US judge berates Carnival over pollution

| 12/04/2019 | 33 Comments

Cayman News Service(CNS): A United States federal judge has threatened to block Carnival cruise ships from docking at American ports as punishment for a possible probation violation in relation to the company’s illegal dumping of waste into the ocean. Judge Patricia Seitz also revealed that she would like to jail the executive committee for a few days to help them focus on their wrongdoing. The judge is expected to decide what to do in June and has ordered the cruise company’s top managers into the court for the hearing.

“The people at the top are treating this as a gnat,” Seitz said, according to reports in the US media about the probation violations and pollution. “If I could, I would give all the members of the executive committee a visit to the detention center for a couple of days. It’s amazing how that helps people come to focus on reality.”

Carnival, one of the cruise lines that the Cayman Islands Government has entered into a deal with over the proposed cruise berthing project here, is on probation after some of its ships illegally dumped oil, grey water and plastic garbage into the ocean and lied about it.

Following the most recent court hearing Carnival said there were some mischaracterizations made to the court and that it planned to “address the issues raised at today’s court conference”.

Roger Frizzell, the cruise company’s chief communications officer, said, “Our environmental responsibility has been and continues to be a top priority for the company.”

Carnival owns nine cruise brands and has 102 ships. Court documents reveal that during 2017 it prepared ships in advance of the audits to avoid negative findings. Prosecutors said internal emails discussed the practice for many of the different brands, including ships that come to Cayman. The court filings show Carnival falsified records to make it appear ships had been cleaned and tested when they had not.

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Category: Business, Tourism, USA, World News

Comments (33)

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  1. Anonymous says:

    even the people working in the stores will say you that the cruse ship passengers don’t spend much. they eat on the ships, they walk up and down through the shops to get out of the heat and into air conditioning.

    Cayman needs to embrace the stay over visitors and forget the cruise ships now.

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  2. Anonymous says:

    Oh,please! do you really care???? 22 comments so far. And only 5 on “Ask auntie “about cancer treatment waste. This is a special kind of stupid.

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  3. Anonymous says:

    Carnival is the worst cruise line in the world. Why we still allow those ships in here is astonishing. Plus they do nothing but fleece local vendors.

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  4. Anonymous says:

    Yeah support the Porta Potty

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  5. Anonymous says:

    Best comprehensive site I have found so far
    https://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/articles.cfm?ID=2847
    Tells who owns what.

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  6. Anonymous says:

    Exactly the type of company we want to have in Cayman? Wake up CIG and citizens of Cayman.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Of course we don’t want them. They’ve also been prosecuted for using dirty fuel. I have posted links to this info previously.

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      • Anonymous says:

        Unfortunately Carnival is not the only one guilty of dirty fuel and illegal dumping… I’m sure all cruise lines have been convicted at one point or another. It’s just a matter of simple math now – amount of ships docked in cayman x amount of years of air and water pollution = wasteland…

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  7. SMH says:

    It sounds like a dishonest cruise line is working with a dishonest Cayman government to finance a project neither really need. SMH

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  8. ppm DISTRESS SIGNAL says:

    Holy $hit Cayman is screwed if Carnival is involved in the dock. What is the Premier thinking?

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  9. Anonymous says:

    I’m all for improving the tourism product on the island, but not at any cost. Sometimes it’s better to walk away from a deal. I wish our leaders could see through their greed and walk way from the cruise port deal.

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  10. Localish says:

    Moses Kirkconnell is destroying the Caymans with every decision he makes. He and this spineless government must go!

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    • Anonymous says:

      Hmmm.. I’d say, NOT localish.
      No “Localish” would refer to Cayman as ‘the Caymans’. Ever. (Makes us cringe)

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      • Anonymous says:

        Doesn’t mean the comment isn’t valid. Or can only a local criticize the great Kirkconnell family?

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  11. Anonymous says:

    Watch the strange thumb voting on the comments. It’ll follow the same pattern as when there is a Mac story. It’s almost like it’s coordinated. I wonder why that is.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Probably hiring the Eastern European PR bots with OUR public money too, not like we have any transparency on anything they are scheming behind their curtain! It only confirms what we all suspect!

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    • Arthur Rank says:

      11.40, just consider that there is indeed a correlation between Bush stories and disapproval, because he has a strange habit of supporting clearly questionable projects.
      Don’t ask yourself why there is a correlation, ask yourself why he consistantly supports those projects, you might find another consistency, and it might not be pleasant!

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  12. Anonymous says:

    Anyone else watch Arnold Donald (Carnival CEO) being interviewed on BBC the other day? This guy is all about profit for Carnival at any cost. They’re planning to squeeze every penny out of us and all of the destinations they visit. Careful what you wish for CIG.

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  13. Anonymous says:

    How can Moses and Alden do a deal with a company like Carnival Cruise lines that do not care about the environment? This is getting more disgusting by the month clearly they have no shame. God help the Cayman Islands.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Moses and Alden want to destroy acres of reef along Georgetown to put in a giant, expensive and unnecessary cruise port. So yea, they clearly couldn’t care less.

      Caymanians up in arms about gay marriage but not this cruise port. Shows the mentality of the majority of Caymanians these days…

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      • Anonymous says:

        Amen

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      • Anonymous says:

        Umm thousands of people are against the Port, just like thousands of gays are shouting and marching about homophobia here in Grand Cayman. Atleast in the end if we dont win the fight against the Port, it will earn us a few dollars if we dip our finger into tourism. What will gay marriage bring us? I doubt anything.

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        • Anonymous says:

          Recognizing that our own LGBT citizens are human beings with equal rights to love and found a family, not only brings civil dignity and tolerance, but also honours Jesus’ second Great Commandment, and makes those that espouse equality without judgment eligible for the Kingdom of Heaven. This is written in the Gospels several times.

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        • Anonymous says:

          Q. What would recognizing same sex civil partnerships deny you?!? Rights are not pie…there should be enough to go around, with seconds and thirds of anyone wants them.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Not only do they not care about the environment – bit like most of the MLAs – but they don’t care about local employment either – witness the recent expulsion of ;local vendors and replacement with their own tours company. So why exactly are we falling over backwards to build them a cruise ship pier?

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  14. SMH says:

    Cayman does not need the port.
    It is unbelievable that the government are getting into bed with companies like Carnival and CHEC to finance the cruise dock and see nothing wrong with their reputations and flagrant abuses of the laws. SMH

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  15. Bilge water says:

    I saw a cruise ship anchored here spewing out some sort of liquid in large quantities. When I called the Port Authority they claimed it was of no concern without even investigating. Maybe their high powered rapid response launch had gone fishing.

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    • Anonymous says:

      I remember over 10 years ago Net News published a photo of one of their ships spewing black smoke out as it re-started the engines to leave here.

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    • Anonymous says:

      Do you have pictures of this??? Would love to see.

    • Anonymous says:

      For future reference, if you witness these sorts of actions please contact the Maritime Authority as they are who handle port state control inspections (Inspections and Detentions of foreign flagged vessels operating in Cayman waters).

      The Port Authority is not trained or equipped to handle violations of international shipping regulations.

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