Cruise Ship Law

A Princess cruise ship traveling to Alaska reported a gastrointestinal illness outbreak on Sunday that sickened 108 of its 2,000 passengers and seven crew members.

The ship, the Coral Princess, arrived in Whittier on Monday shortly after noon, state health officials said.

The ship, the terminal area and Princess buses were scrubbed down before the ship began taking on a new load of passengers that evening, a company spokeswoman said.

Norovirus is a highly contagious virus that usually sickens millions of people every year in the United States. Symptoms, mostly diarrhea and vomiting, usually last for about two days. Cruise lines, nursing homes and other facilities are required to report large outbreaks to the federal Centers for Disease Control.

One tourist who planned to sail from Whittier on Monday said he decided to abort the trip after hearing about the outbreak, due to concern for his wife's weakened immune system. He said a security officer ordered them off the ship before they were able to make arrangements for a place to stay or a vehicle to pick them up.

A pair of "nice Alaskans" in Whittier gave the couple a ride in their car and helped them find a place to stay that night, said the tourist, John O'Keefe, 60, of San Francisco.

O'Keefe, who flew home Monday, said he was concerned about whether the 108 people who left the Coral Princess were properly quarantined and whether the ship was clean.

California-based Princess Tours spokeswoman Julie Benson said she is sorry that the O'Keefes' vacation was cut off and said she wondered if it had to end that way.

O'Keefe's interaction with ship security "doesn't seem like the way it's supposed to happen," she said, adding that she didn't have any facts about what did happen.

She said the company is also anxious about preventing the spread of a norovirus outbreak from one cruise to another group of passengers taking a separate cruise on the same ship.

"That's why we did an extra cleaning of the ship and all the high-touch areas," she said.

She said that anyone still sick at the end of a cruise is set up with a hotel room where they can ride out the rest of their illness.

"We don't put them in our rail cars (or take them to other tourist destinations) until they are well," Benson said.

While they are on the ship, Princess asks sick passengers to stay in their rooms, but they are not forced to leave the ship, she said.

This is at least the second outbreak on the Coral Princess this year. The ship also had an outbreak in February that sickened 252 passengers traveling in the Caribbean, according to the CDC.

Posted by Lipcon Law Firm at 4:40 PM | Permalink

The Pacific Dawn cruise ship will be quarantined for a second time after several crew members began displaying flu-like symptoms.

The ship, which docked in Sydney on Monday with a number of sick passengers, has since taken on more holidaymakers and headed towards the Great Barrier Reef.

It will now bypass a number of planned stops before anchoring at Willis Island, east of Cairns, where it will enter quarantine.

The latest confirmed case comes as news that as many as one in five Australians may contract the rapidly-spreading flu, with a McDonalds franchise the latest to be hit.

A restaurant at Epping Plaza in Melbourne's northeast has closed after one of its staff became ill with the virus, another confirmed case in a national total now exceeding 60.

The fast-food chain said it was informing other employees at the outlet, which would stay closed as a "precautionary measure" while health checks were carried out.

McDonalds regional manager Stephen Shillington told AAP the restaurant would reopen on Thursday while Epping Plaza management confirmed the mall would remain open after receiving the all-clear.

As the national total of confirmed cases doubled in the past 24 hours, Victoria's acting chief medical officer Rosemary Lester said up to 20 percent of the population could contract the potentially deadly virus over the coming year.

"We have seen this pattern in countries such as the US, Canada and Japan, so next year this may well be the predominant virus,'' she said.

"We would expect that this virus will become one of the seasonal circulating viruses."

Victoria is the worst-hit state with 32 confirmed cases after eight more people were diagnosed with the strain overnight, with the infection penetrating Melbourne's eastern suburbs for the first time.

In NSW, the entire state cabinet has been caught up in a swine flu scare after it emerged Tourism Minister Jodi McKay travelled on a flu-affected flight, then met with colleagues.

Federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon appealed for calm over the outbreak, but warned she expected the number of confirmed cases to rise sharply in the coming days.

She said a vaccine was in the early stages of development, a complicated process which would probably take some months.

"It's why every week that we can delay this disease spreading more widely in the community is buying us more time when we'll have this vaccine to treat it," she said.

Professor Terry Nolan, head of population health at the University of Melbourne, said a vaccine would take time because the virus first had to be grown in a laboratory from an existing sample.

"The vaccines take about three months, perhaps a bit longer, depending on testing," he told ninemsn.

"If the virus is in full circulation, authorities may weigh up the risk versus reward of the testing."

Meanwhile, the Australian Tourism Council has attacked politicians and the media for provoking "hysteria" over the swine flu outbreak.

The council's managing director Matthew Hingerty said businesses were already feeling the pinch as overseas tourists expressed reluctance to come to Australia.

Last night anger mounted over the decision to allow passengers aboard the cruise ship Pacific Dawn to disembark in Sydney, despite dozens of them either reporting flu-like symptoms or saying they had been in contact with people with symptoms.

But the public should remember that Australian cases of the virus at this stage appeared to be very mild, former University of Adelaide virology professor Chris Burrell said.

"It's looking at the moment that the virulence is no greater than the seasonal flu viruses we get each winter," he told ninemsn.

"But it's a completely new virus and it's spreading very easily...the whole world is like a virgin population."

Posted by Lipcon Law Firm at 9:54 AM | Permalink

The cruise ship Pacific Dawn has been diverted to a remote north Queensland cay after three new suspected cases of swine flu were reported.

All three suspected new cases were among crew members, who had been swabbed for flu and cleared after the ship docked in Sydney on its last cruise.

All crew on the vessel were given Tamiflu as a precaution before the vessel left Sydney for a planned cruise to the Whitsundays and Cairns.

But it is possible that crew members who had not shown symptoms of the flu in Sydney would not have tested positive for the disease, even though they could have been carrying it.

The Pacific Dawn is currently cruising up the Queensland coast with a new load of passengers after docking in Sydney on Monday when it was the centre of a swine flu alert.

On the cruise into Sydney, flu-like symptoms were reported by 172 passengers - five of whom were Queenslanders who subsequently tested positive for the disease.

The ship had reportedly been disinfected, and crew members tested and cleared before a new load of passengers boarded for the Queensland cruise.

The three crew members today suspected of having swine flu have tested positive to Influenza A. They are now all in quarantine aboard the Pacific Dawn.

The latest suspected infections have forced the liner to cancel its Whitsunday plans, and it is now heading for remote Willis Island, 400km off Cairns.

The island, home to a weather station, is just 500m long and 150m wide and its highest point is reportedly just under 10m above sea level.

A New South Wales Health officer on board the vessel has swabbed all three crew members so tests can be done, but the vessel is so far offshore that it will be some time until they can be sent to the mainland for testing.

A smaller vessel is due to meet the Pacific Dawn off the southern Queensland coast to bring the swabs back to the mainland for testing.

The results are expected to be known before the ships' scheduled arrival at Port Douglas.

Also today, Queensland Health confirmed eight cases of swine flu in the state.

The list now includes a four-year-old boy who tested positive for the disease.

He is being treated in Nambour Hospital. The boy was among the passengers on Pacific Dawn's previous cruise into Sydney.

Meanwhile, Queensland Health is considering opening a second flu clinic as the number of cases rise.

An influx of suspect swine flu cases at the Gold Coast Hospital in Southport prompted authorities to set up a flu clinic at Robina Hospital on Tuesday.

Now Queensland's chief health officer Jeannette Young says a second clinic may be opened.

"We are considering whether to open a flu clinic at the Gold Coast Hospital," Dr Young said.

"We are keeping a very tight control over this and we are making the decisions as they come up."

Before news emerged of the latest suspected infections on Pacific Dawn, Queensland Premier Anna Bligh said questions need to be asked about how infected passengers of a P&O cruise ship were allowed to travel interstate, as well as the wider implications for the handling of entry of any passengers from international destinations.

Ms Bligh said the cruise operators were co-operating fully and the ship would not dock in a populated area for several days if cases were confirmed on board, until the incubation period of the swine flu had lapsed.

She said this was the first time systems formulated in preparation for the Avian flu scare five years ago were put in place and "quite frankly it begs a lot of questions".

Ms Bligh said state and federal governments were in daily contact about developments in the swine flu pandemic, to ensure they were as prepared as possible and to ensure the public was fully informed.

Ms Bligh emphasised that parents needed to have a "plan B" as schools could be closed without notice if there was a confirmed case in the student or staff population.

"No school has closed yet, but we are saying to parents this could happen at short notice so they need to talk to grandparents or have some plan B in place."

Posted by Lipcon Law Firm at 9:51 AM | Permalink

The Coast Guard was searching Gulf of Mexico waters Monday for an 18-year-old recent high school graduate from Louisiana who fell overboard from a cruise ship.

Bruce O'Krepki went over the rails off the Carnival Fantasy at about 9:45 p.m. Sunday, about 150 miles southwest of Tampa, the Coast Guard said. The Coast Guard said late Monday it would continue the search overnight.

O'Krepki is from Hammond, La., and recently graduated from St. Thomas Aquinas High School, where he ran track and played soccer. He was with about 35 classmates on the ship, and WWL radio in New Orleans reported that his parents were chaperoning the trip.

His uncle, Rick O'Krepki, said the family had no details about what happened.

"We are awaiting more word," O'Krepki told The Daily Star newspaper. "Hopefully, the brave men and women of the U.S. Coast Guard will be successful in searching for Bruce."

He asked that the family's privacy be respected and for people to keep his nephew in their thoughts and prayers.

Family and friends gathered at a church in Hammond Monday to pray for his rescue.

A search plane, helicopter and Coast Guard cutter were sent out to search.

The ship had left New Orleans and was en route to Key West.

Posted by Lipcon Law Firm at 11:27 AM | Permalink

BALTIMORE - The Coast Guard medevaced a woman Sunday from a ship in the Chesapeake Bay.

Rescued was Eileen Mummaugh, 76.

The Coast Guard received a call via cellular phone from the Maryland Pilots aboard the Norwegian Majesty, a 680-foot cruise ship, requesting the medevac of Mummaugh, who is reportedly suffering from an eye injury.

A 41-foot utility boat crew from Coast Guard Station Annapolis, Md., arrived on scene and transported Mummaugh from the ship to awaiting Anne Arundel County EMS at Annapolis Harbor. Mummaugh was then taken to Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore.

Posted by Lipcon Law Firm at 2:57 PM | Permalink

British pensioners on a cruise ship bravely fought off machine gun-armed Somali pirates by hurling deckchairs and tables at them.

The holidaymakers were enjoying a midnight Mozart concert onboard MSC Melody when pirates armed with Kalashnikovs attempted to board it using grappling hooks and ladders.

But passengers forced them back to their boats by throwing chairs and tables over the stern of the ship as Israeli security guards onboard the cruise liner fired warning shots.

The ship was a week into a 22-day cruise in the Indian Ocean, 180 miles north of the Seychelles, when it came under attack from pirates in speedboats.

Maureen Gawthrop, 66, from Barnsley, said: 'We were enjoying a classical concerto on the pool deck when everyone heard a cracking sound.

'The applause for the musicians died down suddenly and someone came running in from the open deck and shouted "pirates".

'Crew members acted quickly to evacuate passengers into their cabins and told them to lock their doors.

'We went to our cabin and we could hear bullets whizzing and clanging as they hit the ship.

'I saw a white speed boat riding alongside on the wake of the ship about 15 yards away. There were eight men dressed in green camouflage who turned and fired at us.

'We couldn't believe it was happening, it was unreal.'

Husband Roy, 66, added: 'We later learned what we witnessed was the aftermath of the incident. The pirates had tried to get on board the ship with short rope ladders and failed.'

Ian Moakes, 62, from Forest Town, Mansfield, said passengers were terrified as the hijackers began shooting at the ship.

He said: 'We were told to go to our cabins, lock the doors and not to answer the door to anyone and they would let us know what was happening.

'A lot of the crew were elderly and very frightened because they didn't know what was going on.

'I was very frustrated because there was no news coming through and I was stuck in the cabin.'

The ship's captain ordered security guards to fire two warning shots to scare off the attackers, but many of the passengers did not know the full extent of the attack until 36 hours later.

'There were a lot of angry people on board as a lot of misinformation was given out.

'Only when we got off the boat at Aqaba did I realise that it could have been a lot nastier - there were bullet holes in the side of the ship from their Kalashnikov rifles.'

Wife Jessie, 61, said the ordeal had no put her off travelling abroad.

'It was not until after the incident that I realised how serious it was,' she said.

'It ruined our holiday but we will go again - just not to the Indian Ocean, it is far too dangerous.'

Owner of MSC Cruises, Gianluigi Aponte, said the ship's crew took all necessary precautions to avoid the attack, which happened in April.

He said: 'We are very proud that our crew proved to be able to promptly tackle the emergency.

'At the moment of the attack, the ship was 600 nautical miles from Somalian coast, in an area that is not considered dangerous, and 180 nautical miles from Seychelles.

'All security measures adopted worked perfectly. Captain Ciro Pinto followed all security protocols provided, guiding the ship out of danger with a sequence of evasive manoeuvres.'

Pirate attacks on ships passing through the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean have soared this year, with attacks nearly doubling between January and March.

Posted by Lipcon Law Firm at 10:02 AM | Permalink

The U.S. Coast Guard helped rescue a 57-year-old woman from a cruise ship 30 miles west of Bodega Bay Sunday afternoon, the Coast Guard said.

At about 1:45 p.m., the Coast Guard was notified of a woman who nearly drowned in a pool aboard the Coral Princess.

The woman was medically evacuated by Coast Guard aircrew and then airlifted to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital.

She is believed to be in good condition.

Posted by Lipcon Law Firm at 9:56 AM | Permalink

TAMPA, FL -- Six members of an extended family remain hospitalized after their pleasure boat exploded Saturday afternoon.

Florida Fish and Wildlife officials say 11 family members were aboard the 33-foot, twin engine boat when it exploded and burned to the waterline Saturday afternoon while anchored in 3 feet of water off what's known as Beer Can Island.

Six family members, including one child, were seriously injured and flown to Tampa General Hospital.

Officials identified the injured as the boat's operator, George Meyer, his wife Nancy, of Apollo Beach; 7-year-old Logan Meyer, 36-year-old Angela Meyer of Denver, Iowa, and Carrie Atherton and her husband Mike of Lutz.

"We've got a range from smoke inhalation all the way up to some burns and some very serious injuries to at least two of the people," Florida Fish and Wildlife spokesman Major Don Post said.

A spokeswoman for Tampa General Hospital said the family had asked that their conditions be kept private.

Five other children were treated for smoke inhalation. Three other family members were wading in the nearby water and weren't hurt.

Captain Mark Bogush of Tampa Fire Rescue says the explosion blew some people into the water, where they were helped by others who were boating nearby.

The cause of the explosion remains unknown.

Morse said the boat's twin engines were not operating at the time, although a gasoline generator was. It's believed a buildup of fumes in the bilge area may have caused the explosion.

The family left Apollo Beach around 10:30 a.m. and had docked at Pine Key, which is also called Beer Can Island, a popular place for boaters to anchor.

"Six children were forward watching a movie, five adults were in the aft portion of the vessel and three others were wading 30 feet from the boat when there was an explosion in the rear portion of the vessel," Morse said.

Other boaters and authorities -- including the U.S. Coast Guard and emergency crews from nearby MacDill Air Force Base -- came to the aid of the burning boat.

Posted by Lipcon Law Firm at 1:35 PM | Permalink

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- State health officials had expected to get verification Monday that a crew member aboard a cruise ship in Alaska waters contracted swine flu, but officials may have to wait a bit longer.

Ann Potempa, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Health and Social Services, said it looks increasingly unlikely the verification would come Monday.

The testing was done at the Washington State Public Health Laboratory and was being verified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

Dr. Jay Butler, Alaska's chief medical officer, announced Sunday that the crew member aboard the Serenade of the Seas had a probable case of swine flu but testing was being conducted by the federal health agency for confirmation. No other people aboard the ship reported flu-like symptoms since the woman became ill on May 2. She was placed in isolation two days later.

The female crew member underwent a course of treatment with Tamiflu, an anti-viral medication that is effective against swine flu. She has not had flu symptoms or been running a fever for several days.

Cynthia Martinez, spokeswoman for Royal Caribbean International, said the female crew member completed a CDC-recommended 7-day period of isolation, but she did not know if the crew member had been cleared to rejoin the crew. She said the woman will have to meet with the ship's doctor and be cleared to go back to work.

The Serenade of the Seas is on a 14-day cruise to southeast Alaska and Canada. Its next port-of-call is in Sitka on Tuesday. It departed San Francisco and headed north on May 2, the same day the female crew member began feeling sick.

Butler has said there is no reason to restrict the movement of passengers aboard the ship, as long as they are not reporting flu-like symptoms.

Before embarking on the Alaska cruise, the Serenade of the Seas departed San Juan, Puerto Rico for a 14-night Panama Canal voyage in which the ship visited Mexico, the country hit hardest by swine flu. Scientists now say that the new strain of swine flu could have sickened 23,000 people in Mexico before anyone realized it was an epidemic on April 23.

Butler said the ship's medical staff followed strict isolation procedures to prevent the spread of the illness.

At least 61 people have been killed by swine flu around the world, and the World Health Organization has confirmed 4,800 cases.

Butler said the case aboard the ship can't be considered Alaska's first case for several reasons, including that the testing was done outside Alaska and the crew member is not an Alaskan.

Posted by Lipcon Law Firm at 1:31 PM | Permalink

Have you had your breakfast/lunch/dinner yet? Because this story is bound to upset your stomach.

While on a Mediterranean cruise, 58 year old Raymond Evans hurt his knee during a fall. The injury was nothing serious, but the ships doctor put Mr. Evans on an antibiotic regimen, just to be safe.

Despite the shots, his widow said his condition started to deteriorate, and that the back of his knee was turning black. This developed into a "blotchy blackness" that spread to his chest, elbow and fingers, and he was admitted into the ships hospital.

When the ship docked in Alexandria, Egypt, Mr.Evans was transported to the intensive care unit of the city's hospital where he died hours later. The total time from noticing the blackness on his knee till death was just 24 hours.

A pathologist told the official inquiry that Mr.Evans had been infected by the flesh-eating bug necrotising fasciitis

The pathologist concluded that Mr.Evans had not caught the bug during his fall, because the symptoms of the flesh eating bug usually start hours after being infected, so the most probable source was something on the cruise ship that entered through his wounds.

This is of course just another example of the health risks involved with cruise ships. For years, cruise lines have struggled with the norovirus as we previously covered here, here and here. Still, common sense and basic hygiene precautions should help keep you perfectly safe when you get on board.

Posted by Lipcon Law Firm at 5:39 PM | Permalink

SEATTLE - The Coast Guard medically evacuated a 65-year old woman from the cruise ship Millennium in the Strait of Juan De Fuca, Wash., west of Port Angeles Wash., Thursday.

Coast Guard Group Port Angeles received a call at 8:30 p.m., from the cruise ship Millennium requesting immediate medical evacuation of a woman due to a medical condition.

Coast Guard Air Station Port Angeles launched an HH-65C Dolphin helicopter to hoist the woman and transport her to a local hospital in Victoria, Canada

The Millennium is transiting to Vancouver, Canada.

Posted by Lipcon Law Firm at 1:59 PM | Permalink

Brevard 8th in state in boating accidents

Three people died on Brevard County waters in 2008, but officers say a lifejacket likely would have saved their lives and the lives of most of the 51 others in Florida who died during what was supposed to be a fun day on the water.

"Seventy percent of all fatalities were not wearing their lifejackets," said Lenny Salberg, spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Despite having 226 fewer registered vessels, Brevard saw three more accidents in 2008 than in 2007, two more deaths, four more injuries and $29,500 more in damage, according to 2008 state statistics released this week.

The county had one accident for every 1,486 registered vessels in 2008, ranking it the eighth worst in Florida.

All of Brevard's three fatalities happened on the Indian River Lagoon, two in one incident. None of the three people were wearing lifejackets.

On May 5, 2008, Thomas and Margaret Donnelly, both 69 and from Rockledge, were trying to dock at Valencia Road and Rockledge Drive. Margaret Donnelly fell overboard as she was walking toward the bow of their 30-foot boat to help with the docking.

Her husband tried to throw her dock lines, but then "accidentally ran over her, causing severe propeller injuries," the commission's incident report said.

Thomas Donnelly then dove into the lagoon. His wife drowned, and he was overcome by choppy waters and exhaustion as he tried to save her, police said. He died after three days in the intensive care unit.

Late Sunday, Nov. 23, Jonathan S.E. Waters, 31, of Merritt Island launched a borrowed 12-foot-long canoe from the end of Pine Island Road on Merritt Island. He was going fishing but never returned.

His lifejacket and overturned canoe were found floating near where he had launched.

On Dec. 3, a friend found Waters facedown in 18 inches of water, 10 feet from the Indian River banks. Waters was a father of three and a former lifeguard.

Airboat incident

While fewer boats go there, the St. Johns River's narrow, bending channels proved perilous on July 21. Two airboats -- one with two occupants, another with three -- collided that day as they approached a narrow trail called Sweetwater Canal.

Everyone survived, but there were severe injuries, including cuts, broken bones and internal bruising.

Officers cited both airboat operators -- one a water management district employee who was on duty with the passenger of the boat -- for allegedly not maintaining a safe speed, an insufficient number of personal floatation devices and other safety violations.

Both were charged with second-degree misdemeanors of breaking navigation rules. Both have pleaded not guilty. They are due in court on June 10.

Water management officials said no disciplinary action has been taken by the district against the employee involved and declined to comment further.

Accident this year

Brevard's most recent boating accident took the life of a retired Orlando police officer who had organized an outing that included a Boy Scout troop from Orlando, all with special needs. They were to go fishing and eat lunch on a spoil island. The group launched on April 17 from Bairs Cove at the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

As the boat approached the spoil island, the retired officer dove into the water to save a 16-year-old boy who either fell or jumped from his boat, according to the wildlife commission's report.

The teen's mother drove the boat back to pick them up, jumped in to help her son to the boat's edge, then swam for the man. He was facedown in the water and later died in the hospital.

"He would have lived if he had been wearing his lifejacket," said Salberg, the commission spokesman.

Everyone survived, but there were severe injuries, including cuts, broken bones and internal bruising.
Advertisement

Officers cited both airboat operators -- one a water management district employee who was on duty with the passenger of the boat -- for allegedly not maintaining a safe speed, an insufficient number of personal floatation devices and other safety violations.

Both were charged with second-degree misdemeanors of breaking navigation rules. Both have pleaded not guilty. They are due in court on June 10.

Water management officials said no disciplinary action has been taken by the district against the employee involved and declined to comment further.
Accident this year

Brevard's most recent boating accident took the life of a retired Orlando police officer who had organized an outing that included a Boy Scout troop from Orlando, all with special needs. They were to go fishing and eat lunch on a spoil island. The group launched on April 17 from Bairs Cove at the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

As the boat approached the spoil island, the retired officer dove into the water to save a 16-year-old boy who either fell or jumped from his boat, according to the wildlife commission's report.

The teen's mother drove the boat back to pick them up, jumped in to help her son to the boat's edge, then swam for the man. He was facedown in the water and later died in the hospital.

"He would have lived if he had been wearing his lifejacket," said Salberg, the commission spokesman.

Posted by Lipcon Law Firm at 1:51 PM | Permalink

The recent decisions by cruise companies to redeploy ships from Alaska voyages in 2010 will have broad ripple effects in the state's economy, particularly in Southcentral-Interior Alaska regions.

The visitor loss is estimated at 140,000 in 2010, which translates to 1,800 tourism-related jobs lost statewide, and a loss of $72 million per year in annual payroll.

In Southcentral Alaska, there will be 300 cruise-related jobs lost in 2010 of 3,000 employed in a typical year. In the Interior there will be 309 jobs lost of 2,500 usually employed due to cruise ship tourists.

Ralph Samuels, Holland-American Lines' vice president for Alaska, presented the dismal projections on lost passengers and jobs May 30 in a presentation to the Resource Development Council in Anchorage.

The redeployment in 2010 is a one-two punch for the state's tour industry, however, because 2009 is likely be a down year as well. The ships and passengers may come north but tourists are likely to tighten their wallets, Samuels told the RDC.

Cruise ships will operate because schedules have been committed and the companies will fill them through heavy discounting, he said. One company is now offering a seven-day cruise to Alaska for $299.

"The passengers will be there but will they spend any money once they get here? That's what has people worried," Samuels said.

Land tours to Denali National Park and Fairbanks from cruise ship ports in Seward and Whittier are likely to suffer in 2009.

Many people hope a rush of late reservations may improve things but it has been slow so far, Samuels said. For example, reservations were down 40 percent from last year for the locally owned Riverboat Discovery tour in Fairbanks, and the family-owned company will probably hire a third fewer people to staff the operation this year, he said.

As for 2010, Alaskans helped encourage the departure of the ships by approving a voter initiative implementing a $50-per-passenger tax on cruise tourists. To top it off, much of the money hasn't even been spent because of legal questions over what it can be spent on. It's still sitting in the state treasury, Samuels told the RDC.

The consequences of the redeployment are even worse than the numbers would indicate, however, because those ships, and the marketing dollars that go with them, will be competing with Alaska, luring vacationers to the Caribbean or Mediterranean instead of Alaska.

The cruise companies' profit margins in Alaska are taking a beating for a lot of reasons, the long sailing distances across the Gulf of Alaska being one, but the $50 passenger tax is high on the list. The redeployed ships won't return until margins improve and the effects of the 2010 redeployment will likely extend through 2011 and 2012, Samuels said.

The national recession set the stage for this, but the $50-per-passenger head tax on cruise visitors has made matters worse, Samuels said, along with the threat of applying unrealistic high, and costly, environmental requirements on the ships.

This year the state Legislature gave the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation authority until 2015 to waive application of the most stringent standards, but cruise ships in Alaska have met some of the initial requirements of the 2006 citizen initiative.

The $50 tax is added to the passenger's ticket, but the cruise companies eat the cost in the end because they have to keep the overall price low enough to compete with cruises to other destinations.

"This isn't about taking a stand (on the tax). It's about the economics. It's simply a business decision," the cruise companies have to make, Samuels said.

Much of the money collected from the head tax is still sitting in the state treasury because of legal uncertainties as to what the money can be spent on. The tax income has to be spent on things that benefit the cruise ships or its passengers, or it runs the risk of being unconstitutional under the commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution, which bars states from imposing taxes on trade with other states except under certain circumstances.

Of $115 million collected in fiscal years 2007 and 2008, some $45 million is still unappropriated. Legislators have struggled to find appropriate cruise-related projects to spend the money on, and some of the $70 million actually appropriated to date may be on projects that may not pass muster if there is a lawsuit. If that happens, the state will have to refund the taxes to the cruise passengers.

The tax is also creating a lot of bad publicity for Alaska in the international travel press.

In his presentation, Samuels cited independent and influential travel publications like Cruise News Daily, Cruiseblogger and Travel News.

On April 9, Cruise Daily headlined an article with, "What's wrong with Alaska's thinking?" and went on to say "wrong thinking in Alaska is threatening to destroy the entire tourism industry as they know it."

Cruiseblogger wrote, "Prices are down and the state has added tremendously to the cost side of the equation in the Alaska market. As a result there are other markets where it's more profitable to operate cruises than Alaska, and there are more opening all the time."

Similarly, Johanna Jainchill, a writer for Travel News, wrote, "Recent decisions by cruise lines to redeploy ships from Alaska because of high costs imposed by a 2006 citizen referendum reflect the confluence of the recession, which has cut into Alaska cruise prices, and the provisions of the measure, which add to the cruise companies' costs of operating in Alaska."

Posted by Lipcon Law Firm at 1:42 PM | Permalink

The Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) has released the boating accident occur when someone isn’t paying attention or is driving too fast. Cates cautions boaters to slow down and stay alert to their surroundings.

Drowning is the leading cause of boating fatalities, even though most of the victims reportedly knew how to swim.

“The greatest way to ensure that you and your passengers make it home at the end of the day is to get into the habit of wearing a life jacket,” Cates said.

He also said boaters should be especially careful when consuming alcoholic beverages.

The FWC also suggests that if going offshore, boaters should invest in an Emergency Position-Indicating Radio Beacon so rescuers can find them promptly in the event of trouble.

“We want boaters to have fun and return home safely,” Cates said.

Posted by Lipcon Law Firm at 1:48 PM | Permalink

The Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Act of 2009 were introduced to keep Americans aware and safe on cruise ships. Ship safety has been a concern for years, but with recent media coverage on mysterious deaths, sicknesses and accidents aboard cruise ships has made consumers more aware of possible problems at sea.

The legislation would mandate that: guard rails would reach 54 inches in height, passenger stateroom and crew cabins entry doors have peep holes, security latches and time sensitive key technology. Technology would also be added to detect when a passenger falls overboard. It would also limit the number of crew members who have access to staterooms.

A reporting structure which is based on a current voluntary agreement would be established between the cruise industry, the FBI and the Coast Guard. The FBI, Coast Guard and local law enforcement would also have availability to ship log books which would document all deaths, accidents, thefts, assaults, harassments, and missing individuals.

To improve crime scene response each ship would be required to provide anti-retroviral medications and medications that prevent sexually transmitted diseases after a sexual assault as well as other equipment to determine sexual assault. A United States licensed medical practitioner would also be aboard each ship.

Each cruise ship would have a crew member who would be trained in crime scene investigation. This crew member would be trained trough a program which would be designed by the US Coast Guard and the FBI. This training program certified by Administrator of the Maritime Administration.

To enforce safety and environment standards the Coast Guard would be authorized to dispatch personnel to monitor discharge of waste. They also would act as a public safety officer who would collect and secure evidence in alleged crime scenes. This bill would also establish fair and equal remedies for people injured in boating disasters and would amend the Death on the High Seas Act for persons who die from negligence.

Posted by Lipcon Law Firm at 4:56 PM | Permalink

PORT CANAVERAL - Emmanouil Kasselas, captain of Royal Caribbean’s Freedom of the Seas, called the ship his “little puppy” hours after docking at Port Canaveral on Monday.

“Big dog” is more appropriate.

And more dogs are coming.

Freedom of the Seas is the world’s largest cruise ship, running more than 1,100 feet long and holding up to 4,375 passengers. It’s the first of four huge cruise ships that will begin sailing from Port Canaveral between now and 2012, and tourism and port officials said their presence here will generate millions in additional tourism spending and solidify the area’s reputation as a major player in the cruise business.

They’re banking on cruise passengers coming to Brevard County a day or two prior to their cruise to stay in local hotels, eat at restaurants and visit some of the area’s tourist attractions.

“Today is a defining moment in the history of the port,” J. Stanley Payne, chief executive officer of Port Canaveral, said Monday following a brief tour and ceremony on board the Freedom of the Seas, noting the heated competition from ports worldwide to secure deals with the massive ships.

Payne added: “We feel this is the right size, and certainly the right size for the market we have.”

The 154,000-ton Freedom of the Seas, which looked capable of gobbling Royal Caribbean’s smaller Monarch of the Seas, docked nearby, soon will have some big company.

This fall, Carnival Cruise Lines bring its largest ship to date at Port Canaveral, the 130,000-ton Carnival Dream. The Dream accommodates 3,652 passengers.

Then Disney Cruise Line plans to base its two new big ships, the Dream and the Fantasy, at Port Canaveral in 2011 and 2012. The new Disney ships will weigh 122,000 tons each with a double-occupancy capacity of 2,500 passengers.

While there has been growth lately in the popularity of shorter, three- tofour-day cruise excursions, industry experts generally agree the big ships and the longer cruise offerings should mix nicely with what’s already being offered at Port Canaveral.

“They are very popular with cruise enthusiasts, who don’t want to take shorter cruises,” Paul Motter, president of CruiseMates, an Internet cruise guidebook, said of the longer outings.

“I think you should think of them as an additive cruise product that actually will not compete with the three- and four-day product. Royal Caribbean’s Freedom-class ships are immensely popular with a large number of regular cruisers, and Port Canaveral is very lucky to have them,” Motter said.

Oivind Mathisen, editor of Cruise Industry News, said during tough economic times, shorter cruises tend to pick up but that during the past few years, the trend has been more seven-day trips.

“I think the cruise industry has been very flexible — adjusting to market needs and conditions, offering different lengths of cruises, moving ships to different ports, enhancing the onboard product, in addition to pricing strategies to fill the ships,” Mathisen said.

The Freedom of the Seas left Monday afternoon with 3,900 passengers for a six-day cruise to the western Caribbean. Upon its return, the ship will be offering seven-day cruises from Port Canaveral to both the eastern and western Caribbean.

Passengers began boarding Monday morning, just a few hours after the ship’s 6 a.m. docking at Port Canaveral’s Terminal 10. Guests were greeted with glasses of champagne, and many of them wasted little time before checking out the ship’s amenities.

“I thought it was a city,” said Issie Bell-Yovich, a West Melbourne resident who was taking a honeymoon cruise with her husband, George.

Bell-Yovich said she has been on short cruises but prefers the longer ones because you can unpack and become more thoroughly adjusted to your living quarters.

“It allows you to unwind,” she said.

Local Brevard officials who toured the ship and met with the crew during a special noon ceremony said the out-of-town visitors should charge up the local tourism base and bring in millions in additional revenues.

“We’ll have 7,000 to 8,000 new visitors to the city,” said Rocky Randels, mayor of Cape Canaveral. “Many of them will be staying at our hotels. They’ll be asking: ‘Where do I eat? Where do I go to the drug store?'”

Posted by Lipcon Law Firm at 4:50 PM | Permalink