Royal Caribbean Fans

Two crew members from Allure of the Seas were arrested in Port Everglades, Florida this past Sunday for allegedly smuggling cocaine.

The two  men were stopped during a routine inspection of Allure of the Seas as they were attempting to disembark. Allure of the Seas was returning from a Western Caribbean cruise to Haiti, Jamaica and Mexico.

Inspectors noticed something during an x-ray scan in one of the men's backpack. Both of the men removed various electronics and a wallet from the backpack and then told security agents the backpack did not belong to them, according to the investigative report.

Royal Caribbean's security personnel contacted the Broward Sheriff's Office deputies and Customs and Border Protection to investigate. A police dog alerted to something in the backpack which was then field-tested. The substance inside tested positive for cocaine and both men were arrested. More than one kilogram of cocaine was found, which was trafficked from Jamaica.

In its statement, Royal Caribbean said it maintains a strict zero-tolerance policy regarding illegal drugs on its ships. "We take various steps to prevent the transport of illegal narcotics, including working closely with law enforcement in all of our ports of call."

A female passenger on the worlds largest cruise ship, Allure of the Seas, went overboard Sunday night as the 5,400-passenger ship was sailing to Nassau.

In a statement, Royal Caribbean said another passenger witnessed the 21-year-old American, who was alone in her cabin at the time, go overboard at about 9:25 p.m. EDT. "The ship's Captain immediately stopped the ship, turned around, and alerted the U.S. and Bahamian Coast Guard," read the statement.

The line said a review of Allure's closed-circuit camera footage also showed the passenger going over the side. The location of the ship at the time the passenger went overboard was marked on the ship's GPS system. Two other ships in the area, Carnival Fascination and Royal Caribbean's Majesty of the Seas, assisted Allure with the search.

At 3:30 a.m., the U.S. Coast Guard assumed control of the search and released the cruise ships. The passenger has not been found.

Because of the time spent searching, Allure was unable to make its scheduled port of call to Nassau, Bahamas, on Monday, September 17. The ship will instead spend the day at sea and will arrive in St. Maarten on Wednesday, September 19, as scheduled.

Allure is sailing a seven-night Caribbean itinerary that departed Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on September 16, with ports of call at Nassau; Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas; and Philipsburg, St. Maarten.

This is not the first reported overboard on Allure. In February, Kenneth Gemmell jumped over the side while the ship was sailing off the coast of Cozumel. 

Allure of the Seas will now arrive back to Port Everglades 2 days later than expected due to Tropical Storm Isaac. Instead of returning to Fort Lauderdale on Sunday as scheduled, she will now stay out at sea to avoid the storm until Tuesday. 

This will bring Allure of the Seas back to port two days later than scheduled, thus affecting Allure's next sailing which will be reduced from a 7 night voyage to a 5 night cruise.

Allure will set sail on Tuesday August 28 instead of Sunday August 26 as a result of the storm. As a result, the ship will skip scheduled calls in Falmouth, Jamaica and Labadee, Haiti and add a call in Nassau, Bahamas.

Royal Caribbean is making up the delay to those on the now five-night cruise by offering them onboard credit for the missing days as well as a future cruise certificate worth 10% of the fare they paid for the cruise.

Royal Caribbean is asking guests who are scheduled to sail on Allure of the Seas on Sunday, August 26, not to arrive at the port until 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday, August 28 for check-in and boarding.

If you are scheduled to sail on the August 26 Allure of the Seas cruise and cannot make the new Tuesday departure, you should call Royal Caribbean at 888-829-4050 in the U.S., and 408-926-9002 internationally.

Tropical Storm Isaac has also caused cruise chaos in Miami. The Port of Miami has announced it will close at 11pm this evening and plans to reopen on Monday August 27th. Because of this, there is a possibility that Majesty of the Seas boarding on Monday will be delayed. 

Port Everglades and the Port of Tampa is also expected to close because of Tropical Storm Isaac.

Royal Caribbean urges passengers sailing on either Allure or Majesty of the Seas to regularly monitor their website for any additional updates. 

The Allure of the Seas has rescued 58 Haitian citizens stranded at sea in the Caribbean and has taken them to the Mexican island of Cozumel.

Royal Caribbean International spokeswoman Cynthia Martinez says a guest spotted a boat and alerted the crew Thursday afternoon as they were heading from St. Maarten to Cozumel.

On Friday, Martinez said the Haitians indicated they didn't need any assistance and the cruise ship continued on its voyage. The captain informed the U.S. Coast Guard, which later asked him to go back and help them.

She said the ship rescued the 47 men, 7 women and four teenagers and gave them food, water and medical treatment.

They were turned over to the Mexican Navy Friday when the ship arrived in Mexico.

Tropical storm Isaac has forced Royal Caribbean to change Allure of the Seas' itinerary from an Eastern Caribbean to a Western Caribbean itinerary to avoid the storm, which is gaining strength.

Allure of the Seas will call at Falmouth, Jamaica and Cozumel, Mexico instead of St. Thomas and St, Maarten.

No other changes have been made to Royal Caribbean's other ships in the area. However they are recommending passengers on Majesty of the Seas, Monarch of the Seas, Freedom of the Seas and Oasis of the Seas to keep an eye on further updates.

"A small fire" were the words from Royal Caribbean commenting on the engine room fire that occurred onboard Allure of the Seas on Friday at 7:45pm.

Was this the case though?

Passengers who were onboard at the time have now arrived safely back in Port Everglades, Florida and are telling their stories of what actually happened. Somewhat different to how Royal Caribbean described it. Passengers describe hearing a loud bang shortly before smoke was seen billowing out the funnels. Shortly thereafter the captain informed the passengers that there had been an incident in the engine and that all watertight bulkheads had been closed. The entire section 6, apparently the section that includes Viking Crown Lounge, was evacuated. Some passengers on board were shocked, however, no one was injured. The ship drifted between one and two hours before continuing with the only one functioning machine left after the "small and short-lived engine fire was extinguished by using the ship's high fog system which had been immediately activated to contain the fire."

Some passengers used Cruise Critics forum to describe what they experienced; "Just got off the Allure and I have to disagree that there was NO panic. The crew were visibly scared as we're many of the passengers. Our cabin steward told us that our hallway had many families in tears and begging for life jackets. We were in the main dining room for our lobster dinner and when you feel a 225000 ton ship shake like that you know something big just happened. The crew were trying very hard to appear in control and they did a good job, but you could seem them passing notes to each other and the concern on their faces. We had finished our dinner, but skipped out on desert because I really couldn't eat much after hearing Bravo bravo bravo and water tight doors closing. We saw many in tears and I felt the need to get my kids away from that and the ridiculous people that laughingly and loudly started talking about the titanic and going down with the ship. We strolled the Royal Promenade and tried to appear normal for the kids. Communication was good and they did a great job of handling things quickly, but there were lots feeling very unsettled. Very glad it ended quickly."

An engine room fire has broken out onboard the worlds largest cruise ship, Allure of the Seas.

According to Cruise Law News, heavy black smoke billowed out of the stacks. The cruise ship made an emergency announcement and altered its course so that the winds would not blow smoke into the ship.

The ship is continuing its cruise from St Maarten to Fort Laurderdale and is expected to arrive on Sunday. No passengers have been reported injured.

There has been 80 cruise ship fires since 1990. This averages out around 4 a year. The cruise industry has already experienced 3 cruise ship fires this year already, Azamara Quest, Costa Allegra and now Allure of the Seas. Royal Caribbean have not released an official statement on the incident. As this is a developing story, we will keep you informed.

UPDATE: "The ship was sailing from St. Maarten to Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale when an engine fire broke out at 7:45 p.m. Friday," said spokeswoman Cynthia Martinez. "The ship's high fog system was immediately activated, which contained and extinguished the fire." 

One of our members, Michael Hynes, feels strongly about how Royal Caribbean International and Atlantis Events has handled Kenneth Gemmell's death onboard Allure of the Seas on 3rd February 2012. Particularly, how they are assiting the family. (Read the original story HERE).

Michael Hynes is a family friend of the Gemmell family and is disgraced by how the two companies have dealt with the death and most importantly, the family.

Kenneth Gemmell, 30, was said to have deliberately plunged 100ft from his balcony stateroom on the 11th-deck, when, Allure of the Seas, was close to the port of Cozumel, Mexico. Allure was chartered by Atlantis Events, a firm specialising in gay and lesbian holidays and the vast majority of those on board the vessel, were gay men. Michael is now trying to get Royal Caribbean and Atlantis Events to 'come clean' and assist the family of Kenneth.

Kenneth Gemmell booked the holiday with Atlantis Events who chartered Allure of the Seas from Royal Caribbean International for a Caribbean cruise starting in Fort Lauderdale on 30th January 2012. Kenneth was travelling solo and went on the trip to celebrate his 30th birthday on 1st Feb.

Michael states that he has come across many people who met Kenneth on the trip who said that he was enjoying the trip and was considering booking another cruise next year. Kenneth is reported as having fallen overboard at approx 7.15 am on the friday morning. Irish Garda (Police) notified the family of the tragedy on the saturday morning at 5am. Joseph Duenaz who said he was a medic on the ship contacted the family twice about the incident. Paul Roule, a police superintendant who is handling the investigation has been in contact also with the family, twice. He says that they have CCTV footage of Kenneth jumping from the ship at the starboard side Royal Caribbean said it was unaware of any altercation and insists that the CCTV footage shows mr Gemmell stepping 'on top of the balcony table in order to jump over the balcony railing.'

RCI also say they have footage of him before it happened. The footage shows Kenneth having some sort of disagreement with a bar tender on the ship.

We have been told by the Police that this bar tender got off the ship at Cozumel and did not reboard. The family have been given some photo shots of the alleged jumping, but they are not clear images.

When we contacted Royal Caribbean about contact details for the bar tender they replied and said he was not employed by them and was infact employed by Atlantis Events. However, Atlantis Events are denying that they employed the bar staff. We have had two confirmed emails that the bar staff are employed by Royal Caribbean.

Kenneth was given a cabin with another male for the trip. The family have asked Royal Caribbean for this man's contacts as well, but Royal Caribbean have denied to do this for them. Royal Caribbean stated in several press statements that they are assisting the family. Michael believes this is totally untrue. "Royal Caribbean are just doing a big cover up and want to wash themselves of it. Every overboard that has occurred in the past, Royal Caribbean say it's suicide and sometimes that the people have taken drugs". Michael then goes on to state that the family want all the clear video footage, the contact details of the bar tender, the video footage of the altercation of words, the name and contact details of his room partner who would be able to assist them on the times he shared with Kenneth. The family want the return of all his property, clothes, camera and all other property taken from his cabin and at the starboard side.

Kenneth Gemmell was employed as an air steward with Emirates airlines in Dubai for the past six years. His mother and sisters last met Kenneth when he arrived in Dublin on a stop over. He had come with christmas presents for all his family. His family says that "he was a loving and caring young man who loved life and travel".

International Cruise Victims (www.internationalcruisevictims.org) has been in contact with the family. They are an organization who help suffering families, rom maritime disasters. They are also trying to make cruise companies more accountable. The family have also had support from Rebecca Coriam’s family in the UK who went missing from another cruise ship in Cozumel, 11 months ago.

Royal Caribbean Fans understands that this is a very difficult situation for his family and friends. Our deepest thoughts and prayers are with them. This is a touching story and the family would be very greatful for your support too.

Anyone who has information on this tragedy is asked to email Michael at michael@mhynes.com. The family say they just want to know what happened to their son.