Since my dad took me as a passenger on freighters through the Caribbean when I was a kid, right up t

Since my dad took me as a passenger on freighters through tom cruise and sofia vergara the Caribbean when I was a kid, right up to our now-annual cruises to the same area, I've always loved the high seas. There's nothing tom cruise and sofia vergara easier than driving to the pier in NYC, hopping on board and kicking back for a week.
A few years ago, my fascination with cruising brought me to a great book, Devils on the Deep Blue Sea , by Kristoffer Garin, which detailed the formative years of the cruise industry, especially the start-up of Carnival Cruise Lines in 1972. It was a rough start, but today Carnival owns 10 cruise lines (almost tom cruise and sofia vergara half the cruise ships in the world), including Cunard, Holland America, Costa, P O, Princess, and Seabourn. At one point they even had their own airline ferrying passengers to Miami and San Juan, their biggest embarkation ports.
By segmenting the cruise market, just as hotels do, they offer everything from singles-filled party cruises to upscale trans-Atlantic "crossings" on the Queen Mary 2 (which is where I was while reading Garin's book in 2006).
But more recently, Carnival's had some very bad PR. Last year it was the crash of the Costa Concordia in Italy (whose captain abandoned ship). Then, the February tom cruise and sofia vergara stranding of the 4,000-person Triumph for days in the Gulf of Mexico (without power, tom cruise and sofia vergara food or sanitation) tom cruise and sofia vergara was just the latest in a series tom cruise and sofia vergara of engineering problems. Last week another ship, Fascination, failed a CDC health inspection, the fourth of their ships to do so this year alone.
Last week, demand for cabins was so low that Carnival was offering cruises for $38 a night per person … less than the cost at Motel 6. And that price includes all meals (assuming those CDC inspections don't hurt your appetite).
tom cruise and sofia vergara Micky Arison, son of the founder of Carnival (and owner of the Miami Heat), is the richest man in Florida. Last year Carnival brought in $15.3 billion in revenues. But they paid just 0.6% in U.S., state, local, and international taxes last year while socking taxpayers for millions in U.S. Coast Guard expenses for 90 different rescue missions in the last five years.
Sen. Jay Rockefeller says Arison is a "cheater tom cruise and sofia vergara … treacherous and wrong," and wrote asking him to do the right thing and pay up. Carnival declined the invitation, prompting Rockefeller (the chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee) to call their response "shameful."
Shameful, tom cruise and sofia vergara perhaps. But perfectly legal and the result, even Rockefeller admits, of sloppiness by Congress. So expect tom cruise and sofia vergara some grandstanding, a few hearings and maybe some face-saving philanthropy by Arison. But don't expect many changes in the cruise industry, especially in higher fares that reflect the true cost of being a "devil on the deep blue seas."
Jim Cameron tom cruise and sofia vergara has been a commuter out of Darien for 22 years. He is chairman of the CT Metro-North/Shore Line East Rail Commuter Council, tom cruise and sofia vergara and a member of the Coastal Corridor TIA and the Darien RTM. You can reach him at CTRailCommuterCouncil@gmail.com or trainweb.org/ct. For a full collection of "Talking Transportation" columns, see talkingtransportation.blogspot.com .