Cruise Bruise Blog
January 14, 2009
January 14, 2009
One Cruise Canceled Another Shortened Aboard Summit

With the cruise industry hunkering down to get every last booking, and every last cent out of every last passenger, things must be pretty bad for Celebrity Cruises to shorten the January 31 cruise aboard the Summit, and then to cancel the next cruise, a chartered event, so that the ship can go into dry dock for "an electrical problem".

The January 31 cruise was schedule to end on February 7, has been cut short to February 6 with a scheduled call at Scarborough, Tobago canceled. The next cruise on the ship is suppose to be on February 14th, after spending an estimated four days in dry dock.

January 14, 2009
Thailand Refuse Entry To Cruise Ship Passengers

It was no Merry Christmas aboard the cruise ship Jupiter, filled with 450 passengers. When the cruise ship docked at Bangkok Seaport at 1030 hours on December 25, 2008, passengers were surprised to learn that they could not disembark in the port.

Jupiter had embarked on December 4 from Phu Quoc (Koh Tral) island in Nha Trang province for Kompong Som in Cambodia to go to Bangkok, Pattaya and Phuket in Thailand.

Phuket, as you may recall was hit by a tsunami originating in the Indian Ocean after an earthquake on December 26, 2004. Phuket suffered major damage from that tsunami. There were 262 dead with 105 of the dead tourists, 1,111 injured with 520 of the injured being tourists.

This was a free cruise for the launch of the ship and according to Mr. Benson Samay, defense attorney for the cruise, aboard Jupiter there were 269 Cambodian passengers, among them there were 27 Cambodian passengers who hold diplomatic and government official passports, 22 Cambodians who hold foreign passports and 215 Cambodians who hold ordinary passports with Thai visas stamped on them.

Apparently, the problem was surrounded by some yet undefined suspicion that the Cambodian passengers were up to something hinky, and would caused a security problem for the government and citizens of Thailand.

Since the passengers might be up to something hinky, the Thai solution to the problem was to charge the cruise ship passengers $1500 to come ashore. They called the $1500 a security bond, that would be repaid in 90 days. But, the passengers were not buying it, likely most not prepared to pay it on this free cruise and instead stayed aboard.

With diplomats aboard, refused entry, the Thai government has caused a diplomatic international incident, that has the government of Cambodia nearly up in arms.

The Jupiter is an old 1975 built ferry, that had been converted into a cruise ship. Prior names of the ship were King of Scandinavia, Dana Gloria and Colour Viking. It was purchased and conversion began into a cruise ship in February 2008. This was her maiden voyage.

January 14, 2009
Mayport Florida Cruise Terminal Hits Yet Another Snag

The effort to move the Jacksonville, Florida cruise ship terminal to the shrimping village of Mayport has hit yet another snag. An organized group, that Cruise Bruise supports, has been fighting the high fisted government attempt to relocate large cruise ships to a village that has been earning their living off fishing since the 1800s.

The Public Trust Environmental Legal Institute of Florida wants the ships to use shore-based electricity rather than burn diesel fuel while in port in order to protect the community, the land environment and the harbor from unnecessary pollution from diesel ships. The Jacksonville Port Authority says using shore power is too expensive.

Michelle Baldwin, president of the Mayport Civic Association, declared an impasse in mediation negotiations with the Port Authority. Then the Jacksonville City Council Land Use and Zoning Committee postponed a vote on the project.