Cruise industry safety topic of hearing

To Whom It May Concern:

We came across this information in the trades and thought it would be of
interest to this newsgroup as well. If this is somehow a repeat of an
earlier post, sorry we missed it. This can always be ignored or deleted.


An Arizona father whose daughter's cruise ship disappearance went
unreported, a Connecticut couple who had nearly $7,000 worth of jewelry
stolen while on a cruise and the son of Vietnamese immigrants who
mysteriously disappeared from a Caribbean cruise are among a dozen people
scheduled to testify at a congressional hearing on Tuesday.

This is the second of two hearings Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Conn., is
co-sponsoring in Washington to address cruise ship safety. FBI and cruise
industry officials testified at the first meeting in December. Passengers
and their families will have an opportunity to speak at this hearing.
Both were prompted by the disappearance of Greenwich's George A. Smith IV
from a honeymoon cruise in the Mediterranean. While Royal Caribbean
International has said it responded appropriately to Smith's disappearance,
his family has said the company did not do enough to protect Smith and
investigate what happened.

Intense media attention in the case has spawned public scrutiny of the
cruise industry and inspired the advocacy group International Cruise
Victims. Shays said he wants to publicize the plight of families who have
fallen victim to cruise ship tragedies and to advocate for changes to the
industry, particularly when it comes to reporting crimes aboard ships.

"I am working on a bipartisan legislative proposal to improve disclosure of
crimes on cruise ships in order to increase the transparency of the
industry," Shays said in an e-mail sent by his spokeswoman. "Passengers have
a right to know the safety record of the vessels they board."
While Smith's family and his wife, Jennifer Hagel Smith, are holding
separate press conferences prior to the 2 p.m. Tuesday hearing, they are not
expected to testify in front of Congress members.

They have chosen to step aside to let other people describe the tragedies
that have happened to them, said Kendall Carver, president of International
Cruise Victims and the Arizona father of a 40-year-old woman who went
missing from an Alaskan cruise two years ago.

"They felt they had had a great deal of publicity and it's a larger issue
than the Smiths," said Carver, whose daughter's disappearance went
unreported by cruise personnel even though at least one crew member noticed
she had vanished.

The victims' group wants Congress to enact legislation to force the cruise
industry to be held more accountable for crimes and tragedies aboard their
ships, Carver said. Currently, the cruise industry voluntarily reports
crimes to the FBI and varying policing authorities.

"Until these things are cleaned up, maybe it's not appropriate that you land
here," Carver said he wants Congress to tell cruise companies.
Representatives of the cruise industry have said the voluntary reporting
policy is working and that cruises have a relatively low crime rate. Cruise
ships worldwide carried more than 30 million passengers over a three-year
period, according to data given to congressional staff. The data also showed
that during a three-year period, 177 reports of allegedly unlawful sexual
acts or contacts occurred, 28 people disappeared and there were four
robberies of items valued at more than $5,000.

Part of the problem is that sometimes proper authorities are not notified of
the crime, said Ira and Myra Leonard, two retired Hamden history professors
who had nearly $7,000 worth of jewelry stolen from their cabin after
embarking on a cruise from Bayonne, N.J., in 2004. The couple said that,
because their loss totaled less than $10,000, the cruise line said it would
not report the larceny to the FBI.

"Our case is very interesting because we followed it up," Ira Leonard said,
adding that he thinks the cruise line had security lapses that allowed the
thefts to occur. "My wife and I have pursued it based on the principle."

Leonard will testify at Tuesday's hearing, as will Son Pham of Bellevue,
Wash., whose parents' disappearance last May from a Caribbean cruise ship
has been labeled a suicide.

But Pham said he doubts that is what happened because after the cruise, the
couple, who escaped from Vietnam in 1975 at the end of the war, had planned
to return to their native country for the first time in 30 years. He thinks
the cruise ship had unsafe conditions that led to the couple's disappearance
overboard.

"I don't mind going over it over and over again and I'm sure I'll do the
same thing on Tuesday," Pham said. "Mom and Dad weren't ready to leave us
and we weren't ready to lose them."

Pham said he has come to accept his parents' death, but that he wants to
help make cruise ships safer.
"I'm kind of at peace knowing that my parents are together in a good place,"
he said. "It's not about the Pham family anymore. It's about what's right."


Happy sailing,
John Sisker
SHIP-TO-SHORE CRUISE AGENCY®
(714) 536-3850 or toll free at
(800) 724-6644 & (pagoo ID: 714.536.3850)
http://www.shiptoshorecruise.com

Thus spake "John Sisker" :

To Whom It May Concern:


Do you not read this NG? This was posted what, two weeks ago?

As much as some people rag on Ray, he does read and respond to other's
posts.
--
dillon

Could have been is in the past
Could be is in the future
There is only the now

As already pointed out in my posts "if this is somehow a repeat of an
earlier post, sorry we missed it. This can always be ignored or deleted."
Yet, apparently, this information is the only part that is being ignored;
while some seem more intent on who posted what and when first, than in the
message itself, and/or having the opportunity to continue on. Likewise, in
many of these cases, if indeed it is somehow a repeat of an earlier post,
many times it is also a different interpretation, and from a different
author, and from a different source. Truthfully, seemingly unlike some, I
simply don't have the time or even inclination to go back through every post
to see if something similar already exists. Basically, I could care less if
it does or doesn't! This is still nothing more than a typical newsgroup, and
as pointed out before by others... "this is an open, unmonitored newsgroup."

As for ragging on others, just as you want to rag on me simply to develop an
issue; others rag on some who, in their interpretation, simply uses this
format to promote and advertise their services. Personally, I would like to
see a response from some others just once with their spam tag signature is
not included. In fact, I would like to see any type signatures at all banned
from this newsgroup, other than a personal name. I personally would not have
a problem with that, but we can all bet many others would, and is apparently
why they frequent this newsgroup so much in the first place.

John Sisker




"Dillon Pyron" wrote in message
...
Thus spake "John Sisker" :

To Whom It May Concern:


Do you not read this NG? This was posted what, two weeks ago?

As much as some people rag on Ray, he does read and respond to other's
posts.
--
dillon

Could have been is in the past
Could be is in the future
There is only the now

In article . net, John
Sisker wrote:

Truthfully, seemingly unlike some, I simply don't have the time or
even inclination to go back through every post to see if something
similar already exists. Basically, I could care less if it does or
doesn't! This is still nothing more than a typical newsgroup, and as
pointed out before by others... "this is an open, unmonitored
newsgroup."

You have been reposting items that have already been posted. That is
lame. If you don't have time to read and see that it has already been
posted you should refrain from posting. You are just making a fool out
of yourself. And you certainly will end up being ignored and in bozo
and kill files. I guess you just want to be annoying. Doesn't say much
for your business or business practices either.

In fact, I would like to see any type signatures at all banned from
this newsgroup, other than a personal name. I personally would not
have a problem with that, but we can all bet many others would, and
is apparently why they frequent this newsgroup so much in the first
place.

LOL.

And as far as whether you personally post with your signature or not I
don't think it makes any difference since you are so lame with your
spam posts and wrong advice that no one is likely to be giving you any
business from your sig !!!

--
Charles

"Charles" wrote in message
d...
In article . net, John
Sisker wrote:

Truthfully, seemingly unlike some, I simply don't have the time or
even inclination to go back through every post to see if something
similar already exists. Basically, I could care less if it does or
doesn't! This is still nothing more than a typical newsgroup, and as
pointed out before by others... "this is an open, unmonitored
newsgroup."

You have been reposting items that have already been posted. That is
lame. If you don't have time to read and see that it has already been
posted you should refrain from posting. You are just making a fool out
of yourself. And you certainly will end up being ignored and in bozo
and kill files. I guess you just want to be annoying. Doesn't say much
for your business or business practices either.

Depending on your list server, posts from different sources come out at
different times. I have seen poster being lambasted for reposting
information that hasn't come up on my list server yet. Because of my list
server, and my kill files, John Sisker's articles are usually the first ones
I see on a subject. I appreciate that John sifts through the cruise
information he must get, as it saves me from sifting through press releases
that are not news, or are news to those that invest in cruiselines, but are
not all that relevant to folks like me that don't. I like steinbrenner
(sp?) because he or she seems to come up with really off the wall stuff that
is interesting. I like the pirate activity posts (though I don't remember
who posts those) just because I think those are interesting, but I admit
they usually have little to do with cruising. Different strokes for
different folks. But I have found kill files are extremely calming for
those you don't want to read.

In article , Cathy
Kearns wrote:

Depending on your list server, posts from different sources come out at
different times. I have seen poster being lambasted for reposting
information that hasn't come up on my list server yet. Because of my list
server, and my kill files, John Sisker's articles are usually the first ones
I see on a subject.

First of all this is not a mailing list. There is no "list server".
There are news servers. This is Usenet. If John Sisker's posts are the
first ones you see on a subject because of your kill file that is your
choice but that does not excuse Sisker constantly reposting information
that has already been posted by someone else. It is not just one time,
he does it all the time, and it is lame.

--
Charles

Thus spake "Cathy Kearns" :


"Charles" wrote in message
id...
In article . net, John
Sisker wrote:

Truthfully, seemingly unlike some, I simply don't have the time or
even inclination to go back through every post to see if something
similar already exists. Basically, I could care less if it does or
doesn't! This is still nothing more than a typical newsgroup, and as
pointed out before by others... "this is an open, unmonitored
newsgroup."

You have been reposting items that have already been posted. That is
lame. If you don't have time to read and see that it has already been
posted you should refrain from posting. You are just making a fool out
of yourself. And you certainly will end up being ignored and in bozo
and kill files. I guess you just want to be annoying. Doesn't say much
for your business or business practices either.

Depending on your list server, posts from different sources come out at
different times. I have seen poster being lambasted for reposting
information that hasn't come up on my list server yet. Because of my list
server, and my kill files, John Sisker's articles are usually the first ones
I see on a subject. I appreciate that John sifts through the cruise
information he must get, as it saves me from sifting through press releases
that are not news, or are news to those that invest in cruiselines, but are
not all that relevant to folks like me that don't. I like steinbrenner
(sp?) because he or she seems to come up with really off the wall stuff that
is interesting. I like the pirate activity posts (though I don't remember
who posts those) just because I think those are interesting, but I admit
they usually have little to do with cruising. Different strokes for
different folks. But I have found kill files are extremely calming for
those you don't want to read.


You must have an extremely slow feed if you're getting posts three to
four days late.
--
dillon

I didn't climb to the top of the
food chain to become a vegetartian.