Walker & O'Neill, P.A. (LexBlog Honduras)

A passenger went overboard from the Icon of the Seas this weekend after the Royal Caribbean cruise ship was heading toward Roatan, Honduras from Miami at the beginning of a 7 day Caribbean cruise. The popular cruise fan site, Cruise Hive, reported that a man went overboard when the Icon of the Seas was approximately...

Last week, a father of four cruising on a Royal Caribbean cruise ship died in Roatan during a stop in that port after he dove into the water from an elevated structure of a pier. Edmund David Rucker, believed to be 52 years of age, was with his wife and family when the tragic accident...

Today, the Harmony of the Seas arrived in Roatan, Honduras with forty-nine (49) crew members who tested positive for COVID-19. There was one guest who also tested positive, for a total of fifty people on this Royal Caribbean ship (I tweeted earlier, in error, that there were fifty crew members who tested positive). The actual...

The Carnival Vista arrived in the port of Roatan, Honduras this morning with at least fifty (50) crew members who tested positive for COVID-19. One guest on the Carnival cruise ship also tested positive. The ship reportedly did not allow any crew members to go ashore. Only passengers were allowed to disembark. This information was...

There are currently over two dozen crew members on the Carnival Vista who tested positive for COVID-19, according to two sources who prefer to remain anonymous. A total of twenty-six ship employees on the Carnival Vista reportedly tested positive for COVID-19.  This morning, the Carnival cruise ship called on port in Mahogany Bay, Roatan Island, Honduras....

A sixty-nine year old U.S. citizen, originally from California, was identified yesterday as the victim of an abduction and murder in Roatan, Honduras, according to a Honduran newspaper El Heraldo. The newspaper reports that the body of Philip Foster Brown was found in a ravine near a road leading from West End to West Bay...

Two cruise passengers were involved in a zip lining accident during a stop in Roatan, Honduras on July 5, 2018. La Prensa newspaper in Honduras reports that a couple who arrived in Roatan on a cruise ship last Thursday collided with one another while on a zip line. The newspaper in Honduras identified the passengers...

The MSC Armonia crashed into the dock in Roatan, Honduras today, according to videos which were posted on Youtube. The MSC cruise ship is shown coming into the port at a higher than normal rate of speed. In addition to the vesel damage, there was significant damage to the pier. There are several videos of...

The U.S. State Department yesterday updated its travel advisory to Honduras, stating that the level of kidnapping, crime, and violence in Honduras remains “critically high.” (this warning supersedes the last warning in October 2015). The warning states that “criminal activity is a serious problem throughout the country and the Government of Honduras lacks sufficient resources...

On Friday, a federal court judge sentenced a former Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) crew member to ten years in prison for his involvement in smuggling drugs from Roatan, Honduras to Tampa, Florida, according to a press release issued by the Department of Justice.  Desrick Gordon, age 23, from the country of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, was...

The New Orleans Advocate reports that a branch of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has busted a cocaine smuggling operation where crew members smuggled cocaine from Honduras to New Orleans aboard Norwegian Cruise Line’s (NCL) Norwegian Dawn cruise ship.  The drug bust took place last Sunday. On line AIS tracking sites show that the Norwegian Dawn...

A jury in Tampa, Florida has returned a guilty verdict against a man who was part of a group of cruise ship employees who smuggled cocaine into Tampa from Roatan, Honduras. According to the Tampa Tribune, Desrick Gordon, age 23, faces 10 years to life in prison.  Mr. Gordon is from the country of St....

Although crime in the country of Honduras has declined in the past two years, the U.S. Department of State continues to warn that the level of crime and violence in Honduras remains “critically high,” The State Department website warns that: “Crime and violence are serious problems throughout the country. The Government of Honduras lacks sufficient...

There is a report of a “man overboard” this afternoon from the Carnival Glory cruise ship.  A reader from Honduras listening to channel 16 heard the report and said that the Honduran Navy and locals were searching for a person overboard at certain coordinates in Honduran waters. A person also notified me on my Facebook...

The Juneau Empire reports that a 40-year-old cruise ship worker from Honduras.was caught sexually assaulting a 26-year-old woman, also a crew member, from Ottawa, Canada. On July 12th at 2:30 A.M., the woman reportedly had “left the crew bar and was walking back to her room alone when a man she didn’t know grabbed her from behind....

The United States Department of State just issued a warning to U.S. citizens that the level of crime and violence in Honduras remains “critically high.”   The warning is similar to the critical crime warning issued by the U.S. State Department last year.  The warning states that “. . . crime and violence are serious problems throughout...

In 2014, 1,718,131 people read 6,104,186 people pages of Cruise Law News.   Our busiest day was April 7, 2014 when over 110,000 visitors read our article when we were the first to report on the murder of a NCL crew member in Roatan, Honduras near the port.  Crime in ports of call was a...

Roatan, Honduras came onto my radar this year when several tourists contacted us after being robbed or sexually assaulted at gunpoint during cruise stopovers. Later we were the first to report on a Norwegian Cruise Line crew member who was shot in the head for his cell phone in Coxen Hole near the cruise port....

This week the “Banana Coast” cruise port in Honduras opens for mega-cruise ship business. The travel publications all appear to have written essentially the the same article announcing with great fanfare that large cruise ships will begin calling at the port in the Bay of Trujillo, Honduras. Billed as the newest cruise port in the...

The La Prensa newspaper in Honduras reports that President Juan Orlando Hernández approved legislation last night at a cabinet session to declare that guns are prohibited in Roatan and the Bay Islands. The article is entitled Gobierno de Honduras declara desarme en Islas de la Bahía. The newspaper says that the initiative is part of a program...

The Department of State in the United States issued another warning about the high crime rate in Honduras, saying that “the level of crime and violence in Honduras remains critically high.” You can read the June 24 2014 warning here. The last warning from the U.S. state Department was issued on Christmas Eve, December 24,...

This year I have written a dozen articles about the high crime rate in Roatan Honduras.  The purpose of my blog is to report on “everything the cruise lines don’t want you to know.” So if there is a destination which the cruise line and tourism officials market (for profit) as a “tranquil” and “peaceful”...

Roatan Honduras came onto the radar of Cruise Law News in January of this year when a U.S. family who took a Carnival cruise to the island was robbed at gun point while driving in a rental car. The bandito shot the car up, terrifying the three children in the car as well as their...

The Honduras newspaper La Prensa reports today that Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández will accompany representatives of the Florida Caribbean Cruise Association (FCCA) on possible locations which will be marketed to cruise passengers arriving in Honduras. The FCCA is an organization which promotes the interests of the U.S. based cruise lines doing business in the Caribbean...

We’ve received a fair share of hate e-mail this year after we reported on several crimes against cruise tourists in Roatan during the first three months of this year. Many expatriate property owners and business operators became highly agitated when we were the first in the U.S. to report on the murder of a NCL...

Radio Honduras reports today that security managers of Royal Caribbean, Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) and Carnival Corporation recently met with governmental officials and tourism representative of Honduras in a “workshop” to discuss the safety of passengers and crew members in Roatan. The news account indicates that the Director the Honduran Institute of Tourism, Emilio Silvestri,...

The President of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernández, has updated his Facebook page, indicating that he has traveled to Miami to meet with cruise line officials.  He posted: “Este día ha sido muy productivo, después de una reunión con 2 empresas de Cruceros en Miami, donde definimos incrementar el número de turistas a Honduras.” Translated, he...

A number of news sources are reporting that the national police and special forces in Honduras arrested a suspect last night for the murder of the Norwegian Cruise Line crew member in Roatan. The Honduran newspaper Tiempo reports that an arrest of Guzman Ramirez has been made in the murder of NCL assistant cook “Jacob.”...

This evening we received reliable information that a Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) crew member was shot and killed in Roatan, Honduras earlier today. The crew member reportedly was from NCL’s Norwegian Pearl cruise ship. The only information we received is that a Pearl crew member named “Jacob” from the Philippines was killed by a gunshot today...

In January we reported on an incident in Roatan where a U.S. family’s rental car was shot up while on a beach access road. The family of four (with two children) were robbed at gunpoint and terrorized. The family had arrived in Roatan via a Carnival cruise ship. This violent crime followed a warning issued...