An enlightening read on the cruise industry

Ran across this link on another forum, it was quite an eye-opener:

http://www.cruiselawnews.com/2010/04/articles/worst-cruise-line-in-the-world/top-10-reasons-not-to-cruise/

I had some clue about 7-9 but I found it mostly quite surprising.

It's pretty long reading but here's a TL;DR version: A cruise ship is basically a floating anarcho-capitalist dystopia with a thick coat of festive paint on it. Things go badly when the paint is scratched. The jokes about "anything goes in international waters" aren't really jokes

From an ambulance chaser - I read an article from a similar source that described how all racetracks were basically indifferent to human life and only wanted to kill our children. I suspect the truth is somewhere between the Disney gloss and the liability weenies.

Keith Tanner wrote: From an ambulance chaser - I read an article from a similar source that described how all racetracks were basically indifferent to human life and only wanted to kill our children. I suspect the truth is somewhere between the Disney gloss and the liability weenies.

Wait until they find out about tractor pulls where "firewall" is an imaginary term.

If it keeps my rates low, I'm ok with the genreralizations.

Other than that, a cruise is a small town. We have fun.

Actually, to refute with what I've seen.

They do care about injuries- I was on a ship where one person had a life threatening injury- when the ship realized it, they turned around so that they could be closer to a USCG heliocopter. And it happens quite a bit- we missed a port to save a life.

I'm aware of multiple times where guests were basically held in their cabins for various reasons. All meeting police at the next stop. If it happens to be Mexico, well you get incarcerated in Mexico.

A recent suspious death on a ship didn't get covered up, it got an invite of the FBI to check it out. Still waiting how that one turns out.

I do not like bunker fuel, but a new rule means that all ships run low sulfur diesel within 150 miles of the US shoreline. All. And there are a few gas turbine ships, where they can't run bunker fuel.

Yes, most of the crew are from 3rd world countries. But quite a few of them have been on board for over 10 years. A guy just retired after 35 years on Monday. Must not suck that bad.

I also know quite a few guests that have retired on board. Since it's cheaper than many nursing homes. And they treat them really well.

Again, it's a small town, you should always be aware of other people.

The guys is a well known ambulance chaser for cruises.

It's not perfect. But it's not that.

Bunker fuel?? Sorry to hijack.

BARNCA wrote: Bunker fuel?? Sorry to hijack.

Low quality, stinky diesel fuel, I think.

Streetwiseguy wrote:

BARNCA wrote: Bunker fuel?? Sorry to hijack.

Low quality, stinky diesel fuel, I think.

It's what's left after the refinery takes out all the other distillation fractions -- butane, propane, gasoline, diesel, etc. The long-chain hydrocarbons that are left form a thick tar-like goop. You can burn it but you need to heat it first, so it really only makes sense in large engines. Most big ships run on it because it's cheap.

Yes, the article reads like he's got an axe to grind against the cruise industry, but OTOH if he convinces people NOT to take cruises, then he's reducing his prospective business, right? Fewer people taking cruises means fewer people getting injured by cruise lines means fewer lawsuits he can file.

I think the takeaway is that if you go into international waters then you're not in the US any more. Put that way it's kind of an obvious statement, but it has implications for a lot of the deep-seated assumptions people make about how things work.

codrus wrote: Yes, the article reads like he's got an axe to grind against the cruise industry, but OTOH if he convinces people NOT to take cruises, then he's reducing his prospective business, right? Fewer people taking cruises means fewer people getting injured by cruise lines means fewer lawsuits he can file.

Nope, he know it won't have that big of an effect. What it reads like is advertising. "I'm the lawyer who knows the dirty secrets of the cruise industry. I'm the one you want defending you....." It's much more likely to help him drum up business than it is to suppress the business of a major cruise line.

All I know about international waters is that's where you need to go for a good monkey knife fight.