Cruise Ship Law

A 637-ft. cruise ship detained by the U.S. Coast Guard has moved to the Brooklyn Cruise Ship Terminal from Pier 92 in New York City and will continue repairs to fix hull damage and numerous discrepancies found during a recent routine inspection.

The Clipper Pacific, a cruise ship home ported in the Bahamas, will submit a complete repair proposal for the hull damage and 66 violations found during the inspection. The proposal includes sufficient temporary repairs that will allow the vessel to safely travel to their next port of call, where it will make permanent repairs.

The Coast Guard and the vessel's classification society have reviewed plans for repair from the ship's master and will conduct a final exam tomorrow morning to determine if the Captain of the Port Order to detain the Clipper Pacific will be lifted and the vessel deemed safe to sail.

A six-person examination team from Coast Guard Sector New York boarded the Clipper Pacific at 8 a.m. Sunday to conduct a routine safety inspection. Upon entering New York Harbor the ship's master reported a gash about one inch in length on the left side of the vessel sustained prior to coming to port.

Further investigation by the Coast Guard team identified the other 66 discrepancies such as fire safety, lifeboat damages and life jacket issues on the vessel. This inspection lasted from Sunday morning to Tuesday evening.

The Clipper Pacific is carrying approximately 1,200 passengers and crew members.

The cruise ship was inbound from Greenland when it was stopped by the Coast Guard.

SAN FERNANDO, Philippines - A coast guard diver searching for survivors Tuesday inside a ferry that capsized in a typhoon found bodies and a bit of comfort — a plastic rosary floating in the water.

Lt. Cmdr. Inocencio Rosario slipped on the string of light blue beads for luck, and hoped that it was an omen that a miracle was still possible, that survivors would be found inside the hulking vessel.

Typhoon Fengshen toppled the seven-story ferry Saturday as it cut a deadly swath through the central Philippines. Only four dozen survivors have been found; more than 800 passengers and crew are missing.

With each passing day, the hope of finding them dimmed.

"I felt sad when I saw the bodies," Rosario said, still wearing the beads. "I can imagine what they went through."

Rosario, whose name translates as "rosary," didn't think there would be any survivors, but "I believe in miracles."

"I hope somebody there is alive," he said. "We have only probed about 15 percent of the ship."

About 30 divers were on hand, including some U.S. Navy frogmen who were expected to take turns searching the vessel Wednesday and help map the seabed. The ferry, about 500 yards off Sibuyan island, is lying on unstable coral.

Nearby villagers said a deep trench may be nearby, so there are concerns the vessel could slip and plunge deeper.

The storm's toll on shore includes 227 dead and 275 missing in the worst-hit region, with dozens reported killed elsewhere by floods and landslides. It caused an estimated $74.2 million in crop damage.

The roiling seas left in the storm's wake had kept rescue workers away from the ferry until calm, sunny conditions Tuesday allowed the divers to slip inside. Only the tip of the bow juts from the water.

The conditions were treacherous. Coast guard chief Vice Adm. Wilfredo Tamayo said the divers broke windows and used every other gap they could find to get inside the 23,824-ton Princess of the Stars.

Once inside, they found bodies in air pockets along with chairs, baggage, shoes and shards of broken glass. Iron bars, twisted by the sudden capsizing, jutted out here and there.

One body was dressed in a ship's officer uniform and was clutching a two-way radio, officials said.

Passengers could have survived initially — life jackets were on some bodies — and some may have suffocated as they waited for rescuers delayed by the storm, Philippine navy spokesman Lt. Col. Edgard Arevalo said.

"It seems the passengers hesitated from jumping in turbulent waters" because "it happened too sudden," Arevalo told dzBB radio, referring to survivors' accounts of the ship quickly listing and going down in a half-hour or less.

"(With the life vests) you will survive for a few hours, but in time, the air will run out," he added.

Arevalo said the priority is how to extricate the bodies, either by attaching weights to them and pulling them out or cutting through the hull — a prospect complicated by a cargo of bunker oil that could leak.

Only three bodies were pulled out Tuesday.

While some relatives tearfully waited for news, others angrily questioned why the ship was allowed to leave Manila late Friday for a 20-hour trip to Cebu with a typhoon approaching.

Sulpicio Lines said it sailed with coast guard approval. The company's services have been suspended pending an investigation and a check of its other ships' seaworthiness.

Fengshen was expected to hit Taiwan and southeast China — an area already coping with flooding — on Wednesday.

By JIM GOMEZ
ASSOCIATED PRESS

Testimony of Ross A. Klein, PhD, Before the Subcommittee on Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine Infrastructure, Safety, and Security Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation

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Five years after the deadliest cruise industry accident in more than a decade, Norwegian Cruise Line has agreed to plead guilty to criminal negligence in the SS Norway explosion.

Federal prosecutors on Friday charged Norwegian Cruise Line with gross negligence almost five years after a boiler explosion on the historic SS Norway killed eight crew members and seriously injured 10 others in the Port of Miami.

The U.S. attorney's office said Norwegian agreed to plead guilty to the criminal charge, which alleges the cruise line operated the vessel in a ``grossly negligent manner that endangered the lives, limbs and property of the persons on board.''

Norwegian is liable for at least $500,000 in criminal penalties for the deadliest accident on a U.S.-based ocean liner in more than a decade. The cruise line also has agreed to carry out safety inspections of its vessels with an independent consultant.

Coast Guard Rear Admiral Robert Branham called the May 25, 2003, explosion a ``preventable tragedy.''

''Hopefully, this case will send a message to the maritime industry that marine safety should be the paramount consideration in maintaining their vessels,'' he said in a statement.

The cruise line said Friday evening that it has cooperated with federal authorities since the explosion and will continue to do so. ''The safety and security of our passengers and crew has been and always will be of the utmost importance,'' Norwegian's statement said.

A National Transportation Safety Board report on the accident, quietly completed in November, showed NCL engineers had expressed concerns since the late 1990s about the condition of the four boilers that powered the elegant ship. The massive high-pressure boilers, each holding 20 tons of 528-degree water, had a history of cracks, leaks, corrosion and repairs.

''We must realize that we have reached a point where the operation of the vessel is not safe,'' one unnamed NCL port engineer wrote in a 1998 e-mail to the company's vice president of ship operations, the NTSB report said. The engineer cited ''numerous boiler tube failures'' that were subsequently repaired.

PATCH JOBS

The NTSB found the primary cause of the explosion was the fracture of a weld on a seam of a high-pressure drum. The scalding water flashed into steam, swept through the engine spaces and some adjacent crew berthing areas and killed eight crew members while injuring nearly a dozen others. No passengers were hurt.

Investigators also found questionable welds and crack-repair efforts; inconsistent water chemistry that led to corrosion; inadequate inspections from both NCL and Bureau Veritas, an international inspection agency, and an operating schedule that exposed the aging boilers to extreme thermal stresses.

In January and July 2002, a year before the boiler burst, NCL port engineers e-mailed NCL management with concerns that the ship's routes and busy schedules forced crew to fire up and cool down the boilers more rapidly than the operating manual called for.

The report was also critical of NCL's handling of persistent cracks in the boilers, which first appeared in original welds in the 1970s. Cracks were ground down until boiler walls reached a minimum allowable thickness then built back up with weld repairs. The length and width of the welds, the NTSB found, probably accelerated pitting and cracking.

At some point, copper -- an unacceptable metal for repairs -- also appeared to have been deliberately applied to cracks on the boiler that exploded.

''The only explanation for the presence of the copper is that it was introduced to mask the crack, impede inspection and avoid necessary repairs,'' the report said.

Investigators also found a lengthy gap in formal inspections, ``even though it was known that they were susceptible to cracking and were in fact cracked in 1996.''

The report found that the header, the part of boiler No. 23 that failed, had not had a material test or appropriate visual inspection since 1990.

The cruise line was charged in an ''information,'' not a criminal complaint or indictment. That means Norwegian executives and prosecutors negotiated the misdemeanor charge.

''Charges such as those today are necessary to show that companies operating and managing ships have a duty to take reasonable measures to assure the safety of all onboard -- passengers and crew,'' said U.S. Attorney R. Alexander Acosta.

In addition, the NTSB noted that NCL had agreed to improve its fleet emergency response, safety measures and maintenance records. Though few ships, aside from Naval vessels, still rely on large high-pressure boilers for primary power, smaller low-pressure ones are routinely used to heat water or for other shipboard systems.

FAMILIES CAN'T SUE

Miami attorney Charles Lipcon, who represented many of the victims and is the author of the new book, Unsafe on the High Seas, praised the criminal charge.

''I'm pleased to see that the U.S. attorney stepped up to the plate and got involved,'' he said. But he called it ''unfortunate'' that the crew members and their families were not able to press civil lawsuits against Norwegian in federal court in Miami.

The dead and injured seamen were mostly Filipino. Their contracts with Norwegian called for settling claims in arbitration, so their lawsuits were dismissed from federal court in Miami. The cruise line negotiated settlements afterward.

A cruise industry representative called the criminal case a strong signal.

''We take safety very seriously as an industry, and we hope this gets resolved and look forward to a resolution,'' said Michael Crye, executive vice president of the Cruise Lines International Association, a trade group.

The SS Norway had a storied past. It was launched as the SS France in 1960. At 1,035 feet, it was the longest passenger ship afloat and could carry more than 2,000. It was too long and too wide for the Panama Canal.

Deemed unprofitable in 1974, the ocean-liner was mothballed in France. In 1979, Norwegian Cruise Line bought it for $18 million -- its value in scrap metal -- and revamped it at a cost of $120 million. After a ''farewell cruise'' to Europe in 2001, the SS Norway returned to Miami for seven-day cruises in the eastern Caribbean. It was among the last ocean-liners powered by high-pressure steam boilers.

It has been out of commission since the boiler explosion five years ago. The company has since sold it for scrap.

The Miami Herald
By JAY WEAVER AND CURTIS MORGAN

Cruise-industry giant Carnival Corp. is challenging state Attorney General Bill McCollum's investigation into its controversial fuel surcharge by claiming the extra passenger fee already was approved when Gov. Charlie Crist was attorney general.

Records reviewed by the Orlando Sentinel show representatives for Carnival approached then-Attorney General Crist's office in October 2006 seeking approval to charge a new fee that would help Carnival absorb skyrocketing fuel costs. At least one internal meeting on the issue was scheduled by lawyers in the Attorney General's Office on Oct. 5 that year.

McCollum's office said it has been deluged with complaints about the surcharge, which has turned out to be as much as $70 per passenger. But the Attorney General's Office "expressly approved" the fee nearly 18 months ago, Carnival lawyer Curtis J. Mase wrote in a letter to investigators leading the current probe by McCollum's office.

Mase also wrote that Carnival was told "that the approval came from the highest level" of Crist's office.

Five days after that Oct. 5, 2006, meeting, the Republican Party of Florida reported receiving checks totaling $250,000 from two Carnival subsidiaries: Holland America Line and Princess Tours.

Businesses across all industries were at the time pouring record amounts of money into the Republican Party, which was paying for television advertisements, campaign staff and more to help Crist get elected governor.

The twin $125,000 checks are the largest donations that Miami-based Carnival or any of its subsidiaries have made to the Florida GOP since 1996, the earliest year for which electronic records are available.

Carnival said Tuesday that the donations were unrelated to the conversations with Crist's office about the fuel surcharge. "Any contribution by any of our brands to the Republican Party of Florida has no correlation whatsoever to interactions with the AG's office," Carnival spokeswoman Jennifer de la Cruz said in an e-mail.

Paul Huck, a former deputy attorney general under Crist who was involved in the 2006 discussions, said Tuesday in an e-mail that any suggestion of a quid pro quo from Carnival was "offensive" to the lawyers involved in the issue. "I am confident that if such a bargain had been even hinted at during their communications with Carnival, Carnival would have been literally and figuratively shown the door," he said.

Surcharge conditions

Carnival representatives approached the Attorney General's Office about the fuel surcharge to make sure the fee would comply with a 1997 agreement between the state and major cruise lines regarding what they can charge on top of their advertised fares.

Huck said that, after meeting with Carnival, lawyers in the Attorney General's Office recommended to him that the cruise company be allowed to levy a fuel surcharge under three conditions: It had to be temporary; it had to be based on actual fuel-cost increases; and it had to be conspicuously disclosed to consumers before they purchased a ticket.

"The notion was to take into account the reality of increasing fuel prices but at the same time to ensure that the full and conspicuous disclosure of the surcharge was being made to the consumer before he or she made a decision to go ahead and buy a ticket," Huck said in his Tuesday e-mail. Huck eventually became Crist's general counsel in the governor's office but left to join a private law firm in February.

Huck said he authorized the decision and that, to his knowledge, Crist's approval was not sought. Crist said Tuesday that he did not recall any discussions with or about Carnival.

Retroactively applied

A spokeswoman for the Attorney General's Office, where McCollum succeeded Crist in January 2007, said this week that Carnival's surcharge went beyond the agreement reached with Crist's office in 2006.

That's because when Carnival ultimately announced the surcharge in November 2007 -- a $5 a day charge up to $70 per person or $140 per stateroom on all cruises departing as of Feb. 1 -- it required even customers who had already booked their trips to pay the new charge, though they were also given the option to cancel their reservations without penalty.

The Attorney General's Office says that violates even the conditions set in October 2006 because it wasn't adequately disclosed ahead of time to consumers. "We never agreed nor acquiesced in any way to a retroactive application to previously ticketed passengers," Robert Julian, a lawyer in the office's economic-crimes division, wrote in a Jan. 16 letter to Carnival.

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., which followed Carnival in adopting a retroactive surcharge, has already settled with McCollum's office and agreed to refund $21 million in surcharges to customers charged even after they booked.

But Carnival has so far refused to back down. Carnival's lawyers say the company has met all the criteria outlined under Crist's administration.

The company has, for instance, pointed out in correspondence with the state that its brochures warned customers of the possibility of fuel surcharges. It has also told the Attorney General's Office that it intends to eliminate the surcharge once the price of crude oil drops below $70 a barrel.

Carnival spokeswoman de la Cruz said the cruise operator intends to eliminate the charge once fuel has spent 30 days trading below $70 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Light, sweet crude oil closed at $101.22 a barrel Tuesday.

Carnival has already suggested to McCollum's office that it could send refunds to passengers who had already paid in full for their trips when the surcharge was announced, according to the state. But McCollum's office has insisted that any refunds must also apply to customers who had paid deposits only.

Carnival says it would forfeit $40 million if it has to refund the surcharge to all previously booked passengers.

Orlando Sentinel
By Jason Garcia, Sentinel Staff Writer
March 26, 2008

A CRUISE BRUISE EXCLUSIVE

I had a neighbor decades ago, who was scared to death of her husband. She had good reason to be scared, he had beaten her to a bloody pulp more than once, and threatened her with death more times than I can count. I lived next door and could hear the wild accusations that he would make and the resulting beatings. He watched her every move. She couldn't go to the store without him, couldn't talk on the phone or write letters without him screening them.

She was a frail little thing, with two tiny kids, and he could have snapped her like a twig anytime the mood would strike. I stayed out of her affairs, as she requested, until one day I could no longer take the screaming, pleading and begging for help. She was up against the kitchen wall, a butcher knife to her throat, screaming for somebody to call the police because he was going to kill her. So, I did.

When the police arrived they could see the scene through the window, drew their guns and kicked in the door, screaming at him repeatedly to "drop it". Long story short, she refused to press charges, he stayed in the house that night and I was the villain. I have never been able to understand that.

I understand her decision to not have him locked up, it is a pattern of partner abuse mirrored millions of times in this country. I just don't understand how calling the police when begged to do so, made me the bad guy.

I will say, with two small children at her feet, lacking a high school education, no car of her own, and no income of her own, it is easy to see how she would feel trapped after many years of systematic abuse.

I am telling you that story, because it mirrors, in many respects the latest letter I have received from a Carnival Cruise Line crew member. The letter is so sincere, so filled with emotion, pleading for help, that I have once again made an exception for posting a story on this site. I am using my rules for posting sexual abuses cases, in this case, equally as appauling and disgusting. Abuse by any name is still abuse.

There is enough personal identifying information in this letter, that there is good reason for the crew member to be fearful that I might post it all and the crew member would be doomed. I feel so strongly that this crew member is at risk, I will not even post whether the person is female or male.

This is the fifth crew member to come forward in the past few days, all of them saying they are working for Carnival Cruise Lines. Some, seem more complaining than pleading for help. But, all are inspired by the case of Lady Africa and her bravery to make public her dire situation.

From what I can see, they have every reason to complain. But, complaining and pleading for help while out lining human rights violations are two very different things.

Crew Member #5 Contacts Cruise Bruise

Crew member #5 says that the ship has refused to give back their passport too as with Lady Africa as they call her and say they have been trapped on the ship for many months. Contracts are suppose to be for only a few months. What is going on here?

In addition, though crew member #5 gives a full name, the ship name, length of employment on the ship, country of origin, and a complete history of their family, they are terrified to give an email address.

The letter reads, ". . . some people tell me even my guest tell me get lawyers here to take action. . ."

Crew member #5 says in addition to holding the passport and refusing to let the person off the ship, they also have the email addresses crew members use, and monitor their activity. So, this person has asked to have a response posted here.

The final question posed in the email asks, "Is there some way to get justice if I have no money for lawyer in this country [America], also no B2 visa?

To that I answer, "Yes". The conditions, wages, hours worked and intimidation the crew members are saying they suffer under, are not only illegal in this country, they have resulted in employers getting jail time.

It is a crime in the U.S. to work people in double shifts without breaks, seven days a week, to not pay them overtime, to force them to work in job positions they did not agree to, to hold them hostage in the employer's place of business, and forbid them to leave. Without their passports these crew members might as well be shackled to their employer's sweat shop work tables.

Now, let me come back again to another story recently posted. The towns in this country that beg for cruise industry ports-of-call, and refuse to join together to force the industry to fly the American flag and employ people under American labor law standards are assisting in the slave labor trade of some cruise lines. Shame, shame, shame on them.

It is high time the citizens living in these American ports, find a backbone, stand up for human rights and demand their elected officials refuse deals with any ship not flagged in the U.S. This industry can not afford to leave our seas, and sail away from the millions of passengers who live in the U.S. and would be lost if they left our ports.

We can bomb foreign countries to end abuse of those who can not defend themselves, while spending billions of American tax payer dollars to do so. But, we can't write legislation to force passengers ships in our ports to fly the American flag and offer basic labor protections? I'm absolutely disgusted.

I am appealing to all cruise ship passengers, boarding from American ports to refuse to sail on these ships, write your legislators and insist on laws to better protect crew members, and to find it in your heart to take action for crew member #5 and the others, so they might enjoy the same human standards in the work place that you and I enjoy.

Say "no" to cheap cruises and say "yes" to a better standard of living for those who work as slave labor on those cheap cruises. Embark on your own personal crusade for these victims, and create such a fuss, these victims voices will not remain muffled in the belly of ships.

At minimum, I give permission to every webmaster, around the world, to post this case, word for word, so we can let EVERYONE know these people need our help. Enough is enough. It is time to speak out.

Two crew members ( 1 2 ) have gone missing at sea this month alone. One from the same ship "Lady Africa" says she was enslaved on. We can only imagine why. Was it desperation after an inability to continue to endure these substandard employment practices? We will never know.

Crew member #5, you know this story is about you, though I do not call you by your name or nickname.

I urge you to contact me with your email address, so I can begin to help you. I promise you that your email address will be kept in complete confidence by the legal professional I contact on your behalf. You asked me to give you hope, and I am reaching out to you, offering it now. I am giving you one chance, in this single, one time, posting to change work conditions for yourself and all the crew members also suffering.

If you can not give your email for fear of retribution, at least contact me again and give me permission to send a copy of your complete letter to a specialized attorney who will work for you without charge unless the attorney can get your back wages for you and help you out of your dire situation.

I assure you that you will not pay the attorney if their team can not help you, and IF they can get you paid back wages and compensation, they will deduct their fees from the money you collect. Don't worry, you can get help without any money up front.

UPDATE: February 27, 2008 : 0100 hours

Cruise Bruise has received contact from a maritime attorney. The attorney says they can investigate Crew Member #5 claims, and other crew member claims by depositioning all the crew members within the same department, without revealing who made the original complaint. You will be protected.

A female crew member working on a Port Canaveral-based cruise ship filed a lawsuit today in federal court against Carnival Cruise Lines, accusing the Miami-based cruise line of forced labor, slavery and human trafficking.

In court papers filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District in Florida, attorneys for Reshma Harilal, a 33-year-old resident of South Africa, ask that she is removed from the Carnival Glory cruise ship, where she is currently working. The suit also asks that her passport is returned to her, and that she be paid wages that she agreed to work under.

“Based on what our client has told us, there are other crew members who are also working in lower positions and at a lower pay than they agreed when they boarded the vessel,” said Tonya Meister, an associate at the Miami-based law firm Lipcon Margulies & Alsina. “This case stands for more than money. Human beings should not be treated this way. They should not be forced to work under conditions they did not agree upon, and that’s what this case is about.”

Carnival officials could not immediately be reached for comment today.

With Harilal aboard, the Carnival Glory left Port Canaveral on Saturday.

Court documents claim that Harilal traveled from South Africa to take a position as a cabin steward on the Glory, after signing a contract indicating that would be her position. While already aboard the ship, Harilal was told to work as an assistant cabin steward instead, the suit claims. The cabin steward job pays $1,500 every two weeks, and the assistant job pays $250 to $300 every two weeks, the suit claims.

The Glory was in Belize on Tuesday, was expected to dock in Bahamas on Friday, and was scheduled to return to Port Canaveral on Saturday.

Attorneys have faxed the complaint to the ship, and are hopeful that Harilal will be removed from the ship Thursday or Friday, when the ship is in the Bahamas, and then will be brought back to Miami.

Harilal holds a tourist visa, and would stay with her daughter, who lives in Florida, attorney Meister said.

Read a copy of the lawsuit (PDF).

BY DONNA BALANCIA
FLORIDA TODAY

The cruise lines always say that the chance of rape is less on a ship than on land. This article reflects a different result.

From the International Cruise Victims message board:
Your risk of being sexually assaulted is much higher on a cruise ship than in the average American city.

Thats the message that Ross Klein, professor at a Canadian university, brought to Congress last week. One has a 50% greater chance of sexual assault on a Royal Caribbean International ship as compared to the US generally, Klein told a House of Representatives subcommittee on March 27. He explained that the figures for Royal Caribbean are comparable to those for the industry as a whole and were used for the sake of clarity.

Klein, professor of social work at the Memorial University of Newfoundland, has written numerous books, articles, and reports on the cruise industry and maintains two blogs concerned with the industry.

Dr. Foxs, hired by the cruise lines to develop crime rates for March 7, 2006 Congressional Hearings, had asserted that the rate of sexual assault on cruise ships is 17.6 per 100,000. Dr. Klein testimony, however, indicated that on the most conservative basis, the actual crime rate is almost three times greater, 48.065 per 100,000. As a result of his testimony, the reliability of any judgments based on those industry figures must be called into question.

A summary of his findings our shown in the following chart:

Rate of Sex Related Shipboard Incidents
(Based upon data released as a result of a Court Order and published in the LA Times on January 20, 2007)

Annual rate of all sex-related shipboard incidents (per 100,000): 161.996
Annual rate of sexual assaults (per 100,000): 48.065
US rate for sexual assaults (per 100,000): 32.200

The numbers indicate that the cruise industry has a problem and they appear either unwilling or unable to deal with it, Klein added. His testimony added further evidence to support the belief of ICV that cruise ship passengers are ill-served, sometimes fatally so, by the current security efforts of cruise lines.

Kendall Carver, President of ICV, indicated, the testimony of Professor Klein is a valuable addition to the growing store of data that point to major problems in the cruise industry. Through advertising, the industry has created the sense that cruise ships offer a carefree, no-risk vacation. Far too many people have learned at their own cost that this is untrue. ICV exists to promote the safety of passengers and crew and to prevent more victims.

The written testimony of Dr. Klein and of other witnesses from the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee hearing (entitled Crimes Against Americans on Cruise Ships) is posted on the Committees website: http://transportation.house.gov/hearings/hearingdetail.aspx?NewsID=112

For more information about the International Cruise Victims Association, please visit www.internationalcruisevictims.org or write to info@internationalcruisevictims.org, phone 425-753-7711, fax 206-374-2944.

Cruise lines and their passengers spent $17.6 billion in the United States in 2006, and New York and Hawaii were among the fastest growing embarkation points for cruise travelers, according to a study released Wednesday.

Direct spending related to the cruise industry increased 9 percent in 2006 - down slightly from 10 percent growth the year before because of a slower rate of capacity growth and a drop in consumer spending, according to a report from the Cruise Lines International Association and Exton, Pa.-based Business Research and Economic Advisors.

The report showed that 12 million passengers took cruise vacations worldwide in 2006, with U.S. passengers making up 78 percent of those travelers. Seven ships were added last year, and about 30 more are slated to be built by the end of 2011 as cruise lines anticipate there will be enough demand to fill some 80,000 new berths.

Over the past few years, the cruise industry has had to answer questions about safety aboard ships stemming from several incidents, including passengers' bouts with stomach illness, a ship fire and traveler disappearances. It also must deal with the yearly hurricane season and higher fuel costs.

Demand has slowed in the key Caribbean market, but the industry has seen potential for growth in the Europe and Asia markets. Cruise association President Terry Dale noted that industry surveys show only about 17 percent of Americans have taken a cruise, meaning there should be enough demand to meet the increased supply of berths.

"As an industry, we've barely scratched the surface," Dale said. "There's such potential for us to continue to grow."

Florida - home base for Carnival Corp. and Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. - led with nearly 56 percent of all embarkations and the top three cruise ports in 2006. The Port of Miami, Port Canaveral and Port Everglades accounted for more than 4.4 million passenger embarkations, the study showed.

The Port of Galveston in Texas ranked fourth with 617,000 embarkations, an increase of 16 percent from the year before.

New York ranked sixth with 536,000 embarkations in 2006, up 45 percent, with the opening of the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal.

The port in Honolulu also showed substantial growth, with passenger departures reaching 318,000, a jump of 34 percent.

"We've literally brought cruising to the backyards of millions of Americans," Dale said. "It makes it much more accessible for folks, and as a result, you don't have additional costs to fly.

It just makes the experience that much more affordable."

The success in New York and Hawaii were in contrast to a nearly 77 percent drop in passenger embarkations in New Orleans, whose port was hit hard by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. About 72,000 cruise passengers began their trip in New Orleans in 2006, down from 308,000 the year before, the report showed.

Other ports that saw a drop in embarkations were Boston, down 22 percent with 62,000, and San Diego, down 23 percent with 180,000.

The study was done by Business Research and Economic Advisors, which gathered and analyzed data for the Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based cruise association.

By ADRIAN SAINZ, AP

As a Florida couple makes funeral arrangements for a their teenage daughter who died in parasail accident off Pompano Beach over the weekend, investigators are trying to piece together just what happened and how it could have been prevented.

A week shy of her 16th birthday, Amber White and her 17-year old sister Crystal, were visiting with South Florida with friends when they decided to go parasailing.

The teens, from Summerfield which is near Ocala, booked a ride with Island Waves Parasailing, also known as Pompano Beach Watersports Saturday.

As the boat was heading north near Pompano Beach, the winds increased from 15 mph to 25 mph and seas became choppy. When the driver of the boat tried to pull the girls back in, the tow line to their parachute rig snapped against the force of the wind and sent the girls flying towards the buildings on shore. Both girls crashed into a second story hotel balcony. Amber suffered critical neck and head wounds along with internal injuries. Crystal suffered a head injury along with numerous cuts and bruises.

CBS4 reporter Art Barron spoke with the girls step father who confirmed that Amber was pronounced brain dead Sunday evening and doctors had kept her body on life support machines until Amber's organs could be donated.

Monday Crystal was released from the hospital in good condition.

Shannon Kraus, Amber and Crystal White mother, released this statement Tuesday;

"The family of Amber and Crystal White would like to extend their gratitude for everyone's support and well wishes during this difficult time.

Currently, Crystal White, Amber's sister, is recovering from her injuries and is trying to cope with the loss of her younger sister. Her older brother Logan Taylor is now with the family, after receiving a special leave from the U.S. Marine Corps where he is stationed at Camp Pendleton.

The family has decided to donate Amber's organs in the hope of saving more lives.

A fund has been created to help with the funeral expenses. Donations can be made to the Amber Crystal White Fund at any Bank of America."

Meanwhile, Broward Sheriff’s investigators have yet to rule what may have caused the accident. Equipment failure, bad weather and possibly careless boating, or any combination of these factors, are all being considered.

CBS4

Our maritime firm is experienced in handling small boating accidents or accidents involving small boats. This type of accident would come under Federal Maritime Law.

By Terry Tomalin
St. Petersburg Times

The marine industry supports an effort to require classes that reduce water crashes.

Florida once again leads the nation in boating accident fatalities, but a new effort to expand safety education requirements to all boaters may, for the first time, have the support of the state's $17-billion marine industry.

National statistics show that boaters who receive formal water safety education are 25 percent less likely to be involved in an on-the-water collision than those who do not.

Florida law requires that only boaters 21 and younger attend formal boater safety training. But if that age requirement were expanded, as many as 20 lives could be saved each year, according to the state's chief boating law administrator.

A review of state accident records for 2006 shows that 86 percent of all fatal accidents involved boaters older than 21 who were not required to have formal boating safety education.

"We are clearly not reaching everybody that we need to," said Capt. Richard Moore of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. "Nationally, the statistics show that when older boaters are included in education programs, fatalities drop up to 25 percent."

Federal and state officials agree that Florida could improve its boating safety record if the state Legislature required more boaters to undergo formal training.

"We have lobbied for that for years," said Moore, the state's chief boating law administrator. "So far, we haven't been able to get the legislators to support it."

Last year, 69 people died on the state's waterways, marking the 15th time in the last 20 years that Florida led the nation in the number of boating deaths (down from 1987's historic high of 106). Florida also leads the nation in the number of registered boats -- 1,024,375 -- and is the only state with a year-round boating season. The state's rate of fatalities per 100,000 registered boats is just slightly above the national average.

In the past, efforts to expand the state's mandatory boating education requirements have met with opposition on many fronts. But as the FWC prepares legislation to increase the minimum age requirement for education in five-year increments over the next 10 years, Florida's marine industry appears ready to supply its backing.

"I think mandatory education should apply to everyone," said Bill McGill, president and chief executive officer for Marine Max, the nation's largest boat dealer. "The state just needs to make sure that the information boaters receive is practical and can be put to use on the waterways."

McGill, whose Clearwater company sells 10,000 boats a year, long ago instituted an in-house program to train new boaters.

"We don't just sell somebody a boat and turn them loose," he said. "We have a staff of trained captains who will spend anywhere from a couple of hours to a few days making sure our customers know how to operate their boat, and more importantly, understand the rules of the road."

John Sprague, chairman of the governmental affairs for the Marine Industries Association of Florida, said his organization will also back state efforts to expand its programs.

"That has always been one of our No. 1 priorities ... to educate the public," Sprague said. "We would support (an age increase) if it was done incrementally and it did not overwhelm the system."

Moore, a career law enforcement officer who is passionate about boating safety, appeared pleasantly surprised.

"We were a little nervous moving ahead with this," he said. "We figured we would receive some opposition. But it is good to know that we have the industry's backing."

A national trend

Jeff Hoedt, with the U.S. Coast Guard's Office of Boating Safety in Washington, D.C., said a review of national boating accident statistics show a common trend. "Most people involved in boating accidents are in their later 30s or early 40s," he said. "Those are the very people who are not getting any formal boating education."

Boating education laws vary from state to state. Alaska, for example, has no boating education requirement and the worst safety record - 37.8 fatalities per 100,000 registered boats.

Iowa has the best safety record with 1.15 deaths per 100,000 registered boats. "I credit that to an exemplary boater education program," said Randy Edwards, the state's boating law administrator.

Florida's fatality rate is 6.41 percent, slightly above the national average of 5.39 percent, ranking it 30th among the 50 states.

Minnesota, a state with more than 4,500 lakes and 700,000 powerboats, is the second-safest state for boaters.

"Our boater education law has been in effect since 1975," said Kim Elverum, Minnesota's top boating safety officer. "Since the program started, we have educated more than 175,000 people. I think that has made a huge difference."

When it comes to mandatory boater education, the jury is in, said Ruth Wood, president of the BoatU.S. Foundation, which represents more than 650,000 recreational boaters nationwide.

"Education is our mission," she said. "An educated boater is more confident and as a result, more competent. We support mandatory education for all boaters."

Ed Cates, a lieutenant with the FWC's Tallahassee office, personally reviewed all 671 boating accident reports from 2006 and said his review supports the Coast Guard's claim.

"It you have been through a safe boating class, you are less likely to be involved in a boating accident," he said.

Cates also noticed that most victims in fatal accidents were not wearing personal flotation devices, PFDs. "If you want to stay alive, wear your PFD," he said.

A real lifesaver

Florida law requires that only children younger than 6 years old, personal watercraft operators and those towed behind boats (i.e., water skiers) must wear a life jacket.

But Dwayne Somers of the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office's Marine Unit said that most boaters wish they were wearing a life jacket after it is too late.

"We have seen that most deaths don't occur during the accident itself, but after the fact," he said. "People suddenly find themselves thrown from the boat, in the water, an unfamiliar environment, and panic."

State records show that in 88 percent of the 2006 boating fatalities, the victims were not wearing life jackets.

"What happens is somebody hits their head and gets knocked out," Somers said. "Afterward we usually hear the same thing from the family. ... They were a strong swimmer."

The Pinellas Sheriff's Office feels so strongly about flotation devices that on weekends deputies patrol local boat ramps ready to loan life jackets to boaters with children who may not have the proper equipment. "Our Operation Kid Float program has been a big success," Somers said. "The kids love it. We give them a sticker and a T-shirt. They think it is cool to wear a life jacket."

Moore, who is nothing short of a zealot when it comes to preaching life jacket use, said national efforts to pass mandatory life jacket laws for adult boaters have met with strong resistance.

"The greatest opposition has come from the boaters themselves," he said.

In Florida, many boaters complain that life jackets are too hot for everyday wear. But Moore scoffs at that idea, pointing to a new generation of belt and suspender-style devices that are less cumbersome than traditional life jackets.

"I will wear mine all day on the water and forget that I have it on," Moore said.

The new versions are expensive -- Boaters World in South St. Petersburg sells the basic suspender model for $99 -- but Moore believes they are well worth the investment.

"They're a bit of an investment," he said. "But how much is your life worth?"

Fast Facts:

Young captains need to know

Since October 1996, Florida law has required that anyone 21 years of age or younger take a National Association of State Boating Law Administrators, or NASBLA, approved boating education course and carry boating education and photo identification cards in order to operate a vessel with a motor of 10 horsepower or more. Identification cards are good for life.

To get a boating license

To get a boater education card, prospective students can either take an approved, on-site class (see below) or contact the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission at www.myfwc.com to learn more about a $20 online "How to Boat Smart" course. The FWC also offers a free correspondence course that may be obtained by calling (850) 488-5600 or writing to the FWC, Division of Law Enforcement Boating Safety Section, 620 South Meridian Street, Tallahassee, FL 32399-1600.

Florida law also requires mandatory education for those who have had a criminal violation of state boating laws, a noncriminal violation of state boating laws if it involved a boating accident or two noncriminal boating safety infractions occurring within a 12-month period. Violators may only take on-site boating safety courses.

To find a boating safety course near you, call:

Boat US: Toll-free 1-800-336-2628, or go to www.boatus.com

United States Power Squadron: Toll-free 1-888-367-8777, or go to www.usps.org

Online resources

The U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary offers regular boating safety classes throughout the Tampa Bay region. Go to http://cgaux7.org/pub_classes.asp.

Boat-Ed Online: www.boat-ed.com

Boater 101: www.boater101.com

Nautical Know-how: www.boatsafe.com

PWC Safety School: www.pwcsafetyschool.com

American Safety Council: www.floridaboatingcourse.com

If you or someone you know has been injured in a boating accident, contact our boating accident lawyers now for a free consultation.

When a Royal Palm Beach man, 27, died Sunday in a personal watercraft collision on Lake Osborne, he became the latest casualty of the fast-moving vessels flooding the area's waterways.

Palm Beach County last year had more personal watercraft accidents than any other Florida county. One reason for the 20 accidents: the county's lakes, canals and Intracoastal Waterway increasingly are becoming congested with vessels from Broward and Miami-Dade counties, where lakes and canals are more restrictive to personal watercraft vessels, officials say.

As a result, Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officials Monday announced a crackdown to stop vessel speeding, require proper registration and reduce a rise in vessel theft. Police will educate riders on safety.

Personal watercraft vessels "are misunderstood when they are purchased," Sheriff's Office Sgt. Larry Gamage said. Many riders assume "they don't require the skill needed to operate them."

Like operators of other recreational motorized water vessels, owners of personal watercraft vessels don't need to take safety education classes in Florida if they are older than 21.

It wasn't clear if the two men involved in Sunday's collision at John Prince Memorial Park west of Lake Worth took classes.

Paulo Regis was on his 2006 Bombardier, following his brother-in-law's 2006 Bombardier, according to a preliminary Fish and Wildlife report. They were westbound on the lake when the other watercraft struck Regis around 4 p.m.

He died an hour later at JFK Medical Center in Atlantis.

Both men were drinking alcohol earlier in the day, Fish and Wildlife officials said. What impact, if any, alcohol had on the collision is under investigation. Blood was drawn from Regis' brother-in-law, whose name was not released, for alcohol-level testing.

Regis was the first person to die in a watercraft vessel accident in Palm Beach County since 2005, according to Fish and Wildlife data. Last year, 21 people were injured in accidents, up from 11 in 2005.

Many accidents occur because of operator inattention and lack of experience, officials said. Collisions mostly happened in lakes and ponds, Sheriff's Office officials said.

"These vessels are getting faster, and vessel traffic is increasing," said Fish and Wildlife Lt. Ed Cates, an assistant boating safety coordinator. "Operators are just not paying attention. It takes just a second for something to go wrong."

The beefed-up law enforcement of personal watercraft vessels will continue through the busy summer boating months and pick up on major holidays, officials said.

Deputies and officers will target Lake Ida, Lake Osborne, Pine Lake and the Intracoastal Waterway's speed-restricted zones.

By Leon Fooksman
South Florida Sun-Sentinel

By IANS

Shanghai - At least 23 tourists, including 11 foreigners, were injured after their ship collided with a cargo ship here, hospital sources said.

The accident occurred around 6.40 p.m. Saturday at a section of the Huangpu River near downtown Shanghai, when the Shikumen passenger ship with 216 tourists aboard crashed with a cargo vessel sailing in the opposite direction.

Twenty-three injured tourists, including eight from Japan and three from Spain, were rushed to a hospital here.

The passenger ship managed to anchor at a nearby pier while police seized the cargo vessel police.

When the Empress of the North ran aground, the band played on - as everyone disembarked in a safe and orderly fashion.

Passengers jolted awake by the ship hitting a charted reef 50 miles southwest of Juneau early Monday were ordered to don lifejackets and gather in the ballroom, where a singer and piano player entertained them with songs including "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" as they waited for rescue.

Passengers praised the ship's crew for taking charge.

"They just seemed to know what they were doing. They were caring, courteous, the whole thing, and I think that's what kept everybody calm," said Mary Crosby, 83, of Seattle.

The National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the grounding of the riverboat-style cruise ship, which had 206 passengers and 75 crew members on board. One person was taken to a hospital for observation, a Juneau city official said.

When Coast Guard helicopters reached the area, the vessel was listing at the southern end of Icy Strait and had begun taking on water, the Coast Guard said.

As the ship's pumps worked to remove the water, the passengers were transferred safely to other boats in the area and then to an Alaska state ferry to be taken to Juneau.

The Empress of the North floated free of the rock during the evacuation, and the crew was able to stabilize the ship, said the Coast Guard.

The ship arrived in Juneau with a Coast Guard escort about nine hours after the grounding. The ferry Columbia arrived shortly after.

State officials said the hull sustained significant damage and an empty fuel tank was breached during the grounding. A light oil sheen was seen in the area but officials were uncertain if the ship was the source.

Coast Guard Petty Officer Barry Lane said Coast Guard inspectors did an initial survey of the ship as it was moored in Juneau's Auke Bay and will pass the information on to the NTSB.

It wasn't immediately clear why the cruise ship ran aground, said Coast Guard officials. It was drizzling in Juneau but the seas were calm.

Good Samaritans were first on the scene of the grounding and passengers were initially evacuated onto lifeboats, a charter fishing boat, a tugboat, another small cruise ship and a coast guard cutter before the Columbia arrived.

"The morning was incredible. You had anybody and everybody that could get there and they all got there as quick as they could and all were willing to help out," said Coast Guard Capt. Mark Guillory, federal on-scene coordinator.

Passengers left the ship with only their personal identification and medications. They were to be reunited with their belongings later in Juneau. All had been flown to Seattle by evening, said company officials.

"It couldn't have been better orchestrated the way things fell into place," said Chief Petty Officer Barry Lane.

The Empress of the North is operated by Majestic America Line of Seattle. The ship has 112 staterooms, a three-story paddlewheel and galleries featuring Native American masks and Russian artwork, including Faberge eggs, according to its Web site.

The 360-foot ship is less than half the size of the average cruise ship in the Caribbean, and is also dwarfed by most cruise other ships off the Alaska coast.

The grounding occurred on the second day of a seven-day cruise, said Dan Miller, a spokesman for Majestic America.

The American-built ship is billed by the company as the only overnight paddlewheel vessel in use on Alaska cruises. It also is used on cruises on the Columbia River between Washington state and Oregon.

The Empress of the North has had other problems since it began operating in mid-2003. In October of that year, it hit a navigation lock on the Snake River in Washington. It has also run aground at least twice before - once after developing steering problems on the Columbia River, and once on a sandbar near Washougal, Wash., as it tried to avoid a barge.

By ANNE SUTTON, AP