Cruise Ship Law

On March 10, 2012, three passengers were bird watching aboard the Star Princess cruise ship when they spotted stranded fishermen at sea. One of the passengers, Judy Meredith of Oregon, described one of the fishermen, saying, "We thought he was trying to flag down the ship, vigorously waving a shirt up and down, and then switching to waving what looked like a red flag up and down and we thought he was in distress." In fact, Judy told Don Winner of Panama-Guide.com (who was the first to break the story) that "it was perfectly clear to us that those people needed help, and they were trying to get our attention."

At that point, the passengers contacted one of the ship's crew and pointed out the small fishing boat. The crewmember actually used one of their binoculars and confirmed that it looked like the fishermen were waving frantically as if they were asking for help. The crewmember then contacted the bridge of the ship and informed the ship's Captain, Captain Perrin, of what they had seen. Importantly, however, the cruise ship did not turn around. On the contrary, the ship's Captain actually changed course to avoid the fishermen's nets. He attempted to justify his action by saying that the fishermen did not look like they were waving for help but, rather, were waving to thank him for avoiding their nets. Judy, however, was rightfully convinced these fishermen needed help and sent a message to the United States Coast Guard. According to the Miami Herald, the United States Coast Guard is still checking on whether they ever received Judy's message.

Unfortunately, the oldest of the fishermen, 24-year-old Oropeces Betancourt, died the next day and 16-year-old Fernando Osario died five days later. It was not until March 24, 2012 that the last fishermen, 18-year-old Adrian "Santi" Vasquez, was rescued by an Ecuadorian fishing vessel near the Galapagos Islands.

All of this begs the question: why aren't there laws to prevent these types of incidents from happening? Well, as a matter of fact, there are… the Star Princess Captain just chose to ignore them.

Specifically, according to Miami maritime attorney, Charles Lipcon, international laws require a ship to stop and assist another vessel in trouble. "If it fails to do so, they're liable for what happens," he said. "If there's any doubt, the Captain has to make absolutely sure whether they're in distress or not. He's got to stop."

An example of such international laws includes the International Convention for the Safety of Life At Sea (SOLAS). Regulation 33 of Chapter V provides, in part, as follows: "The master of a ship at sea which is in a position to be able to provide assistance on receiving a signal from any source that persons are in distress at sea, is bound to proceed with all speed to their assistance…"

In addition, the law in Bermuda (which is applicable to the Star Princess because it is the flag it flies under), also requires the "master of a ship, on receiving at sea a signal of distress or information from any source that a ship or aircraft is in distress, shall proceed with all speed to the assistance of the persons in distress". Merchant Shipping Act of 2002.

The United States also imposes the duty to assist upon ships. In Caminiti v. Tomlinson Fleet Corp., 1981 A.M.C. 201 (N.D. Ohio June 28, 1979), the court held that a duty to rescue strangers in peril was "implicit and inherent in general maritime law" regardless of whether or not the ship caused the peril in the first place. The court reasoned that "the law of the sea has always demanded a higher degree of care, vigilance and diligence," and anything less would be "shocking to humanitarian considerations and the commonly accepted code of social conduct".

It is hard to find the humanitarian considerations or social conduct demonstrated in this tragic incident though. To date, Princess Cruises and the Star Princess Captain maintain that neither the Captain nor the officer of the watch were notified of the stranded fishermen. But they are continuing to investigate the circumstances surrounding the incident.

The Cruise Lines International Association announced last week that new standards will be mandated on cruise ships to avoid future disasters like the Costa Concordia cruise ship accident. New rules will require that cruise ships are equipped with additional life vests for adults and also ensure that there are more life jackets onboard then there are actual passengers. These jackets must also be readily available in public locations as opposed to located in individual cabins.

Passage planning procedures were also the subject of discussion, and ships will be required to submit a detailed report of the ship’s journey from departure to arrival. The voyage must be approved by the master and explained to the bridge team members by a designated officer.

The Cruise Lines International Association represents 26 companies and is a nonprofit organization dedicated to continuously serving passengers by bettering the cruise industry. The new cruise line rules aim to achieve safety for all passengers and crew in the fastest amount of time possible.

Cruise passengers aboard The Bahamas Celebration Cruise ship were in for a less than pleasant surprise when sinks and shower drains aboard the cruise ship began oozing raw sewage. The sewage was backed up and overflowing, according to passengers. One passenger who documented the incident with video and photos states that the sewage was “literally pouring out of the walls.” Another passenger was ankle deep in sewage water.

A representative for the cruise line has stated that the ship’s galley overflowed and subsequently affected ten different cabins. While no passengers have sought the legal advice of cruise ship lawyers at this point, the cruise ship is seeking to reimburse the affected passengers with free cruises and replacement of damaged items. It is still unclear how many passengers, if any, will accept the offer from the cruise line.

RIO HATO, Panama — Three Panamanian men were on their way home after a night of fishing, happy with their success, when the motor on their small open boat rattled and quit, leaving them adrift in sight of land, but too far out for their cellphones to work.

With nothing left to eat but the fish they caught and a few gallons of water, they drifted for 16 days, more than 100 miles from home, before they thought they were about to be saved.

Adrian Vasquez, 18, saw a huge white ship coming toward them. He waved a red sweater to get their attention, reaching high over his head, and dropping it low to his knees. Though he was near death, the skipper of the little panga, Elvis Oropeza Betancourt, 31, joined in, waving an orange life jacket.

“Tio, look what’s coming over there,” Mr. Vasquez recalled saying in an interview Thursday with The Associated Press. “We felt happy, because we thought they were coming to rescue us.”

The ship didn’t stop, and the fishing boat drifted another two weeks before it was found. By then, Mr. Vasquez’s two friends had died.

“I said, ‘God will not forgive them,’” Mr. Vasquez recalled. “Today, I still feel rage when I remember that.”

The day of the first sighting, March 10, birdwatchers with powerful spotting scopes on the promenade deck of the luxury cruise ship Star Princess saw a little boat adrift miles away. They told ship staff about the man desperately waving a red cloth.

On Thursday, Princess Cruises, based in Santa Clarita, Calif., said a preliminary investigation showed that passengers’ reports that they had spotted a boat in distress never made it to Capt. Edward Perrin or the officer on duty.

If it did, the company said, the captain and crew would have altered course to rescue the men, just as the cruise line has done more than 30 times in the last 10 years. The company expressed sympathy for the men and their families.

The fishermen had set out for a night of fishing Feb. 24 from Rio Hato, a small fishing and farming town on the Pacific coast of Panama that was once the site of a U.S. Army base guarding the Panama Canal. There are plans for a new airport to bring in tourists. Mr. Vasquez had lost his job as a gardener at a local hotel, and Oropeza invited him to come fishing to make a little money. The night before, they had no luck, so they were very happy to have a load of fish to sell, Mr. Vasquez said.

By the time they started to drift, Mr. Vasquez had eaten his lunch of rice and beef. They only had five gallons of water to start with, and much of that was gone. There was raw fish to eat, but no one liked it very much, and it soon rotted after the ice melted in the coolers. Sometimes Mr. Vasquez went over the side to probe passing rafts of debris, and sometimes came up with coconuts for them to eat. At one point, they caught a turtle, but decided they couldn’t eat it and put it back in the water. As they were, they found a jug of water that they drank “with tremendous anxiety.”

One night they saw a ship far in the distance, and lit a rag on a stick that they waved, but the ship didn’t come for them.

On the Star Princess, birdwatcher Jeff Gilligan from Portland, Ore., was the first to spot the boat, something white that looked like a house.

When Judy Meredith of Bend, Ore., looked through the scopes, she could plainly see it was a small open boat, like the kinds they had seen off Ecuador. And she could see a man waving what looked like a dark red T-shirt.

“You don’t wave a shirt like that just to be friendly,” Ms. Meredith said. “He was desperate to get our attention.”

Barred from going to the bridge herself to notify the ship’s officers, Ms. Meredith said she told a Princess Cruises sales representative what they had seen, and he assured her he passed the news on to crew.

The birdwatchers said they even put the representative on one of the spotting scopes so he could see for himself.

Ms. Meredith went to her cabin and noted their coordinates from a TV feed from the ship, booted up her laptop and emailed the U.S. Coast Guard what she had seen. She said she hoped someone would get the message and help.

She sent a copy to her son. When she returned to the promenade deck, she could still see the boat.

But nothing happened. The ship kept going. And the little boat with the waving men disappeared.

“We were kind of freaking out, thinking we don’t see anything else happening,” Ms. Meredith said.

Mr. Gilligan could no longer bear to watch.

“It was very disturbing,” he said. “We asked other people, ‘What do you think we should do?’ Their reaction was: ‘Well, you’ve done what you could do.’ Whether something else could have been done, that’s a bit frustrating to think about.”

After Oropeza and Fernando Osario died, Mr. Vasquez was eventually picked up by a fishing boat off Ecuador’s Galapagos Islands, more than 600 miles from where they had set out.

Mr. Vasquez said he slipped their bodies into the sea after they began to rot in the heat. Before he was rescued, a rainstorm gave him fresh water to drink, helping him survive. Throughout the ordeal, he thought about his eight brothers, and never gave up hope.

Safe at home, Mr. Vasquez said he recognized their boat, the Fifty Cents, from the photos Mr. Gilligan had taken with his 300 mm lens.

“Yes, that’s it. That’s it. That is us,” he said. “You can see there, the red sweater I’m waving and, above it is the sheet that we put up to protect us from the sun.”

Mr. Vasquez mentioned the ship in his first statement to Panamanian authorities when he returned to his country.

Back at home in Oregon, Ms. Meredith couldn’t sleep, wondering what happened to the men. Reading a news story about a Panamanian rescued off Ecuador after 28 days in an open boat, she figured that was the boat they had seen. She pestered Princess Cruises, the Coast Guard, and even the Panamanian embassy.

“We were all just sick about it, and just wanted to believe the ship notified someone,” she said.

The British captain of a cruise ship that failed to rescue three stricken Panamanian fishermen adrift in the Pacific Ocean is said to be devastated by accusations he ignored calls for their rescue.

Princess Cruises, the operator of the Star Princess, blamed a "breakdown in communications" for the tragedy, saying passenger reports that they had seen a boat in distress never made it to the captain or the officer on duty.

But a passenger who helped alert the ship's crew to the fishing boat has rejected the explanation as "not credible".

Two of the three men on the drifting boat later died of dehydration, one within hours of the Star Princess passengers attempting to raise the alarm after spotting the lost boat.

The story of Adrian Vasquez, the 18-year-old hotel worker who survived for 28 days adrift in the Pacific, was a global news story after his rescue near the Galapagos islands. But the Guardian revealed earlier this week that the fishing boat, the Fifty Cents, had been spotted on 10 March by three birdwatchers on the Star Princess, but the liner failed to stop. Later the same night, Oropeces Betancourt, 24, died of dehydration. The youngest fisherman, Fernando Osorio, 16, died on 15 March, suffering from dehydration, sunburn and heatstroke.

The cruise line, which is owned by Carnival – the same corporation behind the operators of the Costa Concordia which capsized this year – said investigations were still trying to establish the exact circumstances of the incident.

"Princess Cruises deeply regrets that two Panamanian men perished at sea after their boat became disabled in early March," a statement said. "The preliminary results of our investigation have shown that there appeared to be a breakdown in communications in relaying the passenger's concern.

"Neither Captain Edward Perrin nor the officer on the watch were notified. Understandably Captain Perrin is devastated that he is being accused of knowingly turning his back on people in distress. Had the captain received this information he would have had the oportunity to respond."

It continued: "We all understand that it is our responsibility and also the law of the sea to provide assistance to any vessel in distress, and it is not an uncommon occurrence for our ships to be involved in a rescue at sea.

In fact, we have done so more than 30 times in the last 10 years. We deeply regret this incident and are continuing our investigation to fully understand the circumstances."

But one of the birdwatching passengers who saw the boat said Carnival's explanation didn't "stack up". Jim Dowdall, 54, an environmental consultant from Dublin, said: "How does a junior officer phone the bridge and come to look two times and there's no communications? Whoever the officer on the bridge was should have taken action himself or alerted the captain." Judy Meredith, 65, from Bend, Oregon, said she contacted a crew member, who told her he was relaying her concerns to the bridge. She said it was "horrific news" when she found out the full details of the tragedy unfolding on the small boat, and discovered that two young men had died in such desperate circumstances, and "both could have lived, had the cruise ship responded to our urgent request".

Don Winner, a Panama-based, English-language blogger, later tracked down Vasquez, who confirmed that he and his friends had seen the cruise ship and had signalled frantically. He also confirmed that a picture taken by the cruise passengers was of his boat.

Jeff Gilligan, 61, from Portland, Oregon, who was travelling with Meredith, said a member of the crew had looked through their binoculars at the boat. "He said he could see what we were describing. We suggested that the people from the bridge came down and looked. He said they had binoculars … We were convinced the bridge knew what was happening and thought maybe it took a while to turn around. But after a while we realised it wasn't turning. But we told ourselves that this cruise ship would have radioed coastguards."

Dowdall, 54, said that the crew member he spoke to had a naval uniform "with stripes on his shoulder" and said he was at the Future Cruise Sales desk. "He came out a second time and looked through our scopes again, as if he'd been told to double check. He was on a mobile or walkietalkie, in communication while we were looking. All the time the boat was getting further and further away."

He said while it was too late for the two Panamanian men, "I would just hope they would respond by putting some formal protocol in place so that it never happens again — training right from the most junior crew member to the captain".

"We did have optics, we had the telescopes, We demonstrated the boat was there, not just something we imagined."

On returning home and learning of the Panamanian men's fate, Meredith was told by a Princess Cruises customer services representative that the ship's log recorded that the Star Princess had "made contact" with the fishing boat and they were "waving to thank them".

While Princess have yet to respond to questions on this issue, Jeff Gilligan said he had been called by a representative who said they had mistakenly confused the dates, an explanation he said was "plausible".

But, he said, from their conversation "they want to suggest we didn't communicate it. We did communicate it, very clearly. That's the whole problem, that they didn't take people seriously."

Princess Cruises says the captain of a cruise ship that passed by a disabled fishing boat in the Pacific Ocean last month without stopping was never told about the vessel or the three men aboard.

The company says in a statement Thursday that concerns raised by three birdwatchers who spotted the disabled boat were never passed on to Capt. Edward Perrin, or the officer of the watch.

Judy Meredith of Oregon says she told a sales representative who assured her he notified the bridge, but the ship did not stop.

Three men set out in a small boat from Rio Hato, Panama on Feb. 24. Two of them later died. Survivor Adrian Vasquez says he saw the ship and thought they were saved, but it kept going.

Original story: A cruise line is investigating allegations by passengers that crew workers ignored their pleas to rescue three fishermen adrift in the Pacific Ocean, the Guardian of London reported.

The allegations cast an uncomfortable light on a hopeful story about the sole survivor of that fishing boat, an 18-year-old hotel worker who survived for 28 days aboard his 10-foot vessel, named the Fifty Cents. He was rescued near the Galapagos Islands, nine days after he had to push his friends’ bodies overboard.

Now cruise ship passengers say those boys could have been saved. Three bird watchers say they alerted the crew of the Star Princess, owned by Carnival Corporation, which also owned the Costa Concordia.

One of the bird watchers told her version of events to Don Winner, an English-language blogger from Panama who tracked down the survivor, Adrian Vasquez. Vasquez confirmed that he and his friends had seen the cruise ship and signaled frantically with his red T-shirt and orange life vest, the Guardian reported.

The cruise line issued a statement about the allegations Tuesday: "At this time we cannot verify the facts as reported, and we are currently conducting an internal investigation on the matter.”

One bird watcher, Jeff Gilligan of Portland, Ore., told the Guardian that while scanning the ocean, he saw an object that looked like a little house.

“We then used spotting scopes with a fixed tripod and I could see this strange little boat and at least one person standing up waving a piece of cloth high over his head, up and down,” he said. "We could see it was not moving – there were nets pulled on to the boat and apparently no nets in the water. So we soon questioned – is this a stranded, disabled boat, signaling us for help?"

They contacted United States authorities when the boat did not turn around but nothing happened.

Vasquez was saved when a rainstorm hit a few days later, which allowed him to fill four gallons of water, the Daily Mail of London reported. He ate raw fish to stay alive.

He was ultimately rescued by fishermen working off a mother ship, the Duarte V.

After he slept and was fed and hydrated intravenously, Vasquez woke.

The captain of the Duarte told the Guardian that he reacted slowly but that he cast down his gaze when the subject of his friends arose.

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(CBS News) A cruise can be romantic and fun, but once you set sail, it's not always "The Love Boat."

CBS News travel editor Peter Greenberg helped navigate through the five things cruise lines don't want you to know on "CBS This Morning."

1. Cancellation policies are stricter than you think

Most cruise lines have almost draconian policies as to when you can cancel your trip without incurring a huge penalty. On Royal Caribbean, for example, for cruises six nights or longer, you must cancel 75 days in advance to get a full refund. As you get closer to the departure date, you're looking at forfeiting 50 percent, or even your full fare except for taxes and fees. Just recently, Carnival quietly tightened its cancellation policy. To get back 50 percent of your money, you must give 56 days notice on most cruises six days or longer. Holiday season cruises have even more stringent policies, requiring about 90 days notice. Booked a high-end suite on Norwegian Cruise Line? Try 120 days! That means passengers who start feeling ill before they set sail have everything to lose if they cancel. The best way around these rules is to purchase "cancel for any reason" travel insurance, but read the fine print and be ready to pay a hefty premium.

2. The brochure wording might sound nice, but ports of call are not guaranteed

Cruise lines have the right to change the itinerary at any time based on the captain's discretion. What do they owe you if that happens? Not much. If the reason is within the cruise line's "exclusive control," like mechanical issues before the ship is set to sail, you may have the right to cancel or postpone without penalty. But if it's beyond the cruise line's control, which means just about anything else including inclement weather, crime, a government advisory, a closed port, a mechanical problem mid-cruise, or an emergency on board, you're out of luck. Some cruise lines might try to swap in a comparable port of call, but there's no guarantee. The good news? Most cruise lines will refund the port fees and taxes if a port of call is canceled, but don't expect cash. It will likely come in the form of shipboard credit, a discount, if you will, on your next cruise.

3. Forget watching those reruns of "The Love Boat"

The notion that a cruise experience is all-inclusive, and that also includes the on board doctor, is just plain misleading. The doctor on a ship is a revenue generator for that cruise line. Even a visit seeking an aspirin is going to cost you a lot. And if you get sick on board, your medical insurance is probably not going to cover what the ship is going to charge you, especially if you need to leave the ship for treatment or hospitalization. But it can get worse: Ships that can carry more than 50 passengers are required to have hospital facilities and at least one doctor on board. But the quality and size of those facilities can vary widely. The doctors on board cruise ships are often generalists who can help with minor illnesses and short-term emergency care. But cruise ships don't have full trauma units or an intensive care unit. So if you have a heart attack or get acutely ill in some other way, the on board doctor can only stabilize you until you reach the nearest port or can be transported to a medical facility. Your best bet is to be prepared: people with pre-existing conditions such as diabetes or epilepsy are usually required to notify the cruise line before departure. Pregnant women and people with serious medical problems are not advised to cruise, although expectant women up to 28 weeks are generally allowed on board. And remember, not all medications are stocked in the pharmacy, so bring your own. If you have any medical concerns, and even if you don't, you should strongly consider purchasing special medical evacuation and repatriation in addition to traditional travel insurance. And make sure the policy means you can be evacuated to a hospital/doctor/medical facility of your choice - not just the hospital at the closest port of call.

4. All-inclusive drinks packages aren't worth it.

Drink up - or maybe not. At the end of a cruise, many passengers get sticker shock when they discover that all those diet cokes and funny drinks with umbrellas really add up. As a result, a number of cruise lines have begun marketing all-inclusive drink packages. But are all-you-can-drink packages on cruises worth the price? Royal Caribbean launched all-you-can-drink packages on three ships. It starts at $29 a day for all beer and house wines, and goes up to $49 a day, including gratuities. That's not that cheap. Look at the cost of a drink and be realistic about your habits. Celebrity Cruises also has programs, such as $45 a day for non-alcoholic drinks, beer that costs up to $5, and wines up to $8. So we're talking about nine beers or five glasses of wine a day to make it worthwhile. And then there's just human nature: on average, many cruise passengers drink the most for the first two days of the cruise, but after that, they taper off considerably.

5. Watch out for cell phone charges

Many cruise lines offer connections to land-based mobile networks using a service called Cellular At Sea. But there's a big catch: you're still paying international roaming rates. And it may not be clear at the time, but if you use your phone out of sight from land, you are automatically using the system and will be billed via your regular phone service. And even if you can see land and it's in the U.S., your cell phone will probably switch to the ship's "repeater" and that means you're hit with roaming charges. That's hugely expensive. To cut costs, either alert your carrier that you'll be traveling, and see if there is an international plan you can switch to, and use your phone only on land, away from the dock, when you can't actually see the ship.

GIGLIO, Italy — The captain of the cruise ship that capsized aground near an Italian island, killing at least five people, may have caused the accident by taking the ship too close to the island’s rocky shore, the owner of the vessel said on Sunday, as rescue workers extracted three survivors and two bodies from the wreck.

The captain, Francesco Schettino, 52, of Naples, Italy, was detained for questioning by the Italian police on charges of manslaughter, failure to offer assistance and abandonment of the ship.

On Sunday, Costa Cruises, the ship’s owner, issued a statement saying that “there may have been significant human error” by Captain Schettino that caused the ship, the Costa Concordia, to ground on a rocky outcropping near this resort island on Friday.

“The route of the vessel appears to have been too close to the shore, and in handling the emergency, the captain appears not to have followed standard Costa procedures,” the statement said.

The statement appeared to diverge from the company’s comments on Saturday when it said that the Costa Concordia had followed the normal course it follows “52 times a year.” The company had also commended Captain Schettino, saying he “immediately understood the severity of the situation” and “initiated security procedures to prepare for an eventual ship evacuation.”

Before he was detained by the authorities, Captain Schettino told Italian television that the ship hit a reef that was not on its navigation charts.

About 70 people were injured when the ship capsized, just as a late-seating dinner had begun on Friday night.

Accounts from survivors and witnesses raised questions about whether the ship had veered off course and suggested that the crew was ill-prepared for an emergency.

With 17 of the ship’s 4,200 passengers still listed as missing, rescue workers searched the waterlogged luxury liner on Sunday for survivors and found three, including a couple on their honeymoon. The couple was found inside a cabin, said Luca Cari, a spokesman for the Italian fire brigade that rescued them.

Later, firefighters rescued the ship’s purser by helicopter, hoisting him strapped to a stretcher. The purser, Manrico Giampedroni, 57, from the northwestern region of Liguria, had a broken leg.

Divers searching submerged cabins found the bodies of two elderly men, one from Spain and one from Italy, both wearing life jackets, said Cmdr. Cosimo Nicastro, a coast guard spokesman. The deaths brought the number of people confirmed dead to five.

Among the people still missing were 11 passengers and 6 crew members, said Enrico Rossi, president of the Tuscany region. The United States State Department said Sunday that 120 Americans had been on board and all but 2 had been accounted for.

Through the day, Italian fire brigades circled the massive ship, which lay on its side like a beached whale, with a wide gash just below the waterline and a rock jutting through its hull. The firefighters tapped the hull and listened for any responses from people trapped inside.

Rescuers were focusing their efforts on the part of the ship still above water. “The likelihood that we can find somebody alive in the underwater cabins is very low, so we are aiming at the ones possibly trapped above water,” said Mr. Cari, the fire spokesman.

So far, his crews had searched only a quarter of that area, parts of which are blocked by debris. He said the sunken portion of the ship would be inspected through the porthole windows during the night by divers with flashlights.

On the tiny island of Giglio, some residents had tended to survivors through the night on Friday, offering hot tea and dry clothes. At Mass on Sunday morning at the Giglio Porto church, a priest placed a life jacket, a rope and a rescue helmet on the altar to honor the dead and missing.

“Giglio will no longer be the same,” said Don Lorenzo, the priest. “Let’s us all pray together now for our souls.”

While the investigation continued, residents, many of whom are sailors, had little doubt about the cause of the accident, saying the captain had tried to thread a narrow passage between the rocks that was too small for the 114,500-ton ship.

“We used to get kind of close to the shore to show off its beauty, to entertain passengers,” said Demetrio Mattera, 75, a former cruise ship sailor here. “But never so close.”

Rome, Italy -- The Italian captain of the cruise ship that ran aground -- killing three people and injuring 20 more -- was arrested late Saturday and is being investigated for abandoning ship and manslaughter, said a local prosecutor in Grosetto, Italy.

Abandoning ship is the more serious of the potential charges, authorities said.

The captain, Francesco Schettino, had been earlier interviewed by investigators in Porto Santo Stefano about what happened when the 4,200-passenger Costa Concordia struck rocks in shallow water off Italy's western coast, said officer Emilio Del Santo of the Coastal Authorities of Livorno.

Authorities were looking at why the ship didn't hail a mayday during the accident near the Italian island of Giglio on Friday night, officials said. The ship is owned by Genoa-based Costa Cruises.

"At the moment we can't exclude that the ship had some kind of technical problem, and for this reason moved towards the coast in order to save the passengers, the crew and the ship. But they didn't send a mayday. The ship got in contact with us once the evacuation procedures were already ongoing," Del Santo said prior to the announcement of the arrest.

Giuseppe Orsina, a spokesman with the local civil protection agency, said 43 to 51 people were missing, though authorities are reviewing passenger lists to confirm the exact figure.

"These people could be still on the island of Giglio, in private houses or in hospitals," Orsina said.

The coast guard said 50 to 70 people could be missing.

Authorities said earlier Saturday they believed everyone was accounted for, but that they did not have a definitive list of names.

"Fear and panic are comprehensible in a ship long over 300 meters with over 4,000 passengers," Del Santo said. "We can confirm that the ship has a breach on the hull of about 90 meters, and that the right side of it is completely under water."

Two French tourists and a crew member from Peru were killed, Port authorities in Livorno said. One of the victims was a 65-year-old woman who died of a heart attack, according to authorities.

A surviving crew member, Rosalyn Rincon, 30, of Blackpool, England, said she wanted to know why the cruise ship was sailing so close to shore. She described a harrowing grounding of the vessel, whose tilting and rising water evoked the film "Titanic," she said.

"I'm pretty much angry, and I want to know why we were so close to the coast," said Rincon, who works as a dancer on the ship and was entertaining passengers by performing a trick inside a box with a magician when the accident occurred.

Nautilus International, a maritime employees trade union, called the accident a "wake-up call" to regulators.

"Nautilus is concerned about the rapid recent increases in the size of passenger ships -- with the average tonnage doubling over the past decade," said Nautilus general secretary Mark Dickinson in a statement. "Many ships are now effectively small towns at sea, and the sheer number of people onboard raises serious questions about evacuation."

The ship was 2.5 miles off route when it struck a rocky sandbar, according to the Italian Coast Guard. Local fishermen say the island coast of Giglio is known for its rocky sea floor.

Gianni Onorato, president of Costa Cruises, expressed "deep sorrow for this terrible tragedy," but said the cruise line was unable to answer all the questions that authorities are now investigating.

"On the basis of the initial evidence - still preliminary - Costa Concordia, under the command of Master Francesco Schettino, was sailing its regularly scheduled itinerary from Civitavecchia to Savona, Italy, when the ship struck a submerged rock," Onorato said in a statement before the announcement of the captain's announcement.

"Captain Schettino, who was on the bridge at the time, immediately understood the severity of the situation and performed a maneuver intended to protect both guests and crew, and initiated security procedures to prepare for an eventual ship evacuation," he continued.

"Unfortunately, that operation was complicated by a sudden tilting of the ship that made disembarkation difficult," Onorato said.

Some passengers fell into the chilly waters during the rescue, Italy's ANSA news agency reported.

The huge ship, which was lying on its side in shallow water Saturday evening, was carrying about 3,200 passengers and 1,000 crew members when it ran aground around dinner time.

Initial reports suggested as many as six people had been killed, but it was unclear why the number dropped. About 1,500 of the people aboard the ship were on their way home Saturday, the Civil Protection Authority said.

Passengers described how the lights went out and it then became clear the ship had hit something, prompting scenes of chaos.

Laurie Willits from Ontario, who was watching a magic show with her husband at that moment, told CNN: "We heard a scraping noise to the left of the ship and then my husband said 'we're sliding off our seats.'"

The couple ran to their cabin to get coats and life jackets before making their way to a lifeboat. Emergency instructions in English were hard to hear, Willits said.

Panic spread as people scrambled to find lifeboats in the dark as the ship quickly leaned to one side. Access to some lifeboats was hampered by the ship's tilt into the water, adding to the confusion.

Willits and her husband, who managed to get into a lifeboat about an hour to 90 minutes after the alarm was raised, watched from a pier on the island as the ship slowly sank until it was at an almost 90 degree angle in the water.

"I'm exhausted, I haven't had any sleep, I'm hungry," Willits said, but added that she was relieved to have been able to call her family thanks to the help of people on the island.

The coast guard said three helicopters were used to rescue some passengers from the ship.

Adm. Ilarione Dell'Anna, head of coastal authorities for the port city of Livorno, said an investigation is under way.

"There has probably been a technical blackout," he said. "The ship was dangerously near the coast. We worked all night in a state of maximum emergency.

"Fortunately the sea conditions have helped us, otherwise -- given the high number of people to rescue, 4,231 -- we could have had a completely different scenario: a real tragedy."

Many of those rescued in the early hours were taken to small churches and other buildings around the island for shelter. Some were still wearing the pajamas and slippers they had on as the ship went down, as they waited for help Saturday morning at reception centers set up on the island.

Costa said it was focusing on the final stages of the emergency operation and helping passengers and crew return home.

"It is a tragedy that deeply affects our company. Our first thoughts go to the victims and we would like to express our condolences and our closeness to their families and friends," Costa said on its website.

The Concordia, built in 2006, was on a Mediterranean cruise from Rome with stops in Savona, Marseille, Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca, Cagliari and Palermo, according to the cruise line. It was unclear how far into the cruise the grounding occurred.

Most of the passengers on board were Italian, as well as some French and German citizens. CNN affiliate America Noticias, in Peru, said a group of 32 Peruvians were also onboard. Brazil's state-run Agencia Brasil said 53 Brazilians were on the cruise ship: 47 passengers and six crew members, according to the foreign ministry. An estimated 126 Americans were also on board, according to the U.S. State Department. There were no reports of injured Americans.

The United Kingdom's Foreign and Commonwealth Office was working with Italian authorities to identify British nationals on the cruise, a spokesman said.

Another Costa ship was involved in a deadly 2010 accident when the Costa Europa crashed into a pier in Egypt's Sharm el-Sheikh during stormy weather, killing three crew members.

If you’re planning to visit Bermuda, leave your marijuana home—even if you need it “for medicinal reasons”. Known for its tough anti-drug laws, Bermuda’s customs officers routinely search arriving cruise ships looking for illegal substances.
This latest cruise ship tourist to be surprised by this was James Butter, an American tourist from Massachusetts who arrived in Bermuda this week aboard the Norwegian Dawn. Although he was off the ship at the time of the search, Butter was arrested when he returned, arraigned in Bermuda's Magistrates' Court, and fined a hefty $10,000 after allegedly being caught with marijuana in his cabin. The amount of his fine is one of the highest yet and is related to the volume of marijuana that he had onboard. Butter pleaded guilty to importing 23.45 grams of cannabis on Oct. 16.
Back in April a Royal Caribbean cruise ship passenger, Edward John Molinari of New York, was also arrested after sniffer dogs discovered the marijuana rolled into several cigarettes in Molinari's cabin safe. Although Molinari told the judge the drugs weren't his, that he’d found them in the room and that cannabis had been in use “all over the boat” the Magistrates Court fined him $3,000.
Passengers often fail to prepare properly for a cruise, including potentially breaking laws in other countries. Cruise ship lawyer Charles Lipcon has written a thorough guide, “Unsafe on the High Seas” to help tourists prepare for a range of possibilities, including Shipboard Disappearances, Noroviruses, Unaccredited Doctors and Inadequate Security.

Former Lipcon, Margulies, Alsina & Winkleman client Jamie Barnett spent countless hours on Capitol Hill fighting for the Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Act that passed in 2010. The clauses passed pertaining to the Act will go into affect in a matter of weeks, as we enter 2012. Changes will cover various aspects of the cruise experience, most notably where cruise ships will be required to have video surveillance systems that on-duty law enforcement officials can access as they see fit. Also, cabin doors will get upgraded with inside locks and peepholes. On the decks of the ships, 42 inch high railings will be required to enhance onboard safety.

Barnett, who is the president of International Cruise Victims Assn. Inc., was personally affected by loss on a cruise ship when her daughter died in 2005. Barnett sought out Lipcon, Margulies, Alsina & Winkleman maritime lawyers to help bring justice the unresolved matter, which included removal of her daughter’s body from the ship in Ensenada, Mexico, where an autopsy was performed prior to returning her body to the United States. Currently, the FBI has updated regulations and has the ability to now issue waivers so that autopsies can be performed upon the deceased once they arrive back in the United States, rather than immediately while they are still abroad.

http://www.lipcon.com/news/on-appeal:-11th-us-circuit-says-not-admitting-testimony-was-abuse-of-discretion.html

Mark and Tara Casavant’s ship has finally come in.

A decade after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks frightened the Worcester couple out of embarking on a cruise to Bermuda five days later, the state’s highest court has ruled that Norwegian Cruise Line engaged in unfair and deceptive trade practices.

The court ruled that for failing to fully disclose its refund policy to the Casavants, and then refusing to reimburse the $2,135 cost of their trip, the cruise line must pay the couple back.

After the Casavants sued Norwegian in 2002, a lower-court judge ruled that their tickets be refunded. Now, per order of the state Supreme Judicial Court, Norwegian is on the hook for damages and attorney fees, too.

According to the court’s decision issued yesterday, Norwegian told the Casavants there was no refund due because they backed out of their trip with less than two weeks to go before the ship was to set sail from Boston.

The Casavants tried to reschedule, but Norwegian wouldn’t let them, the court found. “Norwegian informed the Casavants for the first time that it was Norwegian’s policy ‘to provide passengers with a 100-percent refund if they have an objection to a provision in the contract of passage,’ and, further, because the Casavants had not objected to a specific provision in the contract of passage at the time they sought to reschedule (or cancel) their trip, their claim for a refund was properly denied. This refund policy was not contained in any of the materials . . . the Casavants received prior to the scheduled trip,” the order reads.

Neither the Casavants nor Norwegian’s New York attorney could be reached for comment.

Regent Seven Seas Cruises will shift operations to Miami from Fort Lauderdale next fall, bringing regularly scheduled luxury sailings to a port that has been seeking to diversify its offerings.

The Port of Miami hosts ships from the world’s three largest cruise ship companies — Carnival, Royal Caribbean (including Celebrity) and Norwegian Cruise Line — but doesn’t have any regular sailings on top-of-the-line brands. Crystal Cruises, another luxury line, has a ship in Miami on rare occasions.

Regent — an all-inclusive luxury line that sails regular voyages to the Caribbean from South Florida in the winter — will add another 19 calls to the Port of Miami during the season that starts next fall, mostly on its 490-passenger Seven Seas Navigator.

“It’s just another step up in the direction we want to go,” said Port of Miami director Bill Johnson.

The three-ship line will join sister company Oceania Cruises, which also sails the Caribbean and other destinations from Miami. Both are under parent company Prestige Cruises Holdings, which is controlled by Apollo Management. Apollo is a part owner of Norwegian Cruise Line, which also bases ships in Miami.

Both Oceania and Regent will sail from Terminal J on the port’s south side, where a nearly $3 million improvement project is just about complete.

Regent president Mark Conroy said having a dedicated terminal — and sailing from the same place as Oceania — will be more convenient for the line and its passengers. At Port Everglades, he said, heavy traffic sometimes forces Regent ships to use different terminals and to limit the days ships can sail in and out.

The closer proximity to Miami International Airport, Conroy said, will also be helpful for international visitors.

“It just makes considerable sense for them to be in the Port of Miami with the proximity to one of the largest international airports in the United States,” said Miami cruise industry expert Stewart Chiron, CEO of Cruiseguy.com.

A Port Everglades official said the news was not surprising, given Regent’s common owner with Oceania. Regent’s headquarters will move in north Broward to Prestige’s current offices in west Miami-Dade this fall.

“We have expected this consolidation for some time,” Port Everglades director Phil Allen said in a statement.

Chiron said Miami has lacked a regular “six-star” tenant of Regent’s caliber, a class that includes Crystal, Seabourn and Silversea. The last two brands sail from Port Everglades.

“Is it a big loss to Port Everglades?” Chiron asked. “Not really. Is it a boost to Miami? Yes.”

Environmentalists in South Carolina are fighting for caps on the number of cruises annually travel in and out of the Charleston harbor. The goal is to reduce waste water discharge logs, reduce the size of ships and therefore reduce the capacity.

However, with the popular cruise industry (which brings about $37 million to the area each year), many feel that putting a cap on incoming tourists that boost the economy doesn’t make much sense.

While there are certainly no shortage of cruise ship laws, there is room for debate on this proposal considering that the Port hasn’t even hit 100 cruises per year yet—they have 89 expected for 2012 and 84 in 2013.

Stay tuned as the City Council of Charleston and the Coastal Conservation League reconvene September 13.

Texas representative Blake Farenthold has proposed cruise ship legislation that will directly challenge the Jones Act that restricts foreign built, crewed and flagged vessels from traveling from port to port in the U.S. Under the Jones Act, the only ships allowed to do so are those built, owned and waving the U.S. flag.

Farenthold has spawned the CRUISE Act, which stands for the Creating and Restoring U.S. Investment and Stimulating Employment Act that allows foreign operated cruise ships to embark in coastal trading to spur economic development. In recent years, the cruise industry has created revenues of $788 million, and upping the amount of foreign traffic to smaller ports could help deepwater ports to thrive. Excluded from the CRUISE Act are public vessels, government vessels, and scheduled vessels. Ferries are unclear as to whether they would be included as well. Ultimately, the goal is to take down barriers that hinder economic growth.

Currently, the tentative cruise ship law is in the hands of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.