My mother is stranded at sea I think...

[Bigtime]

Article from the Herald:

http://www.calgaryherald.com/travel/...834/story.html

"Currently several key hotel systems, including air conditioning, hot food service, and telephones are not available.

No hot food! They must be resorting to cannibalism!

[mykalberta]

I feel for your mother, but I hope the US Navy charges heavily for their assistance if the ship happens to be flying a Flag other than the Stars and Stripes - after seeing that 60 minutes documentary about cruise ships and the flags they fly just to get out of paying taxes its been a real pet peeve of mine.

[para transit fellow]

Wow I wish my mom was stranded at sea... (no phone no lights no motorcar... not a single luxury..)

what cruise line was that? and do you think it could happen again... maybe for a longer period of time?

[jkstuart12]

Originally Posted by mykalberta

I feel for your mother, but I hope the US Navy charges heavily for their assistance if the ship happens to be flying a Flag other than the Stars and Stripes - after seeing that 60 minutes documentary about cruise ships and the flags they fly just to get out of paying taxes its been a real pet peeve of mine.

I believe all Carnival cruise ships fly the red white and blue...well the red white and blue of Panama that is.

[Barnes]

Originally Posted by mykalberta

I feel for your mother, but I hope the US Navy charges heavily for their assistance if the ship happens to be flying a Flag other than the Stars and Stripes - after seeing that 60 minutes documentary about cruise ships and the flags they fly just to get out of paying taxes its been a real pet peeve of mine.

As long as the oppressive Jones Act exists, that won't change. Flying an american flag limits where ships can go and who the lines can hire. There is one American flagged line, NCL America which is a subsidiary of Norwegian Cruise Line and has only one ship remaing and consistently loses money. The ship was also massively over budget when built as US ship builders can't compete with European yards in Finland, France and Italy.

They do it for way more reasons than getting out of paying taxes (which every industry has it's own version of).

[4X4]

Originally Posted by Barnes

As long as the oppressive Jones Act exists, that won't change. Flying an american flag limits where ships can go and who the lines can hire. There is one American flagged line, NCL America which is a subsidiary of Norwegian Cruise Line and has only one ship remaing and consistently loses money. The ship was also massively over budget when built as US ship builders can't compete with European yards in Finland, France and Italy.

They do it for way more reasons than getting out of paying taxes (which every industry has it's own version of).

I would be pretty interested in reading an elaboration on this. Any recommended links?

[Oliwa]

What about Pirates?

[GreenLantern]

Sounds like a job for Captain Hindsight...

[Barnes]

Originally Posted by 4X4

I would be pretty interested in reading an elaboration on this. Any recommended links?

Nothing off the top of my head. There's plenty of information about how the Jones Act affects the cruise industry. It's an important piece of legislation for the most part but it unfortunately will assure there will never be a major American flagged cruise line.

Carnival Corp owns many cruise lines. Yes, Carnival cruise line ships are registered in Panama but the HAL ships are registered in Holland, Cunard and P&O in the UK so it's not like they are registering all their ships in Liberia.

[fundmark19]

Hey did anyone read this on CNN. Was Ken King on vacation or just someone with same name?

Taken from cnn article
Passengers said they were not told there was a fire. Guest Marquis Horace said the cruise line told passengers there was "a flameless fire. ... Everybody just laughed." And passenger Ken King said guests were told there was "a lot of smoke."

http://www.cnn.com/2010/TRAVEL/11/11...ex.html?hpt=C1

[Hack&Lube]

Good pictures

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...nightmare.html

[Crispy's Critter]

as long as there's a professor on board who can make a radio out of coconuts and monkey feces everyone will be fine