Bahamas-bound travelers, beware.

Crime in the popular tourist destination is on the upswing, especially on New Providence Island, where the capital city, Nassau, is located. And we're not talking just petty thefts or purse-snatching, but far more serious violent crime.

This island nation finished 2009 with a record 87 murders -- a statistic tourism officials probably won't be trumpeting in their next "It's Better in the Bahamas" ad.

More recently, on Feb. 25, an American tourist was attacked in his hotel room on usually tranquil Harbour Island (60 miles from Nassau) by two men wielding a cutlass, according to the Tribune newspaper. The victim survived and suspects are in custody, but the incident prompted police and Ministry of Tourism officials to meet with concerned Harbour Island residents last Monday.

Bahamian officials from Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham on down have publicly acknowledged the problem and taken steps to address it, putting more police on the streets in Nassau, especially after 18 cruise ship passengers became victims of an armed robbery in November.

The criminal activity has prompted the operators of the world's largest cruise ship, Oasis of the Seas, to warn its passengers to "be mindful of their personal safety," the Nassau Guardian newspaper reported.

CoGo isn't waving sun-seekers away from the Bahamas, because most of the violent crime seems to have occurred in New Providence's "Over the Hill" neighborhoods, where few tourists venture. Would-be tourists should also know that crime hasn't been as much of an issue in the Bahamas' less populated Family Islands, such as Exuma, Bimini and Abaco.

Even so, "be mindful" seems like an appropriate mantra for visitors, especially in Nassau, where the State Department has reported "assaults, including sexual assaults, in diverse areas such as in casinos, outside hotels, or on cruise ships."

Some Bahamians attribute the crime wave to high unemployment (hovering around 15 percent on New Providence Island, according to the Guardian) and the nation's status as a gathering spot for drug traffickers.

On a personal note, CoGo saw no evidence of criminal activity during a recent three-day stay in Nassau, if you discount the scruffy young man who whispered "coke, weed, coke, weed" as we strolled along Bay Street, the main shopping drag, one evening.

Google your ride

Here's another reason to bike your way around town: You can now get bicycling directions on Google Maps.

Google has partnered with D.C.-based nonprofit Rails-to-Trails Conservancy (RTC) to offer the feature, which allows users to type in their destination and get directions for the best bicycling route. CoGo, for instance, was pleased to find out that it would take just 10 minutes to bike from the heart of Adams Morgan to downtown Washington.

Google has already been offering this service to drivers, walkers and transit riders. Now Google users in all 50 states will have access to RTC's database of more than 1,600 rail-trails and connecting corridors for free. RTC has been offering its trail maps gratis on TrailLink.com, where demand has grown in the past year.

"Bikers all over the country now will be able to explore new trails or find specific directions in their local community with just a few clicks of their mouse," Shannon Guymon, product manager for Google Maps, said in a statement.
Travelers weigh in

What are travelers' biggest gripes these days? Limited legroom on planes and fees for checked baggage and other in-flight services, according to TripAdvisor's second annual air travel survey.

The survey of 3,200 U.S. respondents revealed some other interesting traveler sentiments. Sorry, Kevin Smith, but 74 percent said they think that travelers of size should pay for two seats on their flights. (Actor-director Smith waged a Twitter campaign against Southwest Airlines after he was forced off a flight for being too big to fit comfortably in a single seat. Southwest later apologized.)

Thirty percent said that they would be more likely to book a ticket on a flight offering WiFi. Some travelers -- 45 percent -- said they want Internet access so badly that they would put up with a seatmate accessing inappropriate content. Another 27 percent, however, said that they would alert a flight attendant and 22 percent would ask their seatmate to shut down any lewd sites.

And what of those controversial full body scanners that can see through your clothing? Seventy-nine percent had no problem with them.

A spokesman for owner Louis Cruises said three "abnormally high" waves broke windows in the front of the ship.

The Louis Majesty was heading to Genoa on a 12-day Mediterranean cruise but has now returned to Barcelona.

Torrents of water gushed into the Louis Majesty, pouring through several floors of the ship.

"I thought I would end up in the sea, drowned," said Anna Lita, who had a black eye and bandages on her head and hand Thursday.

The three waves that struck the Cypriot-owned ship Wednesday claimed two lives off the coast of northeast Spain. The vessel was carrying 1,350 passengers and 580 crew members, from a total of 27 countries.

Lita's husband Carlo, 69, who had been beside her on a sofa, was thrown in the air and ended up with five stitches in the head and a leg injury.

Raw Amateur Video Of The Wave Hitting The Ship

Another Italian, Giovanni Zanoni, said that after the waves blew out the windows of the lounge, the ceiling caved in and pandemonium broke out.

"People were screaming, panicking. They were grabbing life vests," Zanoni said. He said he saw one huge shard of glass hit a man in the face, killing him. It took a while to find the body because he was under the wreckage of the ceiling, Zanoni said.

The ship's owner and operator, Louis Cruise Lines, said the vessel was struck Wednesday by three "abnormally high" waves more than 33 feet (10 meters) high that broke glass windshields in the forward section on deck five, which is one of 10 used by passengers. Two people died and 14 were slightly hurt, the company said.

Large waves are not rare in the Mediterranean, but ones that size occur only once or twice a year, said Marta de Alfonso, an oceanographer with the Spanish government.

This accident happened in an area of the Mediterranean called the Gulf of Leon, which is known for big waves when storms hit.

The ship was on a 12-day cruise from the ports of Genoa and Marseilles in the western Mediterranean, calling at Tangiers, Casablanca, Tenerife, Lanzarote, Cadiz, Cartagena, Barcelona and had been due to return to Genoa on Thursday.

Passengers said the weather was terrible as they left Cartagena in eastern Spain Wednesday, and the captain announced he was skipping a planned stop in Barcelona and heading straight for Italy.

"I remember when the wave hit," Lita said. "It broke all the windows and I was rolling and rolling and did not stop calling out for my husband."

Amateur video footage taken by a passenger and aired on Spanish television showed a huge, foamy wave hitting what appeared to be the lounge area, sending water gushing in and people scurrying for safety.

"Suddenly we saw a wave that went up above our level, and I said to my husband, 'tonight we will not have to wash the windows,'" said Claudine Armand of France, who was in her cabin at that point. "Right then we heard we heard a loud noise, and it was the wave that hit us."

"When we came out of the room we saw the wave had flooded everything," she told Associated Press Television News.

Pierre Languillon, also of France, said damage was extensive and he saw many people with superficial injuries.

"They called for doctors, as many doctors as there were. Luckily nothing happened to us, but I think we averted a catastrophe."

Louis Cruise Lines spokesman Michael Maratheftis said 14 passengers who suffered only minor injuries were taken to hospital as a precaution.

Arrangements have been made to fly all passengers home Thursday and the ship will carry on with its normal schedule later this month after repairs are completed, he told the AP from Cyprus. By the end of the day most will have left the ship.

Maratheftis said the two dead passengers – a German and an Italian – suffered fatal injuries from the glass shards and ripped-out window frames and furniture.

"It was three waves, one after the other. The damage was done by the second and the third waves. We are talking about waves that exceeded 10 meters in height. This was unforeseen and unpredicted because the weather was not really that bad," Maratheftis said.

De Alfonso said there was in fact a big storm in the area at the time and the waves might have been stirred up by fierce winds. Waves often come in threes, she said.

Another passenger, Jean Claude Fery, of Marseille, said he was in his cabin looking out the porthole at tremendously turbulent seas. "I have never seen waves so big. It was unbelievable."

A Louis Cruise Lines statement said the waves smashed windows in a public area on deck 5 on the forward part of the vessel.

Louis Cruise Lines' Web site says the ship is 680 feet (207 meters) long, and features 10 passenger decks and 732 staterooms along with various bars, pools, restaurants and shops.

The ship's owner, Costa Crociera, said the vessel sprung a leak on the right side after banging into the dock at about 4:45 a.m.

"We sadly have to confirm the deaths of 3 crew members," the company said in a statement. "The ship is now safely docked in port."

Other passengers were being put up in hotels and arrangements were being made to return them to their home countries, according to the company.

Witnesses said fierce winds had rocked the area overnight and the ship was slammed part way onto the pier.

Bad weather was believed to be the cause of the collision, which left a 2 meter (yard) hole in the body of the ship, according to an Egyptian security official.

The Costa Europa ship had been on an 18-day cruise from Dubai to Savona and had 1,437 guests on board, Italy.

Police and rescue officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to release the information, said the three killed include an Indian, a Brazilian and a Honduran, but the company did not confirm nationalities.

Mohammed Fayez, head of South Sinai ambulance services, said the bodies were still being removed from the ship. The vessel had arrived in Sharm el-Sheik from another Red Sea port in Safaga, local officials said.

The 55,000-ton ship, which was built in 1986, was restored and entered into service with Costa in 2002, the company said.

It's one of 16 cruise ships belonging to the Genoa, Italy-based Costa Crociera line, the Italian subsidiary of Carnival Corp.

A lawsuit filed in Palm Beach County, Florida, is reportedly demanding unspecified damages following the 2005 mishap, in which Alexander McKee lost two fingers while working on the luxury 155ft vessel Privacy.

At the time, Woods' Florida corporation ETW footed medical bills and gave the worker a severance package before he left.

But it seems the 25-year-old, who now lives in Washington, was not satisfied and wants the serial philanderer to pay up.

According to the Palm Beach Post, McKee claims he was cleaning the deck of the lavish boat when a hatch slammed shut on his hand.

The hatch, says McKee's lawyer Wayne Mitchell, severed two of his fingers. Surgeons managed to re-attach one of the tips but the other finger had to be partly amputated.

Mitchell told the newspaper that at first, Woods' people took care of McKee, paying for some of his medical expenses.

But, he added: 'The young man endured more medical care and expenses. And he hasn't been able to work on a ship since.'

Woods' Miami-based attorney Neil Bayer responded in court documents saying that McKee should have been aware that he risked serious injury during the course of his work.

The ship, on its way back to Japan, reported the 24-year-old crew member went overboard at 2 p.m. Saturday and called the U.S. Coast Guard at 5 p.m. for help, the Coast Guard said in a prepared statement.

The Coast Guard launched two C-130s to search the area today first at 5 a.m. and again at 11 a.m. The aircraft searched the crew member's last known position for five hours this afternoon before landing at Midway Atoll for the night.

Meanwhile a Japanese training sailing vessel will search through the night.

The 550-foot cruise ship was about 300 miles southwest of Midway Atoll in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands when it first reported the crew member missing. The Pacific Venus has notified the missing crew member's family in Japan.

According to our sources a 32-year old Brazoria County woman and her fiancee set sail earlier this week from Galveston and she was dead when the ship docked in Mexico. FBI Agents went to Mexico to conduct an investigation.

It was reported that the woman had been beaten to death and the primary suspect is the man she married aboard the ship.

Although FBI spokesmen have called the investigation routine, it is reported the woman's death was a homicide.

The Galveston County Medical Examiner will perform an autopsy and issue an official ruling in the death.

Seven crew members aboard a cruise ship headed to Baltimore on Saturday were sickened by carbon monoxide poisoning, rescue officials said.

Fire department crews and a hazmat team met the Celebrity Mercury when it docked in Baltimore to treat the victims and search the 12-year-old ocean liner for the cause of the leak, fire department spokesman Chief Kevin Cartwright said.

The crew members were poisoned while the ship was in transit, Maryland Port Administration spokesman Richard Scher said.

"Obviously, it is being looked at carefully," Scher said.

Further details on the conditions of the crew members were not available Saturday. Representatives of Celebrity Cruise Lines could not be reached for comment.

The 866-foot Celebrity Mercury, which began sailing from Baltimore in November, was on its last cruise of its inaugural season here. It was scheduled next for what the industry calls "repositioning," which includes repairs and restocking for future trips.

The Baltimore debut of the Mercury, which marked the return of Celebrity Cruise Lines to the port after a five-year absence, and new business from Carnival Cruise lines pushed cruise departures and passengers here to new records last year.

The Mercury spent its first season in Baltimore taking passengers on nine- and 12-night cruises to the Caribbean. The ship, with a saltwater pool and champagne and cigar bars, has an occupancy of 1,886.

The ship, MS Maasdam, was about 55 miles south of Point Loma when Coast Guard Sector San Diego received a call from the ship’s crew about 11:30 p.m. stating that an 86-year-old woman was suffering from internal bleeding.

A Coast Guard flight surgeon was consulted and determined the woman needed medical attention onshore.

An M60 Jayhawk helicopter was dispatched from San Diego. A rescue swimmer was lowered from the helicopter to the ship to assist in the hoist of the patient.

At the time, seas were about 14 feet and winds were gusting to 25 knots, said Mark Mutchler, Coast Guard operations controller.

The woman was taken to Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla and was in stable condition.

Earlier Friday, a Coast Guard helicopter from San Diego flew to Bahia de Gonzaga in Baja California, Mexico, to airlift a 67-year-old U.S. citizen who had an undisclosed life-threatening medical condition. He was taken to a hospital in Yuma, Ariz., and was in stable condition.

In a statement issued today to USA TODAY, Star Clippers confirms several reports in small Caribbean news outlets that the woman, identified as Nina Elisabeth Nilssen, was attacked and killed on Tuesday after she went ashore from the 227-passenger Royal Clipper.

"According to Antiguan police officials, Nilssen's body was discovered around 5 p.m. on a secluded trail at Windward Bay, near Pigeon Point Beach," the statement says. "Authorities have a description of the alleged assailant, but have not made an arrest."

A story in the Antigua Sun says Nilssen's body was found with what appeared to be a stab wound to the neck and was partially unclothed.

The murder is just the latest serious crime against tourists in Antigua. A 38-year-old Australian man visiting the island last year on his yacht was shot dead while walking with his girlfriend and daughter, and in 2008 the island was the scene of a double murder of a honeymooning British couple -- incidents that have raised questions about the safety of visiting the island. The British couple were shot in their room at Antigua's Cocos Hotel.

Antigua's tourism industry also suffered a black eye in September when six Carnival cruise passengers were arrested after a brawl with local police. Carnival announced shortly after the incident that it was ending most cruises to Antigua. The Carnival Victory's last stop on the island took place earlier this month.

Star Clippers says Nilssen's family disembarked Royal Clipper Tuesday evening and received assistance from both Star Clippers and the Antiguan government with accommodations, flights home and arrangements to return Nilssen's body to the United States.

"Star Clippers CEO Mikael Krafft has expressed his heartfelt sympathy and condolences to the members of Ms. Nilssen's family," the line's statement says.

"Star Clippers also is cooperating with Antiguan authorities in their ongoing investigation and search for the assailant."

A spokesperson for Star Clippers says the line hasn't decided whether the Royal Clipper will return to the island. The ship normally visits every two weeks.

Getting a Grip on Cruise Ship Pollution was authored by Dr. Ross Klein, a professor at Memorial University's school of social work, and an expert on the cruise ship industry. It was released by the U.S.-based environmental group Friends of the Earth.

"The report lays out the deleterious effects of pollution from cruise ships — many having significantly negative impacts on human health and the health of the marine environment," Klein said in a statement.

Since 1998, Klein said, the cruise industry has been fined more than $60 million for environmental violations.

He said the industry has come out against a Canada-U.S. call for an emission control area that would require ships to use cleaner burning fuels because it would add between $8 and $15 a day to a passenger ticket. Even with this measure, Klein said, the fuel required would still be much dirtier than fuel used in automobiles.

His report was produced in part to provide supportive documentation for the Clean Cruise Ship Act currently before the U.S. Congress. He said he has also been contacted by members of parliament who are interested in addressing the problem in Canada.

The report says a cruise ship can produce every day more than 180,000 litres of sewage, over two million litres of grey water (produced by bathing, cooking or cleaning), 18,000 litres of oily bilge water and as much as 17 tonnes of solid waste.

"Much of this waste is discharged into the environment directly, or indirectly as incinerator smoke and ash. In addition, a cruise ship, like all ocean-going vessels, produces significant air emissions from burning large amounts of fuel and contaminates waters through ballast water that introduces non-native species," the report says.

It also says treatment of waste water has been found by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to not adequately meet water quality standards set for onshore sewage treatment plants. It adds that while the cruise industry has introduced initiatives to better deal with cruise ship waste streams, "these measures often fall short."

Klein proposes a wide-ranging set of recommendations for reform of the cruise industry, which earns billions of dollars a year around the globe.

Among them: limits on the discharge of waste and bilge water at sea; electronic transponders to alert land-based authorities when a discharge line is open as well as observers on board ships; research on the effects of untreated sewage on marine life; a requirement for cruise ships to sort other waste onboard and off-load recyclables only at ports with recycling facilities; and establish penalties for violations.

The cruise lines only have to report crimes involving Americans to the FBI, and even those are underreported. The cruise lines don't want their passengers or their crew members to be crime victims.

Charles Lipcon, Maritime Attorney, said "The cruise lines only have to report crimes involving Americans to the FBI, and even those are underreported. The cruise lines don't want their passengers or their crew members to be crime victims." The public statistics show the FBI opened 184 cases of crimes on cruise ships between October 2001 and February 2007, including 101 sexual assaults, 12 missing persons, and 13 deaths.

Charles Lipcon is a maritime attorney with the law firm of Lipcon, Margulies & Alsina, P.A. This firm handles many cases against the cruise lines both for passengers as well as crew members. Charles Lipcon has also been featured as a top Miami Maritime Lawyer by Florida Trend's Legal Elite and a top attorney by Super Lawyers.

Charles Lipcon is the author of one of Amazon's top 30 selling travel books, Unsafe on the High Seas. This book details some of the dangers of cruise ship travel from assaults to missing people. It also covers the victim's rights and how they can defend themselves. The book does not try to persuade you into not taking a cruise, but rather teaches you how to cruise safer. The book can be ordered from Amazon.com.

About Lipcon, Margulies & Alsina, P.A.
Lipcon, Margulies & Alsina, P.A. is a Miami, FL, Law Firm focusing on maritime and admiralty personal injury claims against cruise lines and other boat owners. Lipcon's maritime lawyers represent passengers and crew injured on ships worldwide.

The Coast Guard says crew members aboard Royal Caribbean's Monarch of the Seas reported Neha Chhikara missing Thursday afternoon as the ship was headed from Nassau to CocoCay.

Royal Caribbean spokeswoman Cynthia Martinez says the guest was reported missing by her husband. Security camera footage showed the 23-year-old woman going overboard from the 11th deck early that morning.

Martinez said Friday that Bahamian government officials reviewed the footage and determined that the woman jumped overboard.

The ship left Port Canaveral, Fla., on Monday for a five-day cruise through the Bahamas. It's due to return Saturday.

The Coast Guard says crew members aboard Royal Caribbean’s Monarch of the Seas reported Neha Chhikara missing Thursday afternoon as the ship was headed from Nassau to CocoCay.

Royal Caribbean spokeswoman Cynthia Martinez says the guest was reported missing by her husband. Security camera footage showed the 23-year-old woman going overboard from the 11th deck early that morning.

Martinez said Friday that Bahamian government officials reviewed the footage and determined that the woman jumped overboard.

The ship left Port Canaveral, on Monday for a five-day cruise through the Bahamas. It’s due to return Saturday.

Gian M. Novaro, MD, of Cleveland Clinic Florida (Weston, FL), and colleagues examined data they collected between January 1, 2004 and December 31, 2005 from 100 consecutive adult cardiology consultations for passengers aboard 5 large cruise lines.

The most common symptom was chest pain (50%) followed by dyspnea (19%), palpitations (13%), syncope/near syncope (10%) and “other,” which included vague symptoms such as nausea, rashes and weakness (10%).

Mean age was 66 years and the most common principal diagnosis was acute coronary syndrome (58%; ST-elevation MI in 21% and non-ST elevation MI in 37%). Other diagnoses included atrial arrhythmias (15%), syncope (5%), noncardiac chest pain syndromes (5%), decompensated heart failure (4%), acute pericarditis (3%) and dyspnea (3%). Over the 2-year period, the on-board mortality was 3%. These deaths occurred in patients who presented with non-STEMI, pulmonary edema and profound hypotension.

Nearly 75% of patients requiring a cardiology consultation were triaged off the ships to a shore-side hospital. Of these, 10% reported active cardiac symptoms in the days to weeks before cruise ship travel. Triaged passengers were similar in age to those not requiring triage and had a similar prevalence of pre-existing coronary artery disease. During hospitalization, at least 20 patients required cardiac catheterization followed by PCI or CABG. Mortality among these patients was 4%.

Better Safe Than Sorry

Dr. Novaro and colleagues say while the risk of cardiovascular events aboard cruise ships is low, their report highlights the not insignificant risk of morbidity and mortality for passengers who do develop symptoms

While the medical staff aboard the cruise lines had access to ECG, continuous telemetry monitoring, chest radiography, oxygen saturation, arterial blood gas, and laboratory studies, there was variation in the types of available medical therapy.

Therefore, the researchers say it is important for passengers to inform themselves about cruise ship medical capabilities. While most large cruise lines adhere to guidelines set by the American College of Emergency Physicians, many smaller or independent cruise lines do not, and only minimal information about their medical evacuation or telemedicine capability may be available.

They recommend the following medical checklist for passengers prior to cruise ship travel:

- Pack an adequate supply of all medications and bring an updated medication list
- For passengers with known coronary artery disease, travel with sublingual nitroglycerin
- Bring a hard copy of a 12-lead ECG if baseline is abnormal
- For passengers with pacemakers, defibrillators, coronary stents, or heart valves, carry a manufacturer’s card
- For passengers with known cardiovascular disease, travel with physician’s contact information and a recent summary of medical history
- For the elderly, sedentary, or those with known cardiovascular disease, consider pretravel evaluation with physician
- Evaluate new cardiovascular symptoms or change in clinical status with physician before travel
- Check with physician regarding safety of initiating an exercise program
- Consider purchasing medical evacuation insurance if not covered under existing health insurance

In addition, Dr. Novaro and colleagues say prospective passengers should keep in mind that some behavioral changes related to travel such as dietary indiscretions, altered sleep cycles, increased alcohol intake, and increased physical exertion may worsen or precipitate cardiovascular events.