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Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski has won the backing of several billionaire donors in her battle for a fourth term. Leading the pack is hedge fund tycoon Ken Griffin, one of seven moguls who have donated over $25,000 to help Murkowski stay in the Senate. Griffin sent $1.5 million to Alaskans for L.I.S.A., a super PAC that can accept unlimited donations. The group, founded by former Murkowski campaign staffers, claims the acronym in its name stands for “Leadership In a Strong Alaska,” but it only backs one candidate: Murkowski, and has spent $2.7 million on her behalf. In addition to Griffin,...

A Carnival ship that set sail from Texas had 27 COVID-19-positive people aboard Wednesday, the highest number of reported cases on a US ship since the cruise industry opened back up this summer. The Carnival Vista arrived in Belize City with 26 infected crew members and one infected guest, according to the Belize Tourism Board. Officials noted that there were more than 4,000 people on the ship, and 99.98 percent of the crew was vaccinated, along with the vast majority of the passengers. The infected crew members are now in isolation, but “most are asymptomatic or have very mild symptoms,”...

It’s been confirmed by the Belize Tourism Board that there was 27 positive cases onboard the Carnival Vista cruise ship when it made a call to Belize City on August 11, 2021. Despite the cases, the cruise continues, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has already investigated and the ship continues to be under observation. Carnival Vista’s Belize Call There has been no lack of online discussions ever since it was announced that Carnival Vista has positive cases on board. On the current seven-day Western Caribbean voyage, 27 people tested positive, 26 crew members, and 1...

Carnival Cruise Line releases its more specific health protocols for departures out of Texas which begin in July with two cruise ships. Carnival Cruise Line released its health protocols for cruises out of Texas which covers Carnival Vista and Carnival Breeze, both scheduled to begin sailings this July out of the Port of Galveston. The cruise line has already released more detailed protocols for cruises to Alaska. Carnival Texas Health Protocols Carnival guests will be able to begin planning their cruise out of Galveston, Texas as the cruise line released its more specific protocols for sailings out of Texas as...

A Carnival cruise devolved into near-anarchy during its 10 days in the South Pacific, with some passengers locking themselves inside their cabins, others kicked off the ship and security guards brawling with vacationers in a bare-knuckles melee. Carnival said it would investigate what happened after a video surfaced, showing the guards punching, kicking and threatening passengers during the worst of the fighting Friday. But the cruise line is already blaming “a large family group” for instigating the violence, which some passengers said escalated for days before security could contain it.

Just what you didn't want to see happen in Cuba: the coming of cruises disgorging thousands onto the shores of the island nation. But hold the phone. The announcement Tuesday that Carnival Corp. will begin sailing to Cuba in May may have raised the "that-will-spoil-everything" alarm, but Carnival is deploying its new Fathom brand, using a relatively small (710-passenger) ship that parts ways with the concept of cruises that party hearty ... Fathom cruises are designed to provide "cultural, artistic, faith-based and humanitarian exchanges between American and Cuban citizens," Carnival said. Americans are allowed to travel to Cuba under these...

Carnival Corp. is steering a course toward Cuba. The world’s largest cruise ship company announced Tuesday that it had received approval from the U.S. government to operate cruises to the island nation as a provider of cultural exchange programs.

A group of passengers suing Carnival Corp. for damages after sailing on the ill-fated Carnival Triumph cruise ship that drifted at sea for days are asking the company to pay $5,000 a month for the rest of their lives for ongoing medical and mental problems. The case stems from the February 2013 incident when a fire broke out in the ship’s engine room during a four-day cruise, leaving the ship without engine power and most of its electricity, forcing passengers to endure human waste running down hallways, limited water supplies, noxious odors and extreme heat. …

After scouring hundreds of miles of waters off Australia's coast, authorities on Friday called off a search for two cruise ship passengers who are believed to have fallen overboard. The 30-year-old man and 27-year-old woman were reported missing when the Carnival Cruise ship Spirit docked in Sydney on Thursday morning, CNN affiliate Seven Network reported. The first clue came when they didn't claim their luggage. Maritime officers reviewed surveillance video from the ship and determined that Paul Rossington and Kristen Schroder went overboard Wednesday night. Authorities believe the couple fell about 150 kilometers (93 miles) off Foster, New South Wales.

Carnival Cruise Line continues to make headlines following yet another cruise ship accident on the high seas. But while the "Fun Ship" company has been receiving negative press after the Carnival Triumph cruise ship debacle, it appears as though the most recent incident has surpassed the others in terms of gross negligence and disregard for passenger safety. A cruise ship passenger who went overboard last year has sued Carnival Corp. after claiming she was encouraged to get alarmingly drunk, sustained severe injuries after falling into the ocean and was not offered immediate assistance, leaving her to float in the ocean...

(Newser) – Another mishap involving a Carnival Cruise Lines ship, and this one might end up being the most serious of all. Strong winds apparently caused the Triumph to break free from its mooring in Mobile, Alabama, and Coast Guard crews are searching for a dockworker thought to be missing in the river, reports AP and WKRG. Tug boats apparently have the massive vessel itself back under control, but it was at rest near the dock perpendicular to its original position. The ship also has a gash high up on its stern. The Triumph is the ship that stranded...

As stranded Carnival Cruise passengers began finally disembarking in Mobile, Alabama, late Thursday evening, MSNBC had NBC News correspondent Mark Potter on the scene to speak with them. One young lady during her over three minute interview tried to cite a Bible verse that helped her get through the ordeal, but Potter pulled his microphone away and quickly ended the discussion (video follows with transcript and commentary):

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: The cruise ship passengers are back. They finally made it back, and they're all pooped. It's exactly how I feel at the end of a busy broadcast week, ladies and gentlemen. He-he. Did you hear, these poor people, their towline broke late yesterday afternoon. They were towing that giant Carnival cruise ship and the towline broke so they got the towline fixed. They finally tow the thing back into port, they put these people on buses to take 'em back to New Orleans, and one of the buses broke down. One of the buses broke down on...

The passengers of the Carnival Triumph (probably) never imagined that they’d get to extend their trip by several days. They certainly didn’t picture themselves living like 19th-century steerage passengers, if 19th-century steerage passengers had cans of Pringles and defecated in plastic bags. The cruise ship, as you may recall, had an engine room fire on Sunday, stranding the ship in the Gulf of Mexico with minimal power, sanitation, and access to hot food. If the passengers of the Triumph needed anything, it was for their return to shore to be delayed even further. Naturally, earlier this afternoon the rope attaching...

-snip- "I mean, it's horrible. There's no running water. There's no power. They are having to use the restroom in buckets and bags." "It's like a bunch of savages on there," he added. "If you get on the blogs, they're saying that people are fighting over food and stuff." Toby Barlow told CNN that his wife, Ann, a passenger on the ship, texted that the plumbing failed and people were defecating in bags and urinating in showers. She also told him there's "sewage running down the walls and floors," he said.

Twenty-two passengers on Carnival Splendor were robbed at gunpoint Thursday while on a ship-sponsored tour in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. At least one Mexican media outlet said the passengers were returning by bus to their ship at approximately 5 p.m. after spending time in El Nogalito, a tourist area known for its lush natural setting. Masked assailants stopped the bus and robbed the cruisers of their money, watches, cameras and other valuables.

With bodies still trapped inside Costa Concordia’s underwater tomb, Carnival (CCL: 30.48, 0.00, 0.00%) now finds itself at the heart of scrutiny only likely to rise along with the death toll. Carnival’s worst-ever wreck and one of the most high-profile incidents since the Titanic sank 100 years ago, it’s hard to imagine such a massive company blaming the disaster on a single person -- even if he did abandon ship early and steer a little too close to shore. Even worse, while Carnival has vehemently denied earlier reports that it would offer survivors a 30% discount off future cruises, instead...

More than 700 passengers aboard a trans-Atlantic cruise fell ill with flu-like symptoms, cruise line officials said. The outbreak, believed to be norovirus, struck 556 guests and 154 crew aboard Carnival Cruise Line's Liberty as of Tuesday, according to a statement issued Wednesday by the cruise line. The Miami-based company said the ship is carrying 2,804 paying passengers and 1,166 crew. The ship departed Nov. 3 from Rome and is scheduled to arrive in Fort Lauderdale on Sunday. Officials believe the outbreak is under control because less passengers are reporting symptoms. Nobody has been removed from the ship, Carnival said....

GALVESTON - A Houston-area woman reported missing from a Carnival cruise ship was not the victim of foul play or an accidental fall, Houston FBI agents determined Sunday after interviewing her husband and other passengers. "We had agents on the ship and concluded there was no foul play involved," said Agent Luz Garcia, a spokeswoman for the FBI. "I can't really go into detail out of respect for the family, but our feeling is that it was not an accident." Family members last saw Vonnie Ales, 40, of Simonton, about 6:45 a.m. Friday when she left their cabin, after the...

The FRN "Freeps Ahoy" Cruise aboard the Carnival Cruise Triumph arrived back in Miami this morning. No SARS, No Norwalk, No Terrorism - just a hell of a lot of fun, food and sun! As the first cruiser back at his computer, I have the honor of starting this thread and posting the above pic, which was taken at the foot of the staircase descending into the "London Room", which was the dining room each evening for our Freeper Contingent. Front Row (left to right): Judy (Qwert's wife), Jean (friend of Bush_Democrat), Eileen (BobFromNJ's wife), MinuteGal, Bahbah, Hoosiermama Second...