Cruise Ship Passenger Attacks Friend and Throws Belongings Overboard

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JUNEAU -- A New Jersey man on a cruise with a 76-year-old traveling companion is accused of assaulting his friend and damaging or throwing overboard more than $1,000 of his personal items. According to a statement from troopers, Flynn also caused more than $500 of damage to the stateroom the two men shared and threatened his travel companion's life. Flynn was charged with fourth degree assault and two counts of third degree criminal mischief. He was being held without bail Thursday at the Lemon Creek Correctional Center.
-- Anchorage Daily News

International Cruise Victims (ICV) meet with Cruise Industry to Improve Cruise Ship Safety and Security

http://www.greenwichcitizen.com/localnews/ci_6611980

ICV president Kendall Carver, who co-founded the organization with Greenwich's Smith family, said Congress directed the cruise lines to work with ICV after the third government hearing on cruise ship safety on March 27. The new initiative between ICV and CLIA was held during the week of July 30 in Washington, D.C.
Carver said ICV presented a proposal for greater transparency and safety onboard cruise ships, which includes a plan for an independent security force. Carver, a 70-year-old former Darien resident who now lives in Phoenix, said ICV would work with Congress to enact the reforms. ICV has been closely allied with U.S. Rep. Christopher Shays, R-4, who said he is currently drafting "a bipartisan legislative proposal."
Shays initiated the first cruise ship safety hearing in December 2005, as a result of the disappearance of George Smith, 26, of Greenwich, who vanished from his Royal Caribbean honeymoon cruise on July 5, 2005. ICV also recommends an independent security force police on cruise ships since a conflict of interest may arise when a crewmember commits a crime. Carver compared this kind of security force to the sky marshal program on airlines, and cited the "additional concern of terrorism."
The proposed reforms will be presented at an upcoming hearing in late September, Carver said, and he hopes to see "significant" support for the plan from both members of the House and Senate.
"We've come a long way and I'm pleased with our progress," Carver said. "But we are up against an industry with a lot of money."
In the 2000 election cycle, the cruise lines gave more than $1 billion in political contributions to candidates and political parties, according to opensecrets.org. The Center for Responsive politics also reported that the industry spent more than $2.9 million on federal lobbying from January 2004 to July 2005.
Still, Carver believes that the power of ICV lies in the victims' stories. "Anyone who hears our stories can't ignore them," he said.

In our posting on August 10. 2005, we called for independent law officers for each ship in the form of "Sea Marshalls.':

Safe Cruise: Congressional Hearings Needed on Cruise Ship Safety & Security

Project: Safe Cruise: Coming in 2007: PROJECT SAFE CRUISE>

Did Liberal Alcohol Policies and Poor Security Measures Contribute to Possible Murder on Carnival Cruise Ship?

Sidney Morning Herald 8/11/07

Sidney Morning Herald 8/12/07

PASSENGERS leaving P&O's Pacific Sun yesterday told how a man who died on board the ship had been king hit following an alcohol-fuelled fight with another man over $20. (P&O is owned by Carnival) Witnesses said the 31-year-old Dulwich Hill man, who was found dead in a toilet next to the ship's Legends bar, asked security guards for help before his death early Tuesday morning. Police suggested in earlier reports that the man's death was due to natural causes, but some passengers told a different story.Renae Sherri, 29, of Melbourne, said holidaymakers had been singing Happy Birthday to the man in the bar before he died. "I was going to the toilet and his sister was screaming, 'Who did it? Tell me who did it. Who was he?'," Ms Sherri said."I heard he got hit in the back and he fell on the floor."The man is understood to have been travelling with his wife, two sisters, brother, brother-in-law and some family friends after winning the trip in a 2GB competition.The cruise was the radio station's biggest competition, with 75 listeners and their families winning tickets.With the inquest into the death of Dianne Brimble on the Pacific Sky finishing on July 27, the family-themed cruise on August 3 was intended to create some positive publicity for P&O. (The cruise lines always seem to be quick to blame the victim or declare that a passenger's death was from natural causes.) Ali Aryan, 28, said he was told by a female friend of the family that a fight had broken out about money and there had been a scuffle." Other passengers told The Sun-Herald there had been an argument before the man was found dead.

Royal Caribbean Cruise Ship Used to Smuggle Drugs from Aruba and St. Maarten

We were on the Carnival Destiny near Aruba when an elderly couple disappeared without a trace in early 2005. Investigations by authorities were delayed and incomplete. While on our Caribbean cruise, we were shocked by comments by the locals that crime was on the increase on all of the islands due to organized crime activity and the use of the Caribbean as a half way point for drug traffickers from South America and elsewhere. Local law enforcement was poorly trained, understaffed, and ill-equipped to handle the growing security threats. This added to the fact that there are no independent, trained, and experienced law enforcement on cruise ships creates a dangerous situation. Reports by Netherlands Antilles Daily Herald on August 8 and 9 validate our initial concerns.

Nine stand trial for smuggling drugs on US-based cruise ship

Three Jamaican found guilty of drug-smuggling

PHILIPSBURG--The criminal session in the Court of First Instance on Wednesday was devoted entirely to the so-called Mariner of the Seas case. All nine suspects on trial allegedly were involved in the import and export of drugs through the US-based cruise ship carrying this name.
Authorities uncovered and intercepted a major drug smuggling operation on May 17, in which Mariner of the Seas was allegedly used to import marijuana into St. Maarten from Aruba and to transport large quantities of cocaine to Miami, Florida.