Category Archives: High Seas

TAMPA, Fla. From lightening the load for combat divers to producing autonomous watercraft to adding in data-based technology to its systems, the office in charge of special operations maritime assets has one objective: access.

Thats how U.S. Navy Capt. Randy Slaff, program executive officer for U.S. Special Operation Commands maritime technology unit, summed up the host of equipping needs for his team on Tuesday at the SOF Week conference.

Access for these special operators means getting in and out of an objective, or observing that area remotely and silently for weeks or months ahead of a mission.

Ensuring that access is how we maintain our joint advantage, Slaff said.

For the divers who carry as much as 425 pounds when they splash down, that means fewer and lighter systems that do more. Key areas to improve upon include finding an alternative to lithium ion batteries currently in use, and enhancing regenerative carbon dioxide scrubbing for the divers rebreather apparatus.

They also need lightweight thermal regulation essentially better wet and dry suits.

And underwater communications could be better; operators cant wait until they surface or reach their objective to find out whether something in their area has changed. They need real-time data transfer at every stage of the mission both to see their environment and to report what they see back to the command, officials have said.

For watercraft both above and below the waters surface, Slaffs staff seeks more variety in the payload those boats and submersibles carry, as well as ways to automate tasks onboard. Those systems include the SEAL Delivery Vehicle; Combatant Craft variants Assault, Medium, Heavy and Riverine: and the dry combat submersible and uncrewed surface vehicles that extend sensor ranges for threat detection.

The SEAL Delivery Vehicle has seen its legacy platform, the SDV MK 8, replaced in recent years with the SDV MK 11, which has a greater range, higher payload, and more advanced communications and navigation, according to information provided by Special Operations Command.

Officials expect the Heavy variant of the Combatant Craft Assault to go into production in fiscal 2024, while the Medium version will start production in late fiscal 2025.

The Assault version is currently under production, according to Slaffs staff presentations.

To get eyes ahead of those speedy boats, the command will begin production of the Combatant Craft Forward Looking Infrared camera, which will bolt onto new watercraft variants going forward.

Some of those boats may be uncrewed or at least have automated piloting as the command seeks to integrate such systems, especially in the littoral region where water meets land.

While those are key to manned missions, the teams need ongoing intelligence regarding happenings across the high seas and nearby. The main problem now is sensors that have the endurance to gather intel without a human require refueling or the replacement of batteries.

Right now, 12-hour sensors are whats available, but Slaffs team needs versions that can endure for weeks or months, he said.

Todd South has written about crime, courts, government and the military for multiple publications since 2004 and was named a 2014 Pulitzer finalist for a co-written project on witness intimidation. Todd is a Marine veteran of the Iraq War.

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Driverless boats, enduring sensors on the special ops maritime menu - Defense News

Do you want to take a cruise but youve heard horror stories about cruise cough, norovirus and other dirty diseases that you may catch from a floating petri dish?

Well, fear not! Ive put together a list of the worlds cleanest cruise ships!

So, grab your rubber gloves, your antibacterial wipes, and your sense of adventure, because were about to explore the top-tier, pristine, and unblemished corners of the cruising world. Hold onto your mops, folks, its about to get squeaky clean up in here

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) runs a Vessel Sanitation Program (VSP) that helps cruise ships to prevent the spread of illnesses on cruise ships.

As part of the VSP, every cruise ship is inspected for hygiene twice per year. The inspections are unannounced and so thorough that they take a team of two to five inspectors between six and eight hours to complete.

The inspections look at medical facilities, drinking water, swimming pools and spas, kitchens and dining rooms, child activity centres, cabins, ventilation systems and common areas of each ship.

During an inspection, each cruise ship is scored on a 100-point scale. Any score of 85 or below is counted as a fail.

21 cruise ships achieved a perfect score of 100 in their latest Vessel Sanitation Program (VSP) inspections. 5 of these ships were Disney cruise ships, meaning that every ship in the Disney Cruise Line fleet is spotlessly clean.

With such a great attention to detail when it comes to cleanliness, we can say that Disney cruise ships are the cleanest of all.

In the most recent VSP inspections, 21 cruise ships scored a perfect 100 out of 100 for cleanliness. These are show in the table below along with links scores in previous inspections for those ships.

This data is accurate as of May 10 2023. More ships may have been inspected since then. You can see the latest statistics here.

Cruise ships, like any large public space, vary in cleanliness. However, its important to note that cruise ships are subject to stringent sanitation standards that are regularly monitored and enforced.

In the United States, for example, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) operates the Vessel Sanitation Program (VSP). Its worth noting that most cruise ships score well above the passing mark.

However, despite these strict standards and regular inspections, outbreaks of illness can still occur on cruise ships, most commonly gastrointestinal illnesses like norovirus. These outbreaks are usually well-publicized, but they are relatively rare considering the number of people who take cruises every year.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, cruise lines implemented even more stringent cleaning and sanitation procedures, including more frequent cleaning of public areas, use of electrostatic sprayers with disinfectant, enhanced air filtration systems, and policies to encourage physical distancing and hand hygiene.

Despite this, people still catch covid on cruise ships, which is why youll see that many crew members still opt to wear masks. I have had covid twice, and both times I fell ill upon returning from a cruise.

Regular daily cleaning, which includes tasks like tidying up cabins, cleaning public areas, and maintaining dining rooms is an ongoing process that crew members work on around the clock.

On turnaround day (the day when one set of passengers disembarks and a new set embarks), a deeper cleaning takes place. This typically includes more thorough cleaning of cabins, including changing linens, deep cleaning bathrooms, and vacuuming.

On turnaround day, public spaces, including dining rooms and entertainment venues, are also cleaned more intensively. For a large cruise ship, this process typically takes several hours and involves a large team of cleaning staff.

After a cruise ship has been in service for a while, it will occasionally undergo a dry dock, which is a period of several weeks when its taken out of service for maintenance and deep cleaning.

During this time, everything from the engines to the carpets can be cleaned, repaired, or replaced. This could take anywhere from a few weeks to a couple of months depending on the extent of the work being done.

In the case of an outbreak of illness on board, such as norovirus, a ship will undergo an intensive disinfection process. This could take 24 to 48 hours and involves cleaning all surfaces with strong disinfectant.

And there you have it, fellow voyagers the cleanest cruise ships on the high seas! From gleaming decks to sparkling staterooms, these maritime marvels are the epitome of cleanliness and safety, setting the gold standard for the industry.

But lets not forget, while these ships may top the list, the vast majority of cruise ships out there are committed to providing a clean, healthy, and safe environment for their guests. With stringent sanitation practices, regular inspections, and a dedicated crew tirelessly working around the clock, youre in good hands when setting sail on your dream cruise.

So, whether youre cruising on one of these squeaky-clean superstars or another vessel in the vast and varied fleet of cruise ships worldwide, rest assured that your well-being is a top priority.

Yes, cruise ship cleanliness is taken very seriously, and the proof is in the pudding or perhaps, in this case, the buffet line.

Original post:

List Of The Cleanest Cruise Ships In The World (2023) - Cruise Mummy

Vampire Survivors was a surprise hit of 2022 with its addictive gameplay and pixelated charm, and Sea of Thieves is still appealing to our pirate fantasies of sailing the high seas looking for booty but what if you could combine these two games?

Well someone had that exact thought, enter Sea of Survivors, a rogue-lite adventure on the High Seas.

Published by Nah Yeah Games, Sea of Survivors is categorized on Steam as rogue-lite, bullet hell, pixel graphics, pirate and retro. Sounds great so far!

In the game, you play as the captain of a ship that never stops moving and must dodge and destroy waves of enemies and sea monsters. You can collect weapons, upgrades, curses and treasures to create a unique build every run. You also unlock new abilities, stages and crew members as you progress through the game, as this upgrade screen shows.

The game clips show that the ship moves forward constantly and you can only steer left or right, avoiding obstacles and projectiles while shooting back with your own weapons. You can also use special abilities such as bombs, shields and dashes to survive the onslaught.

The game features procedurally generated stages with different themes, enemies and bosses and each stage has a different objective, such as reaching a certain distance, destroying a certain number of enemies or surviving for a certain amount of time - similar to Vampire Survivors' achievements list but with its own unique pirate twist.

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From the official gameplay trailer, it appears you can use experience points to level up and choose from three random upgrades that enhance your stats or abilities. You can use gold to buy more weapons and upgrades from shops that appear randomly in the stages. You can also find loot such as curses, treasures and relics that have positive or negative effects on your run.

The color palette is more limited than Vampire Survivors, and there's more rum than blood, but it's great to see more games with this style of gameplay loop being released, and this should be a fun title on the Steam Deck. We can't wait to set sail and try it out.

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Sea of Survivors: What if Vampire Survivors and Sea of Thieves had ... - Windows Central

UNITED NATIONS: UN member states are meeting in New York from Monday with the aim of launching a long-berthed high-seas treaty, a crucial step toward the goal of protecting 30 percent of the planet by 2030.

After more than 15 years of informal and formal talks, the meeting is the third time in less than a year that negotiators are gathering for what is due to be the last round.

Another two weeks of negotiations ended with no agreement in August last year, but advocates and officials have expressed cautious optimism ahead of the coming session.

"There are a lot of negotiations and discussions happening between delegations trying to find middle ground on some of the key sticky issues... at a level that we haven't seen before," Liz Karan, of the Pew Charitable Trusts non-profit, told Agence France-Presse.

"That gives me a lot of hope that the delegations are taking this upcoming meeting to be the final final."

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This hope was bolstered in January when the United States joined the EU-led High Ambition Coalition on Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction in pushing for quick and robust finalized treaty.

The 51 countries in the coalition share "the goal of urgently protecting the world's oceans," said EU Commissioner for Environment Virginijus Sinkevicius, underscoring the new round of talks were "crucial."

The ocean's high seas start where nations' Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) end, at a maximum of 200 nautical miles (370 kilometers) from coastline and are not under the jurisdiction of any country.

Even though these waters make up more than 60 percent of the oceans and nearly half the planet, they have long been ignored in favor of coastal areas and certain species.

But, said Nathalie Rey, the campaign lead for the High Seas Alliance non-profit, there is "just one ocean and a healthy ocean means a healthy planet."

Ocean ecosystems, threatened by pollution and overfishing, produce half the planet's oxygen and limit global warming by absorbing a large part of the CO2 emitted by human activities.

"You can't ensure a healthy ocean if you ignore two thirds of the ocean which make up the high seas," Rey said, underscoring that it would be "an absolute disaster if we ended up with nothing" from the treaty talks.

The future treaty "will be a key milestone in ensuring we achieve this 30x30 target," she added, referencing a historic agreement in December in which every nation committed to protecting 30 percent of all the planet's land and ocean by 2030.

A deal at all costs?

The 30x30 goal would be almost impossible without including the high seas, of which only around one percent is protected today.

One of the pillars of the future treaty on the "conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction" is to allow the creation of marine protected areas in international waters.

This principle is included in the negotiating mandate voted by the UN General Assembly in 2017, but delegations are still divided on the process of creating the sanctuaries, as well as on the terms of obligations to assess the environmental impact of potential activities on the high seas.

Another contentious issue is the sharing of possible profits from use of genetic resources found in international waters, where the pharmaceutical, chemical and cosmetic industries hope to discover bankable resources.

Without the ability to carry out costly research, developing countries fear they will miss out on potential benefits of high seas resources.

At the August session, observers accused rich countries, including the EU, of resisting to offer compromises down to the wire.

With the complex and wide-ranging treaty, which will also have to contend with other organizations that have strangleholds on parts of the ocean, such as fishing and seabed mining, the devil is in the details, ocean advocates worry.

"It would be better to take more time and ensure a strong agreement with political momentum, rather than hurriedly adopt a subpar agreement," said Glen Wright, senior researcher at the Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations.

Even if, he added, another delay "would be a huge disappointment."

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All hands on deck as UN meets to protect high seas

High Seas (or Alta Mar as its known in Spanish regions) will not be returning for season four on Netflix. Reports from Spain indicate that season three of the Spanish period drama is now set to be the last. Heres why Netflix isnt continuing with the show and we look back at the history of the series too.

Lets quickly recap the shows history. The period drama is among a suite of huge shows that Netflix commissioned from Spain.

The mystery series saw two women embark on a luxurious ocean cruise to Rio de Janeiro but all goes awry when a series of murders take place on the boat. High Seas was only originally envisioned as a two-season series but was stretched past its original storyline due to popularity (just like Money Heist).

The series comes from Spanish production house Bamb Producciones who is also behind other shows such as Instinto for Movistar, Enel Corredor de la Muerte and El Caso Alcasser.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeGKMaL2X8U

Originally, Altar Mar (High Seas) was renewed for a third and fourth season. Bluper (a Spanish entertainment news portal attached to El Espanol) reported that news back in October 2019 with another sixteen chapters reportedly in development.

Just before season three touched down on Netflix in early 2020, Bluper then reported that the planned fourth season had been scrapped. It compares it to a similar tale that The Cable Girls was also supposed to get an additional season but was also scrapped.

What happened between the renewal and the cancellation? Some point to lack of marketing (a recurring criticism of Netflix) but the fourth season wouldve been filmed around the time COVID-19 came into play and that wouldve delayed High Seas production on season four into what couldve been reserved for their new upcoming Netflix series (more on that in a second).

Of course, it could simply be the case that interest wained significantly enough to not justify keeping the show going.

Although IMDb scores for the third season were more favorable, there was significantly less interest overall.

The good news is that if you enjoyed the production quality of High Seas, more shows from the same company are coming to Netflix in the future.

The new production is called Jaguar and is due for release in 2021. It stars Blanca Surez and is also a period drama but this time set in the 1960s. Well have a bigger preview on this series in due course.

Do you wish High Seas was coming back for season four? Let us know in the comments.

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'High Seas' Season 4 Canceled at Netflix Even After Initial Renewal

We love mysteries. Love them; great pulpy mysteries like the ones Agatha Christie wrote. But we dont see those kind of mysteries on TV anymore, ones where the people and setting are glamorous, and things are violent but not dark. The Spanish miniseries,High Seas is that kind of mystery. Read on for more about this new Netflix series

Opening Shot: A ships captain writes in his log about the three murders that have already occurred in ten days on this damned ship.

The Gist:The Villenueva sisters Eva (Ivana Baquero) and Carolina (Alejandra Onieva) are on their way to a cruise ship to take a one-way journey from Spain to Brazil. Why one way? Carolina is getting married on board and setting up a new life in Rio, while Eva, an author, is meeting a publisher who is interested in her work. As they approach the port, their car accidentally hits a young woman named Luisa (Manuela Vells), who claims that theyre going to kill me if shes caught. Eva, whos trusting and empathetic almost to a fault, convinces Carolina to stow her in their steamer trunk and sneak her on board.

Eva is confident they can get Luisa on board because Carolina is marrying the ships owner, Fernando Fabregas (Eloy Azorin), so the trunk isnt in storage. When they finally are able to get Luisa out, she says shes running from her fiance, a powerful man who demands they get married. Carolina wants to tell Fernando, but Luisa begs her to wait until theyre at sea and she cant be taken off the ship. Eva convinces her not to tell Fernando when the two of them visit him at his office just as he gets a call to meet a mysterious person at midnight.

Everyones making a new start on this cruise: The sisters just lost their father, and their uncle Pedro (Jos Sacristn) has decided to sell the business they ran together when Carolina and Eva decided not to take over. The captain is leading his first cruise since his wife died, and he wants no part of superstition like an albatross hitting the bridge right before they set sail. His first officer, Nicolas Vazquez (Jon Kortajarena), used to be a petty thief until the captain took him under his wing.

Luisa, having been taken down to the third class quarters of the sisters nanny Francisca and her daughter Victoria, knocks Francisca out, steals her key to the sisters cabin, and starts ransacking it, looking for something. As Eva gets cozy with Nicolas on the deck around midnight, though, she hears a woman scream and sees her fall from the ship. As the crew searches for the woman, both Eva and Carolina think that the woman who went overboard was Luisa, and they finally tell Fernando. But did the woman fall from the deck or was she pushed?

Our Take: High Seas(original name:Alta mar) is created by Ramon Campos and Gema R. Neira (Cocaine Coast), and its an amazingly good-looking show. Its post-WWII setting can not only be seen in the costumes and props like cameras and luggage, but the sets depicting the lavish, art deco-style hallways, ballrooms and staterooms of the luxury cruise ship the characters are on are a sight to see. Also, the costuming gives us little clues about the characters: Eva the independent artist, for instance, wears pants, which was just starting to be a thing in the late 40s.

The story plays out like one of those potboiler mysteries that Agatha Christie might have written in that time period; lots of colorful characters, all with an agenda and a motive, populate the ship, and mysteries abound. Sometimes, we thought Campos and Neira were a bit too coy with some of the mysteries, as when the ships doctor has a cryptic conversation with Uncle Pedro about what they might be doing when they arrive in Rio. But, for the most part, the characters are well-drawn and the story is intriguing.

One of the other things we found fun aboutHigh Seas is that the tone of the show isnt dark, like some of the period mysteries weve seen of late have been. No, it takes an old-fashioned approach to the murder mystery, making the setting glamorous even the third-class deck looks like a fun party instead of something resembling steerage the characters witty and sophisticated, and the mystery the central part of the story, not blood and gore. Were looking forward to seeing how this plays out over the series eight episodes.

Sex and Skin: The first episode is pretty chaste, save for the ships lothario, Sebastian (Tamar Novas) lifting Victorias socks as a way of flirting.

Parting Shot: On the deck where the woman was thrown overboard, Eva finds an engineers pin, the same one Carolina gave Fernando just before the ship set sail.

Sleeper Star:Kortajarena is intriguing as Nicolas. He has taken a liking to Eva, and their relationship on board will likely have a big influence on the mystery.

Most Pilot-y Line: Sebastian, after meeting Victoria: I hate it when she goes, but I love watching her leave. Funny line, of course, but also very cliche.

Our Call: STREAM IT.High Seas is a good-looking, light mystery with performances that signal that theyre not taking things all that seriously, which is a good thing for a show like this.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesnt kid himself: hes a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, VanityFair.com, Playboy.com, Fast Companys Co.Create and elsewhere.

Stream spain on Netflix

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'High Seas' Netflix Review: Stream It or Skip It? - Decider

A fogbow seen off the back deck of NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer during the second Voyage to the Ridge 2022 expedition. Image courtesy of NOAA Ocean Exploration, Voyage to the Ridge 2022. Download image (jpg, 4 MB).

The ocean covers about two thirds of the surface of our planet and houses 50-80% of all life on Earth. Most of us are more familiar with inshore ecosystems, like tidepools, mangroves, and kelp forests, but did you know that 64% of the ocean is considered the high seas? The high seas are some of the most biologically productive in the world teeming with plankton and home to ocean giants like predatory fish, whales, and sharks. The seabed sequesters tremendous amounts of carbon and the ocean volume traps heat, slowing the effects of climate change on land and in the atmosphere dramatically.

This schematic shows the legal boundaries of maritime zones of the ocean and air space. Image courtesy of Tufts University, Law of the Sea: A Policy Primer, Chapter 2: Maritime Zones. Download image (jpg, 106 KB).

Coastal countries generally control the 200 nautical miles of ocean that is, the water column and seafloor extending out from their coasts. These 200 nautical miles are known as a countrys exclusive economic zone (EEZ), where the exploration and use of marine resources is a sovereign right. The high seas refers to the ocean water column that lies beyond the boundaries of any one country, also known as areas beyond national jurisdiction (ABNJ).

The seafloor beyond the limits of the coastal continental shelf is what is termed the Area by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). The International Seabed Authority (ISA) is mandated to regulate the exploration for, and exploitation of, seabed mineral resources in the Area for the benefit of humankind.

On this map, exclusive economic zones are shown in white and high seas, or areas beyond national jurisdiction, are shown in light green. Image courtesy of Sumaila et al. In prep./ Global Ocean Commission/ The High Seas and Us: Understanding the Value of High-Seas Ecosystems. Download image (jpg, 228 KB).

The ISA has the power to allocate certain parts of the Area to countries for exploration and mining. However, many other activities (like fishing and shipping) also occur on the high seas, and a number of regional and sectoral organizations with different responsibilities contribute to its governance, which has been characterized as fragmented.

Since 2017, an Inter-Governmental Conference established by the United Nations General Assembly has been negotiating an agreement under UNCLOS that would allow for more effective management and protection of the high seas. This internationally legally binding instrument is often referred to as the Biodiversity in Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction treaty, or BBNJ treaty.

This treaty focuses on four main areas:

Although the final form of the BBNJ treaty has still to be agreed upon, it seems likely at this point that the treaty will have a Conference of the Parties (COP) that will have some level of centralized decision-making power over aspects of the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity in ABNJ. Additionally, existing sectoral and regional organizations that already have regulatory competence (or authority) in ABNJ will likely retain that competence, but might be given wider responsibilities. The exact balance between the COP and the regional and sectoral organizations has still to be agreed upon.

The fourth round of negotiations on the BBNJ treaty came to a close in late March 2022, but member states failed to agree on a treaty. The next, and hopefully final, round of negotiations is set to take place from August 15-26, 2022, in New York, New York.

Published on July 20, 2022 By Fae Sapsford, Marine Research Fellow, Sargasso Sea CommissionRelevant Expedition: Voyage to the Ridge 2022

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What Is High Seas Governance? - National Oceanic and Atmospheric ...

Carnival Cruise Lines has had a tough few years, with the pandemic dropping the stock from $50 per share to currently under $10. But despite the stock plummeting, the executives at Carnival are risking even more as their ships are now actively grooming and promoting a sexual agenda on their family fun ships.

The details are sordid and not pleasant to read. But this underbelly of the cruise industry needs to be revealed and stopped. When a child watches a woke Disney movie, it lasts two hours, and then the parents can discuss the challenges with their children. On a cruise, it is a non-stop barrage of grooming and sexuality (often LGBTQ) that is every moment for a solid week. It is a consistent, powerful, and dangerous influence on children that can sink into their consciousness.

Before going into specific examples, it is important to be aware of some cruising realities. Sexuality has always been on cruise ships (what happens on the ship stays on the ship), but for the majority of Carnivals fifty years in business, it has been relegated to the 18-and-over nightclubs, late-night shows, and adult bars. It was never in the main programming of a ship, especially the family fun ships of Carnival, which have been built specifically for families with children and include great kids activities like water slides, mini-golf, trampolines, arcades, etc. This has now changed.

The other reality to recognize is the hidden dirty secret of Carnival. According to the Department of Transportation, there are currently more sexual assaults per capita on a Carnival ship than in the states of California and New York, and Carnival leads the entire cruising industry in sexual assaults on board. Most of these crimes end up being ignored, as they take place on international waters and are subject to the laws and retribution from the ships country of registration (most Carnival ships are registered in Panama, with a few in the Bahamas and Malta), making both criminal and civil prosecution difficult. According to a senior FBI officials testimony before Congress, only 7% of sexual crimes on cruise ships are prosecuted.

But how is Carnival actually enabling these assaults? All cruise ships have a lot of alcohol on board, so that cant be the reason that Carnivals statistics are so much higher. Royal Caribbean services more passengers, but their numbers are significantly lower.

Its actually simple: Carnival leads in sexual assaults because of their conscious grooming and sexuality in family shows and programming.

My family recently returned from a seven-day cruise to Mexico on the Carnival Panorama, and what we experienced explained the high statistics.

Lets start with the cruise director, a man named Ryan who, although his picture on the Carnival website is of a well-dressed man, was actually way too comfortable in drag (you can see him impersonating Tina Turner here at 0:34).

At every opportunity, announcement, show, and appearance, he constantly repeated the phrases: We are family/this ship is a family/family, lets get closer. At every chance, he would instruct passengers to Spread Love and even wore shirts with the phrase every day.

While this may seem innocuous, it is the classic language of pedophiles and groomers. Establishing with a child that a stranger is actually family gives the adult the tacit permission to get physically close to the child in the way that family does. If the child accepts that the adult is family, it is a tiny step for the child to allow that adult stranger to be physical or touch the child. When I confronted this cruise director about this and that my children were sexually uncomfortable with his language, his response was that my children need to realize we are all family and spread love. As most parents recognize, for their own childrens safety, we do not ever want our children to think of strangers as family.

This type of outrageous behavior was prevalent throughout the cruise. At the first family show, he chose a lesbian couple to be the fun couple of the week, had them each place a box of colored ping pong balls on their behinds, told them to shake their booties until the blue-colored balls fell out, and kept commenting how these lesbians were creating blue balls.

At another event, he wore a white mini jumpsuit that showed his genitalia outline in detail, pranced around on a bar, and shook his groin at passengers heads.

I would not want to see a female staff member showing her nipples in a family show, and his behavior is equally, if not more, offensive.

These are not the actions of one out-of-control cruise director but approved and sanctioned by the Carnival executive team. When I spoke with Alina Chefneux, the hotel director of the ship and the top executive on board, her response was that our crew are family since we spend more time with each other than we do at home. Upon explaining to her that the Carnival crew members are not my family, she proceeded to tell me, We want passengers to trust us like family. Those are scary words, to say the least.

And this grooming was constant and pervasive throughout the ships programs. In the first large stage show for families, entitled Soulbound, the grooming continued. This show, which is supposedly identical on all Carnival ships, included a scene where the lead male character started fondling and dry-humping another male character.

When the hotel director was confronted by this disturbing behavior at a family show, her response was that she had not personally seen the show, but it was part of the storyline as the male lead had been hit with a love spell that had gone wrong. An entirely unnecessary plot device was added in order to justify gay sex in a family show. And like her cruise director, she said that Carnival is committed to inclusivity and diversity and pointed to a large sign saying that motto in her office.

These are only a few examples of the grooming of children on board a Carnival ship. But the lack of any response by Carnival executives in Miami demonstrates their awareness and support of this agenda against our children. Eight emails were sent to Carnival about this, including to Arlene Brown, the senior director of guest care, and Neil Palomba, the chief operating officer of Carnival. Although the subject line of the emails read Staff Sexuality on a Recent Cruise, and all of the emails detailed the sexual un-family fun on board and invited a response from Carnival prior to this article, there was never any response from any executive at the company. The resounding silence is a tacit approval of this grooming behavior and sexuality on Carnival ships.

Like Disney before it, Carnival has established a family-friendly brand for decades. And like Disney, it has made a conscious choice to continue to advertise that brand while subversively creating an environment that is not only offensive to those seeking a safe family vacation but one that is actually dangerous to children. A large difference between Disney and Carnival, however, is that the barrage is constant on a ship, as opposed to sporadic in a theme park or movie and, as a result, much more dangerous to children. The other factor that makes Carnivals actions even more insidious than Disneys is that on a ship, there is no place to go to avoid the pervasive grooming. Once on board, passengers are captive to the programming on the ship. And in Carnivals case, this translates to an environment that is offensive and potentially dangerous at every moment.

There are many other cruise lines that are truly family-friendly and need to be considered before booking a family vacation on Carnival. If, for whatever reason, your family is on a Carnival ship, it is important that the children are never left alone in any activities. Our childrens safety should always be our highest priority, and we can only hope that with the appropriate pressure, Carnival will return to making that the real priority of family fun ships.

Cruising in the 21st century can be a lot of fun with all the kid-friendly activities that have been built into the new ships. But more important than fun, may we all always protect our children from those who would prey on them sexually.

I look forward to the day when Carnival remembers that priority, and family fun ships are once again fun and safe for families.

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Move Over Disney: Carnival Is Grooming on the High Seas

The countdown is on to Halloween, and the spooky season is now in full swing on Disney Cruise Line ships. Ive been loving these new images showing the decorations and atmosphere currently on display on Disneys newest ship, the Disney Wish. Check out some of the scenes below.

Can we take a moment to appreciate this fairytale-perfect Pumpkin Tree? Each pumpkin is glowing with images depicting the stories and the characters of our favorite Disney classics. Disney explains the beauty of this tree with the following description. As the tale would have it, this enchanted tree named Boo! grew perfect gourds with the help of a Wishing Star at night, producing the perfect pumpkin that became the coach that carried Cinderella to the Princes Ball.

New to the festivities this year, all of the characters on board will be dressed up in special Halloween attire to get in on the excitement. Minnie Mouse, Daisy Duck, and Clarabelle Cow can be spotted causing mischief on each ship as the Sanderson Sisters from the movie Hocus Pocus.

If you are looking for more seasonal activities to enjoy, other special experiences for these sailings include:

Are you sailing with Disney during this time? Let us know what part of Halloween on the High Seas you are looking forward to the most.

Zo Wood is a travel writer from Sydney, Australia.

After her first visit to Disneyland at the age of 6, she has spent her years frequently visiting Disney Parks and traveling around the world.

Zo is the mother of two children and has a lot of experience in traveling long distances with kids and special needs.

Join Zo as she lets you in on all the tips, tricks, anecdotes, and embarrassments that arise from her family adventures.

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Soldiers council of the Prinzregent Luitpold.

In the US, today is Veterans Day, when we honor thosewho have served in the military. It coincides with Armistice Day, the anniversary of the signing of the armistice which ended World War I, on the 11th hour of the 11th day, of the 11th month of 1918, when the guns finally fell silent after four years of bloody conflict.

Today is a good time to recall the mutiny of the German High Seas Fleet, which played a significant role in finally ending the war. Here is an updated repost of an article from a few years ago about the naval mutinies.

The mutiniesat Wilhelmshaven on October 29th and at Kiel on November 3,triggered the German revolution and swept aside the monarchy within a few days. The navalmutinies led directly to the end of the German Empire and to the establishment of the Weimar Republic.

As summarized bythe History Channel: By the last week of October 1918, three of the Central PowersGermany, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empirewere at least in talks with the Allies about reaching an armistice, while the fourth, Bulgaria, had already concluded one at the end of September.

With the end of the war seemingly in sight, the German naval commandled by the Admiraltys chief of staff, Reinhardt Scheerdecided to launch a last-ditch effort against the British in the North Sea in a desperate attempt to restore the German navys prestige. In the words of Reinhardt Scheer, chief of staff of the German Admiralty, An honorable battle by the fleeteven if it should be a fight to the deathwill sow the seed of a new German fleet of the future. There can be no future for a fleet fettered by a dishonorable peace. Choosing not to inform the chancellor, Max von Baden, of its plans, the German Admiralty issued the order to leave port on October 28.

The sailors themselves, however, believing the attack to be a suicide mission, would have none of it. Though the order was given five times, each time they resisted. In total, 1,000 mutineers were arrested, leaving the Imperial Fleet immobilized.

By October 30, the resistance had engulfed the German naval base at Kiel, where sailors and industrial workers alike took part in the rebellion; within a week, it had spread across the country, with revolts in Hamburg, Bremen, and Lubeck on November 4 and 5 and in Munich two days later. This widespread discontent led Socialist members of the German Reichstag, or parliament, to declare the country a republic on November 9, followed swiftly by Kaiser Wilhelms abdication and finally, on November 11, by the end of the First World War.

Original post:

Repost: On Armistice Day, Remembering the German High Seas Fleet ...