Cruise Bruise Blog
December 6, 2008
December 6, 2008
Cruise Line Cover-Up On Pirate Attack Evolves Into Verbal Abuse Of Pax
Passengers were chastised after they contacted relatives to tell of the pirate attack on the M/V Athena. One passenger, still on the ship, and afraid of retribution has given this updated account of the incident.

The Athena's Captain Antonio Morais had even used the public address system to tell passengers "that two attacks by pirates had taken place," the woman said. She added that the crew had ordered passengers to stay indoors after small motorboats surrounded the vessel. Observers using binoculars on the bridge reportedly counted between 30 and 40 small boats to the port side and 12 to starboard at the height of the incident, she said.

"Less than an hour later the master of the vessel, Captain Antonio Morais of Portugal, confirmed to listeners that two attacks by pirates had taken place."
Crew members used blasts from high-powered water canons to drive back the pirates who clearly wanted to board the Athena, the woman said.

The lady said that the official line now being put around the ship was that "as no shots were fired by the assailants it was merely a reconnaissance mission by those in the motor boats rather than an attack as such".

"This insistence is merely splitting hairs," the Melbourne traveler said. She said passengers who had alerted family members about the attack had been scolded for spreading misinformation that had caused widespread alarm.

Classic International Cruises Australia that owns Athena has denied any pirate attack took place, in spite of what their captain told his passengers.

December 6, 2008
Pirates Set Their Eyes On German Cruise Ship In Gulf Of Aden
The German Navy warded off a suspected pirate attack on the German Transocean Tours' cruise ship M/S Astor in the Gulf of Aden on Thursday, December 4, 2008. The German Navy's Mecklenburg-Vorpommern frigate chased off two suspicious speed boats with warning shots last Friday, a spokesman for the mission commando in Postsdam confirmed. 

A spokesman for Transocean Tours in Bremen said the 492 guests and crew on board the MS Astor had not noticed the incident. The boat also had not asked for help.  The suspicious boats disappeared quickly into Yemen's territorial waters, the report said.

Germany says that it is considering contributing up to 1,400 military personnel to a European Union security mission to combat piracy off the coast of Somalia, according to a report in the daily Frankfurter Allgemeine this week.  The newspaper said 500 naval personnel would crew a frigate patrolling the Horn of Africa and the remainder would be commandos providing security on German-owned merchant vessels in the region, the report said.

Now, if all the pirates eyeing cruise ships along the Somalia coast is not enough to make you choose another cruise destination, try this on for size. The United Nations is aware, as is the international community in general that Somalia has become the largest illegal international dumping ground for toxic waste in the world. Residents along the coast are sick and dying from the lethal cocktail they have been exposed to including nuclear waste.

The UN envoy to Somalia, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, said last October that the UN has "reliable information that European and Asian companies are dumping toxic waste, including nuclear waste, off the Somali coastline." Reports say it is as much as 400 times cheaper to haul the illegal load to Somalian waters than processing the cargo in European nations. I think they need to change the name of the Gulf Of Aden to the Gulf Of Greed.

UN Envoy Ould-Abdallah confirmed recently that leaking containers of toxic waste were washed ashore in Harardhere, about 200 kilometers (124 miles) south of Mogadishu. Animals in the area contracted unusual diseases, and coastal residents suffered coughing and vomiting attacks. Many have strange rashes, open sores and have died as a result of the mystery illnesses.

With no government in control of Somalia, pirates are the least of the resident's worries. If nuclear waste is being dumped on beaches and in the waters of Somalia, perhaps pirates should be the least of the worries of cruise ship passengers too. That mystery illness passengers complain about may not be Norovirus at all but a reaction to nuclear waste or toxic chemical compounds.

In addition, according to Somalia newspaper reports on Thursday, government soldiers battled each other Wednesday in Somalia's capital, leaving at least two soldiers dead and several wounded. Witnesses in Mogadishu told Puntland-based Radio Garowe that the fighting started after soldiers guarding the presidential compound Villa Somalia "threw rocks" at a passing convoy transporting Mogadishu's mayor, Mohamed Osman "Dhagahtur." "Dhagahtur's guards then opened fire," the witness said, adding that a battle erupted immediately.

December 6, 2008
Pirates Stranded In Gulf Of Aden Send Out SOS
Seven not too bright pirates were found bobbing at sea with a cache of weapons after the boat they were in became disabled, and they required a rescue. The group clung to their weapons rather than toss them overboard when they called a distress signal. The Danish warship HDMS Absalon came to the pirates rescue on Wednesday night only to discover the group had rocket-propelled grenades and AK-47s aboard. Under those circumstances, the only vessel that would have rescued them would be a military vessel, not a cargo ship or cruise ship.

After receiving medical treatment aboard the Absalon, the pirates were turned over to Yemen's coast guard Friday morning. The skiff the pirates were on was sunk, the Danish say, to prevent a potential accident sea as the skiff drifted helpless, the engine not working. The Danes turned the pirates over to the Yemeni military, because was in their terriotorial waters.

It is not known if these men had been involved in any of the pirate incidents against three different cruise ships in the last week. But, with the weapons they had in this tiny boat, it is clear they were on the hunt for potential victims. It is quite possible, the skiff was deliberately disabled so that pirates could attack any ship stopping to lend assistance.

December 6, 2008
Mark Wilhelm Pleads Not Guilty In Dianne Brimble Death
Mark Wilhelm plead not guilty in the NSW Supreme Court on Friday, December 5, 2008 to the manslaughter of cruise ship passenger Dianne Brimble. The court heard 60 witnesses might be called to give evidence. Justice Graham Barr continued Wilhelm's bail and adjourned the matter to February 6, 2009 when a trial date is expected to be set. Wilhelm is on trial for the drug overdose death of Dianne Brimble aboard the
P & O Pacific Sky on September 24, 2002. Our story on this case is here

December 6, 2008
Carnival Actually Does Suspend Fuel Surcharge
In the past the line has announced the suspension of fuel surcharges, but only on cruises in 2010. Now the line says that effective for cruised departing December 17, 2008 or later, no fuel surcharge will apply on the following lines; Carnival Cruise Lines, Costa Cruises, Cunard Line, Holland America Line, Princess Cruises and The Yachts of Seabourn. The move has no doubt been a result of sluggish sales and customer dissatisfaction with fuel surcharge gouging long after oil prices tanked