From the too close for comfort part 2 department:

Last update 10:54pm
Another cruise ship had its security zone violated today. This time it wasn't a submarine but rather a 15-to-18-foot metal boat that held three men and a woman, but it had its own ominous overtones.

The boat was seen near the front of Carnival Pride about 11:30am while it was docked at Long Beach today. The ship's command reported the incursion to the Coast Guard, but the boat departed before law enforcement arrived on the scene. The search for the boat and its occupants is continuing.

The metal boat was well within Carnival Pride's 100-yard security zone and was pulling an inflatable orange boat. Witnesses saw one of the occupants dive into the water near the pier and later the person was seen climbing back into metal boat.

Divers spent more than three hours checking Carnival Pride's hull and the surrounding area but found nothing suspicious. Carnival Pride departed Long Beach at 6pm this evening.

From the crime doesn't pay department:

A few months ago in CND we reported on an administrative assistant at a cruise line who had the authority to issue free tickets for legitimate company-related reasons. When she took one of those free trips herself, the cruise line discovered she had issued more than 200 free tickets over a period of time and alleged that that she then sold them to family and friends at a discounted price keeping the money for herself. When she went to court, in a plea bargain she pleaded guilty to several counts and received a sentence of 21 months in prison and agreed to reimburse Royal Caribbean more than $377,000.

The Miami Herald reports that the woman has now begun to serve her prison sentence. An interesting sidelight in the article is that more than $600,000 was seized from her bank account. The police only got $240,000, but the IRS glommed onto all the rest. Apparently, the IRS doesn't care if the income was legal or not; they want the tax on it. She ought to be glad she lives in Florida, because they don't have a state income tax.

Note: Link is valid at time of publication.

From the change of plans department:

New York's second cruise terminal in Brooklyn may not be happening as soon as it was originally planned. The New York Times reports that recently (unnamed) city officials have publicly backed off plans for building the second cruise terminal at Pier 10.

They go on to say that the city's Economic Development Corporation has been refusing for five years to negotiate an extension of the contract with the stevedoring firm which operates the container terminal at Pier 10, so they have been operating more or less on a month-to-month basis. This was apparently in anticipation of the container terminal being displaced by the new second cruise ship terminal planned for the site. The Corporation and the Port Authority have this month suddenly decided to talk to American Stevedoring (the operators at the container terminal) about extending their lease.

The Brooklyn Cruise Terminal next door at Pier 12 is an excellent cruise terminal by all reports from the cruise lines which operate there. It's twin on Pier 10 just may have to wait awhile.

Note: Links are valid at time of publication.

From the toll-free cruising department:

The Panama Canal recently changed the way they calculate the toll for cruise ships. They used to calculate it the same way as they did for cargo vessels, but now they charge on a per berth basis, which has caused a tremendous increase in the toll for most cruise ships. Since it's a legitimate tax or port fee, a cruise line would be justified in passing it on to passengers, as cruise lines have for years when faced in similar situations.

Disney Magic will be going to California next summer and will have a Panama Canal repositioning cruise going and one coming back. The Orlando Sentinel said in an article today that Disney had advised passengers booked on the two cruises of the new fee they were expect to pay, which would amount to $100 per person. Passengers were outraged and let Disney know.

Surprisingly, Disney backed down and is absorbing the toll to the tune of a half million dollars. Disney told CND today that not only are they not charging previously-booked passengers, but neither are they charging the fee on new bookings. They told us they were doing it in the interest of customer service because their customers were so upset by it.

So passengers are getting by without paying $100 that, by industry norms, they should pay. Of course, what Disney never mentioned was the price of soft drinks on those sailings may rise to $10 a can.

Note: Links are valid at time of publication.

From the ready-to-wear department:

Norwegian Cruise Line got a lot of attention when they announced that their policy now officially allows jeans to be worn for dinner in the dining room. We thought they were the only ones officially allowing it - until we checked as part of CND article we were writing for today's issue. Frankly, we were surprised at the lines that say jeans are ok. Here's a list for quick reference:

Updated Aug 10, 2007:

• Azamara - no jeans
• Carnival - jeans are ok but not encouraged
• Celebrity - no jeans
• Costa - jeans are ok except on formal nights
• Crystal - jeans ok on casual nights, not formal or informal nights
• Cunard - no jeans
• Disney - jeans ok except on formal and certain theme nights and never ok in Palo's
• Holland America - jeans are ok except on formal nights
• MSC Cruises - no jeans
• Norwegian Cruise Line - jeans are ok
• Princess - jeans are ok except on formal nights
• Royal Caribbean - jeans are ok except on formal nights
• Seabourn - jeans are ok except on formal nights
• Silversea - jeans are ok except on formal nights

All of the lines require the jeans to be neat, clean and presentable, and they cannot have holes or tears. Many lines also had some wording in their policies about being neat and clean. Remember too, that this survey was about dinner in the main dining room. All lines indicated jeans were ok during the daytime.

The information was verified by each line's official spokesperson, but is subject to change.