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.
Looking more like a January start for Carnival from Florida. And of course the CDC could kibosh that. Tom
Ya know, even the people I know that think that this whole thing has been blown completely out of proportion and don’t like wearing masks...
even they are hesitant to go on a cruise.
People watching too many TV movies :)
They are treating everybody in this country like they are over 75 years old in poor health, and need to be very careful of getting Covid.
I am 85, and have health problems, but young healthy people should not be held up from enjoying life.
Not to mention the destruction of our economy. -Tom
And guess who appointed Judge Seitz? You get two guesses...
.read about this, the delay is due to company pollution and was part of settlement.
I know it was Clinton ,but to me the judges disposition is very important as some of the judges can be unreasonable tyrants.
One time I was a WITNESS in a trial in Boston and after hearing several cases before ours, the Judge decided to convene the case for the day, and told us to report back at 10 AM Monday morning.
One of the lawyers approached the Judge and asked for a continuation, since that lawyer had to be in Barnstable Court at 10 AM Monday.
The Judge yelled at him and said if the lawyer was not back here in court at 10AM Monday, the Judge was going to hold the lawyer in contempt of court.
Anytime you end up in court as Carnival is finding out, things can go either way. -Tom
Agreed!
January what ???
My next cruise is on the 9th...
Are there items amongst that 700 that could have been addressed while the ships were not sailing ???
Carnival being fined, and having to put in extra gear to placate environmenaltalists, and also a 60 day penalty for a restart would not be a problem had CARNIVAL been doing cruises all along.
But the last 7 months Covid has shut Carnival down.
Adding in 2 more months onto that CDC shutdown seems now to be an overkill on the original penalty; and a burden to the innocent non-Carnival people who need Cruise lines operating to make a living. -Tom
That's what Carnival should be doing, but the problem comes when they are certified as in compliance and then would be forced to wait 60 days before Cruising, as an additional penalty.
See my response in post #9 - Tom
Any agency or corporation that enters a plea in federal court is just asking for it. When the California prison agency was on probation in the late commie judge Thelton Henderson’s court, he micromanaged them by fiat for years. Likewise, why is this judge regulating Carnival’s COVID compliance when the case is about prior “environmental crimes?”
and the innocent non-Carnival people who need cruises for their sanity and well being...
Like me...
I NEED A CRUISE !!!
Cruises are right there in the Constitution under Life Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness...
Tom, I turned 80 this year, and since I took up playing 5 rounds of golf every week at age 59, I am in better shape now than at age 55. I have no fear of covid-19 because of treadmill exercise every day. I was on Carnival cruise at end of February, and have shopped at stores at least once a week. And escorted my wife every 3 weeks to cancer clinic for chemo treatments. Zero symptoms! But if I was tested probably will be positive for covid-19 at least for some period.
If they tested us for influenza they will find most who have been to stores or other crowded places, they will be positive for influenza. Just like covid-19, only a small percentage will actually display symptoms of flu. Especially healthy people.
Covid-19 death rate for infected people is much smaller than H1N1, Ebola, TB, yellow fever, SARS, etc. Yes, covid-19 may be more infectious but in October 2020 the therapeutics are proving to be very effective in recovery.
President Trump is right. By getting infected and then recovered, he is probably got some form of immunity. Which tells me we need to go on with our lives, acquire a mild infection and become immune.
Capt. Tom wrote: “They are treating everybody in this country like they are over 75 years old in poor health, and need to be very careful of getting Covid.”
The only reason they are doing so is that a sizeable and vocal group are demanding that. They have bought into the narrative that the only way to protect the elderly is to enforce these protocols on the young.
Capt. Tom wrote: “I am 85, and have health problems, but young healthy people should not be held up from enjoying life.”
That’s not the conventional wisdom. Many believe that the young and healthy must sacrifice to protect the older vulnerable population.
Capt. Tom wrote: “Not to mention the destruction of our economy.”
These are usually the elderly with comorbidities who are especially vulnerable. I find it interesting that they have no qualms about claiming those who want to reopen the economy are selfish yet ignore their own selfishness.
They believe that any price must be paid to protect the elderly. Often I hear ‘but we can always restore the economy but we can bring the dead back to life’.
I find it interesting that facebook/twitter have ‘cancelled’ the stories about biden’s criminality because they don’t wish to upset the public which is exactly the same rationale given for banning my posts on cruise critic where I pointed out how misguided lockdowns, etc. are.
Getting support from a Judge, the CDC gets more support from this article today - to put off Cruises in our country until March, as Dr. Redfield from the CDC has stated.
Click on the link below for the latest Cruise saga.-Tom
click on this link for the latest cruise story on Cruises overseas.
The CDC WANTS MILLIONS OF PEOPLe out of WORK!! THEY get THEIR PAYCHECKS!!
Well I’m 72 so I dont have that many cruising years left and theyve already stolen almost one of them from me...
Theyre denying me my right to cruise...
Just hope our CDC doesn't insist on adopting the UK Govt. standard for cruise Ships. Here is a small part of those onerous protocols:
One issue that does remain; the U.K. cruise market is based and built around the 50+ market. And the U.K. government has made it clear that people over 70 years old should refrain from taking cruises altogether.
This 70+ group is one of the largest customer bases for most cruise operators in the U.K.
Tennessee Nana wrote: “Well I’m 72 so I dont have that many cruising years left and theyve already stolen almost one of them from me...Theyre denying me my right to cruise...”
I’m 74 so I can sympathize but many cruisers think the only ones denying you your right to cruise are those who resist wearing masks and want to open up the economy. I’ve heard many say that we could be cruising now if only Trump had imposed stringent lockdowns where you would be arrested if you left your house for anything but groceries (one trip per week) and going to the doctor’s office and the pharmacy.
What is the science behind this?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.