Tag: cruise ships

Incident onboard the Royal Caribbean Explorer of the Sea

A California man was sentenced to life in prison A California man was sentenced to life in prison today by a San Diego federal judge, for murdering his wife on a Carnival cruise ship in 2009.Robert McGill apologized before his sentencing but never explained why he took the life of his wife, Shirley.In June McGill plead guilty to second degree murder, admitting that he had killed his wife in their cruise ship cabin onboard the Carnival Elation. McGill revealed that he had taken Shirley's life in the cabin's bathroom with his bare hands. Medical examiners concluded that she had died of strangulation and blunt force injury to the head a torso.Defense attorneys for McGill claim he was drunk that July 14th night in 2009 when the assault took place; but prosecutors say he was aware of what he was doing, so much so that he managed to clean himself up and head to the upper deck for a cigar after the beating.Shirley McGill, who was 55 at the time of her murder, was found dead in a pool of her own blood several hours after the beating.Following the discovery of Shirley's body the FBI, and Coast Guard were notified and ...

Researchers are working on a vaccine that might one day prevent norovirus Researchers are working on a vaccine that might one day prevent norovirus, which has made many cruise ship passengers in the United States ill."It is possible to prevent infection and illness with a vaccine for norovirus," said Dr. Robert Atmar, a professor of medicine and molecular virology at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.A study of the vaccine showed promising results, HealthDay reported Friday.The study included 98 people who received either the vaccine or an inactive placebo. Of the recipients of the vaccine, 70 percent were less likely to develop the stomach bug that causes cramping, diarrhea and vomiting, and were also affected by the norovirus less frequently.The vaccine is given in two doses three weeks apart via a nasal spray. No safety issues were witnessed in the study. Side effects included stuffy nose and sneezing.Norovirus outbreaks have been reported on cruise ships docking in Tampa, Fla., and Charleston, S.C., over the past two years. A 2009 study published in the Clinical Infectious Diseases journal pointed toward poor restroom cleaning as a reason for the virus' spread.Dr. Thomas Hooton, an infectious disease professor at the University of ...

Giant cruise ships could be shut out of Venice amid fears that the waves they create are eroding the As the sight of gleaming white passenger ships dwarfing the palaces and churches of the World Heritage-listed city becomes ever more common, there are growing calls for restrictions on where they are allowed to dockGiorgio Orsoni, the mayor of Venice, is to meet the head of the city's port authority, Paolo Costa, on Wednesday to discuss the problem."The problem of these juggernauts of the sea needs to be confronted," he told Corriere della Sera newspaper.He said cruise ships could be transferred to Porto Marghera, on the mainland, in order to minimise their environmental and aesthetic impact on Venice.The proposal has the backing of Corrado Clini, Italy's new environment minister, who is a member of the recently-installed technocrat government led by Prime Minister Mario Monti.Environmentalists and heritage groups have long pointed out that as cruise ships plough through the shallow Venetian lagoon, their powerful wake and undertow damages the fragile canal banks, wooden piles and mud banks on which the city rests.There has been a huge increase in the number of cruise ships visiting 'La Serenissima', as Venice is known, from 200 ...

Maintenance of the wires had been hindered by the design of the davit Poor maintenance and a design flaw have been blamed for the death of a cruise ship worker who plunged into the water and drowned while working on a lifeboat in Lyttelton this year.The Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC) launched an investigation after two men fell from the cruise ship Volendam while carrying out routine maintenance on a starboard lifeboat in January.One of the men was rescued shortly afterward. The other man was seen in the water briefly in what appeared to be a dazed state, but he soon disappeared.He could not be found despite a search by the ship's rescue vessel, Coastguard, the port authority and emergency services.Port authority divers found the man's body about four hours later.The TAIC report, released today, found that the men fell from the lifeboat after one of the two wires attaching it to the ship failed.The men were wearing safety harnesses but the wire holding the harnesses to the ship also failed during the accident.Neither man was wearing a buoyancy device.The lifeboat remained attached to the ship by the aft wire but suffered irreparable damage.The accident also caused damage to the ...

Carnival Cruise continues to cooperate in the investigation A Carnival Cruise Ship waiter working on the Liberty ship stands accused of pursuing sexual acts with a 14-year-old female passenger in a public bathroom while the ship was at sail earlier in November, The Miami Herald reports.The U.S. Attorney's Office announced on Tuesday that the suspect, Kert Clyde Jordan, 35, has formally been charged with engaging in a sexual act with a person under the age of 16. Jordan, from Grenada, made his initial court appearance on Monday, and following the trial remained in federal lockup.According to The Miami Herald, Jordan is being accused or luring the young girl for sex into a public restroom on a Lido deck of the Liberty ship while sailing in international waters in the first week of November. The 14-year-old girl was on vacation with her family while on the Liberty, and authorities said that she did not tell her family about the incident until after the voyage was over. The girl identified Jordan as the man she had sex with on the Liberty, which resulted in Jordan's arrest a few days later.Carnival Cruise Lines Corp. has released in a statement that they have a ...

The World cruise ship, moored in Israel earlier this week South Korea has been trying to boost its tourism industry as part of its effort to strengthen the domestic economy. On Wednesday, it unveiled its latest plan: getting into the cruise ship business.The plan includes tax benefits for cruise ship operators and training programs for workers who will be employed by the industry, as well as a green light for on-board casinos for foreigners.The initiative comes amid expectations that Chinese tourists-who are already a key source of income for Korea's relatively small tourism and retail industry-will boost demand for cruise tourism in Asia in coming years.Korea doesn't have a local cruise ship operator yet, but the government hopes that changes in regulations will allow the industry to develop.The plan also includes increased terminal and port capacity in order to accommodate a greater influx of cruise ship tourists. Korea currently has just two ports for cruise ships, one in the southern port city of Busan and another at Jeju island, but the government aims to build up or expand dedicated terminals in existing ports as well as in other areas like Incheon and Yeosu on the southwest coast.It remains to be ...

Carnival UK backs 'averaging' proposal to meet ECA regulations David Dingle, chief executive of Carnival UK, said that, in response to the 0.1% sulphur content cap in emission-controlled areas (ECAs) in 2015, cruise ships would sail more slowly and would need to call at new and fewer portsIn an interview with Travel Trade Gazette he is quoted as saying: New ships will go down the route of creating more variety onboard, as calling at lots of ports becomes less possible . If you look at our order bookings across our brands for new ships, you can see that they are bigger than the existing ships we have.Mr Dingle also said he backed a proposal by the Cruise Lines International Association which has proposed a way of allowing ships to use higher sulphur fuels in once the 0.1% sulphur content cap comes in to force.According to Mr Dingle, the director of environmental and health programmes at CLIA, Bud Darr, is proposing an interpretation of the IMOs fuel rules that advocates the averaging principle - where ships would be able to burn higher-sulphur fuels as long as the average emission impact for the entire journey does not surpass the overall limit. Travel ...

A Carnival Cruise employee aboard the Dream found a deceased newborn baby A Carnival Cruise employee aboard the Dream found a deceased newborn baby. The mother was detained in St. Maarten. The FBI boarded the cruise ship when it returned to Port Canaveral.

It's a mystery as bizarre as it is disturbing On the evening of April 6 this year, John Halford packed his suitcase and left it outside the door of his cabin on the cruise liner Thomson Spirit. It was the last day of a week-long Egyptian cruise and the ship was due to dock at Sharm-el-Sheikh the following morning.Mr Halford, 63, texted his wife Ruth, who was at home in Britain, to say he would see her at the airport the next day, then went off to dinner. At about 12.30 am, he was seen by other passengers drinking cocktails in an upper-deck bar. He then vanished.Mrs Halford, who has three children, Lucy, 20, Sophie, 18, and Connor, 17, learned of her husband's disappearance as she was getting ready to drive to the airport to collect him. 'The phone rang, it was the Thomson's desk at the airport in Egypt,' she said. 'I was told the plane was in the air but my husband was not on it. He'd gone missing from the ship. You could have knocked me over sideways. It made no sense. The children and I were shell-shocked.'At first I thought he must have somehow gone ashore without ...