The Carnival cruise line had informed authorities in St. Maarten prior to docking and the FBI are now investigating. The woman being questioned is believed to be the dead infant’s mother, so she has not being charged. She is a U.S. passenger but not a resident of Florida.

When the liner returned to Florida the FBI’s Evidence Response Team was activated according to Special Agent Dave Couvertier and that the FBI was working with port authorities to investigate.

He said: “We received preliminary information of a deceased newborn on the vessel and we are investigating the matter. We have been coordinating with Carnival Cruise Line which has been fully cooperative. No one has been charged as we are still working on obtaining facts and gathering any available evidence. As a result, no information is being released regarding suspects at this time. Due to the international and jurisdictional aspects we are still working on obtaining facts and specific details about the incident.”

Picture courtesy of maxmzd

The Tatarstan division of Russia’s Emergency Ministry announced in a statement on its website earlier today that The Bulgaria may have been carrying 207 people when it sank. Luckily seventy-nine people were saved.

The ship sank 460 miles east from Moscow during the return journey back to Kazan.

A rescue woman stated: “It sank in two or three minutes. We found dead people wearing safety jackets, people who were simply unable to leave the ship.”

We are horrified to be informed by the rescue team that: “About 30 children were being entertained in one room, according to passenger reports. Divers are looking for this room now.”

The numbers of travellers missing is continuously changing as those found both safely and dead are being updated too. It is hard to track exactly how many people rescuers are looking for.

Despite The vessel, built in 1955, passing an inspection earlier this year, the Bulgaria sank three kilometres from shore yesterday at 1:58 p.m. local time. The weather was reportedly stormy.

Violations against Transportation Safety Regulations mean that a criminal investigation has been opened up to inquire into the unfortunate event.

The SBS Typoon collided with a scout vessel, which in turn was forced into a third vessel. The owners of the Typhoon put the accident down to a software fault, with SBS managing director Nigel Taylor saying:

“We were in the process of installing a new dynamic positioning system. We were doing checks on the system and had to have the engine running. There was a fault in the software. The controls were fully manned at the time, as were the other two vessels. No one was hurt. There was some damage caused to our ship and to the VOS Scout and minor damage to the Ocean Searcher.”

While the footage appeared dramatic, sharp-eyed YouTube users noticed that birds flying past the camera appeared to be doing so at something like 54000 miles an hour while some wags pointed out that traffic in Aberdeen moves at nothing like the speed shown in the video. Despite that, why positioning software was being tested in such a confined space alongside other vessels isn’t entirely clear, and it’s certainly a more entertaining software bug than Microsoft Word’s inability to handle bullet points.

Anyway, if slightly sped-up footage of ships gently bumping into each other is your bag, then here you go.

Spectators witnessed an impressive show with fire boats showering water and police boats escorting the liners with their lights flashing as the Queen Mary led the processing along the Hudson River. The Statue of Liberty was flood lit in Cunard’s traditional red livery and as the ships lined up near the Statue a huge firework display was set off which featured plenty of red, white and blue the national colours of both the United States and the United Kingdom, the ships’ home country.

The marked event is special because it will be the only time all three ships will ever meet.

After the event the three vessels then headed under the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge and headed south on separate journeys, with the Queen Victoria staying around the Americas and Panama for the next few months and the Queen Mary 2 and Queen Elizabeth continuing on their 103-day world tours.

The last time Cunard assembled their fleet all together was in 2008 in the home harbour of Southampton, before the Queen Elizabeth 2 was decommissioned.

Picture courtesy of Cunard

Pictures showing the aftermath on board show that the ship was left devastated with the Christmas tree in the main atrium upended, rooms were left trashed and many windows were smashed by the impact of the waves. For many people enjoying what should be a relaxing 12 day cruise their holiday turned into a nightmare, the cruise went from Spain to Italy, then on to Greece and to finally finish in Egypt, however it was hit by the extreme weather when it was approaching its final destination and is currently making it way to Malta to find a port so the 2,110 passengers can get home.

the combination of 60kmh winds and heavy rain the Brilliance of the Seas encountered on its way to the port of Alexandria in Egypt caused the ship to list, however it is exceptionally rare for this to happen especially to a 90,000-ton vessel like the Brilliance of the Seas.

Passengers had taken many pictures of the chaos left in the wake of the storm which showed the extent of the damage, with hallways scattered with debris which had been tossed around as the ship was thrashed and battered. Also rooms were left looking ransacked and one picture showed the bed had been moved away from the wall and clothes were strewn everywhere. Facilities on board the ship were also affected including the hair salon and amusement arcade which were closed down, although some places did later re-open.

Many passengers who are members of the website Cruisecritic.com posted comments on there, detailing their accounts of what happened:

One female passenger called dirtgirl, who was in her cabin during the ordeal, wrote: “I was flying back and forth. My roomie managed to brace herself. The beds were sliding back and forth!! Broken glass everywhere as everything on it went flying. Gym is in shambles – Ellipticals looked like monkey bars; spin bikes everywhere. Only wine, beer, and soda available at the Centrum bar and Schooner bar. Casino closed, shops closed. No one allowed out on upper decks.”

Member jimbo5544 said his daughter and son-in-law were celebrating the honeymoon on the trip but that it was ruined. “They said all computers had smashed in Internet cafe and Grand piano smashed into wall. Much broken glass all over ship, Windjammer closed.”

Part of Royal Caribbean’s fleet of cruise ships the Brilliance of the Seas was launched in 2002 at a cost of £350million and has a crew of 859 and normally cruises around the Caribbean, Mexican Rivera and the Mediterranean. According to Royal Caribbean spokeswoman Cynthia Martinez the damage did not affect the vessel’s seaworthiness. She stated: “The damage was not concentrated in one area of the ship. Some areas remain closed but most public areas are open.”

Picture courtesy of HollywoodPimp

However as light faded yesterday the man was still missing and the search was called off on Monday after it got dark.

Brixham Coastguard in Devon said the hunt was being led by authorities in France. A spokesman added: “We have been assisting the French, who have been co-ordinating the search. We launched a helicopter and a British warship. The boat was on a three-week cruise and was due to dock in Dover.”

The ship, with a capacity of 1,350 passengers and 510 crew, is the largest liner in the Fred Olsen fleet and it was from Cadiz, in Spain.

Picture courtesy of .curt.

Paloma Werner who was onboard with her partner Ralph Mothes said: “The southern right whale, a species known for poor eyesight, snapped the mast before sliding back into the water, and my partner and I had just seconds to take cover. It really was quite incredible but very scary. The whale was about the same size as the boat. We’d spotted it about 100 metres away and thought that was the end of it. Then suddenly it was right up beside us. I assumed it would go underneath the boat but instead it sprang out of the sea. We were very lucky to get through it, as the sheer weight of the thing was huge. There were bits of skin and blubber left behind, and the mast was wrecked. It brought down the rigging too. Thank goodness the hull was made of steel and not fiberglass or we could have been ruined.”

Although the couple was left shaken by the whole experience and their boat severely damaged, their engine still worked so they could get back to shore in Table Bay, after the incident there were reports that the whale had been harassed by pleasure craft before it leapt onto the Intrepid. An inflatable craft had been seen driving close to the animal moments before the incident. Experts have said regarding the incident, that the young whale was more likely inexperienced with human contact and didn’t know the yacht, which had its engine turned off, was there.

Scientist and manager of the Cape Town Mammal Research Institute at the University of Pretoria, Meredith Thornton said:”Whales don’t see much by way of their eyes but by sound in the water.”

For those who have been stranded in Spain for nearly a week now this will be a welcome relief, especially travelling back in the 5* luxury of the Celebrity Eclipse cruise liner which can carry 2,850 passengers. The President and Chief Executive of Celebrity Cruises Dan Hanrahan, contacted tour operators Thomas Cook, TUI and Co-Op Travel Group to look at bringing back their stranded customers.

He said. “They responded favourably to our idea of bringing these passengers back and they knew where their guests were in Spain and they could give us a manifest of people. It seemed a better idea than having a two-day party and it’s all worked out and we’re happy to help.”

The Eclipse is due to arrive in Bilbao in the early hours of Thursday 22nd and pick up the stranded holiday makers before returning to Southampton.

Picture courtesy of eastleighbusman

The £800million cruise ship is the world’s largest passenger vessel that is 40 per cent bigger than any other cruise ship afloat, (think taller than London’s Canary Wharf or the Chrysler Building in New York) putting it in a league of its own, it is most technologically advanced cruise ship in the world capable of holding 5,400 guests in some 2,700 cabins. The Oasis of the Seas is built to a new design concept that sees the ship split up into different 7 neighborhoods spanning 16 decks including, Boardwalk which is dedicated to family fun and nostalgia, Central Park that combines nautical and nature and Royal Promenade at the heart of the ship.

Next year will also see its sister ship the Allure of the Seas coming into commission that will also be built to the same size and same high standards.

Picture courtesy of Ereine

Cruising. Just kicking it back in the Caribbean with a colourful cocktail, listening to some jerk from Florida tell you how he picked his trophy wife while a band plays foxtrot versions of Coldplay’s latest 45 in the background as the soundtrack to the last weeks of a rich old chick’s final romance with a heartless scoundrel with his eye on an inheritance. Sounds idyllic, right? Yeah – that’s until Poseidon, God of Oceans, turns up to kick your ass. He doesn’t care how big your boat is, you’re disturbing his watery slumbers and must pay. IN BLOOD. Or at least by suffering some violent lateral motion.

The Oceanos

So you’re chillin’ out maxin, relaxin’ real cool when the ship starts to tip to the left faster than Hugo Chavez. At first you think it’s just those cool, cool margeritas you chugged down while trying to catch the eye of the pretty greek waitress. Then all of a sudden you find yourself dangling from the railings and you realise this goes way beyond drunk. In fact, you’re aboard the Oceanos. And not only is the ship sinking, but the crew and captain have already absconded without telling you. Unbelievably, this is what the passengers of the ship found themselves facing in 1999 when Captain Arvanas and his crew got off the ship even before many of the passengers were alerted. Luckily for the passengers, nobody died after merchant shipping and helicopters were alerted to the unfolding disaster. Unluckily for Captain Arvanas he was found guilty of negligence by the Greek Maritime Board.

The Titanic

Yeah yeah. Not only are going to drown in the inky black waters of the arctic circle, but one day a long necked Canadian’s going to rape your memory in song. The prototype of the shitty cruise, The Titanic’s maiden voyage had it all – unimaginable luxury, fur coats, diamonds, Kate Winslet nude and various ethnic minorities to wait hand and foot on your white ass. But Evil Capitalist Pigs decreed that spending money on luxuries like, you know, lifeboats and stuff . We think that even Rupert Murdoch might blanch at a dick move of that magnitude.

The Sapphire Princess Impales a Whale

Everyone likes kebabs, right? OK so they taste better after a beer or three but putting meat on a spike is the eating style of the future (you heard it here first). There’s always some douche looking to go one better than the next guy, and there’s no bigger douche than the captain of the Sapphire Princess cruise ship, who hauled into Vancouver with a sperm whale speared on the front of his boat. We like to think he leapt ashore and triumphantly urinated on the quayside, but there’s no evidence that that ever happened.

Your bet has been cancelled…

Casinos are pretty sharp operators. After Clooney and Pitt cleaned them out 3 times in the last decade, they’ve tightened up procedures and have a host of new ways to scam customers out of their hard-earned. This was taken to its logical conclusion aboard the Crown Princess. When some cardshark started winning big, the captain turned his ship into a monster wave in the ultimate dick move – almost tipping the ship over. Despite the many broken limbs, croupiers were said to be ‘relieved’.

Grand Voyager

We don’t care how good your “sea legs” are – in weather like this, you’re going to be hurling chunks

Tom Cruise

Did you see what we did there? Did you? Har-di-har!

However, as bingo’s popularity has seen a massive boom over the last few years and the size and scale of the game has grown, it’s no surprise to find that it is attracting new levels of glamour. This year’s World Championship Tournament takes place in the Gulf of Mexico on board the 952ft Carnival Splendor – the largest and most spectacularly appointed cruise ship in the Carnival fleet. The 2009 tournament in November will see players from around the world duking it out for a $100,000 jackpot and a free pass to the 2010 event.

With interest in the UK at an all time high, online bingo site 888ladies.com is stumping up to send the winner of its own mini tournament to the event – all expenses paid! By playing as many games as possible on the site between now and August 23rd, players can accumulate points in the competition. The 75 players with the most points will then take part in a 75 card showdown. The eventual winner of this game will be flown from London to the US, where they’ll hook up with the Carnival Splendor for an 8 day luxury cruise in first class VIP cabins, touring around the Gulf of Mexico and taking in such exotic locations as Puerto Vallarta and Cabo San Lucas.

So if your image of bingo is still stuck with the Working Man’s Club stereotype of chain-smoking, blue-haired old girls then more fool you: the era of glamourous bingo has truly arrived!

The Judge from New York East District held the case that faxes sent violated the telephone consumer protection act dating back to 1991 which effectively bars  the use of a fax machine in sending unsolicited advertisements.

Carnival Cruises raised a number of defenses to the case, which were rejected by the court.