Carnival Triumph was seized by order of a federal magistrate on Saturday citing a lawsuit filed by the family of Siglinde Stumpf, a German tourist who died aboard the Costa Concordia in January when the ship ran aground in Italy. The order was signed by U.S. Magistrate Judge John Froeschner of Galveston who wrote “The [...]

Sometimes the timing of certain decisions in the cruise industry really surprises me. Just as we are beginning to recover from the Concordia accident, which we learned happened largely as a result of a practice called interporting, we hear new announcements from the cruise industry that certain lines plan to increase the number of cruises [...]

Two Manhattan-based law firms vowing to defend all of the victims of the Concordia disaster may face hurdles in bringing a class action lawsuit to the U. S. court system. The two firms are (1) Proner and Proner, and (2) Napoli Bern Ripka Shkolnik LLP. Michael Bern filed a lawsuit for six passengers against Carnival [...]

Cruising as a travel option still has a far better safety record than driving or flying. The Costa Concordia tragedy has received an amazing amount of media attention, which comes as no surprise. The major consumer news media believe that a “newsworthy” story requires emotional impact, conflict, loss of life/property and/or novelty. This story has [...]

We now know the ship DID hit the rocks during the sail-by just outside the two Le Scole reef islands. This did NOT seem likely earlier since no one reported the damage when it occurred – highly unusual. In fact, nailing down the timeline in this incident has been the hardest part. According to Costa [...]

We are not much closer to knowing exactly what happened with the Concordia now than we were on Friday. We do know there is a huge rock embedded in the port side of the ship’s hull – the side that is away from the shore where the ship is now laying on its side, with [...]

New marketing data shows that price is the number one concern of potential cruise buyers. The New York Times is reporting that Carnival Cruise Line has a new ad campaign showing the advantages of a cruise over several different types of land-based vacations. One ad shows a couple on a camping trip stuck in a [...]

Key West has decided it has all of the cruise traffic it needs through 2020 – the conchs and the Cith Council have had enough. Some Caribbean destinations do whatever it takes to attract as many cruise ships as possible. St. Martin. an independent republic formerly of the Dutch Antilles, didn’t even have a cruise [...]

Cruise line competition for the best in onboard entertainment is heating up, and we are the winners. Last Monday (Oct. 3) Carnival held a special press conference in New York City to announce its newest entertainment initiative called FunShip 2.0. The $500-million plan will bring two television celebrities into the Carnival fold to “brand” future [...]

Cruise vacations consistently rank at the top of vacation value and satisfaction polls. Most people who take a first cruise end up taking another one — or dozens. Why? Cruises offer high standards of service and excellent cuisine, but the convenience factor is likely the main reason. In one transaction, you arrange your accommodations, meals, [...]