 1 |
Carnival Sensation |
Jamaica
Observer repor is 3 Americans went missing from the
Carnival Sensation Cruise ship, which arrived at a Port in
Ocho Rios, St Ann yesterday. Reports are that all three
passengers boarded the ship which left from Miami on Monday
and arrived in the island at 10:00 am, where the passengers
left the ship with baggage said to be for family members. At
5:30 pm, an official from the cruise ship in the evening was
making checks when it was discovered that they were missing.
Lawmen are currently investigating. |
3 pax missing ashore |
| February 28 |
Carnival Elation |
Action
News Jax reports a Florida mom is speaking out after
she says her 18-year-old daughter with special needs was
sexually assaulted on a Carnival cruise ship. The woman says
her daughter left on a birthday cruise with her grandmother
on Jacksonville-based Elation on Saturday. She said it was a
girls' trip, and her daughter, who has the mental capacity
of a 13-year-old, was excited. According to a statement from
Carnival Cruise Line, staff was notified of an alleged act
of misconduct onboard the ship Tuesday evening. "She was in
the hot tub with a bunch of kids and she said the gentleman
came and got in the hot tub," the mom told Action News Jax.
"I honestly believe he scouted my daughter. He waited for
that moment." She said the man started a conversation with
her daughter before sexually attacking her, leaving
scratches and marks on her body. Carnival said an adult male
passenger was detained onboard. The FBI and United States
Coast Guard are investigating. NOTE: The
last analysis of all reports of sex related incidents on
Carnival ships indicated one is 50% more likely to be
sexual assaulted on a Carnival cruise ship than on land
in Canada. Further analysis indicated 34% of victims of
sexual assault on cruise ships are under the age of 18. |
Sexual assault of teen |
| February 22 |
Aida Bella |
Bild
reports 53 year old crew member T Machias went overboard
near Malaysia. |
Crew member overboard |
| February 21 |
Astor |
9
News reports the ship became wedged against a
Melbourne pier as strong winds battered Victoria
overnight. It was blown on to the edge of Station
Pier at St Kilda, Melbourne, during the wild weather. Tug
boats had to help pull the large vessel free. A
reader writes: We had a bit of excitement in the Bay at
Melbourne, Australia,earlier this week in fierce easterly
gale force winds – very unusual for Melbourne. After
pulling the Astor away from the point of collision with
the end of Station Pier using tugs it did a series of
‘holding patterns’ for several hours whilst it was
examined for damage. Apparently it has a sizable dint but
nobody was injured. Both the Astor and the Spirit if
Tasmania eventually left Port Philip Bay at reduced speed
and continued on across Bass Strait to Tasmania.
|
Allision with pier |
| February 16 |
Carnival Legend |
Daily
Mail reports the savage fist fight which got
23 members of the same family group kicked off
a 'cruise from hell' started when someone stood on
another passenger's thong, according to a witness.
Shocking footage showed up to 30 passengers beating
each other on the Carnival Legend ship while it was 220km
off Jervis Bay, New South Wales at around 1am on
Friday. Desperate security guards resorted to violence
to stop the alcohol-fulled brawl, which was one of many to
terrorise passengers on board the 10-day cruise of the South
Pacific. |
Brawl involving 30 pax |
| February
15 |
Marella Discovery 2 |
Independent
reports Marella, the cruise operation of TUI, has told
hundreds of holidaymakers booked on an April voyage from
Jamaica to Mallorca that they will not visit Cuba, the
Bahamas or Portugal. In a letter to passengers, TUI
wrote: “We start planning our future cruise schedule a long
way ahead of the sailing date. And, as a result, we
sometimes find we need to amend an itinerary shortly before
a cruise starts so that we can offer you the best holiday
experience possible.” “On this occasion, Havana, Nassau and
Lisbon are no longer available for us to call at due to port
congestion which means we have had to re-work the itinerary.
”An investigation by The Independent has
revealed that the trigger for the removal of the three
highlights was a US cruise line being given priority for
docking at Havana. There was a double-booking in the
Cuban capital on the day the Marella Discovery 2 was
due to call, 12 April. But the city’s Sierra Maestra cruise
terminal has only one berth fit for a vessel of that size.
Also planning a call in the Havana that day is Royal
Caribbean’s Empress of the Seas, which has
been given preference over its UK rival. So Marella
passengers who were tempted to book for the chance to visit
“a city that feels like a film set, thanks to its vintage
Cadillacs and candy-coloured old town” have been
disappointed. Without the call in Havana, the cruise
would have had an extra day at sea. Instead, additional
ports were scheduled, but the knock-on impact meant that
Nassau and Lisbon were deleted from the itinerary. |
Ship displaced from port call by RCI ship -
major itinerary change |
| February
15 |
Noordam |
Newshub
reports emergency services have rescued eight tourists from
a kayak trip in Wellington. Passengers from the Noordam
cruise ship were on a guided tour of the harbour on Thursday
afternoon when some of the group capsized. An elderly
passenger is being treated for hypothermia. |
Pax in jured on shore excursion |
| February 15 |
Carnival Fantasy |
WEAR
TV reports passengers hoping to head to Cozumel,
Mexico on the Carnival Fantasy will not make it to their
original destination. That's because the ship has been
delayed by the heavy fog that settled along the Port City
Thursday. The ship docked at 5:45 p.m. Matthews said
embarkation for the next cruise is expected to begin later
in the evening. At this time, guests are asked to wait and
arrive at the Alabama Cruise Terminal between 7:30 and 10:30
p.m. Due to the delay, passengers were told in an email that
the ship would not make the scheduled voyage to Cozumel.
Instead, they will arrive in Progresso, Mexico Saturday at
10 a.m. |
Delayed arrival & departure (fog) |
| February 12 |
P&O Pacific Exoplorer |
Daily
Mail reports the ship has been forced to turn back to
Sydney after a brawl erupted after a girl allegedly 'hit a
guy over the head with a bottle of wine'. Police
officers were seen arriving on board the ship at Bradley's
Head, Sydney, on Sunday, where they removed six males and
one female. There was a 30 minute brawl on the P&O
Explorer about 1am on Sunday involving at least 15
passengers, according to witnesses. Pacific Explorer was on
a three-night round trip cruise from Sydney when the brawl
broke out. |
Brawl - Pax arrested |
| Febbuary 11 |
Oasis of the Seas |
We just boarded Oasis of the Seas and received this
letter....
NOTE the date on the letter and the date
on the first line of the letter. This must be a common
form letter...?
|
 |
Illness / Health issue? |
| February 10 |
Carnival Elation |
Cruise
Fever reports the ship was delayed arriving and in
depoarting because of coastal fog. It was returning from a
five night cruise to the Bahamas after stopping in Nassau
and Half Moon Cay (Carnival Corporation’s private island in
the Bahamas). The ship is scheduled to leave
Jacksonville this afternoon for another five night cruise to
the Bahamas. |
Delayted arrival and departure |
| February 9 |
Norwegian Pearl |
New
Orleans Advocate reports things went bad quickly
after Brant Aymond was injured in a paddleboard
accident, and he and his wife, Danielle, say he received
substandard medical care aboard a Norwegian Cruise Lines
ship. Aymond had both of his feet sliced by a piece of
coral, a bloody and painful experience that got worse when
the ship doctor who stitched the wounds downplayed their
severity and gave him an antibiotic the Aymonds later
learned was for intestinal bacteria. Aymond's worst wound
become infected two weeks later. The couple rushed to a
Baton Rouge hospital when the foot swelled and a rash crept
up his leg. The surgeon found two pieces of coral sewn
inside Brant’s foot, along with a severed tendon, the report
says. |
Inadequate medical care |
| February
9 |
Azamara Quest |
San
Diego Union Tribune reports the ship that docked in
San Diego early Thursday and will undergo a “full barrier
sanitation cleaning” after 22 passengers and two crew
members came down with gastrointestinal symptoms. CDC
confirms the outbreak. |
Illness |
| February
9 |
Igor Farkhutdinov |
Moscow
Times reports a Russian ship ferrying passengers
from the Kuril Islands in the northern Pacific
to the Sakhalin peninsula has been stranded in ice
for days off the coast of Japan. The \cruise ship,
carrying 127 passengers and 42 shipping containers,
encountered thick ice in the Sea of Okhotsk. The
head of the vessel’s maritime company cited the
captain’s experience and a week’s worth of fuel
supplies and rations to reassure that the passengers
aboard the ship were not under threat. He added that
sea ice conditions could change within a day and that
the passenger ship could arrive at the port
of Korsakov in the Sakhalin region by Friday. |
Stuck in ice |
| February 9 |
Sea Princess |
Cairns Post reports the ship was
scheduled to arrive at the Cairns Cruise Liner Terminal at
9am today with about 2900 passengers and crew on board.
Cairns Port Development Inc secretary Emma Thirkell said the
cruise ship tried three times to dock before giving up at
about 3pm |
Missed port call |
| February 7 |
Independence of the Seas |
NBC
Miami reports on a sexual assault of a male child on a
cruise in 2015. The family boarded the ship in 2015.The
mother says the trip was good until near the end of it. "The
two boys decided that they would want to stay out a little
later," Tonya said. Surveillance video on the ship shows the
attack. In it, you can see two passengers entering the
library, Arturo Martinez and Jason Lawson, both from Toledo,
Ohio. The video shows the men cornering the 13 year old
before pinning him against the bookcase. The victim’s older
brother appears distraught on the video, rushing out of the
library. Another teen is seen running away. The video shows
Martinez taking off his shirt while still having the boy
cornered. Lawson can be seen keeping passengers out of the
library. The portion that shows what Tonya describes as the
worst of the attack was edited out of the video provided to
NBC 6 after it was entered into evidence in the case.
The boys reported the attack to security, who called
Tonya. Broward Sheriff’s Office deputies investigated
when the ship arrived at Port Everglades. Martinez was
sentenced to three years in prison for lewd and
lascivious behavior with a child under 16. Lawson was
given a two-year prison sentence for child abuse.
|
Sexual assault of minor |
| February 6 |
Sun Princess |
Yahoo
7 News reports a major class action is being prepared
against a cruise ship company for allegedly exposing
thousands of passengers to gastroenteritis. Lawyers say the
class action could involve up to 16,000 people following
a series of eight nightmare cruises between 2016 and
2017 aboard the Sun Princess cruise ship. During each
voyage, severe vomiting and diarrhoea swept through the
ship. The claim alleges Carnival Australia, the parent
company of Princess Cruises, which operates the ship, failed
in its duty of care to passengers. It is being accused of
not adhering to adequate sanitisation or providing proper
guidelines to those on board about the outbreak of
norovirus. Passengers say despite having their holidays
ruined due to the gastro outbreak, they never received an
apology, refund or credit from the cruise liner. Carnival
Cruises has told 7 News the suggestion that 16,000 people
could have been affected was “absurd” and the company is
standing by its health and safety procedures. |
Class action lawsuit for illness outbreaks |
| February 2 |
Granbdeur & Allure of the Seas |
Cruise
Law News reports In the last month, two Royal
Caribbean cruise ships have received scores barely above the
failing score of 85. The Grandeur of the Seasreceived
a score of 87 in an inspection which took place on January
5, 2018 which was only recently published. There were
deductions for various unsanitary conditions as well as
heavily corroded and difficult-to-clean steel counters in
the galleys of the ship. The recent USPH report involving
the Allure of the Seas shows that it
received a barely-passing score of only 86. The acute
gastroenteritis (AGE) logs indicated that a Royal
Caribbean food handler who was symptomatic with acute
gastroenteritis symptoms returned to work before the
completion of the mandatory 48 hour isolation period. A
second crew member exhibited acute gastroenteritis
symptoms continued to eat meals in the crew mess and did not
report to the ship infirmary until over two days later.
Another crew member who was symptomatic with AGE
symptoms proceeded to eat in crew mess and attend a work
meeting, and reported to the ship's medical department only
later. Even more disturbing is that the USPH inspectors
found the following: "Seat cushions had storage under them
in the Windjammer and decks 3, 4, and 5 of the main dining
room. These storage areas were heavily soiled with debris,
had raw wood, and were located above carpet and/or concrete
decks. In these areas, the inspection team found: two closed
gallon bottles of drinking water, several bags of
neatly folded and bagged linen napkins, a bucket full of
silverware, a box of gloves and wiping cloths, wrapped salad
stands, several bottles of kitchen degreaser, chlorine
bleach, biogel, wet plastic containers, and a large bag with
dozens of serving utensils. These were also found along with
brooms, dust pans, vacuum cleaners, and other nonfood
equipment." |
Near failing health inspections |
| February 1 |
Viking Sun |
NZ
Herald reports the ship, was unable to dock at the
Napier Port on Thursday morning as wind gusts clocked just
over 65km/h. Napier Port services manager Bruce Lochhead
said it was the cruise liner's maiden call to the port and a
missed opportunity as the ship wasn't scheduled to return
this season. |
Port call skipped |
| January 30 |
Celebrity Solstice & Seabourn Encore |
Otago
Daily Times reports sea fog from Dunedin's hot weather
kept two cruise ships from entering Otago Harbour yesterday.
The mist hung low over Taiaroa Head, meaningthe ships were
unable to visit. |
Port call skipped (fog) |
| January 30 |
Carnival Magic |
Palm
Bay Daily reports a Jacksonville man was arrested
at Port Canaveral after he allegedly battered a woman and
then masturbated in her cabin on a Carnival Cruise ship,
according to the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office. Jozef Fred
Senna, 63, was charged with Battery and False Imprisonment
on Saturday after the ship returned to report. Details of
the assault are included in the linked article. |
Sexual assault |
| January 29 |
Boudicca (Fred Olsen) |
From a reader: The ship
was forced to leave the port of Cape Town and head out to
sea for the night last week as the supply of fresh water was
interrupted due to Cape Town's worst drought in 100 years.
She had arrived ahead of schedule as her tender visit to
Mossel Bay was abandoned due to unfavourable weather
conditions. More details to follow. |
Depature early |
| January 29 |
Queen Mary 2 |
From a reader:
The ship was delayed in sailing from the port of Cape Town
on Saturday due to the port being closed due to high
winds. She sailed at approximately 07h00 on Sunday 28th
January and arrived in Port Elizabeth this morning on
schedule. She sails later today en route to Australia on
her world cruise before stopping at Reunion and
Mauritius. |
Delayed departure |
| January 27 |
Carnival Vista |
Cruise
Law News reports after miserably failing the December
2, 2017 sanitation inspection by the United States Public
Health (USPH) last month, the USPH re-inspected the Carnival
Vista today at the port of Miami. The Carnival
cruise ship passed the re-inspection with a score of only
88, three points above the failing score of 85. |
Barely passes re-inspection |
| January 25 |
Carnival Liberty |
Miami
Herald reports this is the fourth ship belonging
toCarnival to fail its sanitation inspection in the span of
two months. In Liberty’s Jan. 4 inspection, inspectors found at
least three dead flying insects inside a dishwasher, a
beverage carton in a refrigerator with a long hair on it,
and corroded, dirty or broken machinery. In the Port
Canaveral-based ship’s Silver Olympian Dining Room,
“hundreds” of previously cleaned items were stored in an
area for dirty dishes. In a Serenity whirlpool spa, the
analyzer that measures bromine and pH levels was
malfunctioning and had to be recalibrated. A crew member who
had symptoms of acute gastroenteritis continued working
before reporting the symptoms. The violations were among
more than a dozen found by CDC inspectors. The received a
score of 80. Other than three other Carnival ships, the only
ships to fail their most recent
inspections are luxury French line Ponant’s Le
Boreal, which earned an 84; Peace Boat’s Ocean Dream with an
82; Victory Cruise Line’s Victory I, which earned a 78, and
a little-known Caribbean ferry, Kydon, which scored a 61. |
Failed health inspection |
| January 24 |
Island Princess |
CDC
reports 71 of 2,181 (3.26%) passengers and 7 of 898
(0.78%) crew reported ill on the cruise 9-24 January 2018.
Three CDC Vessel Sanitation Program environmental health
officers and one epidemiologist will board the ship in Ft.
Lauderdale, Florida, on January 24, 2018, to conduct an
environmental health assessment and evaluate the outbreak
and response activities. Causative agents: Norovirus
and Campylobacter
|
Illness |
| January 24 |
Harmony of the Sea |
TMZ
reports "Storm Chaser" star Joel Taylor died from
a suspected overdose according to passengers on the ship.
Passengers tell TMZ ... drugs on the party boat were
plentiful, and they say 38-year-old Taylor was partaking.
We're told among the drugs ... Ecstasy and cocaine.
Passengers even posted on social media when they were
boarding that several people were arrested at the Ft.
Lauderdale port -- where the boat departed -- for possession
of drugs. Law enforcement sources tell TMZ, "It appears the
death could be an overdose and Joel Taylor was consuming
controlled substances."A passenger who interacted with Joel
tells TMZ, Joel had consumed enough GHB on the dance floor
Tuesday that he was rendered unconscious and taken off the
dance floor by 2 people and back to his room. |
Death from drug overdose |
| January 22 |
Carnival Triumph |
NOLA
reports Carnival is searching for a 44 year old female
passenger who went overboard from one of its cruise
ships Sunday night (Jan. 21) in the Gulf of Mexico,
according to a statement from the company. The ship was on
its way to Cozumel on the second day of a five-day cruise. |
Pax overboard |
| January 22 |
MSC Sinfonia |
From a reader:
The ship docked in Cape Town on Friday 19th January
approximately 2 hours late due to high winds. Vessel arrived
from Walvis Bay and was due to depart that evening for
Durban. The wind intensified and the ship finally managed to
sail at 00h25 on Sunday 21st. Vessel currently en route with
ETA in Durban on Tuesday 23rd January 0 4h30 local time. The
next cruise will omit Maputo and passengers will lose one
day. Normal reimbursement procedures as per MSC terms and
conditions available to all passengers who are also urged by
MSC to secure their own insurance is applicable. This was
the last time the ship called at Cape Town for the current
cruise season and she will be based in Durban until the end
of the season in April. She is to be replaced by the MSC
MUSICA for the 2018/19 season. |
Delayed (weather) |
| January 20 |
Carnival Sunshine |
News6Orlando
reports multiple people aboard a docked cruise ship at Port
Canaveral were taken to nearby hospitals Saturday morning.
Officials said the six people on the boat, which was docked
at the Carnival Cruise line terminal, were transported
around 7:30 a.m. for injuries or illnesses. Crews did not
immediately release details about their conditions.
A spokesperson for the cruise line later told News 6
that the Carnival Sunshine was scheduled to return to
the port Saturday from a 13-day trip, and that the guests
were required to be checked out upon their arrival after
experiencing a variety of medical issues during their
stay. The spokesperson called
the incident "nothing out of the ordinary." |
6 pax taken to hospital |
| January 20 |
Carnival Elation |
News4Jax
reports a woman fell from her balcony on a
Jacksonville-based cruise ship and died, a
Carnival spokeswoman confirmed to News4Jax. Early
Friday morning, the cruise line said, the guest fell from
her balcony on the Carnival Elation and landed several
decks below. Cruise
Law News reports the woman reportedly died after she
fell from her balcony on the 14th deck down to the 11th
deck. The woman was apparently celebrating her
birthday. Another passenger reportedly was seen handcuffed
after the incident. Police from Freeport, Bahamas reportedly
boarded the ship after the fatality. |
Pax "falls" to death |
| January 18 |
Multiple ships |
Cayman
Compass reports there were no cruise ships in port
Thursday after all four captains decided conditions were too
rough to moor in George Town harbor. The skippers opted not
to use the alternate landing point on the southern coast of
the island, at Spotts Terminal, and headed back out to sea.
David Carmichael, who runs Caribbean Marine Services, said
his boats were ready and able to ferry the passengers to
shore. He said cruise ships had been tendered in worse
conditions this season and he was baffled by the decision.
“We were all set up and ready to go, then one ship canceled
and the rest followed suit. It was the captains’ call,” he
said. The Regal Princess, MSC Opera, Carnival Breeze and
Carnival Sensation were all due in port but all were listed
as “missed” arrivals on the Port Authority website. |
4 ships cancel port call |
| January 18 |
Swiss Crystal |
The
Africom reports German police say 27 people sustained
injuries when the Swiss hotel ship collided with a motorway
bridge on the Rhine river. The water level was high at the
time and the pillar is usually on land, news agency dpa
reported. The crash happened Tuesday and more than 100
passengers were minorly injured as a result, four of them
were transferred to the hospital and were later released
Wednesday. Another nearby ship helped take the passengers to
safety, while a number of fire department boats also
provided assistance. As expected the cruise operator
of Swiss Crystal canceled the
sailing of the ship but has offered passengers to continue
their journey on another river cruise ship. |
Collision with bridge |
| January 18 |
Carnival Triumph |
Daily
Mail reports anewlywed couple from Missouri say their
honeymoon cruise was spoiled by unsanitary conditions on
board Carnival Triumph, including foul-smelling sludge
oozing from their shower drain. Christine Parker and John
Shoemaker got marred on November 4, 2017, in their hometown
of St Louis and booked a five-day cruise aboard Carnival's
14-deck, 893-fot vessel, sailing from New Orleans. But
instead of a romantic getaway, the couple say they were left
exhausted, angry and 'smelling of poop.' Parker, who has a
young daughter, accused crew members of trying to minimize
the seriousness of the situation, even as they witnessed the
stomach-turning spectacle of black liquid reeking of
excrement rising out of the drain. The disgruntled
passengers recorded a cellphone video showing a staffer
inspecting their faulty drain and saying, 'This is very bad
and it smells very bad.' Jennifer de la Cruz, a
spokeswoman for Carnival Cruise Line, said in an email to
DailyMail.com that the substance in the couple's shower was
not sewage, bur rather water that had become trapped in a
backed-up drain. |
Sewage bubbling up shower |
| January 17 |
NCL Escape |
Jamaica
Observer reports police have arrested a St Lucian
following the seizure of one pound of cocaine at the
Falmouth Pier in Trelawny yesterday. The drug has an
estimated street value of $625 million, police have said.
Reports are that about 4:30 pm, security checks were being
conducted on passengers and crew returning to a cruise ship
that was docked at the pier when the man was searched and
illicit drugs allegedly found in his possession. He was
subsequently arrested. |
Drug bust |
| January 17 |
NCL Escape |
News.Com.Au
reports a 52 year old passenger on NCL's Private Island, a
strong swimmer, had found himself in trouble in a strong
current and lifeguards from the Norwegian Escape ignored
his desperate pleas for help, the family claims. “He
remembers waving at the lifeguard, who ignored him, then
screaming for the lifeguard, who ignored him again. He was
screaming for his life and everyone thought it was a joke.
He was 20 feet (6m) deep and 200ft (60m) out in the water,
when two kids had found him and tried bringing him back,”
Venezia said. “(Eventually) two men brought him out of the
water when they called for medical. No lifeguard had helped
him through it all. Isn’t that their job?” The man says he
doesn’t recall all of the incident that occurred last month,
as he was battling for his life but said of the rescue
effort: “All of a sudden I lost all breathing capabilities.
Luckily two kids around seven-years-old came to help. They
helped for a maximum of five seconds. I continued to scream
while kicking underwater to stay afloat. I noticed a man
50ft (15m) away and screamed at him but he looked at me like
I was joking. In slow motion I saw a man jump into the water
and swim for me. I was hanging on for life.” |
Near drowning on Private Island |
| January 17 |
Carnival Breeze & Carnival Vista |
Miami
Herald reports aboard the Carnival Vista, Carnival
Cruise Line’s newest ship, crew members hid trolleys of
potentially hazardous food, equipment and dirty dishware
from sanitation inspectors. Fruit flies were found by
the buffet and in a Parmesan cheese container. Crew failed
to appropriately document illnesses on board. On the
Carnival Breeze, another of the Doral-based line’s newest
vessels, machinery was found to be corroded or not
functioning properly. About 25 garbage bins overflowing with
waste were found by inspectors near an area where food was
handled. These violations and dozens of others landed
both ships failing grades from the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention’s Vessel Sanitation Program, which
routinely inspects cruise ships in an effort to control the
spread of gastrointestinal illnesses. Ships must score 86
points or higher, out of 100, to pass. The Vista scored
a 79; the Breeze a 77. Another Carnival failure reported in
November aboard the Triumph brings Carnival’s tally
to three failed inspections in the past two months. |
Failed Health Inspections |
| January 17 |
Tropical Breeze Casino |
Calvin
Ayre reports a woman died this weekend after a fire
broke out on a boat ferrying gamblers to a casino ship
moored off the coast of Florida. On Sunday, a shuttle boat
taking gamblers to the floating Tropical Breeze
Casino caught fire, forcing its 36
passengers and 14 crew members to jump overboard to escape
the flames. At least 15 passengers were taken to Tampa-area
hospitals for treatment, and an unidentified 42-year-old
female passenger succumbed to her injuries on Sunday night.
The fire broke out shortly after the shuttle vessel left the
Florida coast, reportedly after suffering engine trouble.
Passengers and onlookers reported the fire spreading
rapidly, and video of the burning vessel provides a vivid
illustration of the inferno. (See bottom of page.) The cause
of the fire is under investigation.. |
Fire - evacuation (one death) |
| January 13 |
NCL Epic |
Long
Island News 12 reports two Kings Park brothers are
accused of smuggling drugs onto a cruise ship. Police say
Gino and Louis La Nasa were arrested in Florida after one of
them allegedly sold an undercover agent ecstasy. Authorities
say when they searched the La Nasas' Norwegian Cruise Line
ship cabin, they found items indicating that the drugs had
been smuggled inside body cavities. News 12 is
told while agents were in the cabin, Louis also tried to
swallow a plastic bag of drugs. |
Drug bust |
| January 12 |
Grandeur of the Seas |
USA
Today reports nearly 50 people have fallen sick on a
cruise ship that departed from Baltimore last week, delaying
its return. The ship originally was scheduled to set sail
back to Baltimore on Thursday, but now won’t until Saturday,
following 46 reported cases of gastrointestinal illness on
board. |
Illness |
| January 12 |
Viking Star |
Daily
Mail reportsat 2PM The Fantastic, a ferry, appeared to
lose its engine power whilst docking and appeared to drift
backwards, without any way of controlling it, until it
collided with the cruise ship. At one stage, the ferry
dropped anchor to try and stop it moving. A video of the
accident was taken from a nearby crane. The Fantastic, 180
metres in length, had arrived from Tangier at dawn and was
going to continue its journey to Genoa .At the moment the
two ships are still moored in port. In addition to
investigating the reasons for the collision, experts have to
assess the damage on both ships to see if they can continue
their respective trips. |
Collision |
| January 11 |
NCL Escape |
Miami
Herald reports a family traveling on on the ship in
February 2017 has filed suit allaedging a crew member
sexually assaulted their 12 year old daughter inside their
cabin. The crew member acknowledged that “he did, in fact,
touch her buttocks and pubic region with his hand, skin to
skin, while the minor victim was sleeping on the bed.”
Regardless, a Florida jury trial found the crew member not
guilty. |
Child sexual assault |
| January 11 |
QEII and Queen Victoria |
Royal
Gazette reports the shipshave cancelled their calls
in Bermuda because of bad weather in the North Atlantic.
The two ships were due to arrive in Dockyard on Sunday
however the Bermuda Maritime Operations Centre reported
today that both vessels had cancelled their Bermuda calls
“due to weather encountered on crossing”. They will head
straight to their next ports of Port Everglades and New
York respectively.
|
Canceled port call |
| January 10 |
Grandeur of the Seas |
WESH
News reports the ship has suffered a mechanical
breakdown that forced it to stop for repairs at Port
Canaveral. Passengers are stuck, motionless, in Port
Canaveral. "They didn’t tell us what the problems were. They
just said they had a leaking hydraulic hose," Mario
Miralles, a passenger on the ship, said. The ship was on its
way back from the Bahamas to its home port in Baltimore when
a breakdown caused the unscheduled stop. Royal Caribbean did
not say what was wrong but said in a statement that, while
the ship is safe to operate, in an abundance of safety, it
will now make a stop at Port Canaveral. |
Unplanned stopped - mechnical problems |
| January 9 |
Grandeur of the Seas |
Cruise
Law News reports Royal Caribbean is rescheduling the
current cruise of the Grandeur of the Seas, in
order to begin repairs to the cruise ship for what the
cruise line refers to as a "technical issue which limits the
operation of one of the two rudders used to steer the ship."
Royal Caribbean notified its guests, at the last minute
today, who were planning to board the Grandeur on Thursday,
January 11, 2018 that the cruise had been rescheduled to
Saturday, January 13th. This news was first reported on by
the popular Royal
Caribbean Blog. |
Itinerary shortened by two days |
| January 8 |
NCL Epic |
News
6 reports two dozen people were arrested on drug
possession charges during security checks before boarding
the ship for the Holy Ship! 2018 event. Holy Ship
denied a comment but on its website states that there
is a zero-tolerance policy. Twenty-four people didn't heed
that statement Saturday, deputies said. "It ranges from
marijuana to cocaine, MDMA or ecstasy. A lot of the drugs
are used in a rave scene. A lot of people with
paraphernalia," Brevard County Sheriff's Office public
information officer Tod Goodyear said. The port
added security this weekend knowing the cruise would set
sail Saturday. |
Drug bust |
| January 8 |
RCL |
Raw
Story reports former Royal Caribbean cruise liner
employee is suing the company for mistreatment from
supervisors after she was raped by a coworker aboard
the Majesty of the Seas in late 2015.
According to the Miami
New-Times, the woman (who was not named in the
lawsuit due to the nature of her attack) was subjected to a
brutal assault that lasted nearly an hour around Christmas
2015 that resulted in bite marks and bruises. She then
reported her rape to the ship’s captain, security officer
and doctor — all of whom reacted negatively. According to
the lawsuit, which was filed in the Miami-Dade Circuit
Court, Jane Doe’s supervisor discouraged her from pressing
charges, the ship doctor told her to “get over it” and she
was forced back onto the job soon after. Despite reporting
the assault to Bahamian police the day after when the boat
docked on the island, the woman, who was “traumatized and at
her weakest,” followed her boss’ advice and did not press
charges. |
Sexual assault of crew |
| January 7 |
Royal Caribbean and Celebrity |
Cruise
Law News reports that an excursion boat with cruise
passengers aboard sank last week. The cruise excursion
incident took place on Wednesday January 3rd,
approximately 15 minutes after the boat sailed from Cozumel
with ten cruise guests aboard it. The boat's crew
instructed the cruise passengers to head to the bow;
however, the boat took on water quickly and the guests had
to jump into the water. The cruise passengers reportedly
were from a Royal Caribbean cruise ship and a Celebrity ship
(the Celebrity Equinox). The cruise
passengers were reportedly rescued from the water by other
boats in the area, Local news sources state that none of the
cruise passengers were physically injured. |
Excursion boat sinks |
| January 5 |
P&O Arcadia |
From a passenger:
Lifeboat has fallen into the sea at Azores, Ponta Delgaado.
Some crew hurt.
Cruise Law News reports a lifeboat has broken from its
cabling and has fallen from its davits into the sea while
the cruise ship was in Ponta Delgada, Azores. A
passenger states that "the back appears to have been ripped
off and is still hanging from its cradle......" There
reportedly were five crew members in the lifeboat at the
time of the accident. One crew member's injuries are
apparently serious enough for the ship employee to be
hospitalized. |
Lifeboat accident |
| January 5 |
Norwegian Breakaway |
Cruise
Radio reports travel professionals were alerted on
Thursday that the winter storm would result in the
Breakaway’s return to Manhattan being delayed… with the
ripple effect impacting the following sailing, too. Due to
winter storm Grayson,” reads the notification, “Norwegian
Breakaway will have a delayed arrival into New York on
Friday, January 5. As a result, Norwegian Breakaway’s 14-day
cruise that was originally scheduled to depart on January 5
will now depart on Saturday, January 6 at 3 p.m. Due to the
ship’s late arrival on Friday and the ongoing weather
situation, embarking guests are encouraged to arrive to the
pier on Saturday morning; all guests most be onboard by 1
p.m. on January 6th ... Guests unable to adjust their travel
plans,” continued Norwegian’s missive, “are welcome to board
on Friday evening between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m.” CBS
subsequently reported the ship had sailed through the storm,
a scene of hell for passengers. |
Delayed departure |
| January 3 |
Sea Princess |
ABC
News reports about 200 people have been struck down
with gastro onboard a cruise ship which is set to dock in
Brisbane on Thursday. The ship is completing the final leg
of a two-week round trip between Brisbane and New Zealand.
Queensland Health confirmed on-board testing found norovirus
to be the cause of increased gastro cases. |
Illness outbreak |
| January 3 |
Grand Princess |
From a passenger: Half
of the Buffett dining area was closed upon boarding for 10
day cruise because of flooding. Conditions were chaotic
. No advisory was given at registration. Good
news though is that unlimited internet is now available on
the ship for the first time although not properly
publicized. Hopefully the Buffett will be completely
operational 1-8 after replacing all of the damaged carpet. |
Disruption |
| January 2 |
Silver Muse (Silverseas) |
From a passenger: An
80-year old single female traveler from the UK purportedly
jumped from her deck evening of Jan 1 / morning Jan 2, 2018.
I was on board. Silversea made no comment to
passengers other than a number of Pages for the passenger.
Information obtained from other passengers. Room
was taped off and balcony had roping on rail. We
disembarked Ft Lauderdale today, Jan 3, 2018. |
Pax overboard |
| January 1 |
Oasis of the Seas |
From a passenger:
Someone was was stabbed with a beer bottle and New Years Eve
night. The boat was diverted to Nassau and docked for
several hours 8am to about 3pm. I am on the ship now. The
crew is very hush-hush but word has gotten around. |
Assault |
| January 1 |
NCL Jewel |
From a passenger: Male
passenger arrested and taken off the ship in handcuffs by
ship security and local police in Wellington, New Zealand.
Had his luggage with him but no one else. No idea why. |
Pax arrested |