Thursday, September 13, 2012

Planning a cruise?



You may want to listen to this segment on Binnall of America with Mr. Kendall Carver of International Cruise Victims. Mr Carver had a daughter disappear from a cruise between Seattle and Alaska in 2005. The cruise line would never have even reported her missing if Mr. Carver and his family had not hired outside investigative help to the tune of thousands of dollars. Mr. Carver found that his daughter's things had literally been given away! The cruise line told them that all video was erased, and that they had no idea what happened to his daughter. It was not reported to the police at all! In fact it has been found that this industry does everything in its power to block any legislation of their industry or to keep track and report crimes at sea.

This story is not an isolated case. You can find hundreds of cases of missing people, rapes, murders, and all manner of crime on his website for victims of crimes on the high seas. We went on one, and only one, cruise. Not only did my husband not like cruising on a big ship, we found out they dump their refuse into the oceans, and we are not supporting any industry that adds to that continent-size garbage dump floating around in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

The information shared on this program should be of interest to anyone who likes to cruise, however. One thing that stood out is that cruise ships do not have an independent police force despite having thousands of people on board. Many of these people are minimum-wage workers from the Philippines, Southeast Asia, and other countries. These workers are often on these ships for months at a time. Not to mention the thousands of vacationers - from all walks of life. Statistics alone say that not EVERYONE is going to be on the up and up with those numbers, yet there is no independent service to keep track of crime and protect passengers and crew. The cruise lines literally stonewall all attempts to get information, often taking crew members off the ship as soon as they are in port to hinder investigations. They put out a press release stating that the FBI found crime to be less than 1% on cruises, which is a complete fabrication - the FBI said no such thing, but they have recently blocked a bill requiring the cruise industry to report crimes of rape and sexual assaults.

In one case a young woman on Facebook was told that she won a free vacation on a cruise. Naturally, she was very excited and wanted to go. Her mother decided to do a little more research and contacted the cruise line - who informed her to NOT let her daughter take that cruise. Let's remember that Facebook has numerous pictures online, and her daughter was very pretty. Now the question would be - who would pay for a free cruise for this young woman? What is their motive? Not to mention there are women disappearing from these ships in record numbers. Which begs the question - are they possibly disappearing to become part of human trafficking?

This is must-have information if you are planning a cruise.


6 comments:

Brian Miller said...

oh my...some scary stuff there....we have cruised...and enjoyed it but def be careful of the scams...and an interesting thought as well about them not having a police force...

Leilani Tresise said...

WOW! the ocean dumping? you know Nancy there is a correlation between caring for this planet and caring about each other...Great post!! thank you!

Trish and Rob MacGregor said...

Good thing I've never been on a cruise. Now I definitely won't go.

luksky said...

Not trying to defend the cruise lines but the military ships also dump their refuge into the ocean waters. When you are out on the ocean that long with that many people on board trash piles up. How else would they dispose of it?? Not condoning it at all..just sayin...

Nancy said...

Brian - I listened to the whole segment and was astounded how the cruise lines escape any responsibility. People left behind on cruise sanctioned snorkeling trips, etc., etc.

leilani - I agree 100%.

T&R - My husband hated it. I didn't hate it, but have had no desire to take another one. Although I admit to thinking about the Alaska cruise at one time.

luksky - I don't doubt that one bit. In fact at one point in my research it was stated that these cruise ships have so much garbage that their ports cannot handle the stuff. We need accountability by anyone that uses the oceans. Maybe our United Nations could provide services world wide for garbage dumps instead of meddling in politics.

CrazyCris said...

Yikes!

I've never been on a big cruise, and it has only ever been a temptation for something like the Norwegian fjords or Alaska where the weather is uncertain and a smaller boat would be iffy... But I don't like the idea of being one of a thousand anonymous people on a boat...

We just did a small 1-week cruise through the Greek islands on a sailboat in June and THAT was lovely! Just friends and family, powered by the wind (when there was enough), spending the nights in small-town harbours or in a cove... MUCH nicer! ;o)