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Royal Caribbean backs new cruise industry safety policies

In:
15 Nov 2012

Royal Caribbean is supporting three new safety policies that was announced today by two cruise industry groups.

The Securing Heavy Objects policy stipulates that crew members on cruise ships will secure heavy objects such as pianos or treadmills when not in use.  In addition, there is a new lifejacket policy for newly constructed cruise ships that requires  for every passenger and crew member to be stowed in close proximity to either muster stations or lifeboat embarkation points.

Previous to this rule, cruise ships had many more lifejackets than were needed for every passenger and crew member, but on some vessels a large percentage of those lifejackets are stored in cabins, with fewer than one per person available at muster stations.

A third new safety policy unveiled today by the industry groups requires consistent procedures on ship bridges.

Royal Caribbean is part of the Cruise Lines International Association and the European Cruise Council along with other major cruise companies.   All of the safety initiatives were announced jointly.

The industry groups say the new Securing Heavy Objects policy already is being implemented, with lines carrying out fleet-wide inspections to ensure heavy objects are properly secured. The new policy will require heavy objects to be secured during rough weather in addition to during periods when they are not in use.

Royal Caribbean shows off new safety simulator

In:
13 Mar 2012

Royal Caribbean showed off its brand new training simulator at its$6.5 million facility in Fort Lauderdale, where crew can train to handle a ship in all sorts of weather conditions.

Royal Caribbean teamed up with Resolve Maritime Academy long before the Costa Concordia incident brought renewed attention to the area of cruise ship safety.

Royal Caribbean Captain William Wright, who is the senior vice president of maritime operations for Royal Caribbean, summed up the new facility's role as, “This was not a knee-jerk reaction to recent events."

Resolve agreed to build the new simulators to Royal Caribbean’s specifications; the first training courses will take place on April 30. Royal Caribbean has used the company for more than a decade for firefighting, search and rescue and other emergency training. 

Royal Caribbean complying with new cruise industry passenger safety requirement

In:
13 Feb 2012

The CLIA, Passenger Shipping Assocation and the European Cruise Council announced a new muster policy effective immediately that requires mandatory muster drills be held for new passengers before the cruise ship departs from port and Royal Caribbean is onboard.

Royal Caribbean had emailed past and prospective passengers to inform them of the new rules, a message delivered by Royal Caribbean's president Adam Goldstein.

At Royal Caribbean International, the safety and security of our guests and crew is our highest priority,” wrote Goldstein in his letter to members of the line’s Crown & Anchor Society." 

Our maritime safety record over our 42-year history illustrates our commitment to the safety of the millions of guests and crew that sail on our ships. The measures we take in the interest of safety are many, often exceeding the regulatory requirements.”

Royal Caribbean had announced earlier this month that it was partnering with Resolve Maritime Academy to help train its staff further its staff.  Beginning the second quarter of 2012, the training will be offered to personnel at Royal Caribbean.  The trainings will take place at Resolve's new Simulation Training Center in Fort Lauderdale.

Search underway in Mexico for man that fell overboard Royal Caribbean ship

In:
03 Feb 2012

A British man has fallen overboard from Royal Caribbean's Allure of the Seas and Mexican and American officials are conducting a search of the waters nearby to find him.

Royal Caribbean confirmed that a 30-year-old man was seen going over the railing from his stateroom aboard Allure of the Seas.  Video camera footage from aboard the ship confirmed the report as well.

The incident occured as Allure of the Seas was sailing to Cozumel, Mexico and the United States Coast Guard is assisting the Mexican Navy in the search efforts.

Royal Caribbean chooses new simulator training provider

In:
02 Feb 2012

Royal Caribbean has chosen Resolve Maritime Academy to be its exclusive simulator-based training provider.  The arrangement will allow Royal Caribbean's personnel to receive training exclusively at the new Simulation Training Center adjacent to Port Everglades starting in the second quarter of 2012.

This training will provide Royal Caribbean with simulation-based courses such as maritime human factors training, bridge resource management (BRM) and maritime leadership & communication.

In addition, the training center in Florida will feature a Det Norsk Veritas (DNV) Class A full mission bridge simulator, electronic chart display & information system (ECDIS) classroom and navigation lab with a suite of "mini" bridges. Courses offered will include: ship handling; bridge resource management (BRM); operational use of ECDIS; and Radar/Automatic Radar Planning Aids (ARPA). Customized programs also will be offered, including: integrated bridge systems (Sperry VisionMaster and NACOS Platinum); dynamic positioning systems; and communication & leadership development for all ranks and employees. Future plans include an engine room simulator which will be utilized for operational and engine resource management (ERM) training.

Royal Caribbean's Senior Vice President Marine Operations, Captain William S. Wright, commented on the the impact of this new partnership, "The brands of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. are regarded as leaders in innovative ship building, design and safety and strive to continually enhance the fleet's navigation and safety systems by consistently introducing the latest in state-of-the-art technology."

Royal Caribbean CEO Speaks Out on Cruise Line Safety

In:
20 Jan 2012

The Costa Concordia disaster has prompted Royal Caribbean's CEO Adam Goldstein to post a blog entry about the incident and what Royal Caribbean is and has been doing to keep guests safe.

"Safety is a journey rather than a destination. We need to operate safely now yet constantly improve our safety. We need to hunt for lessons learned in every minor incident or accident. We need to apply those lessons learned across the fleet ASAP. This is a never ending cycle."

Goldstein said that half of the fleet's Captains and most of Royal Caribbean's Hotel Directors were meeting in South Florida over the weekend to discuss safety both today and in the future.  Goldstein promised to review all of Royal Caribbean's safety processes, technology and people to ensure no catastrophes befall Royal Caribbean.

Goldstein also promised more information to the public on what Royal Caribbean is doing to keep its ships and passengers safe, "In the upcoming weeks we will communicate by text and video about many of the key elements of safety. Many readers who know us well will not be surprised by our focus on and commitment to safety. Those who have less experience with us should learn some interesting and compelling facts about how we prepare our ships and crew for safe operation every day."

Shooting in St. Thomas leaves future of tours undecided

In:
13 Jul 2010

Yesterday there was an unfortunate death in St. Thomas, as a 14 year old cruise passenger from a Carnival Cruise Line ship was on a beach excursion to Coki Beach when she was shot to death after being caught in a crossfire by rival gangs. This has prompted other cruise lines to make decisions about the immediate future of excursions on St. Thomas. 

According to CruiseCritic, Royal Caribbean hasn't made their decision yet, "A spokeswoman tells us that the lines do not have any ships in port today, but do tomorrow (Celebrity Solstice). However, a decision has not yet been made regarding tomorrow's tours; we'll keep you posted."

Carnival has cancelled their tours in the area while other cruise lines have not made any decisions yet.

Cruise safety bill honors past victims

In:
17 Jun 2010

The Cruise Safety Bill was passed by the United States Senate last Friday and the new legislation requires tighter security and transparency on cruise ships.  The Congressional investigation that went along with the deliberations related to this bill were not kind to the cruise industry, and subsequent civil trials have revealed the statistics that the cruise industry is willing to acknowledge may be far less than in reality.  

After a civil lawsuit in 2006, Royal Caribbean was forced to turn over internal documents that showed that these numbers were actually much higher, with 273 sexual assaults from 2003 to 2006. Several other passengers have also been reported missing since then.

The Greenwich-Post posted an article detailing some of the stories of those who were victims of crimes aboard cruise ships and the new legislation hopes to make getting justice for the victims a far easier task than it has been in the past.  President Barack Obama is expected to sign the bill into law before July 5th, a move that is welcomed by many.  Meanwhile, the cruise industry has been against the bill. 

In March, Business Week reported that the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) spent almost $400,000 in federal lobbying in the fourth quarter, and a total of $2.9 million from January 2004 to July 2005. This total is in addition to lobbying money spent by individual cruise lines. Dr. Ross Klein, an industry analyst who is affiliated with Memorial University in Newfoundland, reported that Royal Caribbean alone spent nearly $3 million for lobbyists in the past three years.

The bill would require crimes on cruise ships to be reported to the Coast Guard as well as requires ship safety improvements such as 42-inch guardrails, peep holes in every passenger and crew member’s door, on-deck video surveillance, and an emergency sound system; and improvements to crime scene response by requiring “rape kits, anti-retroviral medications, and a trained forensic sexual assault specialist be aboard each ship.”

The cruise industry was against the bill because, among other reasons, it forced the industry to spend money to upgrade all it's ships to meet the standards as well as acknowledge there was a problem.  The CLIA has since dropped its opposition to the bill and had this to say about it, "“The safety and security of our guests and crew is CLIA’s number one priority. The cruise industry has reported allegations of serious crimes to federal law enforcement agencies for many years and looks forward to continuing our longstanding work with the U.S. Coast Guard, FBI and law enforcement both here and elsewhere around the world”.

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