Cruise Bruise Blog
May 4, 2009
May 4, 2009
Case Aboard Celebrity Mercury Not Swine Flu
A Celebrity Mercury cruise ship passenger was removed from the ship in Astoria, Oregon and transported Columbia Memorial Hospital on Thursday, with symptoms similar to those of Swine Flue or H1N1 as the pork industry would prefer we say.
The passenger, whose name and gender were not known, was transported by ambulance from Mercury, when she docked in Astoria, Oregon. Hospital officials already had been alerted when they received a call from the ship Tuesday while it was at sea, said hospital spokesman Steve Buckelew.
The passengers was tested at the hospital for Swine Flu, was at the hospital for about three hours, then went back to the ship, to complete the voyage.
May 4, 2009
Cruise Industry Lobbies To Ensure Pilots Don't Get Pay Raise
The cruise industry is fighting against a group of 100 Florida state harbor pilots that navigate barges and cruise ships departing from and arriving at Florida's 13 deep water ports.
A provision in this year's budget would ban travel for the Pilotage Rate Review Board members for meetings intended to raise fees for the harbor pilots, effectively barring any rate increases.
Brian Ballard, a lobbyist for the Florida Alliance of Maritime Organizations, an organization that is by and for the cruise industry, is complaining that the 100 pilots have an unfair monopoly.
"These guys have total control of who they are and how they're regulated," said Ballard, saying new technology has made the harbor pilot's job less demanding and specialized. "What they do in many cases is antiquated. They don't drive the boats into the ports."
The question is why does Ballard and the cruise industry care if the pilot's get a pay raise? The answer could be that a pay raise might mean an increase in port fees the cruise industry is liable to pay.
The industry in effects controls the wages of every worker on their ship, and often in the foreign ports they control. Now, they seek to control the wages of American workers on American soil as well
Sen. Jim King, R-Jacksonville says that the harbor pilots have a challenging job and a near-spotless safety record.
"They're going to go out in a small boat in a raging sea and they're going to climb a rope ladder in order to get inside that ship and guide it in safely. That's a heck of a daunting task," said King. "If it ain't broke, why try to fix it? We're not getting any complaints."
"Most of the cruise business is way underwater," said Ballard. "They're losing money. They're giving cruises away."
"I don't want them [the pilots] and their responsibilities to be watered down," said King. "I darned sure don't want to give the authority to entities like the cruise ships that could in some way not be as safe as what we have now."
Brian Ballard served as a top Florida fundraiser for Presidential candidate failure John McCain. Ballard's over one hundreds clients include cities, counties, hospitals, insurers, utilities, developers, drugmakers, parimutuels and pro sports teams pay to have him and his six colleagues open doors.
One of Ballard's clients is The Florida Association of Counties, which pays Ballard's firm $50,000 a year. The firm billed $8-million in fees to their over 100 clients in 2007.
In 2000, Ballard successfully lobbied Governor Jeb Bush and the Cabinet to replace the vendor in charge of a statewide police radio network with his client, Com-Net Ericsson.
In 2003, Ballard persuaded the Florida Lottery to replace its online game vendor with his client, GTECH.
In 2006, he lobbied the Florida Legislature to gut a law that required detailed tracking of prescription drug shipments, a law that his retail clients opposed.
Ballard is known to persuade clients to make large campaign contributions for state and federal candidates, mostly Republicans. In return, Ballard obtains ready access to key legislators.
The matter of the pilots and their pay is not about harbor safety for other boaters, nor for passenger safety aboard cruise ships. It is about sly deals at the core of the almighty buck traded for power, that are better done in dark, back alleys, than in the halls of justice.
