MooPig's Trend Spotter Department :: "Cruise Ships"

Figuring Out the Odds
Retrieved by Pat Darnell  |  Jan 26, 2014  |  Bryan TX

[Picture LINK] Troubles at sea ...

Why would anyone haul their favorite vacation clothes and baggage aboard a Cruise Ship that has 3,000 others milling about, with all their baggage on board? What is the draw to these tugs? My Dad was in the Navy, WWII, on a Destroyer in the Pacific, and all he ever thought about while out there was "When do I get to go home?"

US officials probe illnesses on Caribbean cruise: "KINGSTON, Jamaica — U.S. health officials will board a cruise ship docked in the U.S. Virgin Islands to investigate an illness outbreak that has stricken at least 300 people with gastrointestinal symptoms including vomiting and diarrhea, a cruise company spokeswoman said Sunday.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control, CDC, and Prevention has said that 281, or nearly 10 percent, of the 3,050 passengers aboard Royal Caribbean International's Explorer of the Seas have reported getting sick. Twenty-two crew members have also reported feeling ill."

'via Blog this'

Here's a list of 51 Super-size Ocean-liner Cruise ships LINK. Here's a list of Cruise Lines LINK. We know you can look up Wikki stuff, but the staggering reality is that a few illnesses on one ship is only a smidgen of a problem to International Cruise Lines ships that number in the hundreds.

The Explorer of the Sea mentioned above can accommodate 3,117 "guests" with two people per room. This information from 2011 is not available on the Royal Caribbean Press Center Web-site HERE, today.

So what are the odds of getting sea-sick, ill, injured, raped, lost, or killed on a modern cruise ship today? Christopher Elliott on November 6th, 2010 said: " ...The cruise industry contends a trip on the high seas is safer than a drive to the airport and a stay at a hotel. But just how safe is it?... "

Cruise Junkie reports this bit on its web-site "Cruise and Ferry Passengers and Crew Overboard 1995 - 2014": "Number missing [persons] in past 5 years (2009 - 2013) = 113 (average = 22.6 per year)..." HERE.

"... Stay in your cabin and order room service for the duration of your cruise, and short of your ship sinking, you’ll probably be just fine.

But stay up all night drinking, do your “I’m-the-king-of-the-world” impression from the bow of the ship, and take the unauthorized shore excursion to the slums — well, maybe not (ibid. Christopher Elliott. November 6th, 2010) ..."

In the same article, concerning rape at sea: "... as cruise expert Ross A. Klein testified before a Senate hearing in 2008, the rate of sexual assault on cruise ships is almost twice the U.S. rate of forcible rape — about 56.9 per 100,000. “It is common knowledge in our field that cruise ships are flat-out dangerous for women,” said Amelia Stinson-Wesley, the former executive director of a battered women’s shelter and rape crisis center. “Not as dangerous as countries at war where rape is used as a weapon of war, but more dangerous than even a college campus and certainly more dangerous than the general population of most cities in the United States..."

I'll never forget when I was ten years old and Dad took us all to Acapulco, Mexico, when I got the Touristas, gastrointestinal bug. The CDC reports HERE the cause of gastrointestinal disorders for passengers aboard cruise ships.

LiveLeaks shares on its Web-site HERE some video of large waves out there on the Ocean. Passenger falls from the gangplank HERE.

CONCLUSION
At first we thought we could figure out the odds of passengers getting into trouble on a cruise in today's mega-tonnage multi-decked Ocean Liners. Figuring those odds will require much more study. In the Summer of 2010, " ...President Obama signed the Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Act, which requires cruise lines to report all deaths, missing persons, theft, sexual harassment and assaults. However, the Department of Homeland Security hasn’t yet published the data and did not offer a timeline for its release...."

The editors in MooPig's Trend Spotter Department all agree; since JFK and Jackie and all their entourage always vacationed near the sea, Americans will trend and copy that royal couples's extended period of recreational behavior, buying cruise tickets en-masse.

Call us if you think differently at ASWC ; ...  http://acronyms.thefreedictionary.com/Ask+Someone+Who+Cares ...

In summary [M]arine paneling said...

"...Ships can last for many years and they can travel to different seas, as long as they are carefully maintained and regularly checked. Big sea vessels can carry heavy equipment as well as many passengers, and to experience tragedy such as sinking is really unfortunate. The number of sinking ships is very alarming and we hope that such tragic events will be prevented. (July 12, 2012. LINK and  LINK )... "

__________________Reference
http://news.msn.com/us/us-officials-probe-illnesses-on-caribbean-cruise#tscptmf
http://moopigwisdom.blogspot.com/2012/11/moopig-report-from-middle-demographics.html
http://moopigwisdom.blogspot.com/2012/01/moopigs-trend-spotter-department-lots.html
http://moopigwisdom.blogspot.com/2012/01/moopigs-trend-spotter-department-cruise.html
http://www.pvgglobal.com/
http://moopigwisdom.blogspot.com/2012/01/moopigs-vacation-like-kennedy-taking.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_world's_largest_cruise_ships
http://www.royalcaribbeanpresscenter.com/downloadFS.php/?id=19
http://elliott.org/the-travel-critic/how-safe-is-a-cruise/
http://www.cruisejunkie.com/Overboard.html
http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/vsp/surv/gilist.htm#2010
http://www.shipcruise.org/cruise-ship-passenger-capacity-ratings/
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=975_1283799588
http://acronyms.thefreedictionary.com/Ask+Someone+Who+Cares
http://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2013/09/04/royal-caribbean-bans-smoking-balconies
http://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2014/01/24/another-royal-caribbean-ship-experiencing-norovirus-outbreak
http://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/

MooPig's Vacation like a Kennedy :: "Taking a Cruise?"

Retrieved by Pat Darnell  |  Jan 14, 2012  |  Bryan TX

[PHOTO LINK]

Until 2001, I had been thinking how nice to one day take my better half on a cruise for our anniversary. The Twin Towers disasters of 911, the piracy of late, and ... well ... uncertainty a major factor in this dream; I have dread of ever going on a cruise. Behold, a cruise ship runs aground, falls on its side.

Think about it, high seas adventures are death sentences today. I would buy a Time Share rather than buy a berth on a modern cruise ship! That's not saying much.

breaking news - national news - world news - azcentral.com: "Three bodies were recovered from the sea after the Costa Concordia with 4,234 people aboard ran aground hundreds of yards (meters) off the tiny island of Giglio near the coast of Tuscany late Friday, tearing a 160-foot (50-meter) gash in its hull and sending in a rush of water." (NICOLE WINFIELD and FRANCES D'EMILIO. Jan 14, 2012. Associated Press) ... "

'via Blog this'

EXCERPT " ... She choked up as she recounted the moment when an Argentine couple handed her their 3-year-old daughter, unable to keep their balance as the ship lurched to the side and the family found themselves standing on a wall. "He said 'take my baby,'" Mrs. Ananias said, covering her mouth with her hand as she teared up. "I grabbed the baby. But then I was being pushed down. I didn't want the baby to fall down the stairs. I gave the baby back. I couldn't hold her.

"I thought that was the end and I thought they should be with their baby," she said.

"I wonder where they are," daughter Valerie whispered. ... "

________________________Reference
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_ITALY_CRUISE_AGROUND?SITE=AZPHG&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
http://www.whiotv.com/ap/ap/top-news/coast-guard-ship-aground-off-italy-bodies-found/pMkqS/
http://surftweeters.com/titanic-like-scene-passengers-recount-panic-on-cruise-ship-that-ran-aground-off-italy/

"Crabs, Sting Rays, and Sharks ... Oh My!"

Where modern oil drilling rigs and multitudes of sea creatures along with numerous people once co-existed in the Gulf of Mexico -- now there is immeasurable pain and suffering.
by Pat Darnell

Seems just yesterday, ... what was I doing ... April 20, 2010? Oh yeah, I was piddling around on faceBook, when suddenly appeared a big story of a 'British Petroleum off-shore rig' gone haywire.

The story was captured and reported by some of my wily faceBook friends. At first it was reported as a back-flow preventer not doing its job ... causing an explosion and the fire.

Our faceBook discussion centered on the 'good and bad selling points' of certain oil rig back-flow preventer's. The fact of lost lives had not yet surfaced in discussions. First thought I had was, 'Liability;' ... looking back that was probably not the most humane thought to have at that time.

Later, after the full scale of the disaster reared its fury, came mornings after mornings, waking up to read that the damaged oil well was spewing crude into our Gulf of Mexico. The spewage seemed unstoppable; the disaster story unfolded with so much uncertainty that no one could get a handle on where the gargantuan sea killer crude oil might find a resting place. It was dark days for months after the explosion.

Here we are today, no less frustrated, nor less confused, about the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Disaster, facing a date -- April 20, 2011 -- One Year Anniversary.

Like I began this paragraph, seems just like yesterday -- why do the years go whizzing past so fast?

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“... "The BP oil disaster was the latest assault in a long series of injuries to the environment and economy of the five Gulf states. Fines paid by BP and other parties responsible for this disaster belong in the Gulf, to help restore the environments and economies that were directly harmed,” said the joint statement by the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana, Environmental Defense Fund, Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation, National Audubon Society, National Wildlife Federation, Ocean Conservancy, Oxfam America, and The Nature Conservancy.(AFS. grassam. April 15, 2011. retrieved here: LINK)..."

LIABILITY

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• EXCERPT  |  " ... The Gulf currently supports a $34 billion per year tourism industry, and its fisheries support an estimated $22.6 billion dollars in seafood and commercial and recreational fishing-related activity. (Center for American Progress)
• The Gulf produces roughly 40 percent of all the seafood in the lower 48 states. (American Association of Port Authorities)
• The region is home to 10 of our nation’s 15 largest ports by tonnage. More than 25 percent of the nation’s waterborne exports pass through Louisiana ports alone. (National Marine Fisheries Service)
• Nearly nine out of 10 poll respondents (87%) across the five Gulf states agree that the environmental health of the Gulf Coast region affects their state’s economy very much or somewhat. (Lake Research Partners and Bellwether Research and Consulting)
• Environmental degradation has caused tremendous damage to the Gulf ecosystems in recent decades. The region has lost nearly 50 percent of its wetlands, 60 percent of its sea grass beds, 50 percent of its oyster reefs, and more than 32 percent of its mangrove forests. (The Nature Conservancy) ... (AFS. grassam. April 15, 2011. retrieved here: LINK)"

Arthur Guiness 1759 - 2009

Guinness: 250 years of craic ...Craic is an Irish term meaning merriment.
by Mike R.
September 24, 2009 10:51 AM EDT (Updated: September 24, 2009 11:05 AM EDT)

250 years ago today, Arthur Guinness signed a 9,000-year lease on his Dublin brewery at St. James's Gate. Guinness began as a unique Irish brand of beer - and still is distinctly Irish, although it is now a worldwide brand owned by beer and liquor giant Diageo. [SOURCE]


I remember when I used to think Guinness was a thick, filling brew, and didn't like it very much. It wasn't until I went to a Guinness promotional event maybe 7 or 8 years ago and drank a fair amount of the black stuff that I appreciated its flavor and surprising lightness. There was nothing better than enjoying several pints in the Old Country during my trip to Ireland in the summer of 2008.

So let's all raise a pint o' the black stuff to Arthur Guinness on this great day! (by Mike R., 09.26.2009, retrieved in its entireity HERE)