Safe Cruise: April 2007

Safe Cruise

Project Safe Cruise Press Release: See www.projectsafecruise.blogspot.com & details below. Leave a message if you have experienced incidents involving poor security & safety practices of cruise lines. Hearings are scheduled; we will provide them to Congress. We must act to insure passenger safety. The current lack of safety & security is not acceptable especially after 9/11. On 5/12/05, we were on the Carnival Destiny near Aruba when an elderly couple disappeared without a trace.

About Me

Name: Timalantoo

Location: Michigan, United States

Government could save $50 billion per year by having two shifts of white collar employees work each day. Office space costs $50,000/year for each employee yet we only use space 30% of time. We can no longer afford to have banker's hours for all. With over 2 million federal employees this cost-free paradigm change could avoid lay offs/furloughs and reduce pollution. See new plan at http://whitecollargreenspace.blogspot.com/

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

NBC/CBS Fires Imus for Bad Joke But Will They Cancel Royal Caribbean Ads because of Threat Aimed at Sexual Assault Victim Who Testifed before Congress

NBC News dropped Don Imus yesterday, canceling his talk show on its MSNBC cable news channel a week after Mr. Imus made a racially disparaging remark about the Rutgers University women’s basketball team.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/12/business/media/12dismiss.html?ref=sports
By BILL CARTER and LOUISE STORY
Published: April 12, 2007

We agree that the comment made by Imus was atrocious and unacceptable. If NBC and CBS have the guts to fire Imus, then they should also refuse to run advertising from media or record companies that make a profit from the sale of degrading comedy and music albums and CD's. Will NBC refues to run ads for "Girls Gone Wild" which is Immensely more degrading?They should also refuse to run advertising for the Cruise Lines who actually do harm to people. This is based in part on evidence submitted during the hearing entitled: "Crimes Against Americans on Cruise Ships," held by the Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation. http://transportation.house.gov/hearings/Testimony.aspx?TID=599

They tried to prevent a sexual assault victim from testifying before Congress and were a party to a threat made against her. Safe Cruise: Speaking with the Enemy: Royal Caribbean Flys its True colors http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicsasusual/2007/03/nightmare_on_th.html
There have been no convictions of sexual predators on cruise ships for the last four decades.Safe Cruise: Perfect Record: Not One Single Conviction for Sexual Assaults on Cruise Ships in Four Decades
They have understated the number of sexual assaults. http://www.sacbee.com/111/story/147483.html
Their crewmembers work under sweatshop conditions. http://www.waronwant.org/?lid=2900 Safe Cruise: Florida Today Exposes Carnival "Sweat Ships": The Under Belly of the Cruise Ship Industry
Corporate fees paid to Liberia by Royal caribbean Cruise Lines helped finance the armies of Charles Taylor, one of the worst war criminals in history. Safe Cruise: Did Royal Caribbean and Celebrity Cruise Lines Help Finance Death and Destruction in Africa?

Saturday, April 07, 2007

Two People Missing after Cruise Ship Sinks: Captain, officers charged in cruise ship sinking

theeagle.com
Bryan College Station Eagle - Bryan-College Station,TX,USAATHENS, Greece - Navy divers searched the sunken wreckage of a cruise ship on Friday for the bodies of a Frenchman and his daughter who disappeared after the vessel foundered on a volcanic reef - the only two people missing despite what passengers described as a chaotic evacuation in the Aegean Sea. Nearly 1,600 people were retrieved from the sinking ship in a three-hour rescue operation, but some passengers complained of an insufficient supply of life vests, little guidance from crew members and being forced into a steep climb down rope- ladders to safety.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17995319/
The officers were charged with causing a shipwreck through negligence, breaching international shipping safety regulations and polluting the environment, state NET said. All were released pending further investigations. If convicted, the officers face a maximum five-year sentence.

Tuesday, April 03, 2007

Perfect Record: Not One Single Conviction for Sexual Assaults on Cruise Ships in Four Decades

I have since learned that there have been no convictions for rape cases on cruise lines in four decades... Cruise industry executives testified last year before the House Government Reform Committee that 66 cases of sexual assault were reported from Royal Caribbean between 2003 and 2005. However, as a result of a civil lawsuit, Royal Caribbean was forced to turn over internal documents that showed that these numbers were actually much higher. Specifically, such cases had actually occurred 273 times over the three-year period in question. I have also come to learn that many of the crimes that were not reported involved minors. It seems impossible that Royal Caribbean would not consider these crimes worthy of reporting.

FORTY YEARS AND NO CONVICTONS

-Opening remarks of Congresswoman Doris O. Matsui on March 27, 2007 at the hearing that Exposed Cruise Industry’s Lax Responses to Crimes Committed Onboard its Shipshttp://matsui.house.gov/Newsroom.asp?ARTICLE2939=7897