Posted on 10/18/2020 1:25:35 PM PDT by Capt. Tom
While Carnival Corporation focuses on restarting operations in December, a Florida judge might throw a spanner in the works for them.
The Miami Herald reports that U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of Florida Patricia Seitz, who heads an investigation against the company for environmental crimes, announced she would require the company to comply with their probation obligations 60-days before ships re-enter U.S. waters.
The order will require each ship to carry certification from CEO Arnold Donald regarding its environmental compliance status and serve a 60-day notification period before re-entering.
Carnival Corporation lawyers scrambled to have a delay of at least 24 hours put in place so the company could review the judge’s order.
Judge Seitz: “Repetitive issues led to non-compliance.” Judge Seitz said that although she is not after every single detail, she is concerned about the compliance issues that the company has.
“Do I want to get down and look at every single nut and bolt? No, but the items I have listed are areas that need to be addressed because they go to the heart of the repetitive issues that this company has had, that has led to compliance issues.”
The issues range from failing to have the correct pollution-prevention equipment, lacking environmental spares, staffing issues, and faulty voyage planning. According to the judge, the company has failed to maintain these throughout their years on probation.
This even goes as far as plastic being discharged at sea and sewage dumping together with other polluting factors in protected marine areas.
In 2016, Carnival Corporation, in particular Princess Cruises, was slapped with a 40 million USD fine for incorporating a magic pipe onboard, in which pollutants could be discharged without having to report it.
Arnold Donald: “Want to honor what we said” Although Carnival had planned to tackle many issues during the operations break, there seems to be a communication breakdown.
Carnival Corporation CEO Arnold Donald:
“We want to honor what we said in the pause priority plan,” he said. “The way it was written, it wasn’t written to say every single item will be done at the resumption of cruises. There are so many variables here.”
Some ships have as many as 700 maintenance items that need to be addressed. CEO Arnold Donald now says it was never the company’s intention to tackle all the issues before cruises resumed.
Carnival has more issues than it would like While Carnival Corporation is already dealing with the COVID-19 crisis and compliance issues, other issues will need to be addressed.
Prosecutor Richard Udell from the Department of Justice environmental crimes section has raised concern about incidents involving Chief Maritime Officer Bill Burke.
Burke has been accused of illegally influencing the investigations Carnival Corporation is doing towards the compliance goals. Also, Burke has been accused of perpetuating a blame culture.
Carnival Corporation reacted to the allegations by e-mail:
As the company’s chief maritime officer, he continues to drive positive change in every element of our operation. Our top priorities are compliance, environmental protection, and the health, safety, and well-being of our guests and crew, as well as the communities we visit.
It certainly seems like the deck is stacked against Carnival Corporation at the moment. With no ships sailing, multiple internal and compliance issues, and a possible 60-day notification by the judge’s order, a return to cruising is not likely at all.
If the judge’s order is confirmed, Carnival Corporation will need to start looking at a January start date for all of its ships sailing from or to U.S. ports rather than December.
Yup! They (bureaucrats worldwide) should forfeit their paychecks until they open industries.
Where the Cruise Lines are concerned I believe the aspect of forcing some of Cruise Lines into bankruptcy is the objective by using so-called science by our CDC and liberal courts.
Below is an excerpt from an article that touches on the problem. ................................................ "Cruise lines have been thoroughly prepared and successful in showing that cruising is possible in a safe manner; the procedures that have been put in place go further than any other industry in the world.
Will the cruise lines be at the behest of the a health official deciding the fate of a billion-dollar industry? If so, then will the cruise industry be able to recover? Not only that, will cruise lines cancel voyages each time there is an infection on board?
Here is some science for the CDC to consider.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3895612/posts
Below is what the Cruise lines will have to face fighting this virus.
If one of the best hospitals in the world is having difficulty in handling the virus, what chance does a cruise ship have?
Excerpt from a recent Boston Globe article
The COVID-19 outbreak among dozens of employees and patients at Brigham and Women’s Hospital last month probably started with a highly infectious patient who tested negative twice before spreading the virus across three units.
That’s the conclusion of the Brigham doctors who worked to understand how such an event could occur despite infection control protocols that seemed to have prevented in-hospital transmission for months.
How did it spread?
You can get that from the article below: - Tom
According to The Miami Herald, U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of Florida, Patricia Seitz, ruled that Carnival would need to validate the environmental protection status for each ship in the company’s fleet 30 days before they reenter American waters.
“And guess who appointed Judge Seitz? You get two guesses...”
Why guess? I looked it up.
President Horndog.
This judge is really bad. All of her punitive requirements for the 12 hrs they spend in a US port? Or make all Carnival ships comply due to violations of a few cruise ships which cruised Alaskan waters?
Does she know what foreign ports are like? Or the cost imparted to American ports, companies and workers? This is the type of heavy-handed environmental dicta that led to the destruction of STS-107.
My wife noticed on a Holland part of a farcebook site the following ...
Next years Holland sailing scheduled to transit the Panama Canal, will not be stopping in Half Moon Cay. This modification of the itinerary is being posted.
Why ?
My bet is that the Bahama’s extreme restrictions be the reason. All private islands the cruises have are all ‘doomed’ by being the Bahama chain. Probably all sorts of requirement as far as using Bahama citizens to staff. They have to transit from Bahama mainland to these private islands and could be covid carriers.
Also I’ve read on Tom threads somewhere that a Bahama issued Visa is now required to make any travel involving a Bahama spot.
Also something about covid test within 7 days prior to Bahama travel. Well a ship coming from San Diego, through the canal, leaves more than 7 days before encountering Bahamas waters. So everyone is SOL.
Comments welcome ?
Don’t know about Bahamas other than the rampant corruption and crime. Been to the Atlantis on Nassau but no interest in taking a chance anywhere else in that nation right now. Don’t see how Carnival’s private island Half Moon cay would be impacted but it seems the notorious Bahamian greed and intemperance is doing just that. Let them be that way. They’re already gouging and driving out international businesses. It’ll just get worse until a change in leadership (read: brutal dictatorship) takes over.
My thoughts are when in doubt ...Mexico. Always had great experiences at Cozumel and Costa Maya.
I believe I have found a vacation spot for Cruising Freepers who need a cahnge of pace .
If you go, would you find out for me, what happened to the investigations about a year ago into the deaths of about 20 different tourists, over a long period of time (possible poisonings?)
It was big news and several investigations lunched.
Then it dropped out of all news sources, and not a word about it since. -Tom ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Excerpt from Casa de Campo Real Estate News--
The government of Dominican Republic, in a historic move, is providing complimentary travel and health insurance to all tourists staying in the country from the end of September to December 31st, 2020.
The travel and health insurance will cover all emergency hospitalization, medical, lodging costs, as well as airline ticket change fees if one becomes ill with COVID-19 while visiting. The insurance will be provided at no cost to the visitor and will be fully paid for by the Dominican government. Additionally, beginning at the end of September, guests will no longer be required to provide a certificate of testing negative for COVID-19 before traveling to the Dominican Republic
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