Walker & O'Neill, P.A. (LexBlog Canada)

As of yesterday, there have been a minimum of around 120 guests who tested positive for COVID-19 aboard the Norwegian Dawn, according to a trusted, long-term reader of Cruise Law News on the ship who wishes to remain anonymous. The NCL cruise ship left New York (Cape Liberty Bayonne NJ) on April 28th for travel...

The newly formed Global Cruise Activist Network launched its website and convened a virtual press conference today. Representatives of environmental groups, cruise ship crime organizations and port communities worldwide joined forces to demand that the cruise industry not return to “business-as-usual” after COVID-19. Approximately 100 members of the network attended the conference, as well as...

The U.S. and Canada both started issuing travel warnings for cruise vacationers. The U.S. started issuing travel warning at the end of December 2018 and Canada began issuing travel advisories two weeks ago. The U.S. State Department also recently began posting warnings on Twitter regarding certain dangers about cruise ships and ports of call. Its Travel – State...

Canada recently issued a new crime advisory for the Bahamas, warning its citizens to exercise a high degree of caution when traveling there due to high rates of crime, including a reported increase of sexual assaults against tourists. Canada’s website advisory was updated last week to state that sexual assaults occur regularly, primarily in New Providence...

Yesterday, Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) canceled a cruise organized by a Canadian media group, Rebel Media, in response to pressure from an anti-racist organization. The “Rebel Cruise” was touted by Canadian media personality and far-right provocateur Gavin McInnes who advertised the cruise aboard NCL’s Getaway as “a week at sea with like-minded folks . . . talking...

Newspapers are reporting that a jury in Canada convicted a former Royal Caribbean waiter, from Mauritius, of murdering a young woman and her family who he met during a cruise in 2009.  In December of 2009, two weeks before Christmas, 24 year-old Shakti Ramsurrun, from the country of Mauritius (off of the southeastern coast of Africa) met 19 year-old...

A Canadian newspaper reports that the police in Vancouver arrested three Princess Cruises crew member from the Island Princess on drug charges. CTV  that the Island Princess was scheduled to leave Vancouver for Alaska when members of the Canada Border Services Agency and the Vancouver Police Department’s Canine Unit boarded the cruise ship to search...

This week a Canadian court ordered the owners of the M/V Clipper Adventurer to pay pollution related costs and fines arising of of an incident in August of 2010 when the vessel struck a large rock shelf near Kugluktuk, Nunavut.  The owners and operators of the Clipper Adventurer claimed that the ship was not informed...

Today, the largest cruise ship ever to try and navigate the NorthWest Passage is sailing from Seward, Alaska in an effort to reach New York via Canada and Greenland. Much has been written about the environmental damage which will be caused by the Crystal Serenity over the nearly 1,000 mile journey.  The Telegraph published an...

Canada has issued another travel advisory, warning that travelers to the Bahamas “should exercise a high degree of caution (due to) high rates of crime, especially in Nassau.” The Canadian government said that “crime occurs mainly in Nassau and Freeport. There has been an increase in armed robberies targeting tourists in Nassau. Incidents take place...

Earlier this month, we reported that researchers in Canada concluded that norovirus can spread by air, according to a publication in the highly respected Clinical Infectious Diseases. Eight doctors participated in a study of norovirus and determined that norovirus can be transmitted in an airborne form. Researchers collected air samples (about 3 feet away from the...

Researchers in Canada have concluded that norovirus can spread by air, according to a publication in the highly respected Clinical Infectious Diseases. Eight doctors participated in a study of norovirus and determined that norovirus can be transmitted in an airborne form. They published an article titled “Detection and Quantification of Airborne Norovirus During Outbreaks in...

A retired couple from Canada, together with a captain, sailing from mainland Honduras to Roatan were reportedly attacked by four men armed with guns and knives who boarded the boat, threatened them with death and stole their money. The article in CBC News quotes the Canadian woman saying “they actually had me, pulling my hair and...

Holland America Line announced that it is cancelling the 7 night October 11th cruise of the Veendam from Quebec, Canada to Boston because of problems with one of the cruise ship’s propellers. HAL has already cancelled the sailings on the Veendam for the September 28th and October 4th cruises to try and fix the propeller....

On Wednesday, Canada began advising its citizens to “exercise a high degree of caution, especially in Nassau, due to high rates of crime.” On its government website Canada urged Canadian travelers to be vigilant and raised the alert status from normal. The warning effective September 17 2014 states: “There is no nationwide advisory in effect for...

News sources in Canada are reporting that Royal Caribbean barred a woman from cruising with her family after she admitted that she was pregnant but didn’t have a note from her doctor stating that she was fit to travel.  Global Toronto states that Michelle Ligori, her husband and their two sons were booked aboard Royal Caribbean’s...

A number of news sources are reporting that the Tunisian government prohibited Israeli passengers from disembarking from a cruise ship at a stop at the Port of Tunis. Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL), a U.S.-based cruise line, told the Israeli citizens that they were not welcome by the Tunisian government and had to stay aboard the cruise ship....

Yesterday Travel Weekly (“travel industry’s trusted voice”) published an article entitled The New Wave of Attacks on the Cruise Industry. A vacation consultant/travel agent type and contributor to the travel magazine, Richard Turen, identified me and Dr. Ross Klein (a sociologist in Canada who has written and testified before Congress extensively about cruising) as cruise critics...

Travel Weekly published an article today entitled The New Wave of Attacks on the Cruise Industry. It was written by a contributing editor, Richard Turen, who runs a travel agency and a marketing group. Its an interesting article which discusses who Mr. Turen views as the critics of the cruise industry. He discusses cruise expert Ross...

According to news sources, a passenger is reportedly missing from the Independence of the Seas cruise ship which sailed to the Cayman Islands today.  The missing passenger is a 65-year-old man from Canada who was reported missing by his wife, before the Royal Caribbean ship arrived at the Grand Cayman’s port. His name and hometown...

Cruise expert Professor Ross Klein reports that the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) indicates that 307 of 2112 passengers (14.5%) and 14 of 952 crew (1.5%) aboard the Celebrity Summit have reported sick with “gastrointestinal illness.” You can read about the outbreak on the CDC website here. There is no indication whether the illness is due...

Last week we reported on an arrest of a Holland American Line (HAL) crew member from the Veendam cruise ship on charges of possessing and importing images of child pornography. I mentioned that the arrest was one of six arrests of crew members for child pornography in the port of Halifax Canada alone.  The arrests...

A newspaper in Canada reports today that a 36-year-old cruise ship employee faces child pornography charges after police and Canadian border officials in Halifax found explicit files aboard the cruise ship where he works. Metro News Canada identified the crew member as Sean Richard Bell. Halifax Regional Police state that Canada immigration authorities arrested the crew...

Canadian Broadcasting Company (CBC) reports that a cruise ship ran aground yesterday near Sainte-Pétronille, at the south end of Île d’Orléans on the St. Lawrence River. 57 passengers were on board. There are no reports of injury. A tugboat transported everyone back to shore.  The ship is a small cruise ship named the Louis-Jolliet which left a...

Canada’s CBC News reports that although It has not been smooth sailing for the cruise industry, “bargain hunters are taking advantage of deeply discounted prices due to high profile misadventures on the high seas.” The report chronicles the mishaps and disasters everyone is familiar with: the stranding of thousands on the Carnival Triumph “with no...

We are happy to have Danielle Gauer here at our firm. Danielle has firsthand knowledge of the inner workings of the cruise industry performing as a dancer for several years prior to embarking on her university studies. She is currently completing her Juris Doctor at the University of Ottawa Faculty of Law and will be...

Courthouse News Service reports on a case involving a crew member from Canada who was employed aboard a Holland America Line (HAL) cruise ship. The Canadian crew member, employed on the Oosterdam cruise ship as a dancer, suffered a serious career-ending injury, but is being denied the right to take his case before a jury. Courthouse...

Five years ago, the Bush administration proposed legislation prohibiting the use of maritime fuels with high sulfur content within 200 miles of the U.S. The Obama administration had the bill passed into law. In turn, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) announced that it planned to create a buffer zone around the U.S. and Canada where...

A newspaper in Canada published a couple of interesting articles this weekend about a story that won’t go away – the disappearance of passengers and crewmembers from cruise ships. The Star newspaper published Families Search for Cruise Ship Passengers Lost at Sea which discusses the circumstances surrounding the disappearances of Canadian citizen Fariba Amani who vanished from...

One of the stories I never tire of reporting is when a Coast Guard helicopter plucks a sick cruise passenger from the deck of a cruise ship and takes the passenger ashore for emergency medical treatment. The skill of the U.S. Coast Guard in rescuing people from cruise ships is rather remarkable. The Coast Guard can fly 200 miles out to sea...