Cruise Ship Developments in the New Year—Carnival 15-Drink Cap
By Michael P. Ehline, Esq. - The International Cruise Victims Association, developments that will be happening in the New Year include:
- The legislation will come forward during the coming session of Congress. This session will further improve the provisions of CVSSA.
European Victim Support
As an associate member of the International Cruise Victim's Association (ICV), its European umbrella network for national victim support organizations has been fighting hard to protect passengers on ships. And ICV remains the only United States-based member of this 32 national member organization.
- The Australian Chapter headed by Mark Brimble, together with the Australian Government, are beginning to hold hearings. And these will pertain to the need for legislation that needs to be in place. It is akin to the Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Act. The hearings are in Brisbane, Australia February 1st. They result from a report issued in November of 2010. Said report recommended the Australian Government has hearings. During the hearings, the Australian Chapter Chairman Kendall Carver and Chapter Head Mark Brimble will be testifying.
- There was a tremendous amount of progress made by the ICV over the past year. It addressed the problems of crimes and accountability on cruise ships.
- The ICV gets covered by the major media outlets. So look for the International Cruise Victim Association home page under "ICV news." This website is where the media articles and television show information can be found. Someplace worldwide every few days there is a news story featuring the ICV and the members of the association.
- One of the issues that the ICV condemns Carnival Cruise Lines for is their initiative to promote a limit on drinks that is not much of a limit at all. After all, it reduces the likelihood of crimes to inebriated folks. ICV thinks the "limit" of 15 drinks is absurd. It is too much (probably even for an elephant), along with the fact that there is no police protection for passengers and families. So where the ship remains flagged determines passenger safety at sea.
As noted above, Carnival Cruise Lines has initiated a daily drink cap or alcohol package. So passengers can pay for all the beverages on a cruise ship in one single payment. According to a Carnival spokesperson, this package is on 13 drinks Carnival ships. So now you can only have 15 alcoholic beverages within 24 hours, from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m. the following day.
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