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Coast Guard Saves Carnival Over and Over—for Free
Newser ^ | 03/18/2013 | By Kate Seamons

Posted on 03/18/2013 12:06:48 PM PDT by Responsibility2nd

Oh, and the cruise line is exempt from paying a ton of taxes

As if excrement-coated floors weren't outrageous enough, Quartz takes a look at another of Carnival Cruise's dirty secrets: Though it's exempt from a slew of taxes thanks to the fact that it's incorporated in Panama, it's gotten millions of dollars of assistance from the US Coast Guard in recent years. Sen. Jay Rockefeller last week sent a letter to Carnival's CEO in which he expressed his "serious concerns" about February's "nightmarish" Triumph stranding, and outlined how the Coast Guard and American taxpayer have continually had to come to the cruise line's rescue.

"In just the past five years I am aware of 90 serious events that have occurred on your cruise ships," he writes, before outlining the costs of just a few of them:

He asks: "Given that you reportedly pay little or nothing in federal taxes, do you intend to reimburse the Coast Guard and the Navy for the cost of responding" to the above? Rockefeller wants an answer by April 1. He's not the only senator who's peeved. Chuck Schumer today called for a cruise ship passenger bill of rights, akin to the one that exists for air travelers, reports CBS New York. Under it, ships would have to pledge to supply things such as backup power and sanitary conditions, and pony up full refunds if "failures" occur.
 


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: carnival; coastguard
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The US needs to start billing these slums of the seas.
1 posted on 03/18/2013 12:06:48 PM PDT by Responsibility2nd
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To: Responsibility2nd

Carnival will soon go Tango Uniform. Would you pay good $$ for such a nightmare?


2 posted on 03/18/2013 12:11:55 PM PDT by tgusa (gun control: deep breath, sight alignment, squeeze the trigger .......)
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To: Responsibility2nd

foreign flagged vessels should be billed for these rescues


3 posted on 03/18/2013 12:19:03 PM PDT by GeronL (http://asspos.blogspot.com)
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To: tgusa

I wouldn’t even pay bad money........


4 posted on 03/18/2013 12:21:51 PM PDT by Red Badger (Lincoln freed the slaves. Obama just got them ALL back......................)
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To: tgusa

Never been on a Carnival cruise, but I understand that when People of Walmart are not actually at Walmart - they are on a Carnival crusise ship.


5 posted on 03/18/2013 12:22:07 PM PDT by Responsibility2nd (NO LIBS. This Means Liberals and (L)libertarians! Same Thing. NO LIBS!!)
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To: Responsibility2nd

The market will decide..........


6 posted on 03/18/2013 12:26:24 PM PDT by Red Badger (Lincoln freed the slaves. Obama just got them ALL back......................)
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To: Responsibility2nd

Very few Congressmen or Senators have any right to criticize anyone else concerning waste of taxpayer money, especially this democrat.

Fix your own house, Scumbag


7 posted on 03/18/2013 12:33:32 PM PDT by ryan71 (The republican party is dead to me. Dead. Don't bother trying to revive it.)
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To: Responsibility2nd

If the U.S. truly wanted ships to be licensed in the U.S., it would stop providing blanket protection to all ships by the U.S. Navy.

Carnival definately appears to have some serious quality and safety issues. I wouldn’t be purchasing a ticket to ride.


8 posted on 03/18/2013 12:34:47 PM PDT by SampleMan (Feral Humans are the refuse of socialism.)
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To: Responsibility2nd

According to some of the cruise site...this is very true...and the other cruise lines, depending on expense, rise from there....


9 posted on 03/18/2013 12:38:14 PM PDT by illiac (If we don't change directions soon, we'll get where we're going)
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To: Responsibility2nd
The US needs to start billing these slums of the seas.

Seeing as how the owner of Carnival owns the Miami Heat, I think offering LeBron James would be a fair payment.

10 posted on 03/18/2013 12:40:21 PM PDT by dfwgator
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To: Responsibility2nd

“Never been on a Carnival cruise, but I understand that when People of Walmart are not actually at Walmart - they are on a Carnival crusise ship.”


I haven’t been in a Walmart for at least 6 years and have never been on a Carnival Cruise but I certainly don’t think those folks are objects of humor.

What a snob you are.

.


11 posted on 03/18/2013 12:46:09 PM PDT by Mears
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To: Mears
Huh? You've obviously never been here. Click the link. Enjoy yourself.
12 posted on 03/18/2013 12:49:15 PM PDT by Responsibility2nd (NO LIBS. This Means Liberals and (L)libertarians! Same Thing. NO LIBS!!)
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To: Responsibility2nd
The elephant hiding in the closet is that these ships are not built to deal with any kind of electric failure.

I.E. - there is no back up diesel generator system...would have been relatively simple and inexpensive to have installed one at construction time. Ideally, it would start itself automatically when main power was lost. Additionally, I doubt there is any kind of auxiliary passage lighting.

13 posted on 03/18/2013 1:32:10 PM PDT by Banjoguy (The Mayor of San Antonio is the smoothest liar I have ever seen.)
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To: Responsibility2nd

This happens more than we know. I have read stories of foreign, or foreign owned ship owners, large and small, calling the CG to bring them into a U.S. port when they have “run out of fuel”. They do this deliberately in order to save on fuel costs.


14 posted on 03/18/2013 1:56:29 PM PDT by Amberdawn
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To: SampleMan

I’ve been wondering if Carnival isn’t being deliberately sabotaged. Odd for so many events like this to happen in such a short time period. Either wildly incompetent maintenance or something else is going on.


15 posted on 03/18/2013 1:59:18 PM PDT by Twotone (Marte Et Clypeo)
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To: Responsibility2nd

We, the legion of poor unwashed thrifty shoppers, surely tug our forelocks in respect to your ability to opt for more upscale venues charging three times the price for the same Chinese shit.


16 posted on 03/18/2013 2:00:56 PM PDT by tomkat
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To: Responsibility2nd
Went on one over 25 years ago. It was fine, until the graduating high school class onboard broke out their liquor supply they smuggled aboard.
Then it got out-of-hand for one night.
The staff removed them at the next port.

Been on some smaller sailing/scuba cruises since. Maybe 25 passengers onboard.
Best time ever spent with two dozen strangers-that-quickly-became-friends...
17 posted on 03/18/2013 2:06:16 PM PDT by 45semi (A police state is always preceded by a nanny state...)
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To: Twotone
Either wildly incompetent maintenance or something else is going on.

It appears to be the first. The cause of the Carnival Triumph fire was a leaking oil line that should have been caught by standard maintenance. The Carnival Splendor had a similar fire a few years ago. The Carnival Dream had issues with a diesel generator and the Carnival Legend had problems with a propulsion pod. I have no doubt that once the investigations are complete that better maintenance could have prevented those as well.

People don't realize on ships like these with crews of 1200 to 2200 people, only about 75 crewmen are involved with getting the ship from point a to point b. When it comes to slashing budgets, the areas that the passengers don't see are the first to take the hit.

18 posted on 03/18/2013 2:11:58 PM PDT by 0.E.O
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To: ryan71

“Fix your own house, Scumbag”

Yeah, These bung holes are Senators. How about paying for your own haircuts, instead of passing laws that give your contstituents a “haircut.”


19 posted on 03/18/2013 2:12:54 PM PDT by vette6387
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To: Responsibility2nd

Well, I’d be willing to bet that the overwhelming majority of passengers are US citizens.


20 posted on 03/18/2013 2:14:24 PM PDT by PLMerite (Shut the Beyotch Down! Burn, baby, burn!)
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