Allegedly drunk cruise ship captain fired and charged

It's not just airline pilots any more. On Friday Celebrity Cruises fired Periklis Petridis, the captain of the Mercury, after his blood alcohol level tested as high as .181, four times the federal .04 limit for on-duty ship captains. Then, Monday, Captain Petridis, 46, was charged in Seattle's US District Court with operating a ship while under the influence, a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in prison.

In addition to the .04 blood alcohol limit, federal law prohibits a vessel operator from drinking for four hours before going on-duty, and Celebrity policy extends that to eight hours.

The story began when the Coast Guard boarded the ship in Seattle Friday for a garden-variety inspection. When one of the Coast Guard officers detected alcohol on the captain's breath, four breath tests were subsequently conducted, all of them well over the federal limit. Celebrity immediately relieved Petridis of his command and he was taken into custody by the authorities. The ship sailed about 90 minutes late after a different staff captain assumed command.

His attorney, meanwhile, casts the situation as much ado about nothing, explaining that Petridis was not on duty at the time and wasn't scheduled to be on duty for hours. Hopefully the courts can sort out the truth.

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Tattling on cruise line price cuts

Carnival, Royal Caribbean, and Norwegian have all reported weaker-than-expected Caribbean cruise bookings, and had their stocks take a beating as a result. Why should you care? They're unloading inventory at low prices, and we've made it easy for you to spot these newly cut prices.

Although we love our favorite cruise lines, we love our customers even more. So we've introduced a new feature at SureCruise.com for you: the Cruise Price Cut Tattletale. The Tattletale reveals every day's largest cruise price reductions, so you can set sail before they sell out. When the cruise lines get anxious and start unloading unsold inventory, you'll want to be first in line to take advantage.

Savvy travelers have always known that recently reduced rates frequently sell out quickly and offer terrific savings, yet there hasn't been a way to stay on top of them... until now! The Tattletale is "in beta"--meaning it's not perfect--and we welcome your feedback on it. Enjoy.

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Search underway for man missing from Mariner of the Seas

A search is currently underway for a 21-year-old man, now presumed to have gone overboard early Monday from Royal Caribbean's Mariner of the Seas during the first night of his vacation. At the time the ship had departed Port Canaveral, Florida, sailing for Royal Caribbean's Bahamian private island.

An onboard security camera spotted Daniel Dipiero, from Augusta, Ohio, on deck between midnight and 2 am Monday morning, and he hasn't been seen since. Traveling companions reported at 11 am that he hadn't slept in his interior stateroom. Following a futile search of the CoCo Cay private island, where the ship had since docked, and the ship itself, the FBI, U.S. and Bahamian coast guards were notified at 7 pm.

Unfortunately, harsh weather prevented the Coast Guard from beginning an aerial search of the ship's path until 9 am Tuesday morning.

The mainstream press, ever vigilant to seek controversy, is zeroing in on the 8-hour delay between when Mr. Dipiero's traveling companions alerted Royal Caribbean, and the time the cruise line notified other authorities. However, the ship had docked at CoCo Cay around 7 am, and begun tendering passengers ashore soon thereafter. By 11 am, when Royal Caribbean was notified, Mr. Dipiero could have gone ashore and that possibility needed to be ruled out prior to sounding the alarm.

With luck Mr. Dipiero will be found alive and well. Meanwhile our takeaway from this story, and other stories like it, is to treat railings on cruise ships with the same respect as a railing found on any tall building.

UPDATE 5/20/06: The investigation determined that Mr. Dipiero's group had smuggled aboard alcohol, against cruise line policy, and had videotaped themselves drinking. The tragic mystery is over, as it was announced that cruise line security camera footage showed Mr. Dipiero falling overboard.

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Freedom of the Seas christened in New York

The world's largest cruise ship, Freedom of the Seas, arrived Wednesday morning in New York Harbor from Southampton, England, and was christened on Friday morning in a ceremony televised live on NBC's Today show.

Instead of the usual route of choosing a celebrity Godmother for the ship, Royal Caribbean let the Today show choose the country's "best mother," Katherine Calder, foster mom for more than 400 kids. She had the honor of cutting the ribbon that broke a mega champagne bottle across the ship's bow, and pronouncing the timeless prayer, "I name this ship Freedom of the Seas. May God bless this ship and all who sail on her."

Freedom offers many firsts on her resume besides size: the first onboard surfing at sea, the first boxing ring at sea, and the first hot tubs cantilevered over the side of the ship more than 100 feet in the air. Talk about a view! These features are in addition to Royal Caribbean's innovations on earlier ships--that you'll also find here--such as the enormous mall-like Royal Promenade, the iconic rock-climbing wall and Studio B ice-skating rink.

Freedom begins her public cruise career on June 4, with 7-night Western Caribbean cruises from Miami that are available at this moment starting at $864 per person, double occupancy.

We'll be checking out Freedom firsthand later in May and will report back with a full slew of photos and observations.

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